J'N'C Magazine 4/2013

JEANSWEAR AND CONTEMPORARY FASHION

ENGLISH

No 54 / 4-2013

COOL CITIES SAN FRANCISCO STREET STYLES RETAIL TALKS AND SERVICE

DENMARK SPECIAL INTERVIEWS & FEATURES: MBYM, SAND, WON HUNDRED,

4 196 389 309509

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HUMMEL, AIAYU

ICH BIN EIN BERLINER. —JESSE BOYKINS III, New York

BREADANDBUTTER.COM BREAD & BUTTER. 14—16 JANUARY 2014 AIRPORT BERLIN-TEMPELHOF

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

IN WITH THE NEW! WELL, HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING COUNT? J’N’C WILL BE TURNING 15 NEXT YEAR!

We’ll be adding several new sections for you, our valued readers, to enjoy over the next few years. the magazine into adulthood. So once again we have protectively taken our baby in our arms and given the whole concept a onceover. As well as the visual changes made by our long-term business partners at the Wuppertal-based graphic design agency Chewing the Sun, with the inimitable, aesthetic sense of style we rate so highly, there are also a few modifications to the content: we’ll be adding several new sections for our valued readers to enjoy over the next few years. Firstly there is our ‘The Masterpieces’ section, in which we wish to acknowledge the fact that the fashion world is now concentrating more on quality than quantity.

This is where we showcase products that we think have what it takes to become the true classics of tomorrow.

We also want to take a closer, more intimate look at the protagonists of the fashion industry, which is why we are introducing a new section called ‘Brands & Brains’ with an emphasis on interviews.

In our current issue we are also showing that we value not only the loud but also the more dulcet tones of the fashion world: we met up with the

extrovert Christian Stadil from Danish sportswear label Hummel for an animated conversation at his home in Copenhagen, where his colourful personality really shone through. And during our visit to Newcastle we caught up with Agnes Kemeny, the designer for the new womenswear line at Nigel Cabourn, who really won us over with her understated approach. It was clear to see why Nigel, who recruited her for his label a few months ago, is so convinced she has a highly promising career ahead of her.

Another wish we granted ourselves in the run-up to our birthday was to become even more international. So for this issue we have not only brought correspondents Marie-Sophie Müller from New York and Oliver Horton from London on board to give us the lowdown from the global metropolises – we also took a trip across the big pond ourselves.

San Francisco, the home of the five-pocket, is the focus of this issue’s city special in which we are showing you the latest trends from beautiful, laid-

ILONA MARX Having worked at the publishing house since 1997, she has been editorin-chief of J'N'C magazine since 1999. All the more reason to be especially excited about the upcoming 15th anniversary.

But that is only a small preview of all the changes that have been going on here in the past weeks and months. back Northern California. Don’t just take our word for it though – not only are we letting you in on our handpicked tips for the local shopping scene, but you also get to hear it directly from the mouths of those who live and work there in our full-length interviews.

But that is only a small preview of all the changes that have been going on here in the past weeks and months. See for yourselves what massive developments we have been making to our beloved publication. Enjoy reading – we look forward to hearing what you think!

Ilona Marx

54 — 04/2013

The fact that we are about to reach this birthday milestone is a particular honour considering the financial crisis did not go unnoticed for us either.

And what helped us through it all? First and foremost the belief that there is a readership out there who loves exactly the same things we do: texts that not only impart information, but also convey an atmosphere and mood. And images that not only illustrate, but also evoke emotions and feelings.

In order to give J’N’C the 2014 birthday blowout it so rightly deserves we have already started laying the groundwork for the celebrations. The ‘mature’ J’N’C will be bigger, more beautiful, more opulent.

New facets, topics and reflections will accompany

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CONTENT

OVERVIEW

CONTENT

THE THING QUARTERLY

42

20

HUMMEL

82

TELLASON

40

LYLE & SCOTT

52

FREEMAN T. PORTER

56

COOL CITIES SAN FRANCISCO

46

46

THE MASTERPIECES

13

CLERMONT

62

WHO’S NEXT

66

54 — 04/2013

NIGEL CABOURN

NIGEL CABOURN

WON HUNDRED 4

78

COLUMN

8

FASHION SHOOTINGS

100

CONTENT

OVERVIEW

CONTENT 3 4 6 8 10

EDITORIAL CONTENT IMPRINT COLUMN / CONTRIBUTORS BITS & PIECES

THE MASTERPIECES

13

COOL CITIES SAN FRANCISCO

20

STREET STYLES RETAIL SERVICE TALKS – TELLASON TALKS – THE THING QUARTERLY TALKS – CAMELIA SKIKOS

22 24 36 40 42 44

BRANDS & BRAINS 46

LYLE & SCOTT INTERVIEW RICHARD MARTIN 52

FREEMAN T. PORTER INTERVIEW HENDRIK SCHIMMEL & PASCAL MULLER

BUILDING A BRIDGE TO THE HERE AND NOW

56

60

BROOKLYN BIJOUX

62

LABELS TO WATCH – BCN 080 LABELS TO WATCH – WHO’S NEXT

64 66

DENMARK SPECIAL 70

90

CONTENT STORE, LONDON

CONTENT PROVIDER

92

MESSEN 94 96 98

FASHION SHOOTINGS WASHED ASHORE

100

MEET YOU AT HAYWARD GALLERY

108

RICARDO ABRAHAO 116

WINTER VANDENBRINK 124

SEVDA ALBERS

EINE STRANDNOVELLE

130

FABRICS & TRENDS 138

DENIM TRENDS

WELCOME BACK

SAND INTERVIEW SÖREN SAND

140

FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION

BEING GOOD COMES EASILY TO US THESE DAYS

74

WON HUNDRED INTERVIEW NICOLAJ NIELSEN

A BOTTLE OF WINE ALWAYS HELPS

78

HUMMEL INTERVIEW CHRISTIAN STADIL

FIRM BUT FAIR

142

WHERE TO FIND US

144

TEN QUESTIONS FOR MILES JOHNSON

TOO MUCH INNER PEACE CAN ALSO BE A HINDRANCE

54 — 04/2013

CHIC IN JAPAN

SHOUT IT OUT

QUALITY AND GOOD TASTE FOR ALL

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HARCOZA, TOKYO

ISKO × HAIKURE

FEATURE MBYM

FREELANCE CONTRIBUTORS Gerlind Hector /gh, Oliver Horton, Franziska Klün, Cheryll Mühlen /cm, Marie-Sophie Müller, Magdalena

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YOUNG GUNS

FEATURE CLERMONT

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ilona Marx /im

MIAMI STYLE MACHINE

PEARL JAM REVISITED

WEARING THE TROUSERS

PUBLISHING MANAGEMENT Rainer Schlatmann, Kathrin Wimber

RETAIL THE WEBSTER, MIAMI

SEVDA ALBERS

ALBERTO INTERVIEW MARCO LANOWY

MANAGING DIRECTOR André Weijde

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HEIKO LASCHITZKI

THE COLLABORATOR

PUBLISHER B+B MEDIA COMPANY GmbH Hildebrandtstr. 24 d 40215 Düsseldorf Telefon +49 (0)211 8303 0 Telefax +49 (0)211 8303 200 info@jnc-net.de, www.jnc-net.de

FIBRES OF THE SOUL

BREAD & BUTTER PREMIUM, PANORAMA, JACKET REQUIRED, VISION MODEFABRIEK, DENIM BY PREMIÈRE VISION

NIGEL CABOURN INTERVIEW AGNES KEMENY & NIGEL CABOURN

WOMEN TO THE FRONTLINES

FEATURE AIAYU

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HEAD OF DESIGN LEVI’S VINTAGE

Piotrowski /mp, Sonja Ragaller, Fredericke Winkler /fw

COPY EDITOR Fabian Schamoni, Eva Westhoff

PHOTOGRAPHY Ricardo Abrahao, Sevda Albers, Heiko Laschitzki, Adriaan Louw, Rainer Rudolf / 7Daysisaweekend, Andy Rumball, Winter Vandenbrink, Bernd Wichmann, Andi Zimmermann

HEAD OF PRODUCTION Stefan Mugrauer

ILLUSTRATION Mathias Suess TRANSLATION Paula Hedley, Galina Green DESIGN & LAYOUT Martin Steinigen, chewing the sun, www.chewingthesun.com IMAGE EDITING Jean Pascal Zahn

PRINT Kössinger Druck, Schierling ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER / ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Pierre D’Aveta Telefon +49 (0)211 8303 151 p.daveta@bb-mediacompany.com PRICE Germany 9,50 Euros A, NL, B 10,50 Euros; E, P, I 11,50 Euros Switzerland 15.80 CHF

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L FA S H I O N T R A D E S H O W F A L L— W I N T E R 2 0 14 / 15

JA N UA RY S T A T I O N – B E R L I N w w w . p r e m i u m e x h i b i t i o n s . c o m

14 —16

COLUMN

TEXT GERLIND HECTOR ILLUSTRATION MATHIAS SUESS

Some of our

CONTRIBUTORS

MARIE-SOPHIE MÜLLER

COLUMN

54 — 04/2013

Germany’s Next Pug Model

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Pugs are considered the ultimate fashion pooch ‘du jour’. They are cuddly and wrinkly – and somehow incredibly snobby in their own overbred way. That makes them the favourite companion of the urban hipster, who deep down is also a real snob and who, apart from fellow start-up contacts and social networkers, pretty much goes through life as a loner. By the way, before the pug it was the aristocratic long-legged Weimaraner breed pounding city pavements as the ‘it’ dog, proving it’s not just in clothing fashion that every trend is followed by a counter-trend.

So if the same rules apply to skirt lengths and pets, why not also to the current dream job of young girls the world over: top model!

Around 100 years ago the Parisian couturier Paul Poiret wanted to put on a fashion show, so he began a search for pretty young ladies to pose in his sophisticated gowns. But he couldn’t find anyone! At the time, striding up and down in public, wearing dresses that didn’t even belong to you, was classed as highly improper. Back then it was just as bad as selling your body behind the Gare du Nord for a few sous. So good old Poiret had no other choice but to ship in a few American girls whose reputations were already in ruin.

Nowadays he would be inundated by a wild stampede of girls desperate to sashay down the catwalk. The famous pre-castings televised on Heidi Klum’s ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’ show would pale in comparison.

After all, these days a modelling career is definitely more desirable than a doctorate – and, hey, you don’t even need a GCSE to get your foot on the fashion ladder. But what’s really annoying is the whole fuss that is made about being too skinny! After all, it’s not as if models were any different in Twiggy’s day.

The simple fact is that more slender bodies make better clothes horses. And day in, day

out, we have to read dramatic complaints about the pressure aspiring models are under to diet and exercise etc. But at the end of the day, no one is being forced to drop out of school at 14 and survive on a diet of just cotton wool balls.

So save your sympathy! The fashion industry has always chosen to showcase its outfits on skinny models, and we have to seriously ask ourselves why every teenager, whatever their weight, believes they have what it takes to be the next Claudia Schiffer. Who, incidentally should have left it at just prettily smiling into the camera, rather than trying to ‘entertain’ us with her yawn-inducing personality on ‘Fashion Hero’, the new show that recently hit German TV screens. Own TV show, own fashion label, Kate Moss is now ‘Vogue’ editor … one might be forgiven for thinking that the ‘top model’ career per se has finally reached its peak, seeing as the hype couldn’t possibly get any bigger.

Which, on the up side, can only mean that the much longed-for counter-trend is finally in the starting blocks. Perhaps the teenie mob will soon come up with a new dream job for themselves. Something completely different, unprecedented even! Shot-putter, for example. At least then there would be no more moaning about stupid diets and snapped heels. But hold that thought: it would also mean that a new type of headline would start filling the tabloids, along the lines of “So unfair: our sweet Seraphina can’t get a job because she only weighs 99 kilos!” or “Steroid mania – what is the athletics mafia doing with our young girls?” Jeez Louise, it may simply be a fact of life that it’s impossible to please everyone all the time!

Mankind, monsters, mutations – MarieSophie loves immersing herself in the biographies of her contemporaries and writing insightful portraits. One person who she’d really love to shake hands with personally is her style icon Cate Blanchett.

Our new NYC correspondent is always busy travelling. Although it doesn’t always have to be as luxurious as the time she flew by private jet to Morocco. That was when Marie-Sophie had the honour of accompanying a group of senior citizens for a report.

“We brushed our teeth with champagne!”

Pardon? We’re looking forward to hearing more of her weird and wonderful stories!

SONJA RAGALLER Sonja is a true Bavarian who can’t imagine living anywhere other than close to the Alps. Whether in the Höllentalklamm gorge, by the Spitzingsee lake or in the Pfaffenwinkel region – all she needs is alpine views and a juicy portion of roast pork every once in a while. Which also fits in with her dream of one day launching a cool magazine about typical Bavarian clothing. Not old-fashioned and rustic though, but with a cool and crazy twist.

Apart from that Sonja has a penchant for strong guys, who are capable of getting things off the ground and have plenty of ideas. Diesel founder Renzo Rosso is one of them. But we’ll also be asking her soon just what she thinks of climbers Alexander and Thomas Huber. Over a pretzel and some Obazda of course!

RICARDO ABRAHAO Eight months travelling through Asia with a rucksack have made Ricardo a passionate photographer. During the trip he not only trained his eye for the perfect image, but also made himself useful as a care worker in a hospital in Bhutan. Incidentally, the native Brazilian didn’t mind at all that both TV and nicotine are banned in the country – he was too busy enjoying the variety of travelling as a boost to his creativity.

Ricardo first earned his spurs as a graphic and product designer; but the photographer, who has chosen Paris as his home base, soon fell under the spell of fashion photography. Career alternatives? He might consider giving up his day job to be a rock star, but nothing less.

MARKETPLACE FOR LEADING BRANDS INTERNATIONAL FASHION TRADE SHOW | 14 – 16 JANUARY 2014 www.panorama-berlin.com

BITS & PIECES

BITS & PIECES THE RIGHT END OF THE STICK

MRQT:

PREMIUM BY JACK & JONES:

FROM COOL

MADE

Christopher Walken goes fashion: as the new face of the ‘Made from Cool’ campaign by Danish label Premium

by Jack & Jones, the American actor plays a tailor with superpowers. The Oscar winner passionately embraces the trade with his exceptional knitting, cutting and sewing skills in these intriguing short films. And thanks to Christopher Walken in particular, the ‘Made from Cool’ tag certainly lives up to its promise. /cm JACKJONES.COM

22,000: that’s the number of wooden dowel rods used for the organic, flowing wall installation at MRQT. The menswear boutique

by Erdal Ersan recently opened at Paulinenstrasse 44 in Stuttgart and, in addition to this design spectacle, also offers a huge selection of streetwear and casual labels ranging from Undefeated to Rockwell down to Stüssy, Palace, Black Scale and Anything. /cm CHMARA.ROSINKE FOR COS:

MRQT.NET

IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING

54 — 04/2013

HUGO COSTA:

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NEXT LEVEL POP-UP STORE

The young designer Hugo Costa has been presenting his menswear collections at Portugal Fashion Week since 2010. But he only just registered his label this year. His reasoning: the products simply weren’t ready for the market until now. But his S/S 2014 collection, which mainly stands out with its strong minimalism, is proving that there’s definitely nothing left to quibble about when it comes to the saleability of his designs.

Costa was inspired by the vibrant street culture of various pulsating urban metropolises, in particular New York. /cm

Pure, simple, sustainable. With their mobile store for COS, the high-end label by Swedish clothing giants Hennes & Mauritz, the Vienna-based designer duo Chmara.Rosinke is heralding a new era of pop-up retail.

Their portable boutique, which is reminiscent of a traditional market cart, offers, in compact form, everything required for the perfect presentation of fashion items: from drawers and display surfaces to a clothing rail and seating, down to an integrated mirror. The solid pine wood COS pop-up store is a further development of the ‘Mobile Hospitality’ mobile wheelbarrow kitchen project, for which Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke have reaped a number of design awards. The latest coup of the tireless pair: a fashion presentation tool for the Viennese bespoke shirt maker Wäscheflott. /mp

HUGOCOSTABRAND.BLOGSPOT.DE

CHMARAROSINKE.COM

BITS & PIECES

SQUARING THE CIRCLE

IURI:

Triangle, circle, square. The designers of the recently established premium sock label IURI from Italy are focusing on the tried-and-tested design principle of ‘less is more’ and varying elementary geometric shapes in fresh colours. The result? Mondrianesque artworks for the feet. Luxurious minimalism for him and her, made in Italy. /mp

MATTER MATTERS:

POSTMODERN AESTHETICS Art Deco meets Memphis, the retro look meets Bauhaus and David Hockney meets Cubism.

With her eye-catchingly bold bags and scarves, Matter Matters designer Flora Leung is all about postmodern aesthetics. The combination of striking graphic elements and bygone style eras can be attributed to the Hong Kong designer’s career path: she

WWW.IURIONLINE.COM

first studied graphic design and worked for a long time as art director for various advertising agencies, as well as head buyer/ creative director for a high-end vintage store, before going to London to do a degree at the College of Fashion. /mp WWW.MATTERREALLYMATTERS.COM

G-SHOCK

ADOLESCENT ESCAPADES

KIT NEALE:

SK8ROOM X AI WEIWEI:

BOARDS

CHARITY

Admittedly, the S/S 2014 collection by Kit Neale is not exactly what you’d call suitable office wear. But that’s not the idea anyway: the Brit designer’s classic signature vibrant prints are inspired by the escapades of adolescence. A particular highlight of this collection is the ‘Peckham Riviera’ print. Taking its inspiration from the decorative rugs of children’s bedrooms, it depicts Kit’s London neighbourhood, Peckham. /cm

Why not hang a skateboard on your wall?! The decks offered by Sk8room in their Brussels store and online shop are certainly on a par with a lot of streetwise artworks. The dynamic Belgians recently collaborated with Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. He designed three boards, based on his works ‘Sunflower Seeds’ and ‘He Xie’, which each feature a quote from him. You’ll be doing a good deed too: 20 percent of the proceeds from the limited edition of 150 decks will be donated to Skateistan e. V., a non-profit organisation that combines skateboarding with educational programmes for children and teenagers. /cm

WWW.KITNEALE.COM

WWW.THESK8ROOM.COM

Three decades of toughness. G-SHOCK’s success story began 30 years ago with a virtually indestructible watch.

To celebrate this year’s important anniversary the Japanese watch brand has really gone to town with a number of pop-up stores and the G-SESSIONS series of events, including a Europe-wide creative contest. Aspiring talents from eight European metropolises were selected by experts and their designs and presentations are up for online voting on g-sessions.de. The presentation ceremony will take place at the big G-SESSIONS finale on 28 November in Berlin’s legendary Kraftwerk venue, in the presence of the G-SHOCK inventor Kikuo Ibe. The birthday celebrations also included numerous releases and spectacular collaborations, for example with the vinyl toy makers Medicom and the fashion avantgardists from Maison Martin Margiela. Not to mention other big names on the scene like Undefeated, Nigel Sylvester and Eric Haze. And streetwear legend New Era contributed a black and gold model with an elaborately designed face. A real highlight – just like the ‘Gold Series’, which will make even the most die-hard gold digger weak at the knees. /mp WWW.G-SHOCK.DE

54 — 04/2013

IN GOLD FEVER

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EINE STREETWEAR, S K AT E B O A R D I N G UND SNEAKER MESSE IN BERLIN J A N UA RY 15 — J A N UA RY 17 2 014

B R I G H T C O M PA N Y B R U N N E N ST R . 19 – 21, B E R L I N / M I T T E B R I G H T T R A D E S H O W. C O M

XVIII

THE MASTERPIECES

THE MASTERPIECES EDITOR’S PICK

J’N’C PROUDLY PRESENTS: THE MASTERPIECES THAT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME TRUE CLASSICS.

TEXT CHERYLL MÜHLEN

54 — 04/2013

PHOTOS BERND WICHMANN

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THE MASTERPIECES

Biker chic — ACNE Studios

MILDRED

“HEY JOHNNY, WHAT ARE YOU REBELLING AGAINST?” JOHNNY

“WHADDA YOU GOT?” The Wild One Movie, 1953

54 — 04/2013

MOU SUEDE ACNE STUDIOS

Biker jackets have a certain prestige about them – assuming they are made well, of course.

The best example of a successful, modern interpretation of the eternal classic is the light grey ‘Mou Suede’ made by Stockholm

label Acne for 2014. “When you develop as a designer, at some point you automatically change your attitude towards colours and become more open,” according to creative director Jonny Johansson, who is

actually known for his penchant for black. And the fact that the Acne model can effortlessly hold its own against the range of prestigious, black biker jackets, despite dancing out of line in terms of its colour, can be attrib-

WWW.ACNESTUDIOS.COM 14

uted to its masterfully perfect tailoring with the characteristic quilting on shoulders and elbows, accentuating buckles and striking zips with large pull tag. After all, Johansson knows exactly how to keep the rockabilly crew happy.

THE MASTERPIECES

Back to the basics — TEN C

JIMMY

“I DON’T WANNA BE THE SAME AS EVERYBODY ELSE. THAT’S WHY I’M A MOD, SEE? I MEAN, YOU GOTTA BE SOMEBODY, AIN’T YA, OR YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUMP IN THE SEA AND DROWN.” Quadrophenia Movie, 1973

Forever. This is the rather romantic promise of Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey from the Italian Label Ten c with their eponymous seven-piece collection that focuses on jackets and coats. And their waterproofed

parka really might be ‘forever’.

It is based on the loose-fitting model M-65 from 1951, worn by the soldiers of the United States Army for the first time during the Korean War – before the 1960s came and the style

developed into the cult item of the British Mod movement. The Ten c interpretation is made and finished in Italy from woven nylon polyester. What else makes the parka so unique? Over time it moulds itself to the wearer’s

body and gradually develops its own patina. Once you’ve worn it, you’ll never want to take it off.

Bring on the winter!

54 — 04/2013

THE PARKA TEN C

WWW.TEN-C.IT 15

THE MASTERPIECES

Slow and steady — NUDIE JEANS

“IN MY CHILDHOOD, ONLY BAD BOYS WERE ALLOWED TO WEAR JEANS.” JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

54 — 04/2013

STEADY EDDIE ORGANIC DRY SELVAGE NUDIE JEANS

It is their neverending passion for denim that drives Swedish jeans brand Nudie to perform at full throttle time and time again.

And their hearts beat for selvage jeans in particular. “We love slow denim,” Nudie proudly proclaims

– with an emphasis on the word ‘slow’. After all, the production process of selvage denims is a lot more labour intensive than in conventional production. But it also makes the jeans more durable. ‘Steady Eddie’ from

the menswear range is one of them – a stiff five-pocket regular fit made of organic cotton with straight leg and regular waist.

The trouser leg is not only slightly tapered but “due to the unbleached weft thread the orange

WWW.NUDIEJEANS.COM 16

selvage eventually turns green,” according to the designers.

After six months at the latest.

And that’s when the changes in colour and creases start telling their very own story. Just the way it should be.

THE MASTERPIECES

Advanced History — NIGEL CABOURN

“IN THE CASE OF WOMENSWEAR A LARGE PART OF THE CHALLENGE IS TO RETAIN THE TYPICAL NIGEL CABOURN DETAILS. FOR EXAMPLE THE LARGE POCKETS.” AGNES KEMENY Designer of Nigel Cabourn Womenswear.

It’s a well-known fact that Nigel Cabourn owns an impressive collection of vintage clothing, consisting of British military uniforms and workwear. But not many people know that his ‘Great Coat’, based on the model of the same name and

worn in both World Wars, was created in cooperation with the Italian label Cerruti: the ‘Great Coat Cerruti Cashmere’ is one of the first pieces from the new womenswear line for winter 2013 and “combines Italian luxury with the greatness of British history,”

according to Agnes Kemeny, designer of Nigel Cabourn womenswear. For the doublebreasted coat with horn buttons, striking shoulders and detachable muskrat fur, especially for the British brand, Cerruti sprayed the 800-gram heavy

cashmere with a fine, grey-brown layer of colour in order to revive the look of bygone days. Mission accomplished, in our opinion.

54 — 04/2013

GREAT COAT CERRUTI CASHMERE NIGEL CABOURN

WWW.CABOURN.COM 17

THE MASTERPIECES

Royal classics — MENIL

“THE IDEA WAS TO TRANSPORT THE CLASSIC DUFFLE COAT INTO THE PRESENT DAY, WITHOUT CHANGING TOO MUCH. AND BY THIS WE MEAN REPLACING THE WIDE FIT WITH A FIGUREENHANCING VERSION.” FELIX STAEUDINGER CEO of Panorama Distribution, Menil distributor

54 — 04/2013

CORNWALL CLASSIC DUFFLE MENIL

Although the duffle coat is regarded as the quintessential British classic, it is actually named after the Belgian municipality Duffel, where the heavy woollen fabric originates from. The Cornwall Classic Duffle

by the German-French label Menil, which was founded in 2011, is certainly likely to find favour amongst ladies and gentlemen with its red double-face wool and neon-yellow highlights, as well as the checked inside lining

with toggles made of jute and wood. Above all, it impresses with its durability: every coat is made by the experienced hands of a master tailor in East London, according to a procedure used over 100 years ago by the British

WWW.MENIL.EU 18

Royal Navy for making robust outerwear.

A hotel so grand, they built a city around it

Experience the magic of the Holidays in a timeless San Francisco landmark, as elegant and graceful today as it was when it opened its doors over a century ago. Sitting proudly atop Nob Hill, a prime location to enjoy the festive season in our beautiful city, The Fairmont San Francisco provides old-world service coupled with modern luxury and technology.

Holiday Take the Elevator Home rates starting at $239* per night including parking.

For reservations or more information, please call 1 800 441 1414 and ask for Take the Elevator Home, or visit www.fairmont.com/san-francisco.

*Valid until December 30, 2013, based on availability

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO

TEXT ILONA MARX PHOTOS ADRIAAN LOUW

Cool Cities

SAN FRANCISCO From the West Coast to the rest of the world: San Francisco is deemed the birthplace of the five-pocket jeans, the most important fashion statement of the past 140 years.

According to the legendary tale, German immigrant Levi Strauss and the tailor Jacob Davis were the first to hammer rivets into the robust trousers they had made for gold miners, in order to make the workwear garment even more durable. The innovative duo would no doubt never have dreamed that, from a fashion point of view, they were making a product for eternity and at the same time a sartorial symbol for the youth of generations to come.

A century and a half later, times have changed, but one thing remains: the innovator attitude in what is probably the most laidback metropolis of America.

And this is partly also due to the ‘Yes we can!’ spirit that prevails here. With their relaxed lifestyle, people here are flexible, open and uncomplicated.

San Franciscans enjoy life and everything the city

San Franciscans enjoy life and everything the city has to offer. has to offer. Picnics in the park, sport in the fresh air, good healthy food and excellent wine, beach life and big surf, as well as the vibrant nightlife.

54 — 04/2013

So you can probably guess: Northern Californians are not so big on high fashion or lengthy grooming and styling. After all, who would want to totter up and down the steep hills in high heels or be taken by surprise wearing something skimpy when the temperature unexpectedly plummets? In reality, a pretty substantial proportion of San Francisco’s inhabitants seem to spend most of the day in running gear. Whether or not they are all sports freaks or simply like to create that impression is irrelevant.

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Despite the rather pragmatic dress code, the streetscape is anything but. As the USA’s gaylesbian Eldorado, San Francisco is home to a colourful, vibrant bunch. Add to that the hippie vibe and festival atmosphere in the parks – best seen in the Mission Dolores Park on a sunny weekend – and the D.I.Y. movement that is way more

active here than in Europe: self-confident and uninhibited, giving perfectionism the cold shoulder, a new generation of San Franciscan designers are beavering away with refreshing results. Compared to London or Paris, the atmosphere of the city could be likened to a Waldorf School, full of happy, free and optimistic young people. But despite this, tradition also plays an important role: not just because Levi’s, the mother of all denim brands, has its headquarters in the city. The entire city breathes denim, and the density of the top-notch indigo fabric is just as high as the hills overlooking the bay.

