Custom Elastic Tape: How ECI and Story Wear Took Trims to New York

In 2025, Story Wear turned ECI’s surplus elastic into runway belts for Tokyo and Taipei Fashion Week. In 2026, the conversation started from the other end: instead of asking what leftover tape could become, Story Wear came to ECI with a design and asked what tape it needed.

Where It Started: Surplus Elastic on the Runway

In September 2025, Story Wear presented woven belts made from ECI’s surplus elastic bands and yarns at SS26 Tokyo Fashion Week (women’s belt Article 71182-30P-LT and men’s belt Article 71182-33P-LT). A month later, at Taipei Fashion Week’s Sustainable Department Store show, the brand featured Article 78203-86R, an elastic made from 100% recycled polyester yarn and tested under AATCC 135. We covered both shows in our earlier article on the Story Wear runway collaboration.
That first round was an upcycling exercise. Story Wear builds its collections from deadstock denim and discarded jeans, so ECI’s leftover tapes and yarns fit naturally into its process. The design started from the material: width, color, texture, and stretch set the boundaries for what the belts could be.
Custom Elastic Tape: How ECI and Story Wear Took Trims to New York

From Upcycling to Custom Development

The next phase flipped the starting point. Story Wear collaborated with ECI to develop elastic tape for specific applications in its new designs, including waistbands and bag straps.
Two questions capture the difference:

Upcycling asks: What can we create from this existing material?
Custom development asks: What material should we develop for this design?

Both need a working knowledge of how textiles behave. The second, though, puts the trim on the design brief from day one. Width, stretch level, recovery (how well the tape returns to its original length after stretching), hand feel, color, and pattern all become choices the designer makes, rather than limits they inherit from whatever is on the shelf.

A Waistband That Carries the Message

A waistband has a clear job. It provides stretch, keeps the garment in place, and has to hold up through repeated wear and washing. Most of the time, it stays out of sight.
For Story Wear, the waistband had to carry the brand’s core value. The words “ZERO WASTE” are jacquard-woven directly into the custom elastic and worn on the outside of the garment. Because the lettering is part of the weave rather than a printed layer, it moves and stretches with the tape, turning a functional component into a graphic statement that echoes the brand’s patchwork denim concept.
This is where custom elastic tape gets interesting for designers. ECI develops waistband elastic that can carry logos, lettering, and color effects, and our finishing options, including digital printing, screen printing, heat-transfer printing, embossing, and silicone coating, add more ways to build visual or functional detail. For subtler branding, see our guide to tonal logo tape. A narrow strip of fabric can change how an entire outfit reads.

One Design Language, Two Applications

Story Wear also used ECI-developed tape for bag straps, including the strap on its New York Limited Edition Heart Shaped Airline Buckle Bag. Story Wear’s product page describes the strap as woven from recycled yarn with a custom Story Wear logo, carrying the brand’s identity from apparel into accessories.
The waistband and the strap may look related, but they ask different things of the tape:

Development factor	Waistband	Bag strap
Primary job	Stretch, fit, and recovery around the body	Carry weight and hold its shape
Stretch level	Controlled elongation with reliable recovery	Matched to the load, so the strap does not sag
Hand feel	Soft against skin	Comfortable on the shoulder, firm at attachment points
Construction	Works with garment seams and sewing method	Works with hardware, loops, and stitching under tension

That is why custom development involves more than picking a color. ECI’s vertically integrated production, from raw-material preparation through weaving and knitting, dyeing, finishing, and quality inspection, gives our team the manufacturing context to work out how a creative idea becomes a tape that performs in its actual application.
Custom Elastic Tape: How ECI and Story Wear Took Trims to New York

A Collaboration That Works Both Ways

The finished pieces traveled to New York during New York Fashion Week (September 10–15, 2026), where stylist Olga Yanul was among those wearing Story Wear. The bigger story, though, is what the collaboration gave each partner.

What Story Wear gained	What ECI gained
A brand message built into the garment itself, with “ZERO WASTE” woven into the waistband instead of added as a label	Designer input that pushes our tapes into visible, statement roles they rarely play in standard programs
One visual language across apparel and accessories, from waistband to bag strap	Real-world proof of how custom elastic performs in finished fashion and accessory products
Development support from yarn to finishing, so the idea could be built as a wearable component	A clear example to share with brands weighing custom elastic for identity and sustainability messaging

That exchange is what we look for in a development partnership. The designer brings the concept and the market context; ECI brings the textile engineering that turns it into a component people can wear and carry.

Why Trim Development Belongs Earlier in the Brief

In many development calendars, trims get chosen after silhouette, main fabric, and color are locked. By then, the question is usually “Which existing elastic is closest?” The Story Wear project shows what happens when the question becomes “What does this elastic need to do?”
For designers, product developers, and sourcing teams, a few questions help open that conversation with a narrow fabrics manufacturer:

Should the trim stay hidden, or be part of the visual design?
How much stretch and recovery does the application need?
Will it sit against skin, carry weight, or both?
Does it need a logo, lettering, or pattern, and should that be woven in or added as a finish?
Are recycled yarns or surplus materials part of the brief?

The earlier these answers reach the supplier, the more room there is to develop construction and appearance together.

ECI Takeaway: The Trim Can Start the Idea

The Story Wear collaboration moved in two steps: first, finding new uses for surplus elastic; then, developing elastic for a specific design. Both began with curiosity about what a narrow strip of fabric can do. ECI has been building its capabilities in narrow fabrics, custom development, and finishing since 1974, and projects like this one remind us that a waistband or a strap can carry function and meaning at the same time.
Have an idea for a waistband, bag strap, decorative tape, or another custom narrow-fabric application? Contact us to explore it with ECI’s development team:
https://www.ecigroup-global.com/en/contact-us.html

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How did ECI and Story Wear collaborate on custom elastic tape?
A: After an earlier upcycling project that used ECI’s surplus elastic for Tokyo and Taipei Fashion Week, Story Wear collaborated with ECI to develop elastic tape for specific applications, including a “ZERO WASTE” waistband and bag straps.
Q: What is the ZERO WASTE elastic waistband?
A: It is a custom elastic waistband developed through the Story Wear and ECI collaboration. The words “ZERO WASTE” are jacquard-woven into the tape as a visible design element that reflects Story Wear’s zero-waste denim concept.
Q: Which Story Wear products use ECI-developed tape?
A: Story Wear’s New York pieces use ECI-developed tape for the “ZERO WASTE” waistband and for bag straps, including the strap on the New York Limited Edition Heart Shaped Airline Buckle Bag.
Q: Can one custom elastic design work for both apparel and accessories?
A: The visual design can carry across, but each application needs its own development check. A waistband prioritizes stretch, recovery, and skin comfort, while a bag strap needs to hold its shape under load and work with hardware and stitching.
Q: What is the difference between upcycling and custom development for elastic trims?
A: Upcycling starts from existing material and asks what it can become. Custom development starts from the design and asks what material it needs, giving designers control over width, stretch, hand feel, color, and pattern.