High-fashion runways have been heralding a skinny jean renaissance in recent seasons, but the trend has not yet trickled into mainstream retail. 

According to data from Circana, straight legs are the dominant denim shape right now, growing 3 percent in women’s and 4 percent in men’s year-over-year through January 2026. And for women’s styles in particular, growth has recently concentrated in looser fits like wide-leg and barrel jeans, with double-digit upticks. “The consumer appetite for ease and volume is not slowing down,” said Kristen Classi-Zummo, apparel industry advisor at Circana.

Although jeans may be more relaxed around the legs, there is still a case for stretch materials to provide comfort and ease as well as recovery or bounce back, preventing bagged out knees and loosening. Stretch is particularly pertinent to the top portion of a jean from the waistline through the hips, which tends to be fitted even if the rest of the garment is loose. “We are trying to break the paradigm of stretch fibers are only for high-stretch products,” said Ebru Ozaydin, global product category director, denim, wovens and ready-to-wear at spandex producer The Lycra Company.  

The current trend cycle is altering how denim manufacturers and brands are using stretch, and also what consumers are buying. Per Circana, men’s stretch denim has been flat over the past year. Meanwhile, women’s stretch jeans kept growing, albeit at a slower rate than rigid styles. “When you are wearing a looser silhouette, you simply need stretch less,” Classi-Zummo noted. “I do not think stretch goes away, but its role is evolving from a necessity to a feature.”

Skinny jeans of the aughts and 2010s were typically fashioned from fabrics featuring a high stretch percentage, referring to the amount the textile elongates when pulled compared to the length at rest. With the dominance of looser silhouettes, spandex manufacturer Hyosung has seen demand for low-power stretch between 12 and 20 percent, which offers some elasticity while looking more like vintage denim. “The market has decisively pivoted from super stretch to authentic comfort,” noted Roy Chang, denim senior manager at Hyosung TNC.

Echoing this, Lycra’s Ozaydin estimates roughly 60 percent of the market currently revolves around comfort stretch, which she defines as almost 30 percent elasticity. Lycra considers between 40 and 60 percent super stretch, and anything beyond that ultra stretch. 

From the mill point of view, Pakistan-based Soorty has seen demand for comfort stretch and rigid fabrics outpace medium- to high-stretch options. “After embracing the comfort of barrels and wide-leg fits for some time, we are now seeing a rising demand for slimmer, more tailored silhouettes enhanced with feminine details,” said Eda Dikmen, senior marketing and communications manager for Soorty. “Shifts like these usually require a unique balance: an authentic, rigid character that looks traditional but feels soft and offers high performance.”

Rigid jeans are less forgiving in size and fit, which Mark Ix, director of North American marketing for China-based mill Advance Denim, said has raised return rates in the industry compared to stretch denim. Mechanical stretch—in which elasticity comes from construction such as weaving techniques rather than stretch fiber—can prevent some fit issues, but he sees stretch materials as a stronger fix.

“Today, comfort stretch is the king,” said Anatt Finkler, creative director at Global Denim, explaining that it is the Mexican mill’s main category now. Although some brands are requesting rigid denim, the industry hasn’t quite moved past the pandemic era of athleisure, making slight stretch the “sweet spot.” 

Per Finkler, the focus is on comfort, and while stretch is in the mix, more factors—including fiber choice and weaving techniques—come into play. For instance, Global Denim has combined stretch with added softness through the addition of Tencel fibers and left-hand twills.

Stretch innovation

Coinciding with the trend toward lower elasticity, the percent of spandex in denim garments is now smaller—often hovering around 1 to 2 percent. Here is where performance fiber technologies come in.

To prevent sagging and bagging, Hyosung is working with denim mills to incorporate its Creora 3D Max spandex, which offers strong recovery with a small percent of stretch fiber. For instance, the material maker partnered with a premium label on a “heavyweight loose fit” collection that kept its shape in a 48-hour wear test. Chang noted, “Loose fits actually need smarter stretch to stay stylish.”

As the ’90s look remains popular, Lycra introduced VintageFX technology that combines a “muscle fiber” with Lycra to strengthen recovery. This fiber pair is wrapped in a cellulosic material such as cotton, creating a dual core yarn with a matte look. VintageFX recently launched commercially in a Jack & Jones China capsule collection developed with domestic mills.

“We’ve got customers that are saying, ‘We want a better performing comfort stretch, but we want it to feel like denim,’” said Ix. He sees VintageFX as the leading solution for this, and the mill has used the fiber in its Reflex Denim concept.

Turkish mill Orta is also trialing VintageFX. “We have been exploring whether it can help us overcome some of the side effects of stretch, such as compromising the authenticity of denim,” noted Ozgur Can Yazkurt, product development manager at Orta.

