In the last few years Italy has been the black sheep of the global fashion industry. Critics indicated different reasons behind this fall into disgrace, from the production being moved to other countries offering cheaper labour to Milan Fashion Week losing its glamour and gloss to various alternative and younger fashion events mushrooming every year all over the world; from the constant financial crisis that won't go away and that destroyed too many historical companies to established brands turning to trendier collaborations with famous hight street retailers, forgetting in this way their origins, work ethics and strong research culture. Yet this is just one side of the coin.
There is indeed another side of the coin that shows how there are quite a few Italian companies working hard, researching, experimenting with new advanced technologies and finding new ways to create innovative designs. Bond Factory is among them.
While there is a lot of talk about futuristic technologies that may or may not be employed in the fashion industry and that are still at the moment at the beta stage, Bond Factory has actually developed the thermowelding technique at such high levels to reach a perfect balance between aesthetics, elegance, accuracy and quality.
Established in Italy in 2000 by Anna Maria Di Rienzo and Dyloan Studio's Loreto Di Rienzo, the company has turned into a successful venture, becoming well-known among some of the best designers and brands on a global level, including Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen and Reed Krakoff, for being among the first and best ones to experiment further with thermowelding, melting for construction, ultrasound melting, taping, press bonding and laser cutting.
Originially developed in the early 1900s in the military and aviation sectors especially to allow operativity and waterproofing in critical conditions, thermowelding is currently applied to a wide degree of garments from sportswear and outerwear to lingerie as the technique can modify texture and structure eliminating seams and traditional sewing.
The company also launched a collaborative collection entitled “Bond-In Italy” - a pun on the more traditional “Made in Italy” label - with Milan-based Gentucca Bini. Structures and constructions are emphasised in all the garments in which tailoring skills are replaced by technology and materials with different characteristics are combined together to reach a new degree of functionality. The collection is the result of a joint effort between a designer known for her structured architectural garments and an innovative company and proves that Italy has still got a lot to offer, especially when it comes to high quality and research.
What's the main aim of the project with Gentucca Bini?
Loreto Di Rienzo: Creating a unique synergy between a designer and a manufacturer and obtaining excellent results, using traditional materials and combining them with innovative technologies and, last but not least, launching a research project that can inspire also other designers.
Some critics claim that new technologies may end up homologating design, do you think that this may be a tangible risk?
Loreto Di Rienzo: No, the same technology employed by different designers and countries can lead to radically different results. In Italy we have something unique - a tradition in Italian design and creativity combined with highly skilled manufacturing companies - and this allows us to produce really exclusive garments.
Some of the designs made employing thermowelding and bonding are very architectural, where does this trend come from?
Loreto Di Rienzo: Gentucca is actually an architect and in this case we used very innovative technologies including techno jacquard and techno embossing that allow us to create three-dimensional shapes in a garment.
Did you ever quarrel about a design that was part of the collection or about the techniques that had to be employed?
Loreto Di Rienzo: We did, but our debates and discussions always had as main aim that of improving the project and bringing it to a higher level.
What's your favourite piece from this collection?
Gentucca Bini: The shoulder pad, it's a patent pending design and it represents the essence of the collection, the final synthesis between traditional tailoring skills and innovative technologies. The shouder pad is also the consequence of the collection itself since, when we started working upon it, we never thought about it, it just happened during our research. The shoulder pad is thermally shaped and it allows a designer to substitute traditional tailoring materials and elements with a very light technology. This specific shoulder pad is a universal product, it has a lower cost compared to traditional shoulder pads and can be adapted to any kind of garment since it's extremely light, so it's ideal for a soft and completely destructured jacket. It is a product made by a designer and a company that can be produced for other desigers as well. I do think this is the final key to a really modern way of thinking and this will be a new type of genuine collaboration that the fashion industry will be looking at in future.
There is a long debate about the state of Italian fashion and the made in Italy production, when did Italian fashion started its decline?
Loreto Di Rienzo: When designers started forgetting about the manufacturing side of the business and began considering it only as an added cost. Business gradually became more important because there are countries that offered lower prices forgetting that fundamental mix that can allow you to progress in style and not just in the manufacturing of a mass product. I think that looking back at the content of a garment and at its intrinsic value is the solution to re-establishing Italy as a key player in the fashion industry.
Gentucca Bini: I think that the euphoria and the ephemeral emotions that were caused in fashion by an absence of contents are slowly coming to an end. The '80s came after the exuberance of the '70s and they were characterised by a strong lack of contents; the '90s were rather uncertain years in which anything was considered as possible and admissible, but now we are really going back to try and understand the real substance of a product. The genuine essence of a product is not a single button, but the construction made in a certain way, the structure and the materials employed. The other thing that damaged fashion was the relationship between a designer and a company that was often seen not as a collaborative but as an exploitative relationship. In the case of this collection we had a collaborative venture similar to the ones you see in industrial design, you have a designer's idea combined with new skills by a professional manufacturer who uses advanced techniques.
Do you think that Italian designers still "do it better"?
Gentucca Bini: I think the question is not if Italian designers are better than others, but we certainly have a tradition in making things in Italy and we do have a different approach to materials.