SAN FRANCISCO IN FIGURES Population: 805,463 Number of hills: 43 Length of road network: 1,088 miles Steepest street: 31.5% gradient (Filbert between Leavenworth and Hyde) Longest street: 7.29 miles (Mission Street) Cable car riders per annum :7,042,503 Bridges: 8

The greatest inspiration and best overview of fashion and culinary trends on the street can be experienced on a wander along Valencia Street.

This is where visitors can find everything that makes San Francisco so desirable: small pretty boutiques, health food restaurants, vintage furniture stores, coffee shops and thrift stores. And thanks to the length of the increasingly popular shopping mile, there is plenty of space for new ideas to develop.

Another place undergoing major changes is the Outer Sunset District, where the most exciting new retail and gastro additions are sprouting up out of the ground at the moment. Somewhat more estab-

Length of the Golden Gate Bridge: 1.7 miles Construction period for the Golden Gate Bridge: 4 years Visitors to Alcatraz per annum: 1.4 million

Compared to London or Paris, the atmosphere of the city could be likened to a Waldorf School. lished but equally worth a visit are North Beach, the Italian district at the foot of Telegraph Hill, Hayes Valley, a dream for shopaholics and Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights.

We roamed the streets of the hottest districts, interviewed the coolest people, and of course took photos of the trendiest street styles, capturing the essence of San Francisco to make sure you’re well informed for your next trip.

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO

A HEADY GOLD RUSH FEELING STILL ABOUNDS IN PROBABLY THE MOST RELAXED METROPOLIS

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OF ALL AMERICA.

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — STREET STYLES

SAN FRANCISCO STREET STYLES TEXT Ilona Marx PHOTOS Adriaan louw

DANNY, 38 surfboard builder T-shirt & jeans Patagonia Shoes Rainbow Sandals Wetsuit Matuse

“ANYTHING GOES!” CAITLIN

CAITLIN, 32 product design engineer Jacket & trousers Zara Shirt Brooks Brothers Tie Burberry Socks Calvin Klein Shoes Studio Pollini MALA, 21 massage therapist Jacket Marciano Sweater & trousers Zara Boots Report Bag Vintage Necklace from Tibet

SUSIE, 27 musician QUINN, 22 sales assistant Shirt Post Overalls Trousers Levi’s Boots Red Wing Shoes Glasses Moscot

T-shirt Customised by Susie Trousers Wrangler Shoes Jeffrey Campbell Necklace Fiat Lux

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“PEOPLE HAVE A MORE ASA, 21 student Sweatshirt Asos Trousers Topshop Shoes VPL

EXPRESSIVE LOOK HERE THAN IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.” QUINN

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IMPRESSED BY THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE LOOK HERE. YOU WON’T SEE ANYTHING TWICE!” SAMANTHA

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — STREET STYLES

“I COME FROM NEW YORK AND I AM

SAMANTHA, 37 manager at Clinique Dress Forever 21 Shoes Nine West Bag Coach Glasses from SoHo

SOFIA, 29 stylist Shirt J.Crew Shorts Levi’s Cap Acne Shoes Dr. Martens Glasses Retrosuperfuture Bag Sandro

MARTA, 27 buyer at Voyager

JEFFREY, 26 sales assistant at Rand + Statler Shirt American Apparel Jeans H&M Shoes Vans Watch Vestal

SHIAO, 29 chocolate maker Dress People Tree Kimono Vintage, from Japan Shoes Swedish Hasbeens Short necklaces Julie Cristello Long necklaces Julie Cristello X Heath Ceramics

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Pullover American Apparel Shirt, hat & rings Vintage Trousers Won Hundred Shoes Chubasco

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

SAN FRANCISCO RETAIL UNIONMADE From a strategic point of view, the location is perfect: slap bang between the Mission Dolores Park, the place to hang out and soak up the Woodstock-vibes on warm weekends, and Castro, perhaps the most colourful of the city’s districts. Unionmade, one of the city’s best denim stores, is the brainchild of Todd Barket, who, before he became a shop owner, was responsible for visuals, marketing and merchandising at GAP, and also Carl Chiara, who worked for a premium Levi’s line as head of design. In 2009 the two of them opened a shop close to the fashion crowd but quite a way from the expensive Valencia Street.

That way the duo were able to double the size of the shop in 2011 without taking too much of a high risk financially. Customers love trying on all the denim styles and really rate the larger choice of stock. A few hills further south in the Noe Valley is ‘Mill’, Unionmade’s counterpart for ladies.

BRANDS Pendleton, Levi’s, Tellason, Alex Mill, Champion Sportswear, Chimala, Woolrich, Red Wing Shoes et al.

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UNIONMADE 493 Sanchez Street San Francisco, CA 94114 T +1 415 8613373 OPEN Mon – Sat 11 am – 7 pm, Sun 12 – 6 pm WWW.UNIONMADEGOODS.COM

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

HOWARD GEE, THE HEART AND SOUL OF A-B FITS, LOVES TALL TALES. AND HE HAS PLENTY OF HIS OWN TO TELL TOO.

BRANDS

Howard Gee, the heart and soul of A-B Fits, has just one mission: making sure his customers instantly fall head over heels in love with their jeans-clad reflection in the mirror. Howard

an old sewing machine that had served as a ship’s anchor until he repaired it, taught himself to sew and now uses it to singlehandedly create perfectly tailored shirts.

These are the kind of stories that Howard Gee loves, and he certainly has quite a few of his own to tell too.

A-B FITS 1519 Grant Avenue San Francisco, CA 94133 T +1 415 9825726 OPEN Tues – Sat 11:30 am – 6:30 pm, Sun 12 noon – 6 pm

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A-B FITS

peddles his indigo-blue wares at the upper end of Grand Street, one of the hippest streets in the North Beach area. He has been selling most of the labels he stocks for years and only does business with people he likes personally. Like Tony Patella and Pete Searson of Tellason. Or Michael Masterson, who found

A-B Fits, Rising Sun, Raleigh Denim, Blue Blanket, Tellason, Levi’s Vintage et al.

WWW.ABFITS.COM

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

BRANDS

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LITTLE PAPER PLANES

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Unlike many of her colleagues, Kelly Lynn Jones has expanded her flourishing online shop into a real bricks and mortar store.

“I wanted to have the personal contact with my customers and get direct feedback from them,” the 36-year-old explains by way of motivation. She has an art background but also runs her own fashion label. “The shop gives me the opportunity to combine art and fashion,” is how

Sub Urban Riot, Bridge & Burn, Pinecone & Chickadee, Make Smith Leather Goods, Sharp Shirter, Fleet Objects, Things Like Diamonds et al.

she describes her concept. And so the dazzlingly bright store is more reminiscent of a gallery than a regular shop floor. Kelly’s affinity to art is also apparent in her activities: she does interviews with young international artists, presents herself in her blog and even publishes books.

Thanks to her good connections to SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, each of her publications are stocked in

LITTLE PAPER PLANES 855 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 T +1 415 6434616

the library collection. A specially designated corner of her shop is available for work by local artists.

Workshops, readings and lectures are also hosted there.

OPEN Tues – Sat 12 noon – 7 pm, Sun 12 noon – 6 pm WWW.LITTLEPAPERPLANES.COM

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL BRANDS Lookout & Wonderland, Commune Design, Jenny Pennywood, Lauren Manoogian, Coast-Wide, Postalco, Me & Arrow et al.

GENERAL STORE 4035 Judah Street San Francisco, CA 94122 T +1 415 6820600 OPEN Mon – Fri 11 am – 7 pm, Sat + Sun 10 am – 7 pm

The sleepy Outer Sunset neighbourhood, which has the feel of a small cosy holiday town, is home to General Store. It’s only a few hundred yards down the road from the shop front to the Pacific Ocean. This is the part of town the surfer community calls home but according to the artists Serena Mitnik-Miller and her partner, the architect, skater and surfer Mason St. Peter, what was missing here was a general store.

But of course they were thinking more in the direction of vintage styles, ceramics, books, magazines, cards and leather accessories than your average dry goods.

Serena collects all of these treasures on her travels through the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Particularly worth a mention is the wooden, full-circle archway reminiscent of a halfpipe inside the shop and the cute greenhouse for suc-

culents in the courtyard outside.

Both features can be attributed to Mason, who couldn’t help but add his two-penneth worth to the store’s success – and it’s certainly helped: a year ago the General Store opened its second branch, in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

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WWW.VISITGENERALSTORE.COM

GENERAL STORE

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

BRANDS Sabrina Dehoff, Levi’s Vintage, Kate Sheridan, Natthakur, 2 x 3, Office et al.

EDEN & EDEN 560 Jackson Street San Francisco, CA 94133 T +1 415 9830490

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EDEN & EDEN

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Rachel Eden has found true happiness in San Francisco.

Nevertheless, the native Brit was missing quite a few things from her homeland after relocating to the US. So she decided to open ‘Eden & Eden’, stocking products from Britain and other European countries from across the pond. The cosy little store on Jackson Street, on the corner of Columbus Avenue, may be small but offers enough clothing racks, display cabinets and shelving to show all the vari-

OPEN

ous objects in their best light.

Rachel buys in London where she can get a good overview of the fashion trends in the ‘old world’. That’s where she also discovered Berlin-based Sabrina Dehoff, her favourite jewellery designer. To complement her designs, Rachel also stocks Tatty Devine, whose humorous designs are highly appreciated by her clientele. Cushions by the French line Rouge du Rhin, lamps by Elisabeth & Sons and Hutschenreuther vintage vases

Mon – Fri 10 am – 7 pm, Sat 10 am – 6 pm WWW.EDENANDEDEN.COM

LITTLE BRITAIN ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CHINATOWN!

from Germany complete the offer. The ‘Bus Roll’ posters from London (which list all the stops of each bus line) sell like hot cakes.

Little Britain on the outskirts of Chinatown!

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL BRANDS Adidas SLVR, Scotch & Soda, Paul & Joe Sister, Mollusk, Twothirds, Wood Wood, Mollusk, Won Hundred, First Rite, American Vintage et al.

VOYAGER 365 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94103 T +1 415 5783363 OPEN

VOYAGER

THEVOYAGERSHOP.COM

The widely travelled owners of Voyager have one vision: the products they offer which come from all over the world – Japan, Europe and USA – should give something back to the world, convey a message, tell a story.

“We care about where our products come from,” explains the store’s buyer Marta Fernández Martínez. “And we attach great value to supporting local brands as well as international ones.” Like Nikki Garcia

for example, the young designer of the First Rite collection. Her flowing silk tops and trousers with watercolour-style colour gradients are displayed harmoniously alongside Scandinavian fashion by Hope, Wood Wood and Won Hundred. And the interior of the shop also exudes a local character: “We have a ton of really talented friends here in the area,” enthuses Marta.

“They built the shelves, tables, changing cubicles and the sales

“OUR PRODUCTS SHOULD CONVEY A MESSAGE.” MARTA FERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ

room.” A hanging garden, which serves as a presentation space for cosmetics creates a kind of green area for the shop. The offer is rounded off with cookery books and stationery. The most recent additions come from the makers of Spartan, the legendary accessories store that is taking the world by storm from its base in Austin, Texas.

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Mon – Sun 11 am – 7 pm

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

BRANDS Levi’s, Levi’s Made & Crafted, Levi’s Vintage LEVI’S 815 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94102 T +1 415 5010100 OPEN Mon – Sat 9 am – 9 pm, Sun 10 am – 8 pm WWW.LEVI.COM

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LEVI’S

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There is no getting around Levi’s when you’re in San Francisco.

The influence the label has had on the entire denim scene, and the whole world of fashion, simply cannot be expressed in words. So it isn’t surprising that their flagship store here, which opened its doors in August 2013, is setting standards for the shopping scene. Light timbers,

THE LEVI'S STORE IS SETTING STANDARDS FOR THE LOCAL SHOPPING SCENE.

glass display cases, shelving systems serving as room dividers, industrial lamps and an abstract wooden sculpture exude a rough and ready arty ambience. A ceiling-height wall of jeans covering several metres, showcases all the latest men’s styles, with the ladies’ jeans filling the shelves on the other side, forms the centrepiece of the store. A spacious

window niche is reserved for the team of customizers, where you can have special touches added to your jeans. There is a special small section for the premium lines like Levi’s Made & Crafted and Levi’s Vintage, which perfectly transports their spirit and underlines their exclusivity.

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

THIS IS WHERE MATERIALS ARE EXAMINED AND COLOURS ARE DISCUSSED.

TAYLOR STITCH been running their own store on Valencia Street since 2011.

This is where they advise and do fittings, and where materials are examined and colours are discussed. In addition to the shirts, which are now also available for women, they have a selection of denims, knitwear and accessories on offer. Together with Rancourt & Company the guys have also designed a made-to-order shoe line and

even chosen a select range of vintage Rolex watches together with their friends from Fourtané.

And to top it all off, they stock Tellason denims and Joshu+Vela canvas bags. Leather goods by Makr Carry Goods, Goodhew socks, watches from Uniform Wares, iPad covers by Dodocase, the Japanese cult socks

by Anonymous Ism and, last but not least, wooden objects by Enormouschampion.

TAYLOR STITCH 383 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94103 T +1 415 3228773 OPEN Daily from 11 am – 7 pm TAYLORSTITCH.COM

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Tailor-made shirts? Surely that’s something reserved for more mature well-heeled gentlemen?

Mike Maher, Barrett Purdum and Michael Armenta, the three guys behind Taylor Stitch, don’t agree.

And their customers are proving them right. Together with local family-run businesses the styleconscious young entrepreneurs develop modern shirts, tailored to the measurements of their stylish clientele. The trio have

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL

BRANDS Eric Ellison, Mollusk, Christenson, Alex Nost, Campbell Brothers, Ashley Lloyd, Fineline, Patagonia, A.P.C, Norse Projects

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MOLLUSK

32

If you take the M Train towards Outer Sunset, the district that is bordered to the north by the Golden Gate Park and ends in the west at Ocean Beach, you’ll make an interesting discovery: despite its great location and the corresponding quality of life here, there aren’t endless rows of expensive villas. Instead, Outer Sunset has more the character of a seasoned working-class district. The reason? The infamous fog is a frequent guest, which is why the prices here are still affordable. And ideal for a small alternative community and their

unconventional business ideas.

Like those of the boys from Mollusk, the city’s coolest surf store. John McCambridge and Johann St. Cloid recognised the area’s economic potential and started to offer boards, shorts and shirts here back in 2005.

Patagonia, Norse Projects, A.P.C. and their own label Mollusk are the backbone of the portfolio, rounded off by windbreakers, bikinis, sweats, hoodies and wetsuits. And because they are a pretty interdisciplinary bunch, you can also buy surfer movies and books on the topic here. The

MOLLUSK 4500 Irving Street San Francisco, CA 94122-1132 T +1 415 5646300

eye-catching interior objects are

by Jay Nelson, the locally revered shop fitter who was responsible for the beautification of the new Voyager shop on Valencia Street.

OPEN Mon – Sat 10 am – 6:30 pm, Sun 10 am – 6 pm MOLLUSKSURFSHOP.COM

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL BRANDS CP Shades, Levi’s Made & Crafted, Raleigh Denim, American Colors, Courtshop Denim, Object & Totem et al.

LEAH HAS A PASSION FOR CULTISH, SURREAL AND WEIRD.

RELIQUARY Escaping the frustrations of a design job at GAP gave her the last kick she needed to take the plunge into self-employment.

Leah Bershad already had a passion for reliquaries from her early childhood – or put another way, basically anything cultish, surreal and weird. She never knew quite how much

this passion would be appreciated by San Francisco’s fashion fans until several of her carefully selected pieces of jewellery started selling like hot cakes. As well as unusual rings, necklaces and bracelets and some décor pieces, Leah also stocks precious textiles. The shop owner studied at the famous New York Parsons

The New School for Design and it certainly shows. Some of the selections are bought in from labels like Levi’s Vintage, Raleigh Denim, Ace & Jig and S.N.S. Herning. And some she picks up at flea markets and vintage shops on her countless travels.

When she travels she likes to hit the lesser-trodden paths. Not Paris, London and New York, but Africa, India and Asia. The fact that her shop, with its grey-blue whitewashed walls, has a harmonious museum-like feel to it is also down to Leah’s good taste.

Everything at Reliquary, down to the last little detail, is of her making.

RELIQUARY 537 Octavia Street San Francisco, CA 94102 T +1 415 4314000 OPEN Mon – Sat 11 am – 7 pm, Sun 12 noon – 6 pm RELIQUARYSANFRANCISCO.COM 54 — 04/2013

ANYTHING

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL +

SAN FRANCISCO RETAIL +

MONUMENT Vintage home furniture and décor at its best, from rare originals to perfectly restored classics. Once a month the store’s owner heads off for a road trip through Arizona and New Mexico in search of new design classics. Potential customers should check out the website before visiting.

MONUMENT.1STDIBS.COM

SAN FRANCISCO IS THE WORLD CAPITAL OF THE DIY MOVEMENT.

HEATH CERAMICS ALAMEDA POINT

Since 1948 the name has stood for high quality ceramics. And because this is a trend that has recently had something of a renaissance in San Francisco, they have opened a big store with its own in-house tile manufactory in the Mission district. And their headquarters in Sausalito are also well worth a look.

On the first Sunday of every month the best flea market in town sets up camp on this peninsula.

A fantastic offer with inspiration galore, but a word of warning: you’re better off just browsing instead of buying. The antiques here are a lot pricier than in Europe.

WWW.HEATHCERAMICS.COM

WWW.ALAMEDAPOINTANTIQUESFAIRE.COM

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AL’S ATTIRE

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Al has been making clothing and shoes for 30 years. He now puts the skills he learnt during years of working in the opera and theatre to use for those who like to get a bit theatrical in their private lives.

Special wishes? No problem for Al. And his clientele, including Carlos Santana, Rob Schneider and Helena Bonham Carter, know that’s worth its weight in gold.

ALSATTIRE.COM

GRAVEL & GOLD This shop is the epicentre of the Mission district’s creative community. In addition to their own line, the three owners stock products by local talents.

Whether you’re looking for handmade sandals, wooden spoons or pickled cucumbers this is the number one address. Unadulterated DIY pleasure awaits.

GRAVELANDGOLD.COM

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — RETAIL +

LA BOUTIQUE, L’ART ET LA MODE Carole and Yvan Benathan moved here from the French Alps four years ago. And they are working on a common project: establishing European fashion in the Bay Area. One example of labels they stock is their favourite from Berlin, Firma.

WOODSHOP Four guys who share one passion: wood. One makes chairs, the other tables, the third builds surfboards and the fourth is a sign maker. These guys don’t make any compromises when it comes to craftsmanship and design and really are the perfect team.

WWW.LABOUTIQUE-GALERIE.COM

WWW.WOODSHOPSF.COM

CARROTS Melissa and Catie Grimm are quite happy to describe themselves as fashion addicts. No wonder: they run one of the most top quality fashion stores in San Francisco. On offer are Maison Martin Margiela, Current/Elliott, Rick Owens – and all the other highly coveted names we know and love.

WWW.SFCARROTS.COM

RAND + STATLER The uptown sister of the neighbouring denim store Azalea. Biggest choice of Acne in town. As well as A.P.C., Reigning Champ, Paul Smith, Comme des Garçons and jewellery by local designers.

The old world meets the new.

RANDANDSTATLER.COM

A natural history department store. This curiosities shop offers everything from stuffed lions to meat-eating plants.

But they make sure all their stock is certified as coming from ethical sources. But even so, the only things to get out of here alive are the plants.

NOT ONLY DENIM FANS BUT ALSO INTERIOR DESIGN FREAKS WILL BE IN THEIR ELEMENT HERE.

PUBLIC BARBER SALON Maximise your beauty as well as your intelligence – what could be better? In Public Barber Salon there are around 1000 literary works just waiting to be devoured by the bookworms who come here to have their barnets styled.

WWW.PAXTONGATE.COM

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PAXTON GATE

WWW.PUBLICBARBERSALON.COM

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — SERVICE

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

WHETHER SLOW FOOD OR HEALTH FOOD – SAN FRANCISCO IS A HOTSPOT FOR HEALTH FANATICS AND CONNOISSEURS ALIKE.

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20TH CENTURY CAFÉ

36

Michelle Polzine was really bowled over by the coffee houses in Vienna and Budapest.

So now it’s the smell of Apfelstrudel and cheesecake that fills the air in her café here in San Francisco. Both baked by Michelle herself in her open kitchen, it’s a sure fire way of guaranteeing they hardly have time to cool down before being snapped up by sweet-toothed customers. The fact that she has a thing for the good old days is apparent not only in the retro décor of her 20th century café: dressed from head to toe in vintage clothing, she also looks like she has fallen out of a time machine. Her homemade ice cream, honey cake and ‘Krasinski’ tartlets are legendary.

Even tacos can rise to great heights. The Tacolicious story started at the Ferry Plaza farmers’ market and is meanwhile being continued at four locations throughout town, including on Valencia Street. The reason for their vertical career take-off is clear: the food on offer is brilliant. Mexican in its roots but with a Californian twist, i.e. made using local organic produce.

Because reservations aren’t possible and half of San Francisco forms orderly queues for their tacos, it’s best to come before or after the lunchtime rush.

If the local hero Tony Patella from denim brand Tellason is to believed, then Tornado is San Fran’s coolest beer bar. And Tony clearly likes to go the whole hog, because in the same breath he recommends ‘Rosemarie’s Sausages’ right next door. An insider tip for real men who need to keep their strength up with chilled beer and hot sausages at any time of the day or night.

20THCENTURYCAFE.COM

TACOLICIOUS.COM

WWW.TORONADO.COM

TACOLICIOUS TORNADO

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — SERVICE THE FAIRMONT SAN FRANCISCO 950 Mason Street San Francisco, CA 94108 T +1 415 7725000 WWW.FAIRMONT.DE/ SAN-FRANCISCO

FAIRMONT HOTEL wandered through the opulently decorated lobby, which, after undergoing refurbishments, is exactly as it was when it opened in 1907. In 1960 the tower opened – an annex with 24 storeys, its north-facing rooms affording a fantastic view of the entire Bay area. The hotel has 591 rooms, several large function rooms (in which jazz and Motown greats like the Supremes, James Brown, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald have performed) decorated

with hand-painted frescoes and crystal chandeliers, a spa, various shops, a European-style café and two restaurants. And those are two of the finest the city has to offer: next to the lobby is ‘Laurel Court’ where breakfast is also served, and the legendary ‘Tonga Room’ and its ‘Hurricane Bar’. The combination of Hawaiian Tiki-bar and Asian restaurant not only attracts many guests because of its exotic food: every hour on the hour there is

a simulated tropical hurricane show complete with thunder, lightning and a downpour. An experience best enjoyed with a fortifying Mai Tai in hand at the bar.

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If only these walls could talk! The Fairmont Hotel, high up on Nob Hill, is a true institution with a long and colourful past. Since it opened in 1907, the hotel has accommodated royals, rock stars, politicians, VIPs, actors and millionaires. It started off with the US president (including John F. Kennedy who is said to have had his trysts with Marilyn Monroe here) as well as the Stones, Al Pacino, Elton John and Jean Paul Gaultier – who have all

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — SERVICE

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

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BAR JULES

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Bar Jules is located in the hip Hayes Valley neighbourhood and is a real feel-good place. The cheerful colours inside, and the hearty food coming from the open kitchen radiate a feeling of joy amongst the young crowd it attracts. The lunch menu is a soup, salad and sandwiches kind of affair. It changes on a daily basis, ensuring diners at Bar Jules will never get bored. In the evenings a few more elaborate options are added to the menu.

The proximity to the San Francisco Symphony and the ballet also contribute to its popularity: art and culture vultures come here to fortify themselves before the shows. And Jules has a special treat in store for them: the largeformat pictures on the walls are

by Dan Miller, an autistic painter whose artworks have even made it into the MoMA.

Coffee culture is a true religion in San Francisco – and the Four Barrel Café on Valencia Street is the locals’ favourite place of caffeine worship. They roast their own beans here. The Four Barrel owners have only one credo: no river too deep, no mountain too high, when it comes to creating the best blends they possibly can. And so you don’t have to go cold turkey they also sell their blended roasts in vacuum packs, in one of their three branches and in many of the health food stores around town.

From a culinary point of view, for Craig and Annie Stoll, the owners of Locanda, all roads lead to Rome. And because Craig really did learn his trade in bella Italia the couple are pretty popular in San Francisco. The two branches of Pizzeria Delfina, which also belong to the couple, are incredibly popular amongst the hipsters in town. In Locanda, however, it’s a bit more upmarket. Here head chef Anthony Strong cooks up new menus every day, best enjoyed with the great Italian and Californian wines.

WWW.BARJULES.COM

FOURBARRELCOFFEE.COM

WWW.LOCANDASF.COM

FOUR BARREL

LOCANDA

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO — SERVICE

Kitchen chef Nick Balla combines his eastern European cuisine with a large selection of homebaked breads from his own bakery. A perfect recipe for success. Nick, who learnt his craft in Budapest, makes magic using simple recipes and ingredients that really pack a punch. The rustic looking unusual and hearty dishes are not only a treat for the taste buds but also for the eyes.

Don’t miss out on the delicious Fisherman’s Stew, with green chillies and shiitake mushrooms.

American cheese? It’s not something you would normally expect to come across at your local deli. But here there is an entire restaurant devoted to the dairy delicacy! Pretty brave, to say the least. But the young owner of Mission Cheese was sure she was onto a good thing, and has certainly been proved right. Her cheese bar, which stocks almost exclusively local dairy products, has become a real hotspot.

Whether breakfast, snack, lunchtime or supper, there’s always room for cheese!

One of the city’s best restaurants is located somewhat off the beaten track in the Outer Sunset district, not far from the Pacific coast. But that doesn’t make it any less popular. Head chef Brett Cooper who learned his skills as sous-chef at the legendary ‘Coi’ rewards those who have made it out here with amazing delicacies.

The owners of Outerlands, Lana Porcello and Dave Muller belong to the inner circle of the local surf scene and see themselves as curators to Cooper’s “art cuisine”. Since word has spread about how great it is to eat al fresco here the place is literally bursting at the seams. Which means they’ll fortunately be extending the premises soon.

WWW.BARTARTINE.COM

MISSIONCHEESE.NET

OUTERLANDSSF.COM

BAR TARTINE

MISSION CHEESE

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OUTERLANDS

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — TELLASON

SAN FRANCISCO TALKS TELLASON Authentic, true and original are three words we’ve all heard a hundred times by now, especially in the denim business. So it’s all the more refreshing when you meet someone in the industry who knows how to take the hackneyed buzzwords and really fill them with life. Like Tony Patella and Pete Searson for example – together they are the brains behind Tellason.

BRAND HISTORY

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Tony Patella and Pete Searson founded their label in 2008. Tellason is a portmanteau of both their surnames. What Tony and Pete value above all is the fact that their all-American products are actually produced in America. The raw selvedge denim is sourced from the Cone Denim White Oak Mills in Greensboro, North Carolina and the jeans are made in San Francisco.

WWW.TELLASON.COM

Distributed in Germany by WWW.AMTRAQ.COM

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If you take the ferry from San Francisco past Alcatraz, you end up in Sausalito, a small town of perhaps 8000 inhabitants directly on the bay, which gives off more of a holiday town vibe than being a suitable location for a ‘serious’ business. This is where the founders of Tellason have rented a space in an industrial loft, with artists, designers and other creative minds as their neighbours. At the beginning of their careers as label bosses they only had one single jeans fit on offer. “We have a long-term mentality,” says Tony. And Pete: “We’re just doing things that make sense to us.” The two dogs gambolling around us bark in agreement.