Ozaydin described VintageFX as the “younger sibling” of DualFX, which also features a dual-core yarn with Lycra and Lycra T400 to provide stronger recovery, which are then wrapped in cotton. Although DualFX was initially marketed for higher stretch percentages, Advance Denim has also used it for comfort stretch denim. Similarly, Lycra Adaptiv, which offers varied compression based on the wearer’s movement, was initially focused on high stretch, but Lycra has adapted it to offer “easy and soft stretch” of 40 to 50 percent.

Providing both stretch at the top of a jean and an authentic look through the legs requires a “flat, stable fabric” that also offers some drape, said Ix. Hyosung is meeting the demand for drapier fabrics by making its Regen bio-based spandex and recycled Regen spandex fibers finer. “Since the loose-fit trend is driven largely by Generations Z and Alpha, we are merging this aesthetic demand with our sustainability leadership, offering high-performance recycled spandex that appeals to eco-conscious consumers,” said Chang.

Innovations inevitably come with added costs, which brands may not currently be willing to take on. “Once we move through this hard time that we are living, in which the price has become the most important thing, I think there’s going to be way more openness to innovation in terms of increasing the price a few cents in order to deliver a product with a newer technology,” said Finkler. “But right now, where the market is so focused on price and peanuts and dimes, we need to keep doing what we do best.”

Stretch storytelling

As stretch has become a silent partner in denim fabrics, it’s also taken a back seat in marketing. In the high-stretch era, communications to the end consumer centered on curve hugging. Now, says Hyosung’s Chang, the messaging is more about non-restrictive movement and shape retention. “We are moving away from the ‘legging-jean’ narrative toward an ‘invisible support’ narrative—where the stretch is felt, not seen,” he said.

Finkler sees this quiet suggestion or implication of stretch and comfort in lifestyle-focused brand marketing, such as commercials showing talent dancing in denim. Ix added that at the moment, denim marketing is more about aesthetics than performance.

Stretch spectrum

Although high stretch is not the dominant trend today, some brands are still seeking out higher stretch fabrics to allow for more size inclusivity and movement. Adding more elasticity also helps jeans stay in consumers’ closets for longer, allowing denim to still fit as they go up or down a size or two.

To cater to different segments’ needs, Global Denim is developing the same fabrics in different levels of stretch. Instead of having a single target customer in mind, Finkler noted, “You really need to know everyone and to cater for everyone if you want to prevail.”

Yazkurt pointed out that trend shifts typically take time, as some segments resist new styles, such as when stretchy jeans were first introduced and again when looser, rigid jeans became the look. To bridge both styles in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the mill developed fabrics in rigid and stretch options. However, relaxed silhouettes are now more widely accepted. “Consumers are accustomed to these silhouettes and fabrics, which now enables us to prepare new fabrics without always needing both a stretch and a rigid option,” he said. “Rather, we now focus on the style and technical requirements of the product and the taste of the targeted customer or market segment, feeling freer to choose the correct product type during development.”

In 2023, Orta introduced Natural Comfort Denim, which is constructed of 100 percent cotton but provides 20 percent stretch. The lack of stretch fiber in the material composition allows for easier textile recycling. “The rise of rigid denim was part of a larger shift in consumer lifestyles—a move toward awareness of excessive consumption and a search for better practices,” Yazkurt said. “As a result, consumer taste has leaned toward vintage, reuse and revaluing high-quality, premium products.”

Also considering sustainability, Soorty is investing in R&D for lower impact stretch, looking into bio-based materials, recycled fibers and degradable elastomers. “The evolution of stretch in modern denim is no longer only about elasticity; product development is a sophisticated engineering of comfort, performance and sustainability that mirrors denim’s evolving role in our wardrobes,” said Dikmen. “Today’s customer is multi-faceted and cannot be defined by a single habit or style. The way we engineer fabrics, utilize stretch or select materials is deeply rooted in understanding these diverse behaviors.”

Multiple experts predict that higher stretch skinny jeans will be on their way back into the trend cycle for upcoming seasons—albeit in a different form than the skinnies from the aughts. But as before, even if the trend returns, not all consumers will follow. 

Meeting today’s wide-ranging market, Orta is taking a consumer-centric approach. “Rather than classifying denim into stretch, rigid and other categories, our focus at Orta is on understanding consumer needs and habits—evaluating how we can best serve our customers moving forward,” said Yazkurt. “Amid today’s economic, social and political turbulence, we do not anticipate a major shift in the near future, but we continue to closely monitor how trends evolve.”

This article was published in SJ Denim’s spring issue. Click here to read more.