DESIGNING THE FUTURE OF DENIM

After more than 15 years in the denim industry, Berke Aydemir knows what it takes to craft a fabric consumers actually want to wear. Today, he leads product development and R&D at Naveena Denim Mills, engineering fabrics that balance authentic denim character with commercial viability and consumer demands. His passion drives him.

"What I enjoy most is connecting the different worlds within our industry: creativity and engineering, innovation and commercial reality, the mill and the consumer," he told LYCRA.com. "For me, the most rewarding products are born when all of those elements come together — when a technical idea becomes a fabric that people genuinely want to wear. Denim is never simply a fabric. It carries history and character, yet it must keep evolving with the way people live. "

One of Naveena's latest fabrics incorporates renewable LYCRA^® fiber, our sustainable stretch innovation made with 70% plant-based content derived from US-grown corn. The Naveena fabric, Sila, has already been adopted by ONLY & SONS, demonstrating its value to premium denim brands. In this Voice of the Expert conversation, Berke explains why he chose renewable LYCRA^® fiber, and the path we must follow to build a more sustainable denim industry.

What is the ethos of Naveena? What drives the company’s designs?

At Naveena, we are always asking how denim can do more — how it can feel better, perform better, and be made more responsibly.

Our designs are driven by real life: how people move, how they want to feel in their clothes, and how their lifestyles are changing. We have great respect for denim’s history, but we do not want to be limited by it. The challenge — and the excitement — is to preserve its authentic character while continually reimagining what it can become.

Naveena and The LYCRA Company have collaborated for years. What do LYCRA^® brand fibers bring to Naveena’s fabrics that differentiate them?

The LYCRA^® brand's stretch denim fibers help us create denim that genuinely works with the body. It is not simply about adding stretch; it is about how the fabric recovers, retains its shape, and remains comfortable after many hours of wear.

Technologies such as LYCRA^® T400^® fiber add another dimension by providing stable, long-lasting elasticity, low fabric growth, and strong recovery. This helps garments resist bagging and maintain their intended fit and silhouette over time.

Our partnership brings together The LYCRA Company’s fiber expertise and our understanding of denim construction. This allows us to create fabrics that feel flexible and comfortable without losing the authentic look, texture, or durability people expect from denim.

You recently adopted renewable LYCRA^® fiber made with 70% plant-based content. Can you tell me about the fabric that contains this fiber?

Our first development with renewable LYCRA^® fiber is the Black/Black version of our Sila fabric, designed for a slim-fit silhouette. It weighs approximately 11–11.5 oz. after washing and offers around 35% stretch, creating a comfortable balance between flexibility, support, and authentic denim character.

What we particularly value is that renewable LYCRA^® fiber does not ask the wearer to adjust or compromise. The fabric still looks and feels like familiar cotton denim while delivering the stretch and recovery people expect. The meaningful change happens at the raw-material level, where a significant portion of the traditional fossil-based input has been replaced with renewable, plant-derived content.

The fabric has also been developed into a commercial garment with ONLY & SONS. This is an important step because it demonstrates that the material is not simply a concept or laboratory experiment — it is ready to become a relevant, wearable product.

Why did Naveena decide to adopt renewable LYCRA^® fiber?

Stretch has become an essential part of contemporary denim. Even when spandex/elastane represents only 1–2% of a fabric’s composition, it can be one of the more difficult components to address from a sustainability perspective because it has traditionally relied on fossil-based raw materials.

Renewable LYCRA^® fiber offers an important alternative. With 70% renewable, plant-based content, it helps us address this gap while continuing to provide the stretch, recovery, and comfort associated with conventional LYCRA^® fiber.

Sustainability is sometimes discussed as though compromise is inevitable — as though a more responsible fabric must feel different, perform differently, or ask the customer to change their expectations. This development offers a much more practical transition.

For us, that balance is essential. A more responsible innovation must also be relevant, wearable, and scalable. If it cannot become part of people’s everyday lives, its impact will always remain limited.

What has the response been from your customers?

It is still a relatively new development, so we do not want to overstate the response. However, the early conversations have been very positive.

Customers appreciate that the sustainability story is clear and easy to understand: we are reducing reliance on fossil-based inputs while maintaining the performance they already know and trust. They are also asking more detailed questions about traceability and proof, which makes the third-party certifications and verified environmental data supporting the fiber especially important.

The collaboration with ONLY & SONS has also helped demonstrate that the technology is ready for a real, commercially relevant product — not simply an experimental development.

How would you describe Naveena’s approach to sustainability in denim?

We try to look at the whole picture. Sustainability cannot come from changing one fiber while overlooking everything else involved in creating the fabric.

We consider raw materials, water, energy, chemicals, waste, durability, and what happens to the product throughout its life. We also ask whether an innovation can move beyond a sample and become something brands can use at scale.

Durability is especially important to us. When denim feels good, performs well, and retains its shape for longer, people are more likely to keep wearing it. Sustainability and performance are therefore not separate conversations for us; each must strengthen the other.

Thank you, Berke, for this thoughtful conversation! We look forward to collaborating for years to come.