Pete, Tony, to found an entire business centred on just one single jeans fit – how do you come up with an idea like that?

Tony Patella: I’ve known Pete since around 1990. We’ve both been in the clothing business for many years now; around a quarter of a century. I’ve been involved with quite a number of denim brands, and Pete worked

Pete Searson & Tony Patella

in sales. So it just kind of made sense to put our combined expertise into one basket: 100 days later we were holding our first prototype in our hands. One fit, one fabric: that was the concept we stuck to for the first two years.

Pete Searson: The timing was good for our plan. In 2008 after the banking crisis the economy was on its knees. Which also meant that people were forced to watch the pennies and really think about what they spent their money on. And when in doubt, it wasn’t going to be the umpteenth cheap fashion item with last week’s sell-by date that they invested in. The retailers knew that too.

TP: We showed our jeans to five selected stores in Northern California and sold 120 on the spot. And then word got around.

What were people saying?

PS: The fact that we were offering a product that was not only timeless in terms of fit, style and details, but also in terms of its high quality and long-lasting material. Raw selvedge denim,

woven in the Cone Denim White Oak Mills in Greensboro, North Carolina. That’s the same textile mill that made denim for Levi’s for a good hundred years.

TP: The machines they use there date back to the twenties, thirties and forties – looms like the American Draper X3, made of leather, steel and wood. The factory floor is also timber, so that from the vibrations from the looms alone, small irregularities are produced in the cloth.

Of course, we could get denim elsewhere, but it wouldn’t have that kind of quality or history.

And not only can you claim the ‘Made in USA’ title because the denim comes from North Carolina, but also because your jeans are produced in San Francisco.

TP: Yes, that’s right. We know the people who make the jeans for us personally. In times when there are only a few people who haven’t outsourced their production abroad because of profitability, we felt we wanted to set a precedent. In the fifties 95 percent of the USA’s clothing was made in this country. San Fran-

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — TELLASON

“WE‘VE BEEN FRIENDS FOR TWO DECADES AND HAVE ALWAYS HAD AN AFFINITY FOR ALL THINGS WELL CRAFTED AND AUTHENTIC.” TONY PATELLA

Just to come back to the beginnings with your one-fit concept.

How did it come about that you started expanding after all – to currently four fits for men and one for women?

TP: Until now we always simply reacted to concrete demand, to positive or negative feedback. So our Straight Leg Fit for example is the result of a cooperation with Michael Williams, the writer of the very popular menswear blog over here called ‘A Continuous Lean’. Our Slim Fit simply didn’t fit Michael very well. So we had to go back to the drawing board. What we do isn’t

exactly revolutionary but always focused.

PS: One of the great advantages for our customers is that we aren’t fixed to the fashion seasons. That means it’s no problem for them if they want to reorder. We can deliver what’s needed quickly – in the right sizes and exactly the material they know and love. Nowadays you can’t take that kind of service for granted.

TP: We make quality classics – that is something that suits the times perfectly. And which you can see in the success of brands like Red Wing and Filson. I always liked the less-is-more philosophy anyway, especially as someone who has experienced at first hand the Silicon Valley bubble of the past years here. My favourite outfit doesn’t differ much from the one my dad wore back in the fifties: black T-shirt, Red Wing boots, raw denim jeans.

PS: Denim is the best example of a product that gets better with age, which simply makes it the ideal outfit for every day.

We also offer a repair service, by the way. Genuine customer service doesn’t get the attention it deserves these days.

Speaking of which, how many customers do you have currently?

TP: In the USA around 50 retail stores, in Italy around 25, in German-speaking countries and Benelux around 70 and in Japan over 100. Japan is actually our largest market. The Japanese really value the American denim heritage and tradition, especially when the words are backed up with actions.

Any plans for the coming seasons?

TP: Yes, we will finally launch a sweatshirt, which we’ve been

working on for quite a while now.

As well as that we’d like to have some of our shirts and trousers made in a small weaving mill in north-eastern Italy, in addition to our current offer. The plan is to really have something special to show at the Bread & Butter and the Pitti Uomo in January.

We look forward to seeing it!

Thanks for talking to us.

54 — 04/2013

cisco was the cradle of the blue jeans. This heritage deserves to be preserved – even if just for the people who work in the business. For the sake of their livelihood – and with a view to preserving the skills that would otherwise not survive.

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — THE THING QUARTERLY

SAN FRANCISCO TALKS THE THING QUARTERLY If we had been a few weeks earlier we would have been witness to a collaboration that could likely only happen in San Francisco: ‘Why go further afield?’ thought the team at Levi’s Made & Crafted, and hired Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan of THE THING Quarterly, a well-known duo in town, for their autumn/winter 2013 campaign.

WHO FEATURED?

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Miranda July, Anne Walsh, Tucker Nichols, Kota Ezawa, Trisha Donnelly, Lucy Pullen, Allora & Calzadilla, Jonathan Lethem, Trevor Paglen, Ryan_Gander & Europa, Starlee Kine, Chris Johanson, DOO.RI, Matthew Higgs & Martin Creed, James Franco, MacFadden & Thorpe, Dave Eggers, Shannon Ebner, Mike Mills, David Shrigley, Tauba Auerbach

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AND WHO IS STILL TO COME? Ben Marcus, John Baldessari, David Korty, Rodarte

And what happened then? The usual. Herschend and Rogan activated their contacts and inspired 20 artists to get involved and creative with the topic of the Levi’s collection ‘Good Things Take Time’. The result: ‘Moment to Moment’ a range of highly diverse artworks that could be found adorning magazine pages as well as plastered onto public billboards all over town. First in San Francisco, later in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and even London. And all without Levi’s signature or any other telltale sign to give away the intention of the whole thing. Those who wanted to find out more had to go to the website goodthingstaketime.com.

A highly unusual advertising campaign, which – although it attracted plenty of attention – was a ‘Special Side THING Project’, just a sideline in the cosmos of Herschend and Rogan

THE THING QUARTERLY IS A PERIODICAL IN THE FORM OF AN OBJECT.

Jonn Herschend & Will Rogan

and their THE THING Quarterly.

Because usually, the THING is a little bit more underground.

Although, can one really talk about underground when personalities like writer Jonathan Lethem, actor and multi-talent James Franco and artist David Shrigley were part of the project?

Probably not. (The fact that the Shrigley issue of THE THING Quarterly from this summer isn’t impossible to get hold of is hard to believe.) What are we actually talking about? Well, ”text and objects” but we’ll let Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan explain it in their own words.

A short conversation amongst removal boxes in the interim headquarters of THE THING Quarterly in Mission – which, we are glad to be able to report, has now been exchanged for their new home in the Tenderloin district.

Hello Jonn, hello Will. Could you give us a brief outline of your project?

Will Rogan: THE THING Quarterly is, as the name suggests, an object, a thing. Each

time it is about the creation of a different artist, which we then produce in series and distribute for them. The idea is: object meets text, or: publication instead of edition. Behind it is a desire to make art more accessible to a broader public, as well as the attempt to broaden the concept of a magazine. An annual subscription consists of four issues of THE THING Quarterly and costs 240 US dollars.

Jonn Herschend: The connection between abstract language and material art object is pivotal. Because both have always interested us. You can see that in our biographies: Will worked at the San Francisco Art Institute as a librarian; I was an English teacher. We became friends whilst studying art at the University of California in Berkeley. We were also strongly influenced by the major print tradition there is here in San Francisco with magazines like Rolling Stone, Spin Magazine and Artforum.

Language meets art – can you give me an example?

Do you approach the artists, or is it the other way round? How do you select them?

WR: Normally we ask the artists, and until now we have almost always been lucky: our favourite candidates almost always agree. We have different criteria when it comes to picking out who we ask. What’s important is that the artist creates an object that incorporates language in some way. Another benefit is when the object is also somehow useful, just like the blind by Miranda July. What else do we look at? That the four artists who complete a subscription cycle in some way fit with one another – and without sharing a common discipline if possible. Otherwise it becomes boring, and our motivation is and has always been to

surprise even ourselves.

JH: But one thing is for sure: it doesn’t have to be a really big name. Although, in many cases if the name is big of course the work behind it is likely pretty big too.

WR: … and through us the big name becomes accessible to a clientele that could otherwise not afford it.

Is there an artist you really want to work with in the future?

JH: The musician Stephen Malkmus and the filmmaker Wes Anderson. We are really excited that we could get the concept and media artist John Baldessari on board for next summer’s issue.

Why the collaboration with Levi’s Made & Crafted?

JH: We had always wanted to do something like Dan Graham in the sixties and free up paid-for advertising pages in magazines, and, in our case, also rent billboards and display art on them without any commentary. When Levi’s approached us we grabbed the chance.

Do you create art yourselves too?

JH: Yes, I mainly do installations and films. A couple of weeks ago I took part in the ‘Live Projects’ at the SFMOMA with a piece of work.

WR: I am a photographer and make sculptures. Wherever THE THING Quarterly may take us: making art ourselves will remain a constant.

Thanks for talking to us.

54 — 04/2013

JH: Take our launch issue in 2009. It was designed by the performance artist, filmmaker and author Miranda July. The object was a window blind, consisting of two layers, printed with different text. People went crazy for it. A month later we had 1200 subscribers. It was almost daunting.

With such unusual objects the packaging must, of course, be designed to a similar high standard.

That’s also top priority for Jonn and Will.

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — THE THING QUARTERLY

THE THING

AMAZING HOLIDAY GIFT $275

WWW.THETHINGQUARTERLY.COM

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COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — CAMELIA SKIKOS

SAN FRANCISCO TALKS CAMELIA SKIKOS A breathtaking view over Downtown San Francisco with the Bay Bridge stretching into the distance beyond.

We are in Diamond Heights, a quiet district in the hills. This is where the designer Camelia Skikos lives with her family – and also where she has been designing her eponymous womenswear collection since 2010.

Creative chaos? Not at Mrs Skikos’ house – even though she has a small child to look after.

The designer, who was born in Romania and used to be head designer at Levi’s, certainly has a thing for clarity and minimalism.

The fact that coincidence has played an important role in her life to date gives the whole story a nice twist: Camelia Skikos came to the US after winning a green card.

54 — 04/2013

BRAND HISTORY

44

After finishing her degree in fashion Camelia Skikos left her homeland Romania and went to London to work as fashion illustrator and designer. In 2003 she made the move to San Francisco. Skikos became head designer at Levi Strauss, worked for GAP along the way and was also a professor at the Academy of Art University. In 2013 she founded her own label and the following year she won the San Francisco Fashion Award for Best Women’s Wear Designer.

Mrs Skikos, are you really one of those lucky winners of a green card? I was never really sure they actually existed.

Yes, and I didn’t even take part in the lottery myself, a friend of mine did. But when she wanted to give me the green card she won, I thought why not try my luck on the other side of the big pond?

You grew up in Romania. Wasn't it a big culture shock for you?

No, not really. Before I came to San Francisco I had already been living in London for three years. And I liked it there. But as I said the green card gave me

the chance to see what life in the USA was like and also to get to know California. When I found a job here at Levi’s I realised I would be staying a while.

What exactly did your job at Levi’s entail?

I was head designer in the customisation department and also worked for the limited production department. We made special outfits for special clients, in part based on preexisting styles, for example from the Levi’s Vintage collection, in part completely new ones. For example I got to design garments for Blondie several times. They came by regularly when they had a concert in San Francisco.

That sounds exciting. What was your motivation for giving up a secure job at Levi’s?

My time at Levi’s was great. I really enjoyed it and learnt so much. But at some point I really wanted to do my own thing and be able to develop more freely as a designer. On top of that came my personal life: I became a mother and so it was important

for me to be able to organise my work in a more flexible way.

You became a mother and you launched a fashion label at the same time? So you basically had two babies to take care of …

Well, there was some time in between. And I started small.

Even now, in autumn/winter 2013 the number of items we produce is relatively small. I am taking things step by step, which means that at the moment I am dealing mainly with samples, the search for the right production partners, the question of where to get the textiles I want and other related issues. The rest will come later.

Where are Camelia Skikos items stocked at the moment? Do you have retail partners in Europe?

At the moment the list of outlets that stock my designs is restricted to San Francisco and New York. But with a view to the future, the European market is certainly tempting.

Do you have full-time staff?

No, but I have people who sup-

COOL CITIES / SAN FRANCISCO TALKS — CAMELIA SKIKOS

“MY TIME AT LEVI’S WAS GREAT. I REALLY ENJOYED IT AND LEARNT SO MUCH. BUT AT SOME POINT I JUST WANTED TO DO MY OWN THING.” port me on a freelance basis.

And I also work together with two sales agents.

because I grew up in a country where travelling was made so difficult. Perhaps curiosity is the most defining trait of my generation. Either way: I go travelling and when I come back I have new creative energy.

You just mentioned the search for the right textile manufacturers. What really stands out in your spring/summer 2014 collection are the unusual prints on silk.

The kaleidoscopic prints that characterise this collection are the result of cooperation with the Serbian photographer and cameraman Milos Vlaski. With his artwork as a basis the Italian company then developed the fabrics for me.

CAMELIASKIKOS.COM

the field I come from originally: before I enrolled on a fashion design in Romania I studied art.

Don’t forget, I was 15 when the Iron Curtain fell. Before that in Romania we had no access to anything like fashion – you either bought from state-run textile manufacturers or you made your own clothes. So everyone who wanted to be a little bit different had to become their own fashion designer. But the idea of studying

fashion was simply inconceivable for a long time.

Does your homeland Romania also inspire you as a designer?

Yes, of course. My autumn/winter 2013 collection is visibly influenced by Romanian architecture: the old churches for example.

It’s not just Romania that inspires me though, but travelling in general. Travelling is an important source of fresh ideas – perhaps

54 — 04/2013

Something else that is characteristic of the collection is the meeting of formal geometrics with organic flowing elements, as well the play between warm and cold colours. Do you like contrasts? … not forgetting: the combination of soft and stiff materials like silk and neoprene. Yes, I like contrasts and experimenting with duality. What also challenges me is the architectonic sculptural idea of fashion. That is

Thank you for talking to us.

45

BRANDS & BRAINS — NIGEL CABOURN, NEWCASTLE

NIGEL CABOURN The designer is regarded as the figurehead of the heritage movement. And he certainly has a feel for the zeitgeist. After all, it’s not just men who love his high-quality garments based on historical examples of clothing.

“ORIGINALLY WE WANTED TO LAUNCH THE WOMEN’S COLLECTION A YEAR LATER. BUT WHEN I MET 54 — 04/2013

AGNES, I CHANGED MY MIND.”

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NIGEL CABOURN

AGNES KEMENY She embodies the style of the collection so perfectly that she was even chosen as the model for the first campaign. Agnes lives and breathes vintage fashion.

BRANDS & BRAINS — NIGEL CABOURN, NEWCASTLE

INTERVIEW ILONA MARX PHOTOS RAINER RUDOLF BENOIT

NIGEL CABOURN

Women on the frontlines There are some clichés that end up actually being true: others less so. When we land in Newcastle it’s raining – which doesn’t really sur-

prise us, even though it’s August.

A typical British August here up north. For Nigel Cabourn, however, that’s just part of the story.

Our host greets us in his two-storey converted garden house, which overlooks a lush green lawn. And perhaps the clichés or at least the perception of the British that other countries have, that makes Cabourn and his apparel so very attractive. After all not many people can claim to being more famous in Japan than in the UK. Nigel Cabourn is a true original and that’s exactly how he lives and works. Who else, past the age of 60 can boast of keeping himself fit by playing table tennis every day? In front of his atelier is a Victorian house, where he lives with his wife and two daughters, and at the back the garden that – very fittingly – backs onto a cricket pitch. The garden house is where Cabourn meticulously crafts his collections with his small design team. And crafting is a term that should be taken literally in this case. Because Cabourn is a figurehead of the heritage movement. Not only does he dare to reconstruct old patterns, adapting them to today’s zeitgeist with plenty of sensitivity and creative ideas, but the original materials also inspire Cabourn. The textile manufacturers in Newcastle and the surrounding region are certainly kept busy and they are able to demonstrate their full range of skills and expertise thanks to Cabourn’s exacting demands.

War and flower power, which both definitely influenced my style back then. And of course pop music – Small Faces, The Who, The Kinks, all the mod bands, as well as the cool American surf sounds, like the Turtles. I was 17 years old when I began studying. I loved scooters and the Union Jack, Pete Townshend was my style icon. If you want to take a look at these … (Nigel Cabourn points at some drawings on the wall), they are clothes I designed during my studies. The influences are clearly visible, although you mustn’t forget that in those days we weren’t taught menswear at fashion schools – so where else could I get my inspiration than from the outside world?

THE NEW WOMENSWEAR Sometimes Nigel is astonished by his late success. After all, he has been living and loving the look that he represents for decades. Launching a womenswear collection simply seemed like a logical move in the context of the times: the new androgyny trend is omnipresent in the fashion world.

Really? There were no menswear design courses?

NC: Not in the sense we know it today. Fashion wasn’t really focused on brands, but rather on the major couture houses. If someone studied fashion then it was with the aim of working for Yves Saint Laurent etc. That never interested me; I wanted to make menswear, for people like me. But 98 percent of the teaching staff at the college were female and taught womenswear. I was over the moon when I found out that one of the male teachers knew a lot about tailoring. So I was able to veer away from the official curriculum and

“Agnes’ personality fascinated me right away. Especially because it surprised me how enthusiastic she was about vintage. That’s usually more of a man thing.” NIGEL CABOURN

Nigel, have you always been such a huge vintage fan?

Nigel Cabourn: I was certainly always interested in history, even when I was doing my fashion degree in Newcastle between 1967 and 1971. That was the time of the Vietnam

began to do my own thing. And then in the fourth year of my degree course I launched my own label … … which was called ‘Nigel Cabourn’?

NC: No, my first brand was called Cricket. I’ve only been around under my own name since 1983. The idea came from Japan where it was preferable to market a designer made of flesh and blood rather than a brand name.

That made sense to me.

Speaking of which: thanks to a joint venture in Japan your work as a designer on two different markets. You have two separate collections running under your name.

NC: That’s right. There’s the ‘Authentic’ Collection that is designed by us in Newcastle and also made here in Britain, mainly with materials that are ‘Made in England’.

And then there is the ‘Mainline’ collection for the Japanese/ Asian market, recognisable by its green label. That is also developed here, but the production takes place in Japan, where an additional small design team is based. The gen-

54 — 04/2013

The designer has been in the business for over 40 years, and he’s been collecting vintage clothing for almost as long.

He invests around 50,000 euros a year in his collection, which covers the years 1910 to 1960. His focus lies on uniforms from the past century as well as work and outerwear from the twenties and forties. He has around 4000 items in his archive. During our conversation Cabourn is continually pulling examples out of the cupboards in his studio, while at the same time recommending his favourite second-hand store in Florence ‘Ceri Vintage’. At his side: Agnes Kemeny, about half his age and since the beginning of this year responsible for the Nigel Cabourn Women’s Collection, which will be making its debut on the market this autumn/winter.

But although the two colleagues seem very different at first sight, it turns out that they make the perfect working team.

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BRANDS & BRAINS — NIGEL CABOURN, NEWCASTLE

eral tenor of the label is a little younger, more fashionable – the ‘Authentic’ line is focused completely on the idea of British craftsmanship. Selected styles from the ‘Mainline’ are also available from European retailers in addition to the ‘Authentic’ collection.

From this autumn/winter season there will be a new addition to the Nigel Cabourn portfolio: a womenswear collection that you designed, Agnes. How did you come to work for Nigel?

Agnes Kemeny: Nigel und I met through a mutual friend at the Milan textile trade fair. It turned out that Nigel had heard of Ferenc Puskás and also knew a fair bit about Hungarian football in general – an absolute first for anyone I had ever met abroad. I found that incredibly refreshing, particularly within the context of the fashion world in which we both work. But what really kicked off our working together was our common interest in vintage and old-school fashion drawing.

NC: Agnes’ personality fascinated me right away. Espe-

AGNES is 33 years old, but has already lived in Hungary, Germany and Italy.

That’s why she speaks many languages – which Nigel always has great admiration for.

cially because I was surprised by how enthusiastic she was about vintage. That's usually more of a man thing – women aren’t usually that bothered about the whole heritage and authentic aspect, at least in my experience. And when Agnes showed me a few of her sketches on the laptop it was obvious what I had to do: ask her if she wanted to try doing a few designs for the womenswear line. It was already in the planning – originally for winter 2013 – but until then I hadn’t really put much thought into it. What the design team in Japan had brought to the table by that time was too similar to the menswear originals and so I found the look was still too masculine, which is why I asked Agnes to take the ‘Everest Parka’, a core item from the ‘Authentic’ line, deconstruct it into its single parts and remodel it to create something that would suit Nigel Cabourn Woman. I was more than impressed by the result she presented to me just one week later.

AK: And then Nigel asked me to rework the ‘Mallory Jacket’. At first I was quite reluctant to take this wonderful tailored jacket he’d sent me, a real classic, made of Harris

Tweed, and simply rip it apart. But that’s what he wanted.

NC: And I was proven right: around one and a half weeks later I received a photo which Agnes had taken of herself in the mirror whilst wearing her version of the ‘Mallory Jacket’. That convinced me once and for all. Not just that the former men’s jacket seemed incredibly feminine, but it also had something unique, something inimitable. In addition came the fact that – and I am not exaggerating here – she was the perfect model: the jacket suited her down to the ground (which you can see for yourselves on the Nigel Cabourn website: editor’s note). And it ended up with her taking five days off, coming to Newcastle and us taking a tour round the local production sites. That was in November last year – by January Agnes was working for me full time.

THE GARDEN HOUSE

54 — 04/2013

Nigel has set up his atelier in the garden behind the house he lives in with his wife and two daughters.

The setting couldn’t be any more fitting for his collection.

48

So everything went much faster than planned?

NC: You can say that again. By January we were already at the Bread & Butter in Berlin with the samples,

by February we had 20 orders, from people who already stocked Nigel Cabourn in their menswear range and who also wanted to have us for their women’s section – in my opinion exactly the right platform for the first season. KarlHeinz Müller, who is a great supporter of the Nigel Cabourn philosophy, placed a substantial order. For the first six months Agnes and I took care of the collection singlehandedly and then we got the Japanese team on board.

Nigel, you talked about the ‘Nigel Cabourn philosophy’.

How important is the ‘Made in Great Britain’ tag?

NC: ‘Made in Great Britain’? That’s an imperative with an exclamation mark. Not only because the ‘Authentic’ line is made here in England. One of my main inspirations as a designer is British history, especially the years of great discoveries and expeditions. Just take the ‘Mallory Jacket’: it’s named after the English mountaineer George Mallory, who died in 1924 during his ascent of Mount Everest. To this day, no one can be sure whether he made it to the summit or not. Whether he was perhaps the first one, rather than

In my opinion, authentic fashion in the guise of craftsmanship is clearly a major future trend. Aren’t you worried about imitators?

NC: No, most of what comes on the market are just cheap copies. You yourself call it ‘the guise of craftsmanship’. In contrast, what we have to offer is genuine craftsmanship – and that is, especially in womenswear, a true challenge. Not just where the materials are concerned, right Agnes?

AK: In the case of womenswear a large part of the challenge is to retain the typical Nigel Cabourn details. For example the large pockets, which, by the way, you can see in photos dating from between 1900 to 1918, which show women in uniform. I think that pockets like that look very unusual and fresh on modern jackets. But the question is always: which details can I retain, and how can I retain them without changing their proportions? After all I have to make them fit the female body, which is more finely structured than the male. Playing with the cut is a key factor with these items and there is a whole lot to learn. The other tricky topic is – as Nigel mentioned – the textiles. The British-made textiles, which substantially contribute to the hallmarks of the label, tend to be quite unwieldy. And what also doesn’t come into question is stretch. Stretch denim has always been a problem for me. It’s simply so lacking in durability and doesn’t keep its shape well, but it is a popular material in womenswear. For the S/S collection we developed a fit that also works well with selvedge denim. The art is to modify the archetypal Nigel Cabourn clothing in such a way that it doesn’t overwhelm the female physique.

BRANDS & BRAINS — NIGEL CABOURN, NEWCASTLE

Edmund Hillary – although Hillary also inspired me, as you know: the ‘Everest Parka’ made Nigel Cabourn what it is now, ten years ago. The parka was the centrepiece of a Limited Edition that I launched on the 50th anniversary of Edmund Hillary reaching the summit of Mount Everest. It was the starting signal for a restyling of Nigel Cabourn, in terms of our authentic approach to historical themes as well as in terms of the craftsmanship. Before that the label was still to some extent vintage orientated, but more commercial.

and makes me feel nostalgic. Because this garment was robust enough to survive the war. That is proof of quality that demands respect – and that respect grows when I try to recreate the original and then transform it into a version for the modern day. Why the First World War of all times? It is a time that changed the lives of women in the long term – they had no alternative: they had to reinvent themselves and develop new strategies for their lives. Whereby, the current collection is dedicated to Gerda Taro, who was killed during the Spanish Civil War. She was the first female war photographer in history to die in conflict. She was a German-Jewish woman and Robert Capa’s lover. She also got him his first big commissions and was a kind of manager for him.

HIS FATHER’S NOTEBOOK Nigel’s father, a smart adventurous man who was stationed in Burma during the Second World War, still inspires the designer to this day. Here is one of his notebooks from back then.

VINTAGE FASHION On the search for inspiration, Nigel and Agnes combed vintage stores the world over. Here Kyle Jobes, who is menswear designer for Nigel, is wearing a combination of vintage trousers and a jacket – both from around 1910 – which Nigel found in Tokyo. As you can see, Agnes is not the only one in the company who is the perfect role model: Kyle also looks the part in Nigel Cabourn clothing.

“MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN? THAT’S AN IMPERATIVE WITH AN EXCLAMATION MARK.”

How do you manage to do that? Can you give us an example?

AK: The best example is Harris Tweed, a wonderful, incredibly authentic material. The challenge was to make this material lighter and softer so that it could flatter the female silhouette, without rendering it feminine to the point of cliché. Not an easy task for the textile manufacturer who had the job of supplying the goods and will continue to do so.

NC: We now work with so-called featherweight Harris Tweed. But, just to clarify: our womenswear might be based on the menswear but Agnes’ job is not restricted solely to remodelling masculine jackets for women. For example she has just designed a land army dress – and that’s exactly the direction Nigel Cabourn Woman could go in, in my opinion.

I trust Agnes completely and want to see more of her talent.

Sounds as though Nigel allows you plenty of creative freedom Agnes. What message do you see for Nigel Cabourn Woman? Is there, for example, a era that particularly inspires you?

AK: I am fascinated by the First World War, so I share Nigel’s penchant for uniforms. Whenever I hold the original pieces from that period in my hands, it really touches me

NC: Gerda Taro was a strong, young bright woman, full of enthusiasm – a woman passionate about her work who wore military garb, but was by no means masculine. After Agnes and I did some research, we were so fascinated by her that we drove to Paris. That’s where Taro and Capa lived together as a couple and we begged the current tenants of the apartment until they finally let us in. But getting back to the First World War: I needed at least five to seven years before I had gathered all the books that gave me a deeper insight into the nature of the uniforms of this time. Recently I sent some images and photos to the Imperial War Museum – the ones in London and Manchester. And I hope they will be willing to lend us some very rare pieces so that we can study them in detail and perhaps use them as a basis for a pattern in the future.

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NIGEL CABOURN

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BRANDS & BRAINS — NIGEL CABOURN, NEWCASTLE

AK: But it’s not just the topic of uniforms that’s exciting.

It’s the twenties, and the forties and fifties in general. There was so much social upheaval going on then. Different movements were formed – in literature, art etc. Cultures influencing each other. That’s also what Gerda Taro represents: the cosmopolitan photographer.

TABLE TENNIS Five mornings a week, Nigel can be found playing table tennis. His sparring partner once played in the British national team. Nigel has been training with him now for one and a half years. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes Nigel even manages to beat the former professional.

