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VIEWPOINTS
OUR SUMMER COLLECTION IS BORNE BY A SCALE STORY that has influenced a large part of our motifs, with oversized drawings, extra large stripes, checks with thick lines... A desire for over-size is especially developed for womenswear, menswear being a little more timid (for the moment anyway).”
XL GRAPHICS, EXXAGERATED VOLUME, A TASTE FOR WHAT’S BIG: SPRING SUMMER 17 SPREADS OUT. TOO BIG OR NOT TO BE - THAT’S THE TEMPTATION. WE HAVE MODIFIED OUR MACHINES so they weave wider silk and leather bands. Our family company specializes in the creation of kimono belts since 1889. Today, we are evolving this 1,500-year old tradition. For example we are offering pieces that go up to 90 cm wide for leather and 1.50 m for silk, against 40 cm maximum historically. With these enlarged dimensions, and without ever compromising our ancestral know-how and our delicacy of execution, we open ourselves for export and are also diversifying into fashion accessories and clothing... In short, we are looking further afield!”
Rita Fortes, Riopele Fabrics, 6J10
OUR GAUGES RANGE OVERALL FROM 18 TO 3, BUT THAT’S NOT ENOUGH! To go even bigger, we have recourse either to manual labour with knitting needles, mechanical machines of the 1960s that can go to up to gauge 1.5, for XXL knit effects and an ultra openworked look.”
Omar Morotti, Ommy
Knitwear Solutions, 6KW105 Daisuke Kano, Kano-ko,
Maison d’Exceptions, HALL 6
WE ARE GOING IN FOR GIANT SIZES. We aim for more expansive volumes with heavier bases, volumes that are puffier with silk gazars going up to 300/m2. Our digital prints of butterflies or flowers are so large they become almost abstract.”
MAXI FORMATS AND PATTERNS ON A LARGE SCALE ARE OUR SIGNATURE. This love for the oversized comes perhaps from my interest in calligraphers who work on enormous sheets while standing up. Beyond our developments on silk and wool for fashion, our XL DNA can lead us to dress up the entire façade of a building in England in a print.”
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Ines Massi, Ratti
Fabrics, 5N10-5P9
OUR CURRYING AND FINISHING PHASES, ALL DONE BY HAND, allow us to create and accentuate the grains of our skins. A colourless lacquer amplifies even this graining.”
Jane Han Zhang, Fairbairn & Wolf Studio Designs, 5X60
Hitoshi Sakamoto, Sakamoto Corp Leather, 3H80