retailers like the UK’s End and Present, and
Japan’s United Arrows & Sons, as well as
niche, expedition-inspired magazines such
as Stay Wild, Sidetracked and Another Escape.
British fashion boutique Browns bolstered
its sporting connections in April, inviting
customers on a 10km run to celebrate the
opening of a Satisfy pop-up shop at its east
London store. Satisfy, a Paris-based running
brand, is one of ten high-performance labels
that Browns’ menswear buying manager
Dean Cook chose to stock for spring, before
increasing the boutique’s buy for A/W18.
Breaking down the distinction between
functional and high fashion, Browns presents
performance-wear brands – including
knitwear studio Byborre, running-shoe label
Hoka One One and Canadian outerwear
specialist Arc’teryx – alongside luxury labels.
‘We don’t have a dedicated sports section
on our site,’ Cook says. ‘The clothing is geared
to be worn with brands like Rick Owens.’
According to the American College
of Sports Medicine’s annual survey, wearable
technology is the third biggest worldwide
fitness trend of 2018. Increased interest
in quantifying our physical activity has
extended into a desire for super-functional
gear – such as Japanese label And Wander’s
odour-reducing Deodorant Stitch pieces,
or Italian hiking footwear label Roa’s use
of resistant aramid fibres, a material seen
in bulletproof vests – whether or not we’ll
actually test such items to their limits.
Ultra marathon-running twins Steve and
Nick Tidball launched British label Vollebak
in 2016. Their ‘100 Year Hoodie’ is made
of Kevlar, pitched as being five times stronger
than steel and able to withstand extremetemperatures. In May, the brand launched
a global treasure hunt, enlisting former
military operatives to hide a lifetime discount
card, and encouraging active Vollebak
enthusiasts to find it. Another brand using
an adventure-led retail strategy to emphasise
the strength of its product is Woolrich. Its
Milan flagship features an Extreme Weather
Experience Room, a snow-filled space where
customers can test out its signature parkas
to temperatures of minus 20°C (see W*227).
Performance-wear stalwarts are also
designing specifically for the luxury market.
Salomon’s Black Edition (a sell-out collection
for Browns) sees the French brand’s footwear
styles reinterpreted in monochrome, while
North Face’s Black Series (available in select
fashion stores only) blends technical prowess
with a more everyday aesthetic.
Material innovation is keeping leading
brands at the top of their game. Rainwear
expert Herno, which has an annual turnover
of nearly €100m, turns 70 this year and
marks its 50th year selling in Japan. The label
produces nearly 3,000 prototypes a year at its
HQ in Lesa, Italy. ‘We have exclusivity on a
specific type of machinery for the next three
years,’ says Herno president and CEO Claudio
Marenzi. ‘It is focused on the production of
3D-thermobinding and ultrasound stitching
for the neck and armholes of garments.’
Similarly, two years ago, Stone Island,
the Italian sportswear brand founded in 1982,introduced the Prototype Research Series,
an annual project showcasing treatments
that have not yet been industrialised. For
2018, the brand predicts a turnover of nearly
€200m, an 83 per cent increase on 2016.
It attributes this success, in part, to selling to
high-end retailers (Mr Porter buying director
Fiona Firth notes an uplift for 2018), and to
pushing a wide range of performance-focused
products, not simply entry-level categories.
A host of newer brands, too, is developing
high-tech fabrics and treatments. Leonardo
Fasolo, who cut his teeth at CP Company
and Stone Island, co-founded Nemen in 2012
in a bid to ‘investigate unknown territories
in textile research’. Specialising in dyeing
techniques, the brand created one-of-a-kind
hand-sprayed nylon jackets, and has just
developed a nylon with a flame-retardant
metal lamination, which when acid-dyed
resembles Tyvek (a protective synthetic
fibre commonly used in construction).
The month it launched in 2017, Alpine
outerwear brand Templa was awarded the
prestigious Ispo Brandnew Award for Apparel.
‘Every piece is meticulously made to
function in different moments,’ says Templa’s
Antwerp-based co-founder Anati Rakocz.
Its outerwear boasts details such as internal
sleeve extensions, Recco Avalanche Rescue
technology, and a removable snow skirt.
For S/S18, the brand launched with three
global stockists. For autumn, it increased
its retail presence by five times. ‘We push
the boundaries of functionality and design,’
says Rakocz. ‘Our pieces are meant to be worn
on the slopes but can be placed in any urban
location.’ Whether you are base jumping or
just strolling, looking the part is no sweat. ∂Jacket, £900; puffer jacket, £350, both by Ten C.
Trousers, £305, by Stone Island. Hat, ¥16,000 ($145),
by Nonnative. For stockists, see page 240Model: Jai Piccone at D1 Models. Hair: Roxane Attard using Davines. Make-up: Megumi Matsuno using Sukin. Photography assistant: Jack Snell. Fashion assistant: Aylin Bayhan. Interiors assistant: Markos Ioannides. Hair assistant: Cayla Kim∑
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