We were lucky enough to witness one of those wins.

Without wanting to compare apples with oranges: aren’t we going through pretty turbulent times ourselves? Buzzword: economic crisis. And doesn’t that also lead us to a different image of women, or a new female (consumer) behaviour?

AK: That’s a complex question – and I can certainly answer yes. If you ask me, there is a growing gap in the world of fashion: between fast fashion and the competition to see who can offer lowest prices, and luxury fashion for luxury prices. But especially in my generation and amongst women, there is a growing yearning for high-quality manufactured products. Sustainability and an awareness of quality represent deceleration and craftsmanship: creating a contrasting programme to the standardised trends of the globalised world. The fact is: the more women are emancipated in terms of career and private lives, the less relevant the classic female attributes become, also from a visual point of view. Or, put another way: the less she embodies the classic female cliché in her life, the more she’ll want to opt for an individual outfit. I think women want to be more authentic than the greater share of labels give them credit for.

NC: I think in this aspect Agnes embodies the Nigel Cabourn woman perfectly. She comes from Hungary, later living in the GDR, growing up behind the Wall. She knows what it means to get up every morning to do gymnastics without complaining. Agnes’ personal story gives her a particular feminine strength.

Where will things go from here, as far as Nigel Cabourn Woman is concerned? Are you planning any shops?

NC: You mean purely womenswear shops? No, not at the moment. First of all we will be distributing the women’s collection via selected retailers in Europe, Asia, North America and Russia, in addition to our own stores in Japan.

‘The Army Gym’, that’s the name of the flagship stores in Tokyo and Fukuoka. In addition to Nigel Cabourn, we also stock collections from our friends like Red Wing, Filson and

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Viberg. When it comes to the topic of retail in general, we are planning a few of our own shops outside of Asia – in London, preferably near Dover Street, and in New York.

Just like in Japan, we would like to stock 80 percent Nigel Cabourn – men and women – and 20 percent other labels here too.

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Nigel Cabourn has been involved in a few collaborations, for example with Converse. Would a womenswear cooperation be an option?

NC: Of course, why not? Of course it has to be with the right partner. Converse is a positive example in terms of raising of our profile. The name Converse also helped us to

be taken on by Colette in Paris. Collaborations can certainly help to break down barriers for lesser-known names.

Nigel, one last question for you: you invest 50,000 euros a year in your vintage collection. Have you ever thought about opening your own museum?

NC: Actually, there has already been an exhibition of some vintage items from my collection that had inspired me for my ‘Everest Collection’ – at Northumbria University where I used to study fashion. That proved to be very

“IS THERE A CHANGE IN THE IMAGE OF WOMEN OR A NEW FEMALE (CONSUMER) BEHAVIOUR? I CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION WITH A DEFINITE YES.” AGNES KEMENY

popular and something along those lines could certainly be a good idea for the future.

Agnes and Nigel, thank you very much for the in-depth insights into your work.

WWW.CABOURN.COM

www.aigle.com FALL/WINTER 2014 AT BREAD & BUTTER IN L.O.C.K. Aigle Store Düsseldorf, Königsallee 60, Tel.: 0211-13065988.

Händlernachweis über info@aigle.de, Tel.: 0211-23956910.

paris . london . tokio . natur

BRANDS & BRAINS — RICHARD MARTIN, LYLE & SCOTT, LONDON

“SIMPLICITY AND CONCENTRATION ON THE CORE ELEMENTS –

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IN MY EYES, DEFINITELY A TREND

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IN WHICH THE JAPANESE ARE THE ABSOLUTE LEADERS.” RICHARD MARTIN

BRANDS & BRAINS — RICHARD MARTIN, LYLE & SCOTT, LONDON

INTERVIEW OLIVER HORTON PHOTOS RAINER RUDOLF BENOIT

LY L E & S C OT T

The Collaborator Raf Simons had other labels turning green with envy. In December 2012 Martin took on the role of brand director at Lyle & Scott – another British brand with serious heritage.

And so this story isn’t about tennis and polo shirts chez Fred Perry, but about golf and knitwear. But the challenge is certainly comparable. Because Lyle & Scott, the brand with the golden eagle as its logo, doesn’t simply want to transport fashion. They are aiming to formulate their own definitive statement. The fact that they are succeeding at it – well, the growing number of celebrity fans on the music scene are certainly an indicator for success. The most recent coup from the house of Lyle & Scott: the opening of a flagship store in London’s Carnaby Street in October.

And Richard Martin? He has more reasons to be cheerful.

His daily commute, for which he doesn’t even need half an hour, now takes him from his home in Ladbroke Grove to Lyle & Scott’s London base near Oxford Circus.

show us how to do it: just strip away all the unnecessary gubbins, to reveal a pure simple and beautiful product. And if you can even boast a Royal Warrant on the label and the quality stamp ‘Made in Scotland’ not much can go wrong.

That’s when you can start talking about saddle shoulder fashioning, 3-button plackets and the rest. All that tells a sartorial story in a very subtle way, which, when it comes to polo shirts, leads us beyond what Fred Perry, Lacoste or Ralph Lauren are doing – and beyond the others when it comes to knitwear.

Richard, do you miss tennis, now that you’re no longer at Fred Perry?

I do to be honest, I miss Wimbledon. 2013 was the first time I haven’t been in ten years. I still play. But I used to play golf a lot as a kid, when I was nine or ten. So there is a connection there to Lyle & Scott and their ‘golf’ collection.

As a sports fan its great to have a sporting connection, and at Fred Perry working together with sports icons like tennis pro Andy Murray and champion cyclist Bradley Wiggins was a great experience. Lyle & Scott also have experience when it comes to collaborations with sportsmen. But that’s not the top priority, we concentrate on other things.

Can you give us a brief run-down of the brand? What is it that makes Lyle & Scott special?

Lyle & Scott, that’s two elements: on the one hand a 1960s sportswear brand and on the other manufacturing brand with a 140-year history. The Golden Eagle, the brand’s logo, was introduced in 1960 – a gentlemen’s agreement with prestigious golf club Gleneagles allowing us to use the eagle on our product. So the ‘1960’ collection, the brand’s premium line, which is hitting the shops in spring/summer 2014, is essentially a reissue of the first 1960 Lyle & Scott collection. It’s a 1960s fit, the colour card is taken from the original colour card from 1960-61: The polos are ‘Made in Britain’ and the knits are ‘Made in Scotland’. It’s really clean, it’s really simple – the collection expresses where we come from.

Less is more – is that the message?

Lyle & Scott is a very democratic brand. Simplicity and concentration on the core elements – in my eyes, definitely a trend in which the Japanese are the absolute leaders. They

Who does Lyle & Scott rub shoulders with?

Paul Smith, Gant Rugger, Wolsey. The contemporary sartorialist world. Our customer would perhaps buy Dockers, Chinos, definitely Levi’s Vintage Denim. And original Royal Warrant knitwear from us of course. We are a classic; iconic in our way.

Is the ‘1960’ collection set to become something like Lyle & Scott’s 501?

Yes, or our ‘All Star’ or what the ‘M12’ is for Fred Perry. The core pillar product that won’t go away and is always available – whether in our stores or in our internet shop, which we just relaunched.

Any temptation to take the brand more ‘sport’?

We could of course go for a more technical approach for Lyle & Scott Golf. But our strengths lie in fashion. They manifest themselves in the strong graphic patterns and Argyle.

If you want to weigh in with performance wear in the golf scene then you need performance textiles, for example Coolmax in a Piqué look for the polo shirt, for when they’re playing at 30 degrees heat. To sum up: we will be offering technical product as part of the golf collection in the future, but in moderation, and always with the focus on the look.

Perhaps a collaboration or two with an interesting designer might come up.

But performance is on trend?

Yes, look at the re-rise of Stone Island, there’s a reason that brand has gone through the roof: it’s a combination of classicism with technology. Look at Stone Island’s ‘Shadow Project’ which on the one hand is orientated on traditional tailoring and on the other rises to the challenges of urban day to day. An approach like that is a blueprint for the future in my opinion. We’ll be wearing that kind of thing in 150 years. but that shirt and that jacket will be made out of something incredible from a fabrication perspective.

LYLE & SCOTT HISTORY: Lyle & Scott was founded in 1874 in Hawick, Scotland,

by William Lyle and Walter Scott as a knitwear factory and first made a name for itself as purveyor of quality underwear.

In 1926 they began manufacturing knitwear items and so entered the realm of the fashion world.

In the 1950s, Lyle & Scott partnered with Christian Dior to produce joint branded knitwear; collaborations with Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Michael Kors followed.

In the 1960s they launched their golfwear and the brand adopted the Golden Eagle logo, later a badge of honour for the ‘casuals’ youth movement.

From 2003, the ‘Vintage’ collection recouped this prestige, and won new fans with the help of association with bands like the Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and Vampire Weekend.

In 2013, the brand divided its product range into three segments, ‘Golf’, ‘Classic’ and for the more fashion-conscious, ‘Contemporary’. This coming summer 2014 Lyle & Scott will be celebrating their 140th anniversary with a one-season capsule collection ‘140’ plus special events.

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Richard Martin is certainly no unknown.

As Head of Global Marketing at Fred Perry he paved the way to a new kind of edginess for the famous British brand. Collaborations with Comme des Garçons and

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BRANDS & BRAINS — RICHARD MARTIN, LYLE & SCOTT, LONDON

Progress comes from the technology industry and manufacturing processes. We are looking at a new trend when it comes to the topic of performance wear, away from the lumberjack man-of-the-mountains look.

Why did you stop the women’s line?

I pulled it because it didn’t really have a personality. On the market Lyle & Scott are seen as a highly masculine brand.

But the origins lie in the womenswear; we’ll definitely be bringing it back. I think probably in the form of a collaboration, inspired by our archive. We are thinking, a small focussed knitwear collection: twinsets, referencing the looks

De Montfort University, Leicester: Graduation in Garment Construction & Marketing Harrods: Manager, Way-In Department (Menswear) Debenhams: Press Officer Exposure (PR agency): Communications Director CA1 Furniture: Co-Owner Fred Perry: Marketing Director Lyle & Scott: Brand Director

of the forties and fifties. But we are still four seasons away from that yet. A relauch like that is a big investment. You’re probably talking £400,000 just to get it up and running.

How did you get into fashion?

I’m from Birmingham, the dour Midlands. I’ve always been interested in two things: clobber and records. There’s this great quote from Paul Weller, the iconic mod musician, when asked “what keeps you motivated, what keeps you going?” and he replied, “Nothing’s really changed since I was 14, just to buy clothes and records”. That pretty much sums up my background. And I learned a lot from institutions like ‘Autograph’ in Birmingham. I didn’t work there, I used to hang around, and we had an understanding, so I’d get a call the day before the sale and buy Raf Simons from them the only way I could afford it – at 60 percent off. A real intensity about clothes, and a love for that level of quality and design, came fairly early for me.

Have you always been a brand guy?

No not always. One of my first jobs was at Debenhams in the marketing department. In those days they were pretty big and they were the first high street store to do collaborations with independent designers like Lulu Guinness and Bill Amberg. And they didn’t concentrate on big names, on the contrary. It was important to see that Debenhams did these collaborations not primarily for the profit but more for the image, and the amplification of the name; that’s where you get the value.

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So you went back to fashion?

Yes and then from 2000 on I worked for Fred Perry, on a consultant basis. John Flynn, who was and still is managing director of the brand, knows so much about profile product and positioning, and allowed us to develop it and push it on.

Most important for Fred Perry was the collaboration with Comme des Garçons in 2003. It was a rubber stamp validation: if they get it, everyone else will get it.

How did that collaboration come about?

A guy working for us got talking to them about doing a foot-

RICHARD MARTIN SHORT BIOGRAPHY

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thing I learnt from my furniture adventure then it’s how to build a brand. We called ourselves CA1 and made furniture for Guy Ritchie and Madonna, for Liam Howlett and for boutique hotels and restaurants. There was so much money sloshing around in London back then – city boys opening gastro pubs. The end came one day when I was lumping a sofa up someone’s narrow staircase at 11pm on a Sunday night, and I just thought “fuck this”.

How did your stint as furniture entrepreneur come about?

I got a bit burnt out, and wanted to do something different.

A good friend of mine was doing some amazing things with furniture, and it just happened. Those were the days when everything was bespoke, and that’s how we marketed ourselves: as British-made bespoke furniture. It was the first time I’d run my own business and that was all encompassing and the most difficult thing I ever did. If there’s one

“I’M FROM BIRMINGHAM, THE DOUR MIDLANDS. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN TWO THINGS: CLOBBER AND RECORDS.”

wear cooperation. John Flynn thought, ‘Why don’t we just do a whole collection.’ When Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe just turned up it was a big moment for me. We had the collection all sewn up in six weeks – just polo shirts. That was really important because it meant we could keep control of distribution. The moment was perfect for both of us. That was before Dover Street Market, no pop-up stores, nothing in that direction. It came at just the right time.

What was the pay-off?

We needed progressive stores that were willing to stock our product. Niche is all about being global. You’re going to need a 60-70 store client base for a niche product if you want to make any money. If we had concentrated solely on the UK it just wouldn’t have worked.

And for Lyle & Scott – are there also collaborations in the pipeline?

In autumn 2014 we’ll be working together with Jonathan Saunders. He is represented in more than 50 shops currently with his menswear and so that opens up interesting possibilities. And Saunders studied at the Glasgow School of Art, so there’s a Scottish element, and a connection.

BRANDS & BRAINS — RICHARD MARTIN, LYLE & SCOTT, LONDON

So what can we look forward to?

There will be between 18 and 22 styles – polo shirts, wovens and ‘Made in Scotland’ knitwear. At the focus is what Jonathan Saunders is particularly well known for when it comes to knitwear: graphic applications, colour. That fits in well with us and Lyle & Scott Golf, where graphics and patterns like argyle play just as important a role as colours.

Saunders also works a lot with print and polo shirts are ideal for that. So there’ll be an all-over print polo, and a more dulcet version, and then beautiful items like roll-necks.

That’s part of our golf heritage and with the Lyle & Scott eagle on it it’s the business!

“IN AUTUMN 2014 WE’LL BE WORKING TOGETHER WITH JONATHAN SAUNDERS.

Why two collaborations for AW14?

Jonathan will give us that traditional high fashion niche, and David will give us a different marketing opportunity in the same season. We need to go to market with that strength and its important to keep the collections strictly separate. That’s the only way we can keep two clear markets without diluting the message. Our aim is to pick up 100+ accounts globally.

Good luck Richard, and thanks for talking to us.

THAT OPENS UP INTERESTING OPPORTUNITIES.”

WWW.LYLEANDSCOTT.COM HERITAGE “There are two sides to Lyle & Scott: a 1960s sportswear brand and a manufacturing label with 140 years of history.”

Richard Martin

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Any other plans?

Yes, there’s another cooperation in the pipeline, this time with Universal Works. David Keyte (founder and designer of the label) is a lovely man and doesn’t need to do much, as Universal Works has a nice little workwear niche going, but the label is becoming more and more sophisticated over the years. David used to be a miner and then he worked for a decade and a half for Paul Smith. It’s funny how he manifests himself so clearly in the product. The line he is doing for us will be a bit smaller than Jonathans: six to eight styles and colour variations, ‘Made in Britain’ polo shirts and ‘Made in Scotland’ knitwear.

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BRANDS & BRAINS — FREEMAN T.PORTER, PARIS & CREUTZWALD

HENDRIK SCHIMMEL & PASCAL MULLER Hendrik Schimmel (left) and Pascal Muller have known and valued each other for years now. But only in March 2012 did the opportunity arise to collaborate with one another for Freeman T. Porter.

THE DESIGN TEAM IS BASED IN PARIS AND THE HEAD OFFICE IS

54 — 04/2013

IN CREUTZWALD IN

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NORTH-EAST FRANCE. AND THAT’S NO COINCIDENCE.

BRANDS & BRAINS — FREEMAN T.PORTER, PARIS & CREUTZWALD

INTERVIEW ILONA MARX PHOTOS ANDY RUMBALL

F R E E M A N T. P O R T E R

Building a bridge to the here and now The year the label was founded evokes seemingly long forgotten memories: 1993.

Who doesn’t instantly think of the ‘Rave Nation’, clubbers dancing non-stop, turning day into night, baring their midriffs and wearing shoes with thick rubber soles.

Street wear as a synonym for club wear? Yes, that’s exactly the era we are talking about. But please don’t draw any false conclusions: despite being a child of these times, Freeman T. Porter is based on much deeper foundations.

We are really pleased to have found Äsa Göransson and Fredrik Blank as our new heads of design.

Mr Muller, it’s rather unusual for the distributor to take over the whole label.

Pascal Muller: Of course that’s unusual. Normally it works the other way round and the mother company buys up its wholesalers. In order to understand, you have to know a few things: I have been looking after the French market since 1996, so basically right from the get go. Belgium and Spain were added shortly after that. In

these countries the performance of Freeman T. Porter was always satisfactory. We had positioned the label where it belonged: in the urban wear segment of the mid-range price category. In Germany, however, they were trying a more price-aggressive strategy, which led to Freeman T. Porter developing an image problem and no longer retaining its efficiency. In short: if I had backed off from seeing the whole thing through and buying the label, it probably wouldn’t exist anymore.

Has the direction of Freeman T. Porter changed with you as owner and CEO? PM: Yes, to the extent that in the first step we shifted the design studio from Munich to Paris and put together an entirely new team. But after two years we realised we hadn’t made the best choices. No wonder, the whole thing was quite new to me – I came from the distribution department, and had little experience when it came to design and production. Anyway, generally we were disappointed with the development of the collection so we started looking again …

BRAND HISTORY Rainer Geilfus, the son of US soldier Freeman T. Porter, founded the label in 1993 together with Erwin Licher. In 2009 Geilfus sold the label to Pascal Muller, who had been responsible for wholesale at Freeman T. Porter. In 2012 they hired the Swedes Äsa Göransson and Fredrik Blank, better known collectively as Ä.F Blank, as Heads of Design.

… and finally settled on the Swedish design duo Ä.F Blank! Their label ‘Blank’ has won numerous design prizes in the past.

PM: Exactly. We are really pleased to have found Äsa Göransson and Fredrik Blank as our new heads of design.

Their job mainly consists of continuing to carve out the label’s signature style. And after three seasons working together the change is truly palpable – also on the technical side. Take blazers, for example: it’s not so easy. If you haven’t mastered the technique, a blazer can easily end up looking like a sack.

Thanks to the influence of Ä.F Blank do the collections now have a Scandinavian touch, in the sense perhaps of a more reduced design?

PM: No, I wouldn’t say that. In addition to Äsa and Fredrik there are another ten creatives in Paris working on designs. When we brought Äsa and Fredrik on board, we weren’t trying to make a 100 percent image change, it was more about creating more structure and consistency in the collection. In keeping with our company history.

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Proof of this is in the name’s history: Freeman T. Porter, a young man from St. Louis, Missouri came to Europe with the US army during the Second World War and fell in love with a German woman with whom he had a son. And this son went on to create a lasting memorial for his father decades later – with the foundation of his own label. That’s the history part covered. Nowadays Freeman T. Porter offers an entire collection for men and women with a focus on denim. The central inspiration for the three main themes, military, workwear and college, still comes from the America of the fifties to the present day. However, the design team is based in Paris and the head office is in Creutzwald in north-east France. And that's no coincidence. After all, the present owner and CEO of the label is French: Pascal Muller worked for Freeman T. Porter in wholesale for 13 years before becoming the sole licensee in 2009. Hendrik Schimmel joined the team in March 2012. As Country Manager for the D.A.CH. region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) he also has a key role: the label’s most important mission at present is to reclaim the German-speaking markets after years of a somewhat lacklustre performance. The aim is to reposition the brand here as the modern high quality player that it is. We had a conversation with Pascal Muller and Hendrik Schimmel about the challenges and opportunities after an eventful 20 years of brand history.

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BRANDS & BRAINS — FREEMAN T.PORTER, PARIS & CREUTZWALD

Hendrik Schimmel: Let me add something, Pascal, the fact that our design team is very international, with most staff coming from Italy, Belgium, France and Germany too.

And headed by two Scandinavians – in my opinion a highly interesting mix.

THE COLLECTION Despite the streetwear cliché denim has been playing a key role at Freeman T. Porter since the late nineties. And is flanked by fashionable casualwear.

Mr Schimmel, you’ve been with the company now for a good 18 months. What have you managed to achieve in that time?

HS: On paper it may be 18 months but it feels like I’ve been part of the team for a lot longer. When I got to know Pascal I knew straight away that there were tasks here that would challenge me and that I could contribute to – that I would get the opportunity to increase the size of the rolling snowball with my personal contribution. When I joined the team, there were quite a few things wrong with the German market: agencies were being used, there were no PR or marketing directives – everything was uncoordinated.

PM: I can only agree with Hendrik. After I took on Freeman T. Porter in 2009 we gave the German market a rest, in the knowledge that it wouldn’t be easy to get rid of the image that had developed in customers minds, due to the misplaced pricing policies of the last few years. In some ways it’s harder to bring an outdated label back on track than it is to establish a new one from scratch.

HS: The first step consisted in parting with the agencies and installing our own distribution, with the aim of optimising customer loyalty. Since last summer we moved our headquarters for the German-speaking region to Brunnenstrasse in Berlin-Mitte. And we also have showrooms in cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. And speaking of Munich: here in the Hofstatt shopping complex close to Marienplatz, we opened our second German store, after the first one in Saarbrücken. In my eyes it’s a really important marketing tool: the store shows Freeman T. Porter as the label it really is and as we have always presented ourselves in France, for example, where we have nine of our own stores. And that is our aim in Germany: to follow on from the standing we have enjoyed for years in France.

“I WOULD LIKE PEOPLE TO BE REALLY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE PRODUCT.” PASCAL MULLER

Are you planning any more shops in Germany?

PM: Yes, next on the list is a shop in Berlin, but we’re still looking for the right location.

HS: Getting back to Munich: I helped out there in sales for a day, to get a first-hand impression of the customer reactions. The great thing was that people my age came in who didn’t know Freeman T. Porter from the early days – and were able to get excited about the label in a fresh way.

That gives me the feeling that we are capable of getting people interested in our present collections and awakening positive associations in them.

One gets the impression that the world of retail is especially close to your heart, Mr Schimmel. Is that because you were already specialised in that area during your ten-year stint at G-Star?

HS: Well, at G-Star I worked in many different departments, starting as area manager in Berlin and the new Federal States, to retail in Germany down to the management of emerging markets.

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Talking of emerging markets: your area of responsibility has been expanded to include the Netherlands and, most recently, Eastern Europe. What will your strategy there be? Are you planning to open own stores there too?

HS: In Eastern Europe, where we started putting our feelers out about six months ago, we are envisaging cooperations with strong partners rather than own stores.

A fundamental difference to Germany is that Freeman T. Porter has no past whatsoever there, so there is no bias when people hear of us for the first time.

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Where does Freeman T. Porter see itself when it comes to expertise in the denimwear sector?

PM: Despite the streetwear cliché, denim has been playing a key role at Freeman T. Porter since the late nineties. In recent seasons we have, however, expanded the spectrum – moving in a ‘high-end’ direction with wonderful raw denim fabrics and more elaborate washes for a perfect finish. But we are also moving upwards in price too,

positioned at about 179 euros. Otherwise we will be retaining the normal price range of between 89 to 149 euros. So essentially, we aren’t making any real changes to our positioning, we have just added some high-end value on top.

Where are your clothes manufactured?

PM: Mainly in Europe, for example Greece, but also in Turkey. Some are also produced in North Africa.

Mr Muller, what direction do you want to take with Freeman T. Porter? Do you have a dream for the future?

PM: A dream? More of a wish: I would like people to be really enthusiastic about the product. That’s the direction I want to head with Freeman T. Porter. And then the figures will take care of themselves.

Nice closing words.

Thanks for talking to us.

WWW.FREEMANTPORTER.COM

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SCHWITZKE.COM

BRANDS & BRAINS — MARCO LANOWY, ALBERTO, MÖNCHENGLADBACH

INTERVIEW GERLIND HECTOR

ALBERTO

Wearing the trousers Competence combined with tradition – Alberto GmbH & Co. KG can meanwhile look back on 90 years of company history. Today it’s Georg Walendy and shareholding managing director Marco Lanowy together with commercial managing director Jürgen Schmiedel who are running the internationally Before Marco Lanowy invites me on a tour of the company premises, which cover an area of around 10,000 square metres, he wants to quickly show me a Youtube video.

‘Unfortunately’ the autumn sun is shining so brightly over Mönchengladbach that it won’t be possible to admire the spectacular light installation that effectively highlights the glass façade of the Alberto headquarters when darkness falls. When he enters the keyword ‘Alberto’ into the Youtube search field Marco Lanowy is visibly surprised as he stumbles upon other films in which Alberto trousers play the leading role. Like the video of a certain Jim Crooks in his store in Pennsylvania, USA, enthusing about “the best pants I’ve ever bought and worn” and explaining in detail what makes the trousers “from Germany” so unique. “I’m honestly blown away!” laughs Lanowy and assures us that Mr Crooks is definitely not being paid by him for such compliments. Where the key to success lies and how it is possible to concentrate on one’s core expertise with a masterful mix of tradition and innovation, is explained by Marco Lanowy in the following interview – and not without proving that expert knowledge, paired with a healthy dose of laissezfaire and humour, often brings more than obsessing over trend forecasts.

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“Customers need advice when they buy a pair of trousers – and this requires sales assistants who can really take care of them.”

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Mr Lanowy, what do you pay attention to personally when buying a pair of trousers?

Definitely the chill factor! It’s not just about the fit, size or style. At the end of the day what actually counts is the feeling that I develop for a pair of trousers. I love watching how customers in the store behave when they are looking for a new pair of trousers. Men in particular have a very clear idea: are they for the garden, the office or a wedding?

They should have a purpose at the end of the day. Here at Alberto we call what happens next the customer’s ‘Trouser

operating company, which is now in its fourth generation since Anna and Philipp Walendy also came on board. Passionate and astonishingly successful are two ways to describe the Mönchengladbach-based team, for whom everything revolves around one single product and its variations: trousers!

Buying Behaviour’: how does he, in socked feet, head for the next product, how does he stick his hands into the pockets, how does he check himself in the mirror, and what does his wife say to him? We can learn so much from all of that, which is why we also invest in training our sales staff.

Customers need advice when they buy a pair of trousers – and this requires sales assistants who can really take care of them. After all, they are the important interface between the end consumer and us.

Keyword: Fit-Checker?

For example! Our aim is to boost the retail trade. For around one year we have been supporting retailers with our Fit-Checker fitting concept. Here it’s about finding the perfect fit without having to try on too many pairs. Our already successful fit concept is rounded off by the fact that we ensure we have well-trained staff at POS and also support anyone who wants to try out our www.fit-checker.de on the internet. At the end of the day, the perfect fit is hugely important when you’re buying a pair of trousers. According to a study it is even more important than quality, price and brand. Our commitment is providing the retail trade with strong arguments for increasing sales.

And what happens if the well-trained Alberto sales assistant faithfully sticks to their area of the store while the customer opts for a product by one of your competitors?

That’s totally fine! Our sales assistants aren’t stuck to the Alberto shelves. They are also allowed to sell competitor products; we’re very open to that. But then we also want to know why they have sold something different. That’s something we can ultimately only learn from.

Is that something that is later discussed within the company?

Very intensively actually! We lay everything on the table here. Everyone says what they think and pools their ideas: as well as the customer input we also have our creative, product management, marketing and controlling teams. We are all permanently asking ourselves: what went well, what did we have and what didn’t we have? But especially: where do we want to go? A collection update like

MARCO LANOWY CAREER PROFILE Vocational training in retail Degree in Business Studies/Economics/ Marketing 1996-1998 Member of the project team for new distribution concepts for Kaufhof Warenhaus AG 1998-2001 Head of Buying at Lust for Life 2001 Joined Alberto as Retail Manager Since 2005 Managing Director at Alberto GmbH & Co. KG

How does Alberto feel about its online competitors?

