It All Begins with Touch

 

To me, the basis of a good garment and design is the fabric. Fabric is at the forefront of my mind when I design and is my first step in the long process of developing a design. 

I only source my fabrics from mills in Japan, USA or Italy. The fabrics I choose are of the best qualities, and from the same mills that only the top brands use (from Max Mara to Celine, Armani to McQueen etc.). I spend the first month of development focused entirely on fabric sourcing. I have days of back to back meetings where I browse dozens of binders of fabrics, I touch and handle hundreds of different qualities and I deliberate over details as seemingly minute as the difference between a 300gsm weighted fabric to the same fabric in 280gsm.

The process of selecting a fabric involves touching, rubbing and crushing a fabric to determine its comfort and viability. I discard any fabrics that feel at all coarse, synthetic or cheap. If it’s not something I would personally wear and marvel at, it won’t be considered. I do this process hundreds of times until I narrow my choices down to my favorite selects from each mill. From there, I do another round of culling until I am left with only the best. 

The fabrics I select will have body and structure, be incredibly soft to touch and are long lasting and durable. They are unlike anything you will see in most stores and are likened to only the best brands. I have happily sacrificed higher margins on my garments for fabrics that I consider to be even slightly better than its cheaper counterpart.

The “ponte de roma” fabric used in my Drape Dress, Flounce Skirt and Structural Crop is composed of 60% Rayon, 33% Nylon and 7% Lycra. Rayon shares many of the same properties as cotton but is a fiber that is derived from renewable raw materials, making it much more sustainable than cotton (cotton is actually incredibly damaging for the environment due its high water consumption and pesticides needed). Nylon has a high tensile strength making it more durable and less prone to breakage/ripping and the Lycra provides stretch for comfort.

While our Japanese crepe (found in the Origami Dress, Origami Skirt, and the pants) is 100% polyester, it’s also wrinkle resistant and built for longer lasting durability. Polyester is much stronger, more moisture wicking and less prone to wrinkling, it also holds less moisture than wool and cotton so it dries quicker in warmer climates. Our crepe is cool to touch and a luxurious, high performance choice that is far superior to your typical synthetic fabric.

The Modal Jersey Top is 92% micro-modal and 8% spandex. Micro modal allows for a denser concentration of fibers in a garment without adding weight, leaving it sleeker and softer than most jersey fabrics. It’s also resistant to shrinkage, does not pill easily in the wash and is prized for its incredible softness.

 

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