WICHITA, KS — March 24, 2016 — INVISTA’s CORDURA® brand fabric, known for durability, comfort and performance, has joined forces with students at ESMOD Paris to bring a new perspective to workwear: How to integrate the rules of fashion into protective work clothing.
Using inspiration from a range of CORDURA® fabrics, ESMOD students will develop a complete style portfolio consisting of several casual designs for both men and women. Designers will begin with traditional work clothing concepts and integrate modern world fashion styling concepts. The goal is to create versatile pieces showcasing style crossover between fashion, sport and work clothing. Selected student designs will be produced using appropriate CORDURA® brand fabrics.
Students will explore a family of CORDURA® fabric technologies, renowned for resistance to abrasion, tears and scuffs: CORDURA® Naturalle™ fabric with the look and feel of cotton; CORDURA® HP Hi-Vis fabric for high visibility solutions; CORDURA® NYCO fabric combining cotton with nylon 6,6 for clothing that is ultra-comfortable and durable; CORDURA® Denim fabric, offering abrasion resistant performance with a traditional denim style; and CORDURA® Combat Wool™ fabric combining the warmth and comfort of wool with durability of nylon. Additionally, students will learn techniques such as printing, dyeing and embroidery to integrate into their finished concepts.
Final designs will be presented on April 6, 2016 at ESMOD Paris. Representatives from the CORDURA® brand team will have the opportunity to select garments to feature in special CORDURA® brand young designer displays at international trade exhibitions including Expoprotection in France (November 2016) and Outdoor Retailer in the United States (August 2016). Young designers will also be able to choose technical textiles from the range of CORDURA® fabrics to support future design activities.
“Innovation is an integral component of our brand ethos. This collaboration is an opportunity for the CORDURA® brand team to share its know-how of performance fabrics, and raise awareness about technical textiles among young designers,” said Cindy McNaull, global CORDURA® brand and marketing director. “The CORDURA® brand strives to empower designers to create the desirable and wearable solutions of today, and tomorrow.” Through opportunities like this, young designers at ESMOD Paris can learn how to work creatively within the technical constraints of certain clothing industry sectors.
Christine Walter-Bonini, managing director of ESMOD, is enthusiastic about this collaborative project: “We are delighted to facilitate this meeting between the young people who are designing tomorrow’s fashions and the CORDURA® brand, because this creates a new link between innovation and tradition, the key theme for ESMOD since 1841.”
Posted April 1, 2016
Source: Invista
