The 22nd SpinExpo was held September 3 to 5 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre, with 200 exhibitors from 15 countries attending.

The Woolmark Company presented a range of product innovations and global trends in wool, displaying an array of tactile and colourful yarns to more than 12,000 visitors.

This season sees a return to knitwear, with warm colours emerging as the dominant hue for the upcoming Autumn/Winter season.

With visitors treated to seven inspiration and upcoming trends as proposed by the latest edition of The Wool Lab, the theme Highlands prov ed to be a crowd-pleaser.

Stemming from the massive landscape of the Scottish Highlands, this theme presents diversified colours of hilly regions. A mixture of greens and browns are combined, merging earth and vegetation colours into one and offering a sense of comfort and warmth.

Also noticeable was a focus on blues, which is a typical choice for both formal and leisure occasions and of choice for its fineness and profound expressive force.

Apart from colour trends, SpinExpo also introduced cutting-edge spinning techniques and creative dyeing methods which contribute to show the expressive colours and high level of quality.

Woollen and semi-worsted coloured nep yarns or Donegal knits, soft and lightweight fluffy yarns of volume, animal fur appearance imitated Bouclè yarn, transparent and coloruful Lurex knitted with wool yarns, various printed yarns, moisture management treated yarns, and sulptured yarns with embossed effect as well as different counts of twist ed yarn are popularly applied on the various seasonal products.

In addition, high-twisted woollen yarns which make people feel dry and comfortable will be applied to autumn and winter products.

With regards to printing and dyeing of knitwear, the styles of watercolour, gradient colour change, washed and ink painting will be more used in autumn and winter of 2014/15.