Online retail is definitely justified. It’s convenient for the buyer, and often enough it’s the only place they can find the item they are looking for in the size they want. Since 2004 we have had our own online shop. But that doesn’t mean we are in competition with the classic retail trade – after all, we supply around 2500 retailers in 56 countries, who we don’t want to do out of business. That’s why we never entice the customers with any old sales offers. What we offer instead is availability. If they’re looking for a certain pair of trousers in their size, that you can’t currently find anywhere in stores, then they’ll land in our online shop. And that’s why they don’t mind paying the regular price. It’s interesting that when the big sales and price cuts are going on elsewhere, our sales figures increase. NOS is

BRANDS & BRAINS — MARCO LANOWY, ALBERTO, MÖNCHENGLADBACH

Over the years Alberto has always stuck to its core expertise ‘trousers’. Is that the key to success?

One of them. Recently there has been a demand for specialisation again. We have always known that we are specialists and also want to remain specialists! In the longterm this will help us prevail against more diversified providers. Otherwise you end up with a watered-down concept and don’t stand for anything anymore. The same applies to the retail trade, which has to focus too and sharpen its profile. The mono-stores are crumbling everywhere you look; multi-branding is on the rise. You have to create images for the customers and cleverly mix them with your professional expertise. We support that, for example, by sending out a weekly newsletter. We inform our retailers about new products and provide tips to motivate them which they can apply to their own stores.

one of our great strengths. But of course our talent also lies in always observing exactly what it is people really need.

For example?

We have been offering golf trousers since 2004, simply because there was a demand for them. People used to buy rain trousers to protect their golf trousers. But we thought to ourselves that there must be another way of doing it: first of all we used a material that was pleasant to wear even when wet, and then secondly, we took the time to find out what factors could make playing golf more enjoyable. If a pair of trousers pinches at the waist or slips down when you move, it’s hard to play well. My opinion: wearers of Alberto trousers are the better golfers, because they can concentrate completely on their game! One of my favourite examples is also our special for doctors: a white denim with stretch component. I had noticed that men in the medical profession tend to wear expensive brand-name T-shirts, but when it comes to trousers they seem to opt for poorly fitting cheap models. After enquiring I found out that there was no model that was both smart and comfortable at the same time. We were able to help them. The demand is meanwhile huge and the trousers are available all year round and in all sizes in our warehouse.

Is there any room for brand new innovations when you’re working so closely to the needs of the market?

Plenty! You can only do well in your job if you have a lot of fun too, and leave yourself room to play and experiment. For example, we noticed that there were huge rooftop areas here at our headquarters in Mönchengladbach that we could somehow put to use. So we simply put some denim up there and patiently waited to see what happened.

Weather conditions and seasons all leave their mark. We then called the results ‘Destroyed by Nature’, and that was the truth. Then we hit on the idea of hanging a different model on our fire escape ladder, which was promptly struck by lightning. And that was ‘Thunderstorm Destroyed’. We also treated a few denims with drumsticks dipped in acid because I noticed that some men, when they are bored, like to drum on their thighs. Basically, you just have to retain your childlike joy in experimenting. Otherwise you become cramped and unimaginative.

Is the subject of sustainability discussed at Alberto?

There is no discussion, as it comes naturally to us. We don’t talk about it, unless we’re directly asked. That is our high standard as a family business and starts with the small things. After all, you don’t buy yourself a new car every two years, but instead continue to drive your older model for a few more years. When we send out posters, we ask the recipient to keep the packaging tubes. Our motto is “Think before you print”. As a result we create new cycles. The same applies to our quality standard: cotton in accordance with OEKO-TEX Standard 100 (a German independent test and certification system for textiles) is a matter of course for us. Buttons, yarns, zips, waistband inserts – it’s all tested and checked by us before being sent as a modular system to our production facilities. Which are not in Bangladesh by the way. We might end up paying four to five times more, but we attach great importance to a functioning wastewater system, good catering for employees and also that every fortnight a doctor comes by to give them a health check. We prefer to take care of everything ourselves and don’t pass the buck onto the subcontractors who in turn would put pressure on the staff, which would ultimately also damage the product. Whether the cotton prices fluctuate, an airline is striking, whether it’s currently Ramadan, the weather is causing problems or a lorry is stranded somewhere – here at our headquarters in Mönchengladbach we have people who take care of all of that. This means we can generate sustainability that everyone profits from: us, the workers in the production facilities and ultimately the Alberto customer who can rely on the fact that they are buying a truly quality product. And we don’t make any compromises where that’s concerned!

Thank you very much for the interview.

BRAND HISTORY In 1922 Dr. Albert Dormanns founded the Dormanns trouser factory in the vacant rooms of his late grandfather’s textile factory. The first items were made from returned stock, pattern samples and surplus material.

During the Second World War Dormanns continued production on a small scale in the rooms of an old inn. In 1950 the company owner started to focus on the production of men’s trousers. The rest, as they say, is history.

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that can take place weekly; it depends. Every one of us has their field of expertise for which they are highly valued, but ultimately we all have the same goal: we want to ‘build’ the perfect trousers. Our handwritten claim ‘Pants we love’ is not an empty promise, but a practiced part of our company philosophy.

WWW.ALBERTO-PANTS.COM

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BRANDS & BRAINS — CLERMONT, NEW YORK

GREGORY BUNTAIN AND IAN COLLINGS – PRODUCT DESIGNERS WITH A

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PENCHANT FOR PRECIOUS METALS

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GOLDEN CAGET Modelled out of wax, cast in brass or gold-plated brass: bracelet and necklaces

by Clermont.

BRANDS & BRAINS — CLERMONT, NEW YORK

TEXT MARIE-SOPHIE MÜLLER

CLERMONT

Brooklyn Bijoux interiors. Now the two designers from New York are launching their own jewellery line: Clermont.

Finding Ian Collings and Gregory Buntain’s studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn, is not an easy task. For what feels like an hour I follow the directions in search of the ‘little black door’, which is supposedly located in the façade of an old, brick warehouse, more or less surrounded by the Hudson River, that’s how close it is to the water. Exactly one year ago, the full force of ‘Superstorm Sandy’ meant that the people here were literally up to their necks in water, and although there are no more visible traces of damage, the residents of Red Hook are still very much struggling with the after-effects of the flooding. Collings and Buntain from the design label Fort Standard are lucky that their workshop is on the upper floor of the building, otherwise, one year after moving into the premises, they would have found themselves having to start over from scratch. Finally their employee Vanessa finds me outside and takes me inside a huge hall, where a thick layer of wood dust hangs in the air and the machines drone. A young, tall man approaches me through the dust, a second one follows him. We flee into a quieter, separate room with a view of the Statue of Liberty – which turns out to be their studio. “We actually just spend our time in here now and no longer in the workshop,” says Buntain and his colleague Collings notices my doubtful glance – after all, in their rough and ready trousers and boots they both look as if they’ve just leaped from the pages of a DIY catalogue. “Today is an exception, we’ve just got back from a building site, a shop in SoHo that we’re extending,” he assures me, laughing.

Furniture, lights, shop designs (for Fjällräven, Steven Alan and Warby Parker for example), accessories, tableware and jewellery are the playing fields of the two designers on which, within the short time their label has been around, they have made a name for themselves that goes way beyond the USA. Initially by doing everything themselves, from the design to the production down to the sales via their own online shop. And now, just two and a half years later, the interest and demand are so huge that they’ve had to completely reorganise themselves. “At the beginning, doing everything ourselves was the only way for us to put it all out there into the world. But within just a few months we were still able to bring out an entire furniture line, designed accessories and tableware and got to know each other pretty well – also in terms of the way we work with one another, and as far as our values and visions are concerned.

That was incredibly important,” explains Buntain. “Now that we’ve outsourced the whole production process we can fully concentrate on the design.”

The designs by the two industrial designers, who honed their skills not only at the renowned New York Pratt Institute but also during a semester abroad at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, are as independent as their design vocabulary. Their solid, clear, rather masculine designs ex-

ude their very own elegance, just like Buntain and Collings’ preferred materials: wood, marble and bronze. Inspired by their series of bronze candelabras called ‘Sprue’, which they designed in 2012, they developed their first jewellery designs – which has since resulted in an extensive collection, which they are now establishing under the name ‘Clermont’ as a stand-alone brand, in order to differentiate it from the ‘Fort Standard’ label and its individual signature style: modelled out of string wax, and then cast in brass, silver or gold, the forms convey an organic and handmade aesthetic, which runs through the entire collection of Clermont. “The jewellery line allows us to get to the bottom of the sculptural side of design,” explains the New York duo.

SOLID, HANDMADE AND INDIVIDUALISTICALLY BEAUTIFUL

In their minimal and purposely ‘rough’ beauty the bracelets, rings and cage-like pendants, which can be combined with coloured Japanese cotton or silk cords, are reminiscent of medieval jewellery, the Clermont-version of which are, however, perfect for the urban women of the 21st century.

When I leave the studio, we walk past a lit fireplace on the way to the exit, over which strangely curved pieces of wood are drying, which seem to be intended for a particular use.

“They’re bows, but the strings are missing,” Ian Collings explains to me. “At the weekend we’re going to the annual archery competition in Upstate New York, where we did quite well last year.” In my mind’s eye I see Ian the knight riding from Fort Standard and storming Fort Clermont with his bow and arrow to rescue a princess, her neck and wrists bejewelled with brass and gold. Somehow it all suddenly comes together. And the best thing about it: this is a story that’s only just beginning.

SIMPLE WITH A TWIST A ring by Clermont looks a little like an admirer’s token of love, spontaneously created by twisting a ring with his bare hands over a hot fire. All rings are available in sterling silver or 14 ct gold. From top to bottom: ‘Bend’, ‘Crown’ and ‘Ridge’

CLERMONTNYC.COM / FORTSTANDARD.COM

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Under the name Fort Standard, Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings design furniture, tableware and

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LABELS TO WATCH / 080 BCN — BRAIN & BEAST

BARCELONA IS AND REMAINS A FASHION HUB. THAT IS PROVEN TIME AND AGAIN

BY THE BIANNUAL TRADE EVENT 080 BCN. IN JANUARY 2014 THE EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE FOR THE 13TH TIME, AS ALWAYS WITH A SHOW PROGRAMME COVERING SEVERAL DAYS.

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BRAIN & BEAST “Anything goes!” That’s the working motto that leads to the highly creative output of the designers Ángel Vilda, César Olivar and Verónica Raposo, as can be seen in their S/S 2014 collection, which offers up a mix of romantic ethnic elements, expressive beach flair and extravagant super-heroism. For autumn/winter 2014/15 ‘el amore’ is on the cards for the Spanish brand.

‘Décalogue. Part VII (Romantic)’ is the title of the upcoming collection and is Spanish for ‘Decalogue’, which is another name for ‘The Ten Commandments’ – making this a special kind of top-ten. Every season Brain & Beast focus their designs on a particular off-beat theme. This time though – as the title suggests – they’ll only be reflecting on the positive sides of love. No losses. No heartache.

After all, the three creative ‘Brains’ behind the ‘Beast’ are all about fun and joy. They want to imbue their textiles with emotions. And that’s why their designs are a logical development of the striking, vibrant style of past collections. This time with warm colours, Shetland wool, cashmere and silk. But despite this heady, intoxicating talk of love, striking prints and the typical Brain & Beast humour will play just as important a role next season.

Otherwise it just wouldn’t be Brain & Beast. /cm WWW.BRAINANDBEAST.COM

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LABELS TO WATCH / 080 BCN — MANUEL BOLAÑO

THE SHOW SPECTRUM RANGES FROM ESTABLISHED SPANISH BRANDS LIKE CUSTO, DESIGUAL, MANGO AND TCN TO YOUNGER NEWCOMER BRANDS.

Manuel Bolaño could certainly teach us a few lessons in how to bag awards. After all, since 2007 when the Spanish designer, who was born in 1984 and still lived in Barcelona at the time, was awarded the prize by Bread & Butter for the best collection in his graduation class, he has received a number of additional accolades: at the ‘Open Catwalk of Murcia’, the international ‘Noovo Festival for Fashion and Photography’ in Santiago de Compostela and the ‘Jóvenes Creadores’ competition for young designers in Madrid.

Since 2008 he has been presenting his collections at 080 Barcelona Fashion. Bolaño describes his designs as ‘prêt-à-couture’ and prides himself on his elaborate craftsmanship. Rightly so, as his collections are thought-out down to the very last detail. Just like the current S/S 2014 collection: ‘Une Nuit Bleue’ is full of dreamy pastel looks, eyecatching accessories, teddy bears, glitter and surgical masks. Summary: the young designer definitely has the potential to become a great couturier. /cm

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MANUEL BOLAÑO

WWW.MANUELBOLANO.COM

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LABELS TO WATCH — WHO’S NEXT, PARIS

PRODUCTION MAGDALENA PIOTROWSKI PHOTOS ANDI ZIMMERMANN

WHO’S NEXT

Paris, toujours!

PARIS IS ALWAYS WORTH A VISIT - WHERE ELSE DOES VIBRANT STREET LIFE MIX SO WELL WITH THE PROFESSIONAL FASHION BIZ? As a fashion capital, Paris has always had huge appeal amongst the international fashion crowd.

And with its selection of creative labels, the ‘Who’s Next Prêt-à-Porter Paris’ trade fair, which takes place twice a year, provides a lot of inspiration. 2000 fashion and accessory brands present their collections in several areas at the Porte de Versailles convention centre. The spectrum ranges from the fashionable avant-garde to commercial ready-to-wear down to urban and denim styles. A wealth of shoes and accessories round off the fashionably substantial offer.

Espadrilles Samsøe & Samsøe

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Dress Tinsels Necklace Katja Sobol Cap Samsøe & Samsøe

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Bag & necklace Cecilia Ma Couture

Pullover, hotpants & socks Tinsels

LABELS TO WATCH — WHO’S NEXT, PARIS Necklace Après Ski Blouse American Vintage Leather skirt Storm & Marie

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Dress Custommade Brogues Mellow Yellow Hat Tinsels Sunglasses Stylist’s own Necklace Katja Sobol

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LABELS TO WATCH — WHO’S NEXT, PARIS

Jewellery Tatty Devine

Coat Storm & Marie Necklace Mademoiselle S. Bag Matter Matters

Necklaces Tinsels

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Wooden necklace Cecilia Ma Couture

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Necklace Mademoiselle S. Wooden necklace Katja Sobol

Shirt & trousers Custommade

LABELS TO WATCH — WHO’S NEXT, PARIS Bag Antik Batik Denim shirt & hotpants Lab Dip

IF WE BELIEVE WHAT OUR FRENCH COLLEAGUES ARE TELLING US, NEXT SUMMER WILL BE FULL OF WILD PATTERNS AND VERY COLOURFUL.

Dress, necklace & scarf Conditions Apply

Trousers Conditions Apply Silk top Loreak Mendian Necklace & iPhone case Becksöndergaard

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Pullover, straw hat & shoes Loreak Mendian Scarf Becksöndergaard

69

DENMARK SPECIAL — MBYM

Denmark Special mbyM

TEXT FRANZISKA KLÜN PORTRAITS ANDI ZIMMERMANN

“Quality and good taste for all” Germany’s fashion industry is undergoing a period of radical change. In Denmark they are keeping a very close eye on these developments. After all, nowhere

else in the world has their Nordic purism found such keen fans as in Germany – and labels like mbyM could be on the verge of a major breakthrough.

In the world of fashion, weather is always an issue. Just like on this afternoon in mid-October. In Copenhagen the temperatures have risen to a pleasant 18 degrees, the sun is shining and Morten Lind sighs, “Great for leisure time, but for business it can certainly be a challenge.” Morten Lind is sales director at the Danish label mbyM and doesn’t mean the home market of Denmark when he talks about challenges. He’s referring to Germany, where the autumn is turning out to be very mild too. Danish women, he says, aren’t bothered by the temperature when picking out a coat for the autumn, whether it’s 30 or 5 degrees. When it comes to fashion, they simply don’t want to miss out on anything – whether it’s a trend, it-item or bargain. But German women? “They,” he says, waving his hand with a shrug, “are a whole different kettle of fish.”

why we are really concentrating on it.”

For mbyM, Germany is now already the most important export market. But at the headquarters in Hjørring they are hoping this is only just the beginning.

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“Great for leisure time but a real challenge for business”

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The womenswear label, which was founded in 2003, could be described as quintessentially Danish: high design standards while being infinitely wearable, affordable and thereby highly democratic. The collections feature a lot of black, the silhouettes are clear, the designs minimalist. In a mere ten years the label has achieved everything it wanted to in Denmark. “We can’t and don’t want to continue growing in this country, ” states Lind.

“We only have a population of five million here.” And they are all within reach, with more than 100 outlets stocking mbyM. According to Lind they don’t want to overdo their presence, by being available on every street corner. The 23 Message outlets are also included in the 100 retailers.

Message is a popular multi-brand chain in Denmark and mbyM is the Message group’s in-house label. So it’s natural that the label is pretty dominant in the stores’ ranges.

This interview with Morten Lind in the office of one of the Message outlets in the centre of Copenhagen is the first of several on a longer Denmark trip. But one sentence will crop up again and again over the next few days, when talking to quite different labels of different sizes: “The German market is undergoing a transformation, which is

“Nowadays German Women are much more fashion conscious and discerning.”

Morten Lind is in his late forties and has been working for the Message group for 25 years already; he and his team have analysed the needs of the German customer in depth during several workshops. Sketches and diagrams prove his point. “The German retail segment had been rather conservative for a long time,” he says, taking a short breath before saying, “I suppose I have to be careful what I say now?”

Lind’s sentences are polished when he talks about the control of the German textile market by a small number of larger companies, and about the fact that they seem to be avoiding taking any risks whilst new names aren’t really of interest. “They stayed loyal to the labels they knew. But now the needs of the customer have changed, they are no longer merely on a search for purely practical clothing,” says Lind. “Nowadays German women are much more fashion conscious and discerning.” And above all, says Lind, their expectations are changing faster than the market is reacting.

Lind digs deep into his German vocabulary to be even more precise: “There is a chasm between the Platzhirsche”

(the top dogs) he pronounces, rather proud of the fact that he can get the word out without a hitch or much of an accent, “the big fashion houses, which have existed in part for over 100 years, and the consumer, who is soaking up information from the web in the form of blogs, sites and fashion magazines,” says Lind, “a chasm that must be bridged with labels like mbyM, to deter customers from simply going elsewhere if they don’t find what they are looking for.” For example to the large German online companies like Zalando and Frontline – or to Copenhagen.

A chasm between retail and customer.

You can meanwhile find a detailed and well-researched shopping guide to the Danish capital on pretty much every German fashion blog. On Journelles. de, Jessica Weiss the most well-known fashion blogger in Germany confirms the image of the frustrated young German customer that Lind has just described down to a tee. She writes: “Copenhagen has given me back my physical desire to shop again – as an old online shopper I hardly put a foot outside my front door in Berlin for new additions to my wardrobe. It’s always different abroad, and Copenhagen in particular is the ultimate shopping city!”

Some of the larger fashion houses have understood that something has to give: this September, for example, KaDeWe in Berlin opened a new department for

DENMARK SPECIAL — MBYM DANISH WOMENSWEAR LABEL MBYM WAS FOUNDED IN 2003.

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MbyM is an acronym for ‘Made by Message’ because the label belongs to the Message Group, which has been around since the eighties. They own 23 multi-brand stores in Denmark. MbyM is sold in 15 European countries.

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DENMARK SPECIAL — MBYM

Denmark Special mbyM

Morten Lind

‘Contemporary Fashion’ including labels like The Kooples, Carven and Rag & Bone. Peek & Cloppenburg has been selling labels like Comme des Garçons and Helmut Lang in their Fashionation department for a while now. Only this October the house launched the ‘Fashionation Local Heroes’ campaign for which they took a closer look at the styles of various gallery owners, bloggers and stylists and published the results online.

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“Quality and good taste for all”

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But the gap mentioned by Lind is still very much present.

“Quality and good taste can be had at affordable prices,” he says. This fact is severely underrepresented in the German retail sector in his opinion. Although it is well known that the Germans aren’t exactly “big spenders”, but instead, watch what they spend their money on. What is obviously missing, are the labels that are in the mainstream price segment and at the same time fashionable, of which, in addition to mbyM, there are now several in Denmark. “In proportion to our population figures we have an incredible amount of fashion companies,” says Lind. “And we are very proud of that.”

The crisis hit the Danish fashion industry hard and also changed it in the process. It remains one of the most

important pillars of industry in Denmark but the structure is very different from how it was six or seven years ago.

In addition to the established luxury brands like Sand, Bruuns Bazaar and

By Malene Birger particularly goodvalue-for-money labels like Minimum and Samsøe & Samsøe have been able to achieve considerable success. In addition to this there is of course the Bestseller group with their labels like Vila, Vero Moda and Selected who are continuing to conquer the fashion market in a big way. “The Danes, who were financially in a very good position suddenly became more cautious.

They began to watch their money,” says Lind.

The crisis has changed the Danish fashion industry.

The crisis has also meant that the Danish fashion industry has grown closer.

Now, the most important protagonists

of Copenhagen Fashion Week, as well as the trade fairs Gallery, Vision and CIFF have come together under the umbrella of the Danish Fashion Institute. They have all come to realise that it would be advantageous to present themselves strongly as a team, not least because the return of Bread & Butter to Berlin three years ago has meant a large competitor directly on their doorstep. But the Danes have always been very good team players.

In Berlin, for example, the embassies of the Nordic countries are also combined under one organisation.

They regularly host cultural, fashion or design events. Only last July young designers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland presented their work under the title “Nordic Design Today”.

During our conversation, Lind notes that the name of the exhibition serves to illustrate a common misconception.

When talking of Scandinavian fashion most people think automatically of Fin-

Compared to Danish fashion, the Swedes, with labels like Acne, Filippa K and Tiger of Sweden, present themselves as the more minimalist but also by far the most expensive of both countries. But amongst the Germans they are all popular, whether Danish or Swedish. Expensive or affordable, textile giants or young designers. Which is why many at mbyM see a great opportunity opening up in the shifting German market.

The most loyal fans of Scandinavian fashion come from Germany.

Whilst worldwide everyone is talking about the ‘Scandinavianisation’ of design, the Germans have always been the biggest fans of simplicity, natural materials and beauty which the ‘Made in Scandinavia’ label represents.

And it’s not only for mbyM that Germany is the most important export market, but also for Hennes & Mauritz: after all, they generate a quarter of all sales in Germany.

The much-hyped young labels from Berlin are defining a new style that has quite a bit of common ground with that

of the Scandinavians, with its understated, purist, mature and reduced looks.

The German love for all things Nordic has quite a long history. It began at the end of the 19th century, when the Swedish writer on educational subjects Ellen Key demanded “Beauty for All” and the watercolour paintings of Carl Larsson served as inspiration for nature-orientated design. His famous book “A House in the Sun” was a runaway success, selling the most copies in Germany. But the idea behind it, which began with democratic living and only later moved into the sphere of fashion, only really caught on in Scandinavia. Although the Bauhaus tradition and the English Arts and Crafts Movement also pursued a democratisation of beauty, in these countries it remained a far-off dream.

On behalf of the government Ewa Kumlin, Managing Director Svensk Form, succeeded in making Swedish design internationally well-known.

When talking to her about the continuing success of all things Scandinavian in Germany she says: “This is mainly thanks to the constant dialogue between the countries.” Whilst German designers and makers of fashion are following the Nordic design scene closely, the former head designer of the electronics manufacturer Braun, Dieter Rams, served as an icon of design in the seventies for an entire generation of Scandinavian creatives.

“We have a lot of values in common with the Germans,” says Kumlin. “Their love of nature, clean materials and details – and we also have the same proportions.”

For Morten Lind from mbyM it is clear what the Scandinavians and the Germans do not have in common: for him the Germans are much less open, especially when it comes to changes in commercial practices. But he is optimistic that that is also in the process of changing. So if and when Scandinavisation takes place on a commercial level too, not only will the Scandinavian labels be looking at a lucrative future, but the German customer can also finally look forward to a more exciting shopping experience.

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land and Iceland. But few know that strictly speaking only Denmark, Sweden and Norway are part of Scandinavia.

Only when referring to those countries as well as Finland, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands, would it be correct to refer to ‘Nordic countries’.

“But because there are few fashion labels in Norway, the Scandinavian fashion that people talk about basically comes from Denmark and Sweden.”

DENMARK SPECIAL — MBYM

Denmark Special mbyM

MBYM.DK

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DENMARK SPECIAL — SAND

Denmark Special Sand

INTERVIEW FRANZISKA KLÜN PORTRAITS ANDI ZIMMERMANN

“Being good comes easily to us these days” Sören Sand compares men’s fashion to a football pitch.

And since he has started taking the corner shots, he certainly feels like he’s on the winning team.

Mr Sand, it’s a pleasure to meet you here in Denmark. You look very relaxed!

That’s thanks to the Italian sun.

You’ve been living in Italy since 2009 ... … in Como, yes. A wonderful place.

Why is life in Italy better than in Denmark?

For me, Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and it is wonderful to live in Como. But that’s not the reason why we moved away from Denmark. For us it was simply much more practical to live there: Milan is one of the most important fashion cities in the world. And all our textile manufacturers are nearby. A large proportion of our collection is produced in Italy. We were there all the time anyway. And of course I do admire the Italians; no one knows as much about textiles as they do. That’s where you get the best quality. Basta. No other country can hold a candle to them.

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The biggest challenges for a Dane in Italy?

To be honest, we feel completely at ease there. I love the relaxed Italian way of life! Okay, so they don’t always stick to the agreed delivery times, but we knew right from the start what we were letting ourselves in for. Our employees and partners are loyal, hard working people – they all have their hearts in the right places.

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Together with your wife Lene you have been designing clothing for the label Sand since 1981. A lot of couples would say: I could never work with my partner! How do you do it?

By respecting the way we both are. Of course in part it’s the industry we work in. Lene and I always say: we stopped working the day we turned our hobby into our job. We love what we do.

Don't you ever have the feeling, after over 30 years in fashion, that you have said it all?

No. On the contrary. The best moments are when things start up again and we have to design a new collection

from scratch! When we start looking at new materials and colours, people come to our house and present their new innovations and we put together mood boards. That is pure passion.

Many designers find the moment when a collection is done and dusted and the work on the next one has to begin rather difficult. Everything is back to zero … a completely blank page…

I can’t relate to that. But over the years, with increased experience, it does get easier, as does everything.

Being good comes easily to us these days. We could do a new collection every day!

“The fashion industry is fantastic and I am a happy man.”

You never suffer a lack of willpower?

No. The longer you are in the business, and have proven that you know what you are doing, the more your own selfconfidence in your skills grows. And the more confidence you have, the faster it is to make decisions and the easier it gets.

Did you ever doubt you were doing the right thing?

The fashion sector is fantastic and I am a happy man. Why should I doubt anything?

What would you have done if you hadn’t met Lene?

I often think about that – a terrible thought! I used to want to be a pilot but now I know there is no other sector in which you have so many opportunities than in the fashion world. Every day I can grow. I design things, launch them on the market and get answers. A business like that never gets boring.

Was it love at first sight for you and Lene?

Oh yes! We were teenagers when we fell in love. Right from the start we shared an interest in Danish design and architecture. And back then clothing was important to us too. Even though our tastes were different then …

How? We were hippies. I had longer hair and a pretty unique sense of style.

How did the idea come about to start a label?

