NAMACHEKO
Kurdistan-born, Sweden-raised
sibling duo Dilan and Lezan
Lurr’s line Namacheko was
stocked in more than 40
stores within its first year of
launching, after showing
off-schedule during Paris Men’s
in 2017. The brand merges
tailoring and knitwear with
influences from their Kurdish
heritage and European
upbringing. Working with
Merino wool since their first
collection, which was inspired
by Iraqi bridalwear, the pair
explore cultural identity,
purpose and the struggles
around displacement. They
incorporate architectural
details influenced by their
pasts studying civil
engineering. For their most
recently shown collection,
they collaborated with artist
Gregory Crewdson.must be justified. Malone – along with a growing
number of others – is hyper-aware that we are
living in a time when the negative impacts of
industrialisation and human consumption on
our planet are becoming dire, a time when
humankind must quickly shift to sustainable and
transparent practices if we want to preserve
the well-being of future generations. As a small
brand with limited output, Malone is able to
track each component of all the clothes he
produces, minimising his brand’s carbon
footprint. “Each jacquard fabric can be traced
back to the weaver, and in turn how it was
spun, dyed and woven,” Malone explains. If he,
however, were producing on a larger scale,
tracking would quickly become much more
complex. This is where the revolutionary
traceability technology being integrated into this
year’s International Woolmark Prize comes in.
Each garment will be embedded with a
microchip to showcase the journey from “farm to
factory”. The tracing capabilities – powered by
Provenance, which works with blockchain
technology – enable the journey of raw materials
through the supply chain to be recorded in detail.
Brands can now provide verified information on
the materials, processes and people involved in
bringing a single product to market. For example,
you can see the material used in the making of
the garment is wool from Australia, the grade of
the fleece, the mill which then turned the fleece
into yarn, the knitting vendor that received the
yarn to produce fabric, the origin of the zippers,
the labels, and so on. Brands can now tell customers
a more comprehensive story about their products
and the hands that have touched them before
they end up in a wardrobe. Historically invisible
partners can now be seen, encouraging a fairer and
more ethical supply chain every step of the way.
This is a game changer across the board, notably
for brands to use as a tool in illustrating to
consumers why they may be paying a premium
for a well-made, ethically produced, fair-trade
item, versus a cheaply made item produced at the
expense of other human beings or the planet.
Some of the brightest emerging designers are
engaging with The Woolmark Company because
they not only care about honing their craft and
growing their brand, they care about tomorrow.
A-Cold-Wall designer, and 2020 finalist,
Samuel Ross sums it up well. “By working with
Woolmark, we want to access a pre-existing
network of sustainable, traceable supply chains
that could help better drive A-Cold-Wall’s
ambition to continually pursue sustainability
across future collection development and
production.” A-Cold-Wall is moving towards
natural fibres, recycled materials, sustainable
packaging and vegetable-based dyeing.
Amid the harsh realities of supply chains and
their impact, it is encouraging to see brands
committed to creating considered, high-quality
items both sustainably and transparently, and doing
so with durable, natural, biodegradable luxury
materials such as Australian Merino wool. n
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