Every traveler knows that packing light is a talent worth perfecting. Meeting TSA weight regulations requires patience, versatility and an exceptional display of restraint—which means items like wooden-heeled platform shoes and War and Peace are best left home. Innovative new luggage designs, however, are making packing less stressful by provoking a minimalist, utilitarian aesthetic that seems intended to send packrats scurrying.
Tumi Tegra-Lite: To create its new Tegra-Lite line of ultra-lightweight, sleekly contoured luggage, Tumi enlisted Milliken, a producer of plastics that counts race car builders and football gear designers among its clients. This high-tech collaboration required Tumi to overhaul its design process. Milliken’s super-strong Tegris composite isn’t pressed and stretched like the luggage brand’s traditional method of shaping; rather, it’s cut into sheets and folded to maintain the bonds that make up a lattice of highly durable plastic. The result is a 65-percent lighter rolling bag that’s built to withstand the battery of frequent travel. This is one suitcase that’s ready to get down to business.
There was a time when “carpetbagger” was used pejoratively, but this season designers just might take it as a compliment. From varsity jackets to roomy rucksacks, the key textile components for many contemporary designers are floor pieces. Whether it’s in the form of a ratty oriental rug or an intricate kilim tapestry, it seems that fashion is embarking on a magic carpet ride.
The Kilim Project: After a recent trip through the Middle East, German design collective A Kind of Guise returned to Munich with 50 kilim rugs. The flat tapestry carpets, all hand woven and some dating back to the early 19th century, proved far too attractive to keep on the floor, so the designers turned them into rucksacks. Each of the limited edition bags are accented with leather bottoms, a thick rope drawstring, and a shoulder strap. A Kind of Guise is not the only brand to use the home decor accent for carryalls—Hollywood stylist-turned-bag designer Simone Camille launched a series of leather bags featuring woven rectangular textiles—but theirs might be the most global.
It’s true that April showers bring May flowers, but autumnal downpours also have a bright side this year with the advent of intelligent clothing. In one instance, modern raincoats are keeping savvy wearers dry while making use of recycled raindrops. True, erratic weather forecasts may be on the horizon, but these other science-minded slickers stand to make even the most dedicated sun worshippers beam.
Raincatch: This summer’s solar film swimwear left many wondering what other weather-efficient garments would follow. A strong contender to become the Pacific Northwest’s newest fashion commodity, Raincatch is a multipurpose poncho that funnels precipitation through its collar, filters it through a charcoal and chemical purifying system, and then stores the water near the hips where it’s least obstructive, and most figure-flattering. Designed by two students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, the poncho’s transparent tubing displays the process, while the water reserve remains hidden. As drought stricken locales are reluctantly turning to last resorts—and with clean water concerns at an all-time high—this concept may be just in time.
For some, the search for perfect jeans is eternal. That should not surprise, since personal preferences, not to mention diverse body types, mean that no single garment can really fit all. But retail businesses are revolutionizing the shopping experience by shifting the design process to the individual to produce one-of-a-kind clothing, and thus redefining the concept of “tailored.” It all begs the question, “Is bespoke the new black?”
Fitted Fashion: The “perfect fit” has always been something of an enigma. Whether it’s the hem, inseam, or bust that’s not quite right, most shoppers make compromises. But start-ups like Fitted Fashion are fashioning made-to-measure clothing that’s anatomically flawless. Using 3-D body scanners built by [TC]² and Fitted Fashion’s own pattern-making software, this retail newcomer accounts for the length and circumference of every body part. Even details like jeans pockets are repositioned according to the customer’s hip width for the most flattering look. Fitted Fashion will open a studio in New York early next year and hopes to partner with existing brands to produce lines of truly custom-fit clothing.
Lo-fi-loving Gen Ys are on a mission to simplify and streamline, as evidenced by their devotion to digital detoxing and their elevation of ordinary materials in place of high-tech supplies. In a similar spirit, modern designers have adopted origami as their latest vintage inspiration. Recently, we’ve spotted the elegant lines and angularity of this ancient paper art in areas from publishing to furnishings to fashion.
Foldschool: A benchmark of DIY design, this online “shop” features free furniture patterns that users can download and print to build their own stool, chair or rocker out of cardboard. A simple process of cutting, folding, and gluing produces sturdy furnishings that evoke the clean, angular shape of a classic paper crane. Completed pieces are not available for prefab purchase, as Foldschool founder Nicola Stäubli maintains that handcrafting boosts accessibility and inspires a pride of craftsmanship—an increasingly rare sensation in our screen-obsessed world. But for the tactile-averse, a range of ready-made origami-inspired designs have flooded the market. Flux chairs, for example, come together in three simple steps.