Lene’s family worked in the textile industry. Her extended family owned various labels and Lene had always wanted to be a fashion designer. Setting something up together just sort of happened. We were a bit alternative in our thinking so we decided to work only with natural fibres, with cotton, silk, linen and wool. That was very unusual for the times. We produced everything in Denmark and when we opened our first small shop in the eighties, the stuff was literally flying off the shelves. It was a fantastic success that we had never expected.

Sören Sand

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54 — 04/2013

DENMARK SPECIAL — SAND

DENMARK SPECIAL — SAND

Denmark Special Sand

Germans aren’t complicated: they have their own style, which is timeless and elegant and sometimes slightly conservative.

Sand hasn’t been present on the German market for the last couple of years. Now you’re back. Why? We never went away.

What?

We had a showroom in Düsseldorf, but hardly anyone knew about it.

A secret showroom!

Yes something like that! No, seriously, we were there in a way, but not really, because we simply weren’t well positioned. And in fashion it doesn’t work the way it does in a supermarket. People don’t just simply walk through the door and find you. You have to work at it.

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“Now it’s Germany’s turn”

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Now you want to start working at it again?

Germany is important for us! It’s obvious that we should be present there. Fashion is like a relay race. You create a collection and say to the next: “Here, take the fashion, take the baton, and do the next lap. But that was never done in Germany. In the industry it’s not simply about strong collections, but also about the people who work with them. We focused on the USA and Canada for a while, and now it’s Germany’s turn. And the German market is definitely ready.

Sand is available in 30 countries; you know the markets very well. How complicated is the German consumer?

We’ve heard that before.

Germans love their own labels! It’s not that easy to integrate into that.

But there is a big shift taking place.

Nowadays people are more open, more relaxed, they are interested in lifestyle brands – and in Scandinavian design.

For many Scandinavian labels Germany is already the most important market.

Yes, and a new generation has taken over. We live in Europe after all: a country can’t keep isolating itself with its own labels. People are constantly travelling and that of course influences consumer behaviour. I still remember how around 15 years ago we wanted to sell in Germany’s most popular stores.

In those days though the shops were divided into item categories: shoes, T-shirts, suits etc. and never according to labels. What was the word for that again? Product-based departments!

You certainly have a good memory!

Well, it was important! And I thought, they might be practical, but they certainly weren’t sexy.

“Those product-based departments might be practical, but they certainly weren’t sexy.”

The Sand style was once described as “The Scandinavian cool with the English gentlemen touch and a lot of dolce vita”...

That hits the nail on the head! Our close-fitting designs are very Scandinavian and at the same time also Italian.

We use a lot of Italian materials but also British ones. I like to work with contrasts and for example to combine a narrow silhouette with a classic English check. For us it’s a gift that men are more daring nowadays and becoming more extravagant.

The designer Tillmann Lauterbach once said: “So many exciting things have happened in womenswear that it’s much harder to set new accents.

In menswear, however, nothing has happened at all.” Is it easier to design men’s fashion?

There are still ways of creating new things in women’s fashion. I always say: in menswear the playing field is simply more limited. So you have to make good use of the space you have. That doesn’t necessarily make it any easier.

What counts is that you use every corner of the playing field!

“Times are hard and we have to work harder than we used to. But that doesn’t have only drawbacks.”

Do you have an example?

Take the silver blazer from our current Red Carpet collection. Ten years ago

DENMARK SPECIAL — SAND

Denmark Special Sand no one would have worn it. Whether in Los Angeles or in Copenhagen, nowadays men will put it on to go out! Five years ago we had a big client visit us. He looked at all the different collections in great detail, ‘Black Label’, ‘Pink Label’, ‘Red Carpet’ – he loved all of it. And then he went on to order a whole bunch of black suits with not even an interesting detail to them!

And you went home and cried?

Anyone can design beautiful black suits! That was so frustrating! But on the other hand it was understandable.

People wanted black suits and nothing else back then.

When did salvation come?

Gradually of course. Now we are all under pressure. The industry is suffering through the economy, so we all have to work a bit harder than we did a few years ago. But that doesn’t have only drawbacks. There is more energy in the system. You do a better job than before; the retailer has to too. He has to be able to offer his customer something special, because the customer is becoming more demanding. If they don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll just head to Copenhagen or New York and buy it there.

SAND.DK

SÖREN AND LENE SAND HAVE BEEN MAKING FASHION SINCE 1981.

54 — 04/2013

Starting out as a label specialising in natural fibres, it is now a high fashion brand, in demand in over 30 countries.

Even at New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue the various Sand lines, ‘Red Label’, ‘Pink Label’ and ‘Black Label’, are a big hit. The Sand couple never get bored of their metier. On the contrary: they enjoy it more and more all the time.

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DENMARK SPECIAL — WON HUNDRED

Denmark Special Won Hundred

INTERVIEW FRANZISKA KLÜN PORTRAITS ANDI ZIMMERMANN

NICOLAJ NIELSEN is 38 years old. After positions at Diesel and Miss Sixty, he founded Won Hundred in 2004. He is meanwhile designing the men’s collections himself again. His design credo: he sells the items he would like to buy himself.

“A bottle of wine always helps” Nicolaj Nielsen wasn’t exactly top of his class at school, but he is a fantastic fashion salesman. He always dreamt of

running his own business. He says: “If you know what you’re good at, life suddenly becomes very simple.”

Mr Nielsen, you were only 16 years old when you quit school to work in the fashion industry. For boys in particular such determination at that age is rather unusual ...

To be honest I started working in fashion when I was 12.

There was this incredibly trendy shop in my hometown, where I worked on the side. When I left school, I wanted to go to a different business school. But then I thought: why should I let even more years pass by although I already know what I want to do in life?

The jeans were selling. That was the big denim relaunch! When I think back to that time today it’s as if we had celebrated one huge party in Denmark.

I also worked so much too. There was never a 40-hour week for me. I wanted to work my way up, and 60 hours were normal.

How did you know that?

The first time I set foot in that store I thought: I like that, that’s cool. Selling stuff was just something I was good at.

I thought it was great to bump into the customers in a bar in the evening; they recognised me, were nice to me. It was good for my self-confidence.

“Diesel called and I thought: Yes!”

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You went on to work for Diesel and Miss Sixty for a few years. What drew you to the Italians?

It was the mid-90s and Diesel was really making some great stuff at the time, the adverts alone were so unique!

It was an absolute dream to work for the company. When Diesel called me and asked if I would like to move to Copenhagen to take over the sales I thought: Yes! Nobody wore jeans back then, everyone was going round in cargo pants and Diesel was facing major problems. Renzo Rosso wanted to build up a team in every country, in which one person was responsible only for jeans. In Denmark that was me. From then on all I talked about was washes, fabrics and production procedures. That was pretty clever.

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Why? At that time there were so many jeans models that simply weren’t selling. In every store there were around 400 to 500 pairs just lying around. So I went to all those stores, collected the old pairs and gave them our new stuff.

Fresh meat, so to speak! And suddenly things took off!

Were you also so ambitious at school?

No, I hated school. When you’re getting grades as poor as the ones I was getting then you have to find out what you want to do. You really have to make an effort. I understood that. I knew I liked selling fashion, and that was something I could do – so I had to give it my all. Lots of my friends can’t even spell properly but they’re all doing something that they’re really good at. The first time I understood that I could be successful, despite never having shone at school was an overwhelming experience for me.

Have you always dreamed of being your own boss?

Since I was 24 I knew: before I turn 30 I want to set up my own company. I wanted to go my own way. After I left Diesel, I moved to the Sixty Group. I was so tired! I’d had enough of sitting around with Italians who didn’t understand what I was trying to tell them about the Danish market. Suddenly the time was right, so I resigned.

When did you first notice that the fashion industry can be quite a dirty business?

In 2008! Without a doubt. When everything’s going well, everyone is selling, there are no problems. But as soon as that changes it gets nasty and everyone is suddenly sailing their own boats.

Did the crisis affect you badly?

I’m no expert when it comes to finances, I just do what I feel like doing.

“Suddenly your life starts going to plan!

You just have to find out what you’re good at.”

Is that liberating?

Definitely. You’re proud of yourself, perhaps for the first time in your life – that changes everything. You have more energy, everything becomes easier, things even start working out with girls, you find better friends. Suddenly your life starts going to plan! You just have to find out what you’re good at.

But before 2008 everyone was selling like crazy. You could launch the ugliest items on the market and they would still sell. Everyone was patting each other on the backs. And then the crisis happened and knocked us all for six.

When you have your main sales market in a country like Denmark, with just five million inhabitants, then you notice a crisis like that instantly. If an impor-

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Nicolaj Nielsen

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DENMARK SPECIAL — WON HUNDRED

DENMARK SPECIAL — WON HUNDRED

Denmark Special Won Hundred tant client isn’t doing too well, it becomes apparent right away. At Won Hundred we had to let a few people go. We thought it would last a year and then we’d be back on track. But it’s 2013 now and we’re still struggling with it.

The crisis isn’t over yet.

To what extent?

One of my best friends invested some money, and if he hadn’t done that, the label wouldn’t exist anymore today.

These days a lot is based on commission, everyone is demanding the cheapest prices with the best profit margins. In that case it’s important to somehow stay true to yourself, and not just do what others are demanding. Six months ago I became responsible for the design again; before that I had a team who worked on it. Although our customers were satisfied with our products in 2008 and 2009 we weren’t really satisfied. We don’t want to sell things that we think are just okay; only what we think is really good. Now we’re back on track.

“In 2004 everything was covered in sequins. I wanted to counteract that.”

In your brand philosophy it says that when you started with Won Hundred you wanted to “challenge the way fashion was grasped in Denmark”. What does that mean?

Let’s take a look back at the situation in 2004 here in the north: Acne had just become popular, J.Lindeberg, Tiger of Sweden. But fashion, especially womenswear, had nothing to do with the clean, minimalist look that is defined as Scandinavian today. Everything was covered in sequins! I wanted to counteract that and do something very simple. That’s why our collection was just black and white.

How do you define good Danish design?

By quality and price. Us Danes are good at that. For example the Bestseller group, they are of course much bigger that all the others, but they are also unbeatable when it comes to value for money. Or Norse Projects, Wood Wood, Soulland; they are all affordable, yet the quality is good. I think that’s pretty cool.

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“In Denmark everyone thinks you should always keep your feet firmly on the ground and not get carried away. That’s annoying.”

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If you want to understand how Danish people tick, also when it comes to business, you need to learn two Danish words. The first is ‘Janteloven’.

‘Janteloven’ describes a Scandinavian behavioural pattern I don’t particularly like. It exists and influences us constantly, also in fashion. If you’re very ambitious in what you do, for example if you want to make the best T-shirt in the world, people look at you and say: cool, man! But if you achieve your goal and are successful, they bring you back down. Then they accuse you of going over the top, losing touch with reality. They think you should always keep your feet firmly on the ground and not get carried away. That’s annoying. I think we should leave that behind us.

Because it’s not a modern way of thinking?

No, because I’m happy for those who are really successful! We should be applauding and celebrating them! If you achieve something then you deserve to receive recognition for it. But here you’re not allowed to show off. Here you just try to get better and better but you never really reach your goal because your success isn’t reflected.

Instead people roll their eyes and think: what a stuck-up idiot!

The second word: ‘Hygge’.

That’s a Danish word meaning cosiness and security that sums up our culture.

Both in the private sphere and at work.

As there are only five and a half million of us in this country, people obviously know each other in the individual sectors. For example I think it’s fantastic that we are such a small company.

There are only 15 of us. I want all of my employees to have a good time, for us to be able to sit together and drink a beer and all talk together. My rule is: don’t send me a mail, come in and let’s talk about it.

You once said that loyal hardworking employees are key to achieving success with Won Hundred and that it’s really important to work as a team and support each other, otherwise you’ll get really confused about all the things going on in the industry.

Oh my God – how old is this quote?

“Don’t send me a mail, come in and let’s talk about it.”

It’s from an interview that was published in July 2011.

I thought so. That was before I became a dad!

So do you have to take everything back now that you said before?

The fashion industry is changing!

People change! Especially when you have children. I don’t know what I meant by that anymore, but today I can’t expect anyone to sit here from seven in the morning until nine at night.

Because you no longer do it yourself?

And because we are all getting older.

Some of my staff have worked for the company since 2006. They are also having children. When I was younger I never used to plan anything; I just did it. These days I don’t want to waste any time. Back then I frittered away

half the day discussing things, in the evening we would have a wine together.

These days we plan meetings that start on time and we get through quickly, which means we manage the same workload in a shorter time.

There’s an anecdote that you were drunk and called your lawyer at two in the morning to tell him he should patent the name Won Hundred.

That’s right. It wasn’t supposed to be called Won Hundred though, but 100.

At the time numbers were on everything. Also on clothing. So I thought that would be cool: one zero zero. But my lawyer said that it was already taken. And I said to him: “Doesn’t matter, we’re gonna win the shit anyway.” And when we were talking on the phone again the next morning, when I was sober, we remembered what I’d said the night before: what did I say about winning again? ... 100 percent won? ... Won 100! Super! The logo looked very different at the beginning and we changed the number to the word written out in letters.

Cubism, Christiania, Olafur Eliasson: your collections always have a theme.

How do you decide on it?

We’re constantly looking out for new things, for colour combinations, prints.

We travel as a team to Paris, go to exhibitions or look for interesting books.

For example, I came across an old Bauhaus photo book at some point. So the next collection will revolve around Bauhaus. Or GDR architecture, which I also discovered a book about ...

And then your whole team sits down together with a crate of beer to brainstorm?

A bottle of wine always helps! Alcohol simply gets people talking. It’s good medicine.

WWW.WONHUNDRED.COM

WHAT’S YOUR

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A D RELEV , HIP AN H S E R F U S. L L: Y 2014. , THAT’S N FOR A S T IO IS H S W JANUAR A T , F H IN R L IS O R L F E Y B ND N TO ST BUTTER WE STA READ & TTENTIO B A T H A IT N SW LLECTIO CLASSIC NEW CO E H T G TIN PRESEN

anvil.eu

DENMARK SPECIAL — HUMMEL

Denmark Special Hummel

INTERVIEW FRANZISKA KLÜN PHOTOS ANDI ZIMMERMANN

“Too much inner peace can also be a hindrance” In Denmark everyone knows the entrepreneur Christian Stadil. His philosophy: do good and profit from it. He has turned

the sports brand Hummel into the sixth largest kit supplier for team sports in the world.

Mr Stadil, you are the author of several management books, you give lectures about Buddhism, you run companies with your father in the most diverse of industries, from the food industry to real estate down to shipping.

But apparently your heart beats the fastest for Hummel.

Why fashion of all things?

My heart beats for fashion because I am interested in trends and lifestyle. It doesn’t necessarily have to be clothing. For example I am currently fascinated by tattoos. Fashion and trends are closely linked to our society, and to the current situation around the world.

Take the skirt index for example ...

Hummel is not necessarily the brand that one would associate with the purist Scandinavian look. We had a long discussion about whether we should include Hummel in this Scandinavia special ...

What?! You can’t get much closer to the Scandinavian roots and values than Hummel!

54 — 04/2013

Are you talking about how the average skirt length reflects the current economic situation?

If the economy is booming, skirts are short; if there is a crisis they are long. In economically uncertain times men look for women who are more masculine and slightly older because they believe that they will stand by them when the going gets tough. Even when I was a teenager I had an interest in trends. In our yearbook I was voted pop culture expert because I knew everything about Hollywood. Fashion is culture, just like literature and art. I find all of that inspiring – but fashion also happens to be the easiest way to make money.

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How do you define good fashion?

That all depends on whether a collection reflects a brand’s DNA. The quality has to be either very good or the fashion has to be very functional. If neither is the case, then the idea has to be extremely strong. Like Alexander Wang’s knitwear, which falls apart after what feels like two days. But that’s also exactly how he expresses his design language – his transparent shabby chic. Above all, fashion is like art: they both function like love affairs.

Every item of clothing has a certain x-factor and that’s what attracts us – or not, as the case may be.

“Fashion is like art: they both function like love affairs.”

Why? The Hummel design is very minimalistic, very clear and therefore very Scandinavian. Hummel is the only sports brand that is 100 percent Danish-owned! The company has a great legacy. This year the brand will be celebrating its 90th birthday. Many of the current designs originate from the early days, from the 1920s.

What does that have to do with Scandinavian values?

We should actually be a bit more specific here and speak of Danish values. After Finland, Denmark was the second European country that granted women the right to vote. It was the first country that allowed civil partnerships for same-sex couples, and also the first country to allow pornography. When Hummel sponsors the football team from the alternative commune Christi-

ania in Copenhagen, we are doing that because we identify with and support Denmark’s liberal way of thinking.

For over ten years the sponsoring of sportsmen and women, who no one else supports, has been part of Hummel’s marketing strategy. A Danish footballer once called you because he wanted to organise a game between Tibet and Greenland – both teams are not recognised by FIFA. The big players like Adidas and Nike had turned down the cooperation request, but you agreed.

I haven’t heard from the Tibetans for ages! Christiania, Sierra Leone, St. Pauli and the Afghan football teams, amongst others, play in our strips.

For many people you are a savvy strategist. Especially when you announced the cooperation with the women’s football team of Afghanistan, some very critical voices were raised.

How do you respond to your critics?

Of course those who see me as a savvy strategist think my social commitment serves one goal only: doing good in the world. That’s not all that it’s about.

In 2007 I wrote the book “Company Karma” together with Professor Steen Hildebrandt. In it we take an in-depth look at the question that we all have to ask ourselves: how can companies change the world? A change will only be possible if the companies can also profit from their commitment. What’s so bad about a company doing some-

DENMARK SPECIAL — HUMMEL 20 companies, including the sporting goods manufacturer Hummel.

Stadil lives with his wife and son in Copenhagen.

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CHRISTIAN STADIL Fifteen years ago Christian Stadil, 42, founded the Thornico Group together with his father Thor Stadil.

Today the group owns over

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DENMARK SPECIAL — HUMMEL

Denmark Special Hummel thing good and, like Hummel, getting good PR for it? Is a company any less credible just because it makes a profit with the sale of a product that is fairly produced? If the companies do not have any benefits from their actions whatsoever, they won’t continue them in the long term.

interview, every presentation is also an inner struggle. I call it my “monkey mind”. Strange thoughts pop into my head that I have to push aside. I like attention, and for some reason I seek it, but it’s also a dance with the devil.

In 1999, when Hummel was on the brink of financial ruin, you took over the company. At the time you once said that Hummel was “absolutely not trendy”. What was it that appealed to you?

Hardly any other sports brand can look back on such a long history! The company was founded in 1923. It was huge in the 80s. Until 1995 Hummel was the sponsor of Real Madrid! Tottenham played in Hummel. When we started looking into it, we had a sense of how much potential this legacy has. We decided to make the brand more fashionable to get it stocked by the good stores.

When retailers like Colette, Bergdorf & Goodman and Barneys started selling Hummel, the sports stores became interested again. Hummel found its way back to sport via fashion.

“Talent borrows, genius steals.”

Apparently you spent hours browsing the brand’s archives and that’s how you had the idea to focus on retro.

No, I didn’t suddenly have one brilliant idea. For another book Professor Lene Tanggaard and I surveyed the 25 most successful Danish creatives. We wanted to find out why Denmark’s creative industry is so successful. On the one hand we found out that most eureka moments don’t happen as they did in the original case of Archimedes in the bath, but rather in the shower, the car, on planes, while jogging or walking. When you’re alone, when some kind of movement and background noise is taking place.

Another answer from the creatives was that all good ideas are based on a collection of impressions, along the lines of “Talent borrows, genius steals”. And that’s what it was like with Hummel too. I was familiar with the archive.

Then I read an article about the next megatrend, known as ‘retro’. The turn of the millennium was just around the corner. Everyone was asking themselves what would happen. Will the aliens come down and visit? Will that be the end of us? The article concluded that people want security, they want well-known products that give them a good feeling. When I discovered a poster in a shop with the words: “Hummel products sold out,” everything came together and we decided to go back to the old designs.

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During my research there was one thing I couldn’t really find out about you: are you a Buddhist or not?

I understand why you don’t understand it, I don’t really understand it myself. For 30 years I have been interested in Buddhism, I’ve been to Asia a lot, meditated there, met the great masters and have read around 500 books on the subject of Buddhism. But I try not to focus on it too much, and live more like Charlie Parker. He once said that you should first master your instrument, master the music and then forget all that and just play.

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Have you mastered the art of meditation?

Yes and no. If you concentrate on something in life, it grows. But if all you’re doing is focusing on your inner peace then it can also be more of a hindrance in other respects.

Are you worried that the day will come when the media stops knocking?

No, my attention-seeking has nothing to do with my ego, but more with the fact that the external commotion has a calming effect on the commotion inside my brain. I don’t need the media for attention, just people around me.

WWW.CHRISTIANSTADIL.COM WWW.HUMMEL.NET

How do the two go together, Buddhism and entrepreneurship?

I try everything to make them compatible.

But doesn’t Buddhism say we should forgo everything that we don’t need to live?

As far as that definition is concerned then I am not a Buddhist. But there is a lot of Buddhist inspiration in the way we manage our company. We have a flat hierarchy, every employee has

“Every appearance, every interview, every presentation is an inner struggle.” mine and my father’s mobile numbers.

We carry out all these ideas that we call karma projects. A chicken farm in Malawi, a farm on the roof of our office in Rotterdam, where we also keep bees. We now want to start involving our employees by awarding a prize for the best karma project every year. They can be small projects, but that’s how we motivate them to do something good. And whoever does something good also motivates others to follow suit.

In Denmark you’re something of a celebrity and constantly on television.

Even when you were at school you attracted attention by wearing military uniforms and helmets. Do you love the limelight?

My friends would say: of course! But I have a very special relationship with attention. Every appearance, every

DENMARK SPECIAL — AIAYU

TEXT FREDERICKE WINKLER

Denmark Special Aiayu

Fibres of the soul Let’s start with a bold statement: lots of men and women who buy high quality clothing base their choice on how the garment feels. They wander through racks

of clothing in the boutique of their choice and gently glide their hands over the materials. The eye may make the initial selection but the skin has the last say.

If the clothing is scratchy or doesn’t adjust to your shape, no matter how on trend the colour is, it will never make it to your wardrobe at home. And so it’s easy to pinpoint exactly the moment in which one will irrefutably fall in love with the collections by Danish label Aiayu – the moment you feel it on your skin. Every cardigan, pullover, skirt, dress and top is soft as a kitten’s fur and as cosy as an open fire after a winter stroll. The secret lies in the animal that has contributed its wool for the styles: the llama. Because Aiayu works exclusively with Bolivian Cashllama: an amazingly versatile natural fibre that has been proven not to pill, without needing any artificial treatments, simply because llama hair, unlike sheep’s wool, is smooth on the outside and on average as long as only high-quality cashmere. 56 millimetres to be exact.

And on top of that, this kind of fibre is hollow inside, making it lightweight yet good at trapping warmth. And its biggest advantage: it is perfect for allergy sufferers.

That’s because the hair is lanolin-free, which, in the case of sheep’s wool, can lead to skin irritations. And because of its wide range of natural colours it doesn’t necessarily have to be dyed, saving yet another chemical process.

techniques of the Bolivian producers.

The result is a style that deserves the term cosmopolitan. You can wear it in the countryside as well as in the city, from Oslo to Lisbon – or even in La Paz. Sometimes it is light, sometimes earthy and heavy, sometimes colourful and sexy and sometimes understated in natural tones. But the knit patterns are always elaborate and beautiful, the colour combinations harmonious and the fit minimalist in classic Scandinavian style. A glimpse at the outfits conjures up images of a reflective, wilful woman who is in complete harmony with herself.

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Copenhagen meets La Paz

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But what good is the best material if it doesn’t end up on the table of a designer who knows how to transform it into a desirable shape? In the case of Aiayu you won’t need to worry in this respect. The designer is called Maria Høgh Heilmann and her business partner Marie Worsaae takes care of the marketing side of things. In 2004 on a journey through Bolivia they both discovered this llama wool, which is a traditional material for knitwear in the South American Andes. They immediately hit on the idea of producing women’s knitwear and home textiles, which cater to European tastes in fashion but at the same time utilise the filigree and varied knit and embroidery

Soul wear How does Aiayu manage to create clothing with so much soul? Perhaps it is due to the fact that they are audacious enough to place the patterns on the inside of the clothing so that you wear them inside out? Or the fact that they don’t even shy away producing mini skirts with leopard skin designs?

Or does the skill and passion of the craftswomen who knit and sew imbue Aiayu’s products with such spiritual strength? That at least is what the two brains behind the label think. They are completely convinced that due to the method of production, their wares have good karma: ‘Aiayu’ means ‘soul’ in the native tongue of the indigenous Bolivian workers there. The sugges-

tion to use the term as the label name came from the workers at the site, who make 95 percent of the collection.

The production facility is located at an altitude of 4000 metres above sea level not far from La Paz and between two mountain ridges of the Andes, combining the entire production process under one roof: from the raw wool all the way to the finished pullover. It is the same highland where the herds of llama graze, and also moult once a year, giving their wool to Aiayu amongst others.

Thanks to the moderate climate on the so-called Altiplano, the landscape is characterised by verdant greens and earthy hues, interrupted only by the crystalline blue of the sky and the white of the distant mountain peaks.

The often bright and gaudy colours and decorative elements of the traditional clothing of the indigenous groups who comprise more than half of the entire population of Bolivia, accentuate the homogenous colouring of the vegetation. Lake Titicaca is not far away. The same goes for the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world – a white desert, as surreal as a Dalí painting.

It is immeasurably precious, making the figures on poverty for the South American state seem preposterous: roughly 50 percent of the population are poor; and 20 percent live in extreme poverty according to statistics from the Bolivian Ministry of Economy and Public Finance. In rural areas this

DENMARK SPECIAL — AIAYU

Denmark Special Aiayu TRADITIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP The stripy cardigan made of pure baby llama wool (left) is handmade. Only very few women still have the skills to create such patterns. It is from the current winter collection, available from the label’s online shop.

Pursuing common paths Perhaps it was this contrast that led the two Danish women to launch their project: the beauty of the nature there and the craftsmanship and traditions on the one hand, and the mountain of problems on the other, which require a lot of willpower and activism to tackle. The production site they chose for their label didn’t fulfil all their social and ecological criteria either right from the start.

Even though it was of a comparably high standard. The founders of the manufactory had spent a lot of time living in the USA before opening a business back in their homeland 25 years ago. They had started off as wool exporters, dealing in untreated raw wool, until a few customers asked if it wouldn’t be possible to order washed wool. So they bought washing machines, which in turn led to more customers, who then requested finished yarns.

In this way over the years an entire production chain was created – an important criterion for Aiaya. Because it meant they could concentrate on one partner and develop an optimum production process with them. With the help of project funding as part of the Danida development aid programme from the Danish government, in 2007 they began to restructure the entire factory together with the on-site management. A new working environment was created so that every workspace had

enough light and warmth. The sanitary facilities were replaced to comply with European standards. A new heating system was installed, running on environmentally-friendly natural gas, and grey water, produced in the raw wool washing process, which is kept at a minimum, is filtered by a new wastewater treatment plant returning 75 percent back into the hydrologic cycle.

Working conditions as well as wages, worker health and safety, freedom of assembly, paid overtime and contractual security are all at a good standard, as the current certification process for the international Social Accountability SA 8000 proves. The packaging for the goods is compostable and the number of transit miles remain low thanks to the one-stop business site.

In the future, the Danish employer Aiayu will go one step farther and take on responsibility for the working and living conditions of their suppliers too: for the shepherds who sell their wool to the production facility. Courses in animal husbandry and wool harvesting are planned, because there is a whole lot of potential for increasing the volume as well as the quality of the product – and with it the income of the shepherds. These plans too are openly and unapologetically talked about: a welcome change for any enlightened consumer. The vision of the Danish company seem to be completely intertwined in the culture and the wellbeing of a community of production partners

several thousand kilometres away, which is steeped in tradition and history but also mired in the issues of an underdeveloped country.

In psychology one sometimes talks about the soul as a whole, made up of the sum of experiences and emotions that influence a person. In this respect we have to agree with Marie Worsaae and Maria Høgh Heilmann: their clothing seems truly to carry a soul within – but not as a metaphysical phenomenon. This soul is apparent through the immense work involved in creating a business whose supply chain is consistently characterised by ethical values – through a beauty that is intimately connected with the traditions of Bolivia. It is also apparent in the indispensable readiness of the company to take the next step. More than 200 stores in 13 countries confirm Aiayu in their will to create a product that first convinces the hand, then the eye and, last but not least, wins over the heart.

AIAYU.COM

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figure rises to 40 percent. The textile industry is one of three pillars on which domestic economy depends. The country is grappling with similar problems as South-Asian production countries: an over-dependence on foreign employees, a weak domestic market due to cheap imports and lack of state support for workers as well as a largely informal, unregulated labour market. And by the way, around 80 percent of the jobs here are carried out by women. Another situation that makes it comparable to the textile strongholds like Bangladesh.

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RETAIL — THE WEBSTER, MIAMI

TEXT GERLIND HECTOR PHOTOS THE WEBSTER

THE WEBSTER, MIAMI

MIAMI STYLE MACHINE

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Flip flops, flamingos and fun in the sun – Miami is a great place to live, no question. But fashion?

A young French lady was decidedly unimpressed by the meagre offer available so promptly made her own personal American dream come true. With ‘The Webster’ she has brought together European couture and New York style and become the darling of the art and design scene.

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Fashion and Miami? The first thing that will spring to mind for all the TV junkies out there is Don Johnson of ‘Miami Vice’ fame. With his classic eighties blonde highlights and rolledup jacket sleeves, Sonny Crockett inspired a whole generation of men to wear carrot pants and pastel-coloured T-shirts. But that was then and the look is meanwhile dead and gone. Now Laure Hériard Dubreuil has taken the fashion reins of the five-million metropolis into her own hands. Heaven only knows why, of all people, it took a young French woman – but the cognac heiress has actually managed to raise Miami’s fashion cred to higher planes within the shortest time.

In 2007, Laure, who at the time was still

working in New York as visual merchandiser at Yves Saint Laurent, visited Miami for a weekend break and immediately discovered the gaping hole in the market. Thanks to the imported ‘Art Basel’ and the ‘Design Miami’ furniture fair the city definitely wasn’t short of cultural offerings – but “it was impossible to find a cool outfit!” Laure remembers.

“Nothing had finesse.” So together with two friends the energetic French lady decided to rectify the problem and a concept store that was unique for Miami was born.

In the middle of Miami Beach, right next to the Atlantic Ocean, ‘The Webster’ resides on three floors in an Art Deco building, which was designed by architect Henry Houser in

1939. With its white façade and ornate pink elements it is somewhat reminiscent of a wedding cake. Plus – we are in Miami after all – horizontal fluorescent pink strip lighting adorns the charming exterior.

Inside the store only a few scattered bronzecoloured flamingos remind us that we’re in Florida, otherwise it’s all very European: Acne, Chloé, Balenciaga, Maison Martin Margiela – the list of ‘old world’ fashion labels reads like a who’s who of the fashion scene. But also national heroes like Marc Jacobs and international labels like Muzungu Sisters, which promotes fair labour practices by showcasing artisan-crafted goods from around the world, are included in the

RETAIL — THE WEBSTER, MIAMI THE WEBSTER 1220 COLLINS AVENUE MIAMI BEACH FL 33139 T +1 305 6747-899

store’s exceptional portfolio. The large sales floor, covering an area of approx. 6000 square metres, means there’s no shortage of space. One floor is reserved for art exhibitions, fashion shows or pop-up stores, and there is also a lobby with a bar and a rooftop terrace restaurant and unobstructed ocean views – features which have also impressed fashion greats like Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf and The Sartorialist, who occasionally use the space for private events. The mensand womenswear items are always arranged on minimalist display units or mannequins to highlight their exceptional tailoring, luxurious fabric or unique design. Matching accesso-

ries like shoes or bags are positioned within eyeshot of the garments – a perfect service for the financially well-endowed clientele who is grateful for each and every styling tip when it comes to the extravagant assortment.

Laure Hériard Dubreuil is meanwhile steering the fate of The Webster from New York, shaping its image and look. For this she draws on her large network of valuable contacts on the international fashion and art scene – fittingly she is engaged to the art star Aaron Young. And so it has been known for Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz to personally decorate the mannequins in the shop window and

designer duo Proenza Schouler to design items that can only be purchased here. And without a second thought, Stefano Tonchi, the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine ‘W’, was happy to offer himself as a model for the online shop.

Laure Hériard Dubreuil is constantly filing away at new ideas and is always on the lookout for suitable labels that her clientele would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in Miami. It’s very unlikely that she’ll lose interest and get bored. But just in case she does, there’s always her family’s cognac business Rémy Martin to fall back on.

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WWW.THEWEBSTERMIAMI.COM

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RETAIL — HARCOZA, TOKYO

TEXT GERLIND HECTOR PHOTOS HARCOZA

HARCOZA, TOK YO

CHIC IN JAPAN

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Hardly any other country in the Far East has such a great cultural influence on the rest of the world as Japan. Whether karaoke, karate or koi carp – the island nation’s diversity is unrivalled and much imitated. And, in terms of fashion, it can certainly hold its own when it comes to comparisons with the West. There to prove it is the small concept store Harcoza in central Tokyo: perhaps its country’s best fashion ambassador.

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“Really good products need to have a soul!” says Haruko Okano. And you can see just how different, crazy and unique such products can be at her store Harcoza. Not far from Daikanyama train station in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, the curious visitor will get what the fuss is all about when it comes to the legendary eccentric Japanese fashion taste as soon as they walk through the door.

You’ll find things here that you never dreamed existed. And that not only applies to the goods on sale, but also to the store design.

It’s as if Barbie on ecstasy has been let loose with a magic wand: orange and pink flowery wallpaper next to silvery gleaming draped curtains. A yellow, Plexiglas half-moon hangs from the ceiling and various pastel-

coloured poufs are scattered around the space. The perfect place to sit down and let this dreamy, glittery wonderland with fifties flair sink in for a few minutes. Connecting the two floors is a staircase, reminiscent of a brightly coloured hotchpotch of Lego blocks, or Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. And once you reach the top you’ll realise that the eclectic flamboyance continues on the top floor. The contrast of the flooring alone – either varnished chipboard or colourful rubber balls encased in glass – could not be more extreme.

The store’s owner Haruko Okano, who also sells her own label ‘Harcoza’ here, is currently regarded as a highly promising design talent who definitely has what it takes for an international career. Expecting Haruko, who

studied fashion design in New York, to create anything less than sensational would be a mistake.

“In my eyes, art and fashion are not really that different in terms of their value and their significance for the world.” The fact that Haruko deals intensively with both aspects is not only apparent in her store, which covers an area of approx. 70 m², but also her fashion label, which, although it references Japanese tradition, is mainly defined by its interplay of unusual materials and tailoring. So don’t be surprised to see outfits like a little bright red puff-sleeved dress paired with a patent leather cape featuring a cutout geometric pattern and a Japanese theatre mask for the hair.

But the concept store, whose quirky interior offers an interest-

RETAIL — HARCOZA, TOKYO

day, offers a platform for young bands or smaller performances.

The Berlin-based Canadian Dan Bodan gave a concert at Harcoza not long ago, and the French artist Isabelle Boinot recently organised a workshop here for her fans. The store also hosted an exhibition by the musician and artist Oorutaichi, who is a real institution when it comes to experimental music in Japan.

“Fashion has so many facets and sources of inspiration. Here at Harcoza I try to bring all that under one roof and always have a surprise in store for my customers!” Something which Haruko Okano will, without a doubt, achieve next season, and many more seasons after that.

HARCOZA 2-15-9 1F EBISU-NISHI SHIBUYA-KU TOKYO 150-0021 T +81 3 64160725 WWW.HARCOZA.COM

54 — 04/2013

ing contrast to the super-cool modernity of the rest of the building, a large shopping mall, is more than just a sales outlet for her own collection. Other newcomers – whether artists or fashion designers – can also offer or exhibit their goods here. So alongside pieces from her own label she also stocks fashion by Stof and Bedsidedrama, another two very extravagant Japanese labels. And various unusual accessories also entice Tokyo’s fashion victims – from bouncy ball necklaces to bonsai trees fashioned into watches you’ll find everything your heart desires.

And the same applies for the exhibitions, concerts and other events that regularly take place at Harcoza. The small stage on the ground floor, where the fitting rooms are located during the

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RETAIL — CONTENT STORE, LONDON

TEXT OLIVER HORTON PHOTOS RAINER RUDOLF BENOIT

THE CONTENT STORE, LONDON

CONTENT PROVIDER

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Most people who come across The Content Store for the first time assume the name simply refers to content, as in “stuff”. But the clue is the little smiley face on the fascia of this London menswear store: it actually means content, in the sense of happy.

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The Content Store is the baby of Mark Batista, co-owner of the Number Six shops on Brick Lane and in Hampstead, and cofounder of the trade fair Jacket Required. The Content Store is on Lamb’s Conduit Street in Bloomsbury, northeast of Covent Garden – an area that is home to many illustrious institutions such as the British Library and the Charles Dickens Museum, as well as the famous children’s hospital on Great Ormond Street that has been here since 1852.

And now the area can also boast one of the most charming shopping streets in the British capital, in Lamb’s Conduit Street. Oliver Spencer, Folk, Universal Works and Private White all sell their wares here. The US chain J. Crew recently opened a concept store on the street – and CEO Mickey Drexler popped by personally to

check out the location beforehand.

Mark Batista really likes the area, especially in comparison to the overcrowded East End. “The rent here is cheaper than a market stall on Spitalfields market, so we can afford to take a few risks.

Brick Lane has gone crazy; it’s expensive and totally saturated,” he says.

The Content Store truly is on the “sunny side of the street”, with the sun shining in through the high windows almost all day long. The space used to be home to a Chinese apothecary selling bags of fragrant medicinal herbs across the counter. Batista and his team stripped the shop back to its original 1692 interior: the house is Grade II listed, meaning it has special historical interest and is protected from alteration

RETAIL — CONTENT STORE, LONDON Mark Batista

THE CONTENT STORE 28 LAMB’S CONDUIT STREET LONDON WC1N 3LE T +44 20 34117342 WWW.CONTENTSTORELONDON.COM

door, past the hanging clothes, a small anteroom is tucked away, leading to the staircase into the basement. This space is currently used for storage, but may soon be used to showcase Sandqvist bags. And there’s good reason for that: Batista himself represents the line, like many in the store, with his own sales agency Brand Progression. The showroom is in Emerald Street, just a stone’s throw away from The Content Store.

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or demolition. Renovations revealed an old chimney breast and oven: sure proof that the place also used to be a bakery many years ago.

Since April of this year, Batista has been selling labels like Edwin, Lacoste, Our Legacy, Adidas Originals, Ebbets Field Flannels, Woolrich, Ten c and Patagonia, rounded off with a broad range of accessories, including eyewear by Garrett Leight, beanies

by Penfield, bags by Sandqvist and watches by YMC. The fact that The Content Store is the only multi-brand menswear shop on Lamb’s Conduit Street is another reason for Batista to be content. Especially because he is really enthusiastic about the brands he stocks. Whether we’re talking jeans and T-shirts, a shiny baseball jacket or a canvas bag – the selection on offer is a dialogue between great sportswear and casual classics.

At present the entire range is displayed upstairs, with footwear lining the wall to the right of the entrance up to the till area, and clothing running the full length of the left side. Opposite the front

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FAIRS — BREAD & BUTTER

TEXT GERLIND HECTOR

“Ich bin ein Berliner!”

54 — 04/2013

Berlin is unique, which is exactly what makes it the ideal location for Bread & Butter. For the 30th edition this coming January the focus will once again be on international jeans and streetwear. As well as a new motto, the biggest crowd puller on Berlin’s trade fair landscape is also presenting a spectacular relaunch on the World Wide Web.

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First of all: Bread & Butter is staying in Berlin – and for the long term too. Karl-Heinz Müller is neither thinking of relocating the fair to Barcelona nor to New York or Tokyo. “I firmly believe in Berlin!” enthuses Müller.

“We’re interested in what is happening on the street, that’s why Berlin is exactly the right location for us.” He recently travelled around the globe with his entourage, with stop-offs including the USA, South Africa and Japan.

The interest in Berlin, the lifestyle and of course in Bread & Butter was phenomenal. In Tokyo there was an exciting get-together with around 200 guests. A whole host of Japanese media and market representatives, including many newcomers, were present. It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on the upcoming edition of Bread & Butter.

Of course Karl-Heinz Müller is not willing to give too much away, which has less to do with him being secretive and more to do with the fact that he and his team are still working flat out on the concept. New ideas are being brought to the table and others are being discarded. And it looks like the hard work and preparations will be going on right until the 30th edition takes place in January.

What has been confirmed so far: the new campaign will have the motto ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’. “All over the world we met fascinating people who have a link to Berlin and who said the famous JFK quote into our camera,” says Karl-Heinz Müller. That’s a classic, but above all it’s an unequivocal and telling statement. The tradeshow ticket will also be based on this theme. Photo booths will be

BREAD & BUTTER 14 – 16 JANUARY 2014 FLUGHAFEN BERLIN-TEMPELHOF AIRPORT PLATZ DER LUFTBRÜCKE 5 12101 BERLIN WWW.BREADANDBUTTER .COM

installed, posters can be printed off and lots more.

Müller and his team are certainly not lacking in ideas.

What, on the other hand, does not come into question are vague activities that only serve as own PR. This also includes the inflationary doling out of awards. “They are mostly only a means to an end,” says Müller, whose trophy cupboard is full of prizes – for his Berlin store 14 oz alone. “Either we’re doing it right, or we’re not!”

Basically: never say never – but if you do, then do it one hundred percent.

The Bread & Butter team works with its finger on the pulse and knows that the times are permanently changing for the producers, buyers, retailers and of course also the end consumers. What is spot on today, can be utterly wrong tomorrow. And Karl-Heinz Müller is not a man who does things by halves, who sways with the wind or who wants to surreptitiously make his competitors’ lives diffcult. He is well aware that Bread & Butter is the leading force amongst the Berliner fashion fairs. The little game of ‘whoever offers the cheapest exhibitor fees wins’ therefore leaves him cold. “We certainly can’t complain about a lack of crowds,” confirms Müller. “As a general rule, fairness is not an obligation for us, but something that is a matter of course.”

This is also why the ‘Online Selection’, which only celebrated its premiere last summer, will no longer be a part of the tradeshow from January: “We wanted to offer the agencies here an opportunity to present themselves, but we noticed that by doing so we were pulling the carpet

FAIRS — BREAD & BUTTER 54 — 04/2013

from under the feet of other Berlin trade fairs – which is something we don’t want.” And the Bestseller Group, which attracted some negative criticism in the summer, won’t be featuring in the next edition either; but largescale exhibitors like Marc O’Polo and Scotch & Soda are remaining loyal to Bread & Butter. The important jeans labels and a whole host of interesting streetwear labels will vibrantly reflect the sharpened profile of the Bread & Butter.

And the relaunch of their website is definitely also something to look forward to; it should be ready by this November. “What we don’t want is a one-way website, where you just go to find information and that’s all,” explains Karl-Heinz Müller. “What we have in mind is a 2.0 platform, on which our market participants, i.e. fashion labels and retailers, can come together and actively participate. An exciting mix of Google and Facebook with the typical B&B spirit.” The main new aspect though is that this longer-term project will also integrate the end consumer to a larger extent. After all, the Bread & Butter doesn’t see itself as a fashion fair for a small fashion elite that is out of touch with reality, but as an attentive observer of urban street life: “Because one thing is clear: at the end of the day the end consumer is the one who defines what is fashionable,” says Karl-Heinz Müller, who considers himself a close partner to the retail sector, which he will also continue to closely support with ideas, projects and plenty of inspiration.

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FAIRS – PREMIUM & PANORAMA

Premium service

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To perfectly showcase trends and developments in the fashion business – that’s the aim of Anita Tillmann and her Premium team. For this upcoming January edition particular attention will be paid to providing an excellent service, without neglecting the fun factor, of course. And there will also be a focus on the needs of the retailers.

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Inspiration, sustainability, innovation – the brains behind the Berlin tradeshow Premium have long since earned their spurs when it comes to fashion expertise. Trade fair boss Anita Tillmann and her team are not resting on their laurels though, but aiming at peak performance every six months. It’s no secret that Fashion Week in the German capital has gained in international relevance – and the widely diversified Premium has certainly contributed to this. “Buying requires feelings and emotions,” says Anita Tillmann. “That’s why we curate Premium’s offer each season anew. This includes a wealth of ideas of how brands can individually present and further develop themselves in an appealing way.” This advice is gratefully accepted, with the result that not only the exhibitor numbers, but also the visitor numbers are increasing with every event.

The Premium team regularly proves their sensitivity and flair for trends when it comes to putting together the portfolio, which ranges from ladies’ and men’s collections to denim and sportswear down to shoes and accessories. Great care and attention is paid to the choice of exhibitors, as the goal is for the diversity to ultimately create one harmonious whole. Speaking of variety: an increase in floor space is inevitable for January. Amongst other additional areas, they will be using their own and directly adjoining F95 store, which will be used as the ‘Dissonance Area’ where the avant-garde collections will be presented within their own design context. The space in Hall 7 of the Station-Berlin venue that this frees up can now be used to present premium brands in the ‘Sophisticated Womenswear’ area.

Every effort is being made to retain the personal character of Premium, which enables all brands to present their collection in a fitting way. Nobody is overlooked here.

Both the new hall design and a new signage system to assist orientation should contribute to that feeling. The ‘VIB Service Deluxe’ will look after the ‘Very Important Buyers’, and tours in different languages will take visitors, particularly first-time Premium-goers, by the hand.

There will also be targeted matchmaking between brands and buyers. In this way Premium is cleverly combining effectiveness and a laid-back atmosphere to ensure that visitors and exhibitors are equally happy.

New fashion ABC

< PREMIUM 14 – 16 JANUARY 2014 STATION-BERLIN LUCKENWALDER STRASSE 4–6 10963 BERLIN WWW.PREMIUM EXHIBITIONS .COM

> PANORAMA 14 – 16 JANUARY 2014 BERLIN EXPOCENTER AIRPORT MESSESTRASSE 1 12529 BERLINSCHÖNEFELD WWW.PANORAMA-BERLIN .COM

Panorama has long since established itself as a platform for top-selling brands.

In January Jörg Wichmann and his team will be presenting two new concepts that show how innovation and calculated planning can be a perfect match.

After its premiere last January, Panorama is now a firm fixture on Berlin’s trade fair calendar, and the third edition is just around the corner. On an area of 20,000 square metres brands with a particularly strong turnover will once again be presenting their collections to the target audience of appreciative retailers.

Despite high expectations, trade fair organiser Jörg Wichmann and his team have continued to work flat out on two new innovative concepts for this coming January.

As usual there will be Halls A, B and C: C for ‘Casual Creativity’, B for ‘Best of Contemporary’ as well as A for the universe of the young urban woman – and it’s this ‘universe’ that will be expanded by a further area: around half of Hall A will be occupied by ‘L’Hotel’, a 3500 m² area reminiscent of a five-star hotel lobby. This is where smaller, more specialised brands will be presented that don’t require much exhibition space to successfully showcase their products, such as accessories, shoes and jewellery.

Panorama will be responsible for the presentation and decoration, as well as offering exhibitors in the ‘L’Hotel’ area a practical all-round service. It’s an ideal platform, especially for labels that tend to concentrate on their core skills and don’t have an enormous product range. As well as the central lobby area there will also be additional enclosed ‘Suites’ that allow for a more intimate showroom-type working atmosphere. And the ‘Peacock Bar’ offers the perfect backdrop for general chit-chat over a glass of champagne after successful sales talks.

And those who find the ‘L’Hotel’ ambience too relaxing should head to the new Hall D, right by the trade fair entrance. This is where you’ll find ‘The Mall’ in the style of an upmarket shopping mall covering 5000 m², an area specifically for fashion franchises and concessions.

Here Panorama is putting the focus on the increasingly important segment of retail – especially with a view to economically booming countries like China, Brazil, India and also Russia. Brands that want to be represented with their collections in the multi-label stores of these countries need to concentrate on their label DNA. In addition to the collections themselves, merchandising and store design will also play an important role at the tradeshow, which is something that won’t only appeal to the representatives of fashion brands: Panorama is also recognising the potential of an additional target group of shop fitters, real estate developers and merchandisers.

FAIRS – JACKET REQUIRED & VISION

Danes with vision

The word on the street is that Jacket Required is the perfect British answer to the Pitti Uomo in Italy. Now expansion is on the cards – and they’re heading home to East London, where everything began three years ago. And above all, the new location offers space for more exhibitors.

After four successful seasons at Victoria House in Bloomsbury, Jacket Required is returning to East London, to the Old Truman brewery building to be precise. On two spacious floors various brands will be presenting their menswear, footwear and accessories collections for autumn/winter 2014; an astute mix of already established brands and interesting newcomers is, as always, guaranteed. And the move to the traditional building was indeed overdue, as the 150 exhibitors who found themselves sitting a little closer to each other than was perhaps ideal in the somewhat cramped Victoria House last summer, called for expansion. Now the new venue offers enough room to show off the diversity of products in their best light, and an additional 50 exhibitors will be added the Jacket Required portfolio.

The new spaciousness in a history-steeped setting is sure to have a positive effect on the mood of the professional visitors too, especially on the upper floor with skylights that let in the daylight and ensure a feel-good atmosphere. Jacket Required’s event manager Alice Elliott on the relocation: “It is the ideal time for us to expand.

So the return to East London and the fresh new venue seems natural, as this is where everything began three years ago.”

And the tradeshow is set to become a lot more international too: as well as exhibitors from Great Britain, more and more brands from countries like Scandinavia, Italy and the USA are expressing an interest. And the visitors have long since rated Jacket Required as an important menswear platform that shouldn’t be ignored. British GQ even sees the London event as the perfect answer to the Italian Pitti Uomo.

Copenhagen Fashion Week is already well established as an important date on the trade fair calendar. Vision is considered not only the ideal platform for innovative Scandinavian design, but also as the perfect partner for retailers. That’s why > the next event will be starting slightly VISION earlier on Wednesday 29 January.

29 – 31 JANUARY 2014 LOKOMOTIVVÆRKSTEDET BUILDING OBV 037 OTTO BUSSES VEJ 5A 2450 COPENHAGEN SV WWW.CPHVISION.DK

< JACKET REQUIRED 5–6 FEBRUARY 2014 THE OLD TRUMAN BREWERY 91 BRICK LANE LONDON E1 6QL WWW.JACKET-REQUIRED .COM

This coming January the doors of Copenhagen’s old train depot, the Lokomotivværkstedet, will be swinging open one day earlier than usual. The organisers of the Vision Fashion Trade Fair are taking this conscious step to respond to the needs of the international visitors, who will now have one weekday more to bring themselves up to speed on the autumn/winter trends of 2014/15. The main theme of the event will be ‘Lights’. The claim ‘Lighting up in the Dark’ is less a reference to the long Scandinavian winters than to a new look, style and the surprises in store from the Vision team.

Special attention will no doubt be attracted by the cooperation with ‘Japan Fashion Week’: for respectively three Japanese and three Scandinavian labels a common platform is being developed to highlight the varying styles.

Especially cultural exchange and the chance to explore opportunities when it comes to import and export are at the focus. This is a logical reaction to the strong presence of the Japanese visitors at the trade fair, which was especially noticeable in the past few seasons: compared to Europe, in the East-Asian region there are relatively few owner-run multi-label stores, but interest and demand for such shops is high. According to the team behind Vision, the buzzword Scandimania is on everyone’s lips in Japan at the moment – Japanese fashion victims are going crazy for fashion from Denmark, Sweden and co. which is all the more reason for them to be happy about the innovative cooperation.

One absolute must at Copenhagen Fashion Week is the popular ‘Designers’ Nest’: word has spread about the international competition for promising young newcomers and there has been a positive echo in the international press, as the Vision organisers point out: “It’s a perfect boost for their careers, especially for our young Scandinavian talents,” says Trine Normann Fruergaard, Head of Communications at Vision. “Our newcomers are then well equipped to leave the home nest and make their own way in the international fashion business.”

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Back to the roots

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FAIRS – MODEFABRIEK & DENIM BY PREMIÈRE VISION

Creative master plan

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Amsterdam’s Modefabriek is coming into its 36th season and knows exactly what its visitors are expecting: a whole load of inspiration and innovation when it comes to the lifestyle topics of fashion, media and music. As always, international fashion professionals will not be disappointed.

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Modefabriek doesn’t just want to be a run-of-the-mill ordering event. Above all, the Dutch platform for international men and women’s wear wants to be a source of inspiration and also as diversified as possible. Design, art, food, photography, new media and music – the main focus is on organising a big creative get-together, with as little yawn factor as possible. To make sure of that, the Modefabriek team need plenty of space, which, thanks to the move to Amsterdam’s RAI, no longer poses a problem. Here in the conveniently located trade fair and congress centre, easily accessible from both the city centre and the airport, they can really justify their reputation as a trendsetting high-end event.

The 36th event this coming January is presenting approx.

600 labels split into four new segments: ‘The Pavilion’, ‘The Frame’, ‘The Floor’ and ‘The Square’. The tried-andtested ‘Blueprint’ platform will again be reserved for everything to do with jeans. The ‘Mint’ section is presenting the perfect combination of tradeshow and lifestyle events with its focus on sustainability. And the visionary concept that doesn’t just target industry and retail, but also explicitly addresses journalists, bloggers and fashionistas who have a say in the fashion world is also constantly being fine tuned.

What else we can look forward to? Under the motto ‘Trends & Talents’ this year eight international newcomers to the fashion industry will again be invited to present their work, with a chance to make important business contacts at the tradeshow. Last summer, for example, Berlin-based label Augustin Teboul got all of Amsterdam talking. Another focus of the event is traditional craftsmanship which, due to its multiple possibilities and inherent sustainable nature, is particularly highly valued at the moment. Modefabriek is well aware of this, which is why they are presenting several exciting events on the topic that give an insight into the practical side of things and the spectrum of ideas on offer. As always, the Amsterdam tradeshow works hard to give fashion professionals that little bit extra. The ‘Home of the Future’ exhibition is being presented in cooperation with the Studio by Judith ter Haar, a retail landscape of the future, providing retailers with a good dose of inspiration too. And if you don’t want to return home without a Modefabriek souvenir, you’ll definitely be able to find something at the in-house HTNK Story Store or the Salon Heleen Hülsmann, the well-known Amsterdam secondhand designer boutique, which is represented at the fair with its own pop-up store. You’ll find unique pieces and one-offs here that underline the whole Modefabriek image.

Indigo island ≤ MODEFABRIEK 26 – 27 JANUARY 2014 AMSTERDAM RAI EUROPAPLEIN 8 1078 GZ AMSTERDAM WWW.MODEFABRIEK.NL

> DENIM BY PREMIÈRE VISION 27 – 28 NOVEMBER 2013 LA HALLE FREYSSINET 55, BOULEVARD VINCENT AURIOL 75013 PARIS

WWW.DENIMBY PREMIEREVISION.COM

Long before cool denim styles hit the shelves, the most important order trade fair has already determined the trends for denims and accessories. Denim by Première Vision influences the entire industry and the latest edition will once again be demonstrating the massive potential of the indigo fabric.

‘Engraved’ is the motto of the upcoming Denim by Première Vision. After all, there is no textile as established and at the same time ‘trend-defining’ as the famous ‘de Nîmes’. That’s why the crème de la crème of the jeans scene come together every six months in Paris to present visionary ideas on the topic. Around 100 exhibitors from Italy, Turkey, Morocco, the USA and other countries, all highly specialised, supply the trade fair crowd with an informative all-round package, including the lowdown on new spinning, weaving and finishing techniques. Manufacturers of buttons, zips and rivets also use the platform to showcase their wares.

“The topic of sustainability is coming increasingly into focus,” says Igor Robinet-Slansky, communications manager at Denim by Première Vision. “The jeans industry in particular is currently seeing unprecedented technical developments, especially where the reduction of chemicals and natural resources like water are concerned.”

These topics will of course also be of interest to the professional trade fair crowd, many of whom represent the leading international jeans brands and are confronted with issues that concern the end consumer on a daily basis at POS. Since the tragic fires and factory collapses in Bangladesh and elsewhere, customers have started to sit up and take notice and want to know more about where the goods are coming from, social standards and environmental impact. Transparency is becoming increasingly relevant, and not just at Denim by Première Vision.

And speaking of current textile topics: the accompanying programme of events at Freyssinet Hall, which will once again be hosting the trade fair, puts the spotlight on issues where the entire industry is feeling the burn. Podium discussions provide clarification and suggest solutions.

Relaxation and fun are also guaranteed with a varied show schedule. And of course the various cafés and restaurants at the event will be on hand to fulfil the culinary needs of the denim professionals and their associates.

We are in Paris, after all.

12.- 1 4.03.2014

y n a m r e g f, r o ld e s d端s

www.gds-online.com

Cap Leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shirt G-Star Vest Replay Belt Denham Pants Alberto Boots G-Star

Coat Mavi Jeansshirt Cross Sweater 5 Preview Shorts Made & Crafted Levi’s Stockings Stylist’s own Boots G-Star

Knit Pullover Denham Sweater Freeman T. Porter Dungarees Leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vintage Stockings American Apparel Shoes Converse

Jesco Cap Closed Shirt outside Replay Shirt inside Levi’s Made & Crafted Dungarees G-Star Boots Denham x The Last Conspiracy

Lara Cap Stylist’s own Shirt outside Denham Man Jeans Jacket G-Star Pants H.I.S Shoes Converse

Cap Leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jacket & Pants Denham shirt Freeman T. Porter T-shirt H.I.S Boots Denham x The Last Conspiracy

T-shirt K.O.I Shirt Closed Jacket H.I.S Pants Alberto Boots G-Star

Cardigan Dr. Denim Sweater Drykorn Pants Dr. Denim Boots G-Star

Hat Tiger of Sweden Coat Drykorn Jeans Jacket Cross Shirt Scotch and Soda Pants Closed

Photographer Heiko Laschitzki Styling Theo Vasiliou Models Lara @ Izaio, Jesco @ Viva Models

Hat Stylist’s own Cardigan Drykorn Shirt Mavi Pants Freeman T. Porter Boots Levi’s

Top & Skirt Loewe Jacket Burberry Brit Sunglasses Sunday Somewhere

Jumper Lyle & Scott Pants Fred Perry

Coat Martina Spetlova Heels Dorateymur

Shirt Lyle & Scott Coat Edwin

Jacket & Pants Fred Perry T-Shirt Merz b. Schwanen

Leather Shirt & Shorts Danielle Romeril Coat Cacharel

Blouse & Jacket Burberry Brit Leather Shorts Danielle Romeril Boots Balenciaga

Photography Sevda Albers sevdaalbers.com Styling Marina German marinagerman.com Makeup Bea Sweet beasweet.com Hair Oliver de Almeida Waqued oliverdaw.com Models Gigi @ Next Model Management, Daniel @ Nevs Models

Jumper Private White VC Suit Uniforms for the Dedicated Shoes Modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own

Sweater Isabel Benenato Maxi Dress The Row Shoes Stylistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Earrings & Ring Bernard Delettrez

Sweater Charlotte Mullor Satin Dress Alexander Wang Shoes Basil Soda Bracelets At Ankles Zana Bayne Earrings Bernard Delettrez

Jacket Christine Phung Top Venera Arapu Rings Bernard Delettrez

Leather Body Oscar Carvallo Couture Undershirt Rick Owens Bracelets Zana Bayne Blazer Givenchy Menswear

Vintage by Riccardo Tisci

Sweater Josep Font Pants Oscar Carvallo Rings Bernard Delettrez Chain Ek Thongprasert Heels Minna Parikka

Top Oscar Carvallo Skirt Fatima Guerrout Leggings Rick Owens Shoes Minna Parikka Chain Ek Thongprasert

Bra Zana Bayne Undershirt Rick Owens Skirt Sasha Kanevski Pants Oscar Carvallo Ankle Wedges Giuseppe Zanotti Sunglasses Cast

Photography Ricardo Abrahao ricardoabrahao.com Photo-Assistant Midaby Kim Creative Director Mehdi Polan Mahour Makeup Leslie Dumeix lesliedumeix.tumblr.com Hair Quentin Guyen @ The Guild Assistant Hair Jeremy Langlet @ The Guild Models Anna Martynova & Sofya Titova @ Next Models nextmanagement.com Special Thanks Pierre-Yves MahĂŠ

Sweater Charlotte Mullor Satin Dress Alexander Wang Heels Basil Soda Bracelets At Ankles Zana Bayne Earrings Bernard Delettrez

Simon Pullover & Longsleeve Cheap Monday Pants Levi’s Red Tab

Eveline T-Shirt Levi’s Made & Crafted Cord Pants J Brand

Eveline Simon Top Topshop Leather Jacket Pepe Jeans London Velvet Jacket Levi’s Red Tab Tanktop Replay Pleated Skirt Drykorn

Marcel Shirt G-Star T-Shirt Levi’s Vintage Clothing Jeans QS by s.Oliver

Marcel Jeans Vest QS by s.Oliver Jeans Pepe Jeans London

Eveline Top Kuyichi Leather Jacket Replay Leather Skirt Pepe Jeans London

Fake Fur Vest Steve Madden Sequin Cardigan Markus Lupfer

Jeans Vest QS by s.Oliver Jeans Pepe Jeans London

Photography Winter Vandenbrink @ Eric Elenbaas Styling Bodo Ernle @ Nina Klein Hair & Makeup Tina Schmoll @ Nina Klein Models Eveline @ Ulla Models, Marcel @ Tomorrow Is Another Day, Simon @ I Am Elk

Top Kuyichi Leather Skirt Pepe Jeans London

Polo-Neck Sweater Filippa K Pullover Drykorn Neoprene Coat & Pants Tibi

Polo-Neck Sweater Filippa K Top & Coat Cos Coat Vest Minimarket Pants Tibi Shoes Acne

Polo-neck Sweater Equipment Polo-neck patterned Tibi Jacket red Gianni Coat & Pants By Malene Birger Shoes Acne

Polo-neck Sweater Drykorn Pullover patterned Markus Lupfer Pants By Malene Birger Coat Acne

Polo-neck Sweater Falke Pullover Cos Wool Pants Hermès

Shirt Tiger of Sweden Longsleeve Tibi Short Coat black M by M Coat Drykorn Pants Mads Nørgaard Shoes Acne

Shirt Equipment Pullover & Pants Tiger of Sweden Coat Filippa K Long Coat Malaikaraiss Shoes Acne

Polo-neck Sweater Falke Pullover mbyM Coat Humanoid Coat oversized Hermès Leather Pants Diesel Black Gold Shoes Acne

Photography Sevda Albers sevdaalbers.com Styling Josepha Rodriguez rodriguezstyling.tumblr.com Hair & Makeup Carolin Jarchow @ Nina Klein ninaklein.com Model Inga @ M4 Models m4models.de

FABRICS & TRENDS — ISKO × HAIKURE

TEXT ILONA MARX

ISKO BACKGROUND

ISKO×HAIKURE

SHOUT IT OUT Do good – and talk about it!

The Turkish company ISKO has set itself the goal of being the first denim manufacturer in the world to become popular with the end consumers for its textile innovations. The fact that the topic of sustainability is at the core of the ingredient branding strategy, which the industry giant has been pursuing for almost three years, simply makes it all the more plausible.

54 — 04/2013

“Sustainability and social responsibility – these are topics we take very seriously,” says Marco Lucietti. And the marketing director of ISKO can back these concepts with hard facts: “Thanks to special filtration plants, since 2004 we’ve been well under the CO2 emission limits set by the European Union, by 60 percent. In addition there is our consistent recycling of water at various sites due to the use and financing of purification plants.

And the entire production takes place using only renewable forms of energy.” One should also add that 10 percent of ISKO textiles are produced using recycled material. And a similar percentage of ecologically harvested raw materials is also used. “We want to communicate the message along the entire value-added chain – all the way down to the end consumer,” says the 42-year-old Italian.

So it made sense to raise public awareness about their cooperation with the Italian label Haikure.

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Material innovation = added value The cooperational project is called ‘Once Upon a Future’. Why? On the labels which

the premium supplier started sewing into their clothing four seasons ago, there is a QR code that allows complete traceability of the production chain. A second co-branding hangtag mentions the stretch selvedge which ISKO developed using organic cotton specifically for Haikure and which they are initially providing exclusively for the brand. ‘ISKO Recall’ is the registered name of the product innovation that provides twice as much form stability and durability as normal stretch denims, thereby achieving a very slimming effect of almost an entire dress size for the ladies.

“Haikure and ISKO share the values of exclusivity, transparency and sustainability,” said Haikure founder Federico Corneli when presenting the cooperation at the most recent Premium tradeshow in Berlin. “It also makes sense for the label to highlight the added value which the potential buyer would profit from with ISKO’s available textile technology,” explains Marco Lucietti about the co-branding concept. In this way the price can also be better justified. And in the case of Haikure it lies between 140 and 170 euros per denim item. “Haikure is one of the few manufacturers where a price like that is perfectly validated. Thanks to the QR code but also the second hangtag which bears our name, the end consumer can see this for themselves,” says Lucietti.

Fashion, function, sustainability – a good mix The cooperation with the Italians from Haikure is just one of the many examples of the new commitment of the Turkish jeans textile manufacturers when it comes to information for the end consumer and co-marketing strategies. “Elsewhere we are seeing an increase in transparency when it comes to manufacturing methods and consumers are wanting more information; that goes for our customers at Esprit too,” says Marco Lucietti. Currently on sale are the ‘24-hour jeans’ for ladies that, despite

With an annual production of around 250 million metres of denim and a portfolio of more than 25,000 products, ISKO is the world’s largest manufacturer of denim textiles.

In 2012 the financial year ended with a 25 percent increase in turnover compared to the previous year. They also own various registered labels, including ‘Jeggings’. ISKO is owned

by Sanko Holding based in Istanbul and represented with branches in 35

countries worldwide. They have around 2000 employees. With its ‘ISKOTECA’ and the ‘Creative Room’ in Italy the denim producer has its own creative offices, which, thanks to a close relationship with its clients delivers tailormade concepts – from the product, all the way down to communications with the end consumer. As part of its ingredient branding strategy and co-marketing concept, ISKO is currently cooperating with around 20 labels.

their particularly soft touch, stay in shape for a long time. The fact that ISKO is responsible for the high level of comfort in these jeans is noted by Esprit, not only in the press release but also on the product itself. “We will also be launching a new men’s ecomenswear collection together with Esprit,” says Lucietti. “What else is new? Well we have just brought the second generation of ‘Jogg Jeans’ by Diesel onto the market, including a capsule collection which is also dedicated to the concept of sustainability.” The men’s trousers combine authentic jeans with the comfort of jogging pants in an innovative way. The textile used is ‘ISKO Future Face’, a material that is reminiscent of knitwear and yet retains the form stability and durability of denim.

In the case of the ‘Jogg Jeans’ the cobranding is relatively understated with just a name printed on the inside pocket. In the past years the name ISKO also graced the POS materials as part of the cooperation with Tom Tailor under the headline ‘Rocking the Decades of Denim’ to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the company. “We are planning to communicate our strengths more visibly from next year on, possibly also as part of our own end consumer campaign,” says Marco Lucietti. “When you communicate fashion, function and sustainability equally well, you stand a good chance of convincing your customers of your concept.” Comarketing, in the case of ISKO is certainly a measure that creates a win-win situation for everyone involved – the denim producers, the denim brand and denim lovers who feel like they’re being taken seriously and supported in their search for the true blue gold.

WWW.ISKO.COM.TR

Connecting Global Competence

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FABRICS & TRENDS — DENIM TRENDS

TEXT SONJA RAGALLER

DENIM TRENDS

WELCOME BACK

54 — 04/2013

For years now, people have been predicting that blue jeans will experience a major comeback – and now it’s actually happening.

Denim is back. And those who were prepared are now sitting pretty.

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The ‘true blue’ has certainly benefited from the wild menagerie of colours of the last seasons. But now, manufacturers of denim and denim finishes can really prove their mettle when it comes to the core competence of indigo. It will be impossible to re-invent jeans for the spring/summer 2015 season because over the last ten years, finishing processes have become too sophisticated. But innovation can be found in the details: in finely tuned laser techniques, in 3D and destroyed effects, in new fibres and constructions, in fine lining and trims. Panos Sofianos, Creative Director and Product Manager at the Spanish denim manufacturer Tejidos Royo, thinks there is a connection between the comeback of more authentic jeans and society’s yearning for social change and a down-to-earth connection to its roots. “Denim is like a mirror that reflects the desire for new values,” according to Sofianos.

And it’s true that classic vintage jeans seem to suit the more grounded lifestyle that many are now coming back to. But perhaps the newfound interest is simply part of the eternal denim cycle, which always seems to bring jeans back after a non-denim phase.

“It was already clear at the end of the last trade fair season, at the end of May, that denim has rediscovered its appeal. The comeback is exactly as we expected it to be,” says Anton Nunberger from the Gonser Group that mainly operates in Tunisia.

That doesn’t mean that plain, old and boring, blue jeans are back though. “Denim has to be special, which means it has to have extra options. The wearer should feel sexy, slim, and comfortable,” says Hamit Yenici, Product Development Director at ISKO. The Turkish

denim giant remains focused on new stretch materials for making the perfect fit without neglecting the style. Gone are the days when pure and authentic denim was stiff and uncomfortable. Ring spun denim is back, at least in terms of appearance, and it’s slowly winning back ground on the ubiquitous jeggings.

Vintage tops the fashion charts.

Alberto Candiani, Global Manager of the Italian weaving mill TRC Candiani knows that it’s “blue, blue, blue. That’s what we’ll have in the new season. There will definitely be less focus on other colours. The denim scale spans the whole range from clean to vintage.”

And it’s said at ISKO that the fashion suppliers are going for intensely destroyed effects.

Denim expert Hermann Seidl also says that there is a strong demand for used, dirty and destroyed effects, not to mention patches in all variations.

“Intensely destroyed effects just aren’t possible with the laser,” explains Anton Nunberger from the Gonser Group. “Flat buffies (fold effects) are possible. But the three-dimensional effects or the intensely destroyed effects, where only the weft thread is visible, are only doable manually.”

Generally, laser techniques are on the up.

They can create images and patterns on the waistband, on the sides or on the back pockets and they’ve still got durability. “Laser opens up a great breadth of possibilities, from imitation washes right up to decorative and personalised motifs,” says Joachim Baumgartner, Trend Expert at Munich Fabric Start.

The fact that sustainability has become a key issue for the denim industry has meant that laser techniques and water-saving washes have enjoyed increasing attention.

As confirmed by Barbara Gnutti from the denim producers ITV: “Common themes are recycled fibre options, organic cotton, as well as natural colouring agents. Global attention is increasing daily, not just from the markets but also from consumers,” and it’s

not only Gnutti and her Italian employer who are trying to hold their own against competition from the Far East with high-end labels and arguments of sustainability.

Slim still speaks volumes.

And what about the fit? This is where the majority of people from the denim industry go for slim fits, at least for women. “Even when everyone talks about other silhouettes, I think that skinny will remain the big fish in the pond,” says Alberto Candiani. And the way Joachim Baumgartner formulates it, “Slim is still the queen of them all,” before going on to say: “There are still lots of experiments with volume like oversized styles, boyfriend and pleats. All of these could be classed under the volume trend, but that has a limited competitive capacity against slim fits.”

In this sense, men are generally less experimental. Only part of the denim industry believes in the slim fit on a wider scale. Straight fit and tapered fit are still in the running.

As for colours, this is where opinions vary greatly from soft pastel tones, right up to full indigo. Some are talking about black denim again. “In the throes of the punk and heavy metal revivals, black will be strong,” reckons Panos Sofianos. “The aristo-grunge trend comes across a bit like a high-end version of the 80s.”

FABRICS & TRENDS — DENIM TRENDS Photos Andrea Adriani (Catwalk) & Matteo Scarpellini (Backstage) / Imaxtree.com

54 — 04/2013

DENIM TRENDS

Finely tuned laser techniques, 3D and destroyed effects, new fibres and finishes give new input.

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FABRICS & TRENDS — FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION

TEXT FREDERICKE WINKLER

FAIR WE AR FO U NDATION

FIRM BUT FAIR

54 — 04/2013

“If Takko succeeds, then that would be a wonderful bestpractice example for all others.”

These were actually the closing words of our interview with Saskia Krämer, Liaison Office Manager from the Dutch Fair Wear Foundation (FWF). If a discount store the size of Takko manages, despite its business model, to build up a responsible partnership with its suppliers and an honest, transparent relationship with the public in general, then there’s no reason why other manufacturers can’t do the same.

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Takko is one of the biggest textile retailers in Germany, a discount store with over 1800 branches in Germany and abroad, and 16,500 employees. But it’s impossible to put a number on the many indirect employees from the company’s 300 suppliers. At least not yet. For one and a half years Takko has been a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, a multi-stakeholder initiative, whose goal is to improve working conditions in the clothing industry.

“What does that mean anyway?” the more critical readers among you may be asking. After all, don’t all labels assure us that they’re constantly looking after the welfare of their employees on the other side of the planet? Are they not all members of this or that association, signing agreements and formulating wishy-washy promises? H&M has its Conscious Collection, on its website, KIK lists the many areas in which the discount store, according to its own statements, takes

responsibility. But just how seriously should we take these image-promoting protestations against a backdrop of ever-increasing reports of fatalities in factory fires, exploitation and green-washing? A factory in Pakistan, in which 280 people died during a fire in September 2012, was even certified in accordance with S 8000, a social standard that also covers fire protection criteria, shortly before the tragedy happened. So what are these promises worth? “No factory is completely immune to fires,” Saskia Krämer rightly points out, but what they do have control over is how seriously they ensure no one comes to harm in the case of such an accident. Also in their capacity as commissioning client. For Krämer, just like for the organisation she represents, the key to real fairness lies in the sense of obligation of all parties concerned, toward both direct and indirect dependents.

Amongst human rights experts the Fair Wear Foundation is regarded as the best monitoring instrument currently available to the international textile industry. A reputation that can mainly be attributed to its rigorous methods. After all, like almost all organisations and standards which can be taken seriously, regarding social criteria the Fair Wear Foundation also takes the core labour standards of the ILO, the International Labour Organisation of the United Nations, as a basis, which were ratified by over 120 countries in the world. These core labour standards are based on four fundamental principles: freedom of association and the right to collective negotiations, the elimination of forced labour and child labour and the ban on discrimination in recruiting and employment. The Fair Wear Foundation adds

another four to this list of principles: the payment of a living wage, the adherence to standard working hours (48 hours per week), health and safety in the workplace and a legally binding contract for every worker. It was important that these criteria were not simply passed on to the suppliers as a requirement, but acted as a basis for a dialogue, explains Saskia Krämer. According to the initiative, a fair supply chain can only be achieved if it is firstly regarded as a process, in which secondly stakeholders like trade unions and non-governmental organisations are involved and which thirdly, is designed to be as transparent as possible.

This is why the Fair Wear Organisation doesn’t want to be understood as a seal of approval. “We don’t believe in putting a stamp on companies or products and attesting that it is 100 percent fair,” is how Krämer explains the understanding of the organisation. She goes on to say that ultimately certifications can only serve as snapshots of the conditions prevailing at the time of the approval procedure or the check. Human rights are based on people and their actions, and not first and foremost on the functionality of machines. This is why they can be infringed virtually every day anew.

Krämer believes that instead of checks, it makes more sense to encourage a new way of thinking on a management level. Building up a relationship at eye level, which creates the space to integrate ethical practices into the business in the first place. “This means involving the commissioning client in the responsibility process. With their order policy they significantly define the options of their suppliers. What are their guidelines when it comes to delivery times? Do they avoid

FABRICS & TRENDS — FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION

stakeholders – the method of the Fair Wear Foundation implies a lot of effort, and yet the Dutch organisation is gaining in relevance, not least due to its constantly increasing number of illustrious members: Deuter, Acne, J.Lindeberg, Vaude and Nudie Jeans to name just a few.

Jack Wolfskin has been a member since 2011. “At the time we were already in the middle of the process and were looking for a multi-stakeholder initiative that would support us with their expertise and confirm the credibility of our efforts. The Fair Wear Foundation turned out to be the best one.

It was the only one that came into question for us,” explains Melanie Kuntnawitz, Head of Vendor Control at Jack Wolfskin. She says the outdoor brand from the Taunus region of Germany has particularly profited from the organisation’s excellent training measures.

“And in our production countries Fair Wear is incredibly well networked,” continues Kuntnawitz. When Jack Wolfskin joined, they instantly achieved ‘Leader’ level. Today the audit system includes the 90 suppliers and subcontractors which the manufacturer commissions for its collections. Quite an accomplishment, which the discounter Takko could even surpass. “Takko is working hard to fulfil our criteria. And a member with such a complex supply chain also means hard work for us.” That doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the fact that Takko has to establish a close dialogue with at least 270 suppliers in the next one and a half years. “But the will is there,” concludes Saskia Krämer, and that is, after all, the most important criteria for a fair textile industry.

54 — 04/2013

Photo: Jack Wolfskin GmbH & KGaA, Idstein i. Ts.

last-minute changes that inevitably lead to night shifts in the factories? How high is their cancellation rate?” Like their subcontractors, Fair Wear members are obliged to regularly review their procedures and publish them in a so-called brand performance check. As per the results of this check, successes and setbacks are assessed und the company is assigned to one of three categories: ‘Leader’, ‘Good’ and ‘Needs improvement’. In the last instance, companies with repeatedly poor performances can have their membership status revoked, if they don’t leave of their own accord.

As part of the brand performance check, the company also has to disclose the identity of their suppliers, at least 40 percent in the first year, 60 percent in the second year and 90 percent in the third year. All declared suppliers are audited once a year. Three independent and locally-based experts visit the production sites and check the accounts, speak to the staff – also outside the factories – and collect technical data on the production sites. If there are shortcomings, these will be communicated to the factory management and the manufacturer and they join forces to rectify them. While the costs associated with this are borne by the member concerned, every three years the Fair Wear Foundation carries out another unannounced inspection at its own expense, the so-called verification, a little like the cross-check between a pilot and co-pilot. Furthermore, training sessions for management and the staff are offered, in which the core criteria of the initiative are taught and an action plan are developed.

Uncompromising transparency, the involvement of all participants, constant dialogue between manufacturers, suppliers and

WWW.FAIRWEAR.ORG

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WHERE TO FIND US?

WHERE TO FIND US?

SELECTED

54 — 04/2013

STORES

144

INTERNATIONAL

Do You Read Me? Auguststr. 28 D-10117 Berlin

K Presse+Buch Dresden Hauptbahnhof D-01069 Dresden

Falter Bücher & Presse Hindenburgstr. 190 D-41061 Mönchengladbach

Bozar Shop Rue Ravenstein 23 B-1000 Brussels

Heil Quelle Pannierstr. 40 D-12047 Berlin

Relay – HDS Flughafen Düsseldorf D-40474 Düsseldorf

soda. Internationale Magazine & Bücher Rumfordstr. 3 D-80469 Munich

MAGMA 117-119 Clerkenwell Road GB-EC1R5BY London

K Presse+Buch Fernbahnhof Zoo D-10623 Berlin

Grauert GmbH Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof D-40210 Düsseldorf

K Presse+Buch Am Ostbahnhof D-10243 Berlin

HDS Retail Flughafen Frankfurt D-60547 Frankfurt

K Presse+Buch Bahnhof Spandau D-13597 Berlin

Schmitt & Hahn Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof D-60051 Frankfurt

K Presse+Buch Flughafen Schönefeld D-12521 Berlin

Schmitt & Hahn Gießen Hauptbahnhof D-35390 Gießen

K Presse+Buch Flughafen Tegel D-13405 Berlin

K Presse+Buch Fernbahnhof Altona D-22765 Hamburg

HDS Retail Boxberger Str. 3-9 D-12681 Berlin

K Presse+Buch Hamburg Hauptbahnhof D-20099 Hamburg

HDS Retail Flughafen Tegel D-13405 Berlin

K Presse+Buch HH-Dammtor D-20354 Hamburg

K Presse+Buch Bonn Hauptbahnhof D-53111 Bonn

K Presse+Buch Hamburg Flughafen D-22335 Hamburg

K Presse+Buch Bremerhaven Hauptbahnhof D-27570 Bremerhaven

HDS Retail Flughafen Hannover D-30669 Hannover

K Presse+Buch Bremen Hauptbahnhof D-28195 Bremen

HDS Retail Hannover Hauptbahnhof D-30159 Hannover

K Presse+Buch Dortmund Hauptbahnhof D-44137 Dortmund

Bahnhofsbuchhandlung Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof D-69039 Heidelberg

K Presse+Buch Bahnhof München-Ost D-81667 Munich K Presse+Buch München Hauptbahnhof D-80335 Munich

Do Design C/ Fernando VI, 13 E-28004 Madrid Papercut Krukmakargatan 3 SE-11851 Stockholm

K Presse+Buch München-Pasing Bahnhof D-81241 Munich

Drawn & Quarterly P.O. Box 48056 Montréal, Québec Canada 4S8 H2V

Schmitt & Hahn Bahnhofsplatz 9 D-90004 Nuremberg

Around The World 148 West 37th St. NY-10018 New York City

Schmitt & Hahn Flughafen Nürnberg D-90411 Nuremberg Grauert KG Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof D-46045 Oberhausen K Presse+Buch Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof D-70173 Stuttgart Wittwer Flughafen Stuttgart D-70629 Stuttgart

Photo: Elza Wandler

TEN QUESTIONS FOR – MILES JOHNSON

TEN QUESTIONS FOR:

Miles Johnson HEAD OF DESIGN LEVI’S VINTAGE + LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED SAN FRANCISCO

54 — 04/2013

1 What are you wearing today?

An old pair of Levi’s 501 from 1955, a shirt of Levi’s Vintage Clothing and a pair of red espandrilles.

2 What is your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

Well, right now it’s a pair of 501s dating back to 1933. I washed them, and they shrank, so they’re quite small and tight, but the shade is amazing.

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3 Which current fashion item is absolutely horrible in your opinion?

I hate most of the colours in performance fashions. They’re usually really obvious and boring ...

4 At what age did you know that you want to work in the fashion business?

Quite young. Maybe nine or ten years old? I used to keep a little sketchbook and draw and dressed up a lot with my friends.

5 Was there any moment in your life, where you wanted to switch to another branch?

No, not really. This job suits me. If I were to do something else, it would be to design interiors or return to fine art painting, which is what I trained in the first place.

6 Was there never a point in your life where you were fed up with the fashion business?

No, there are always ups and downs, but even at its worst, it’s always interesting. And you don’t have to wait long till things change again.

7 What do you think the trend item of the future will be?

Flares and skin-tight Tshirts, but not as we knew them.

8 What fashion item will be gone in the next five years?

Nothing ever disappears, but just become less popular. I don't expect we'll be seeing so much animal print.

9 Who do you admire in the fashion business?

Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Kim Jones … many people. Those who stay true to their style and design.

10 What is your favourite place in the world?

India.

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29 – 31 January 2014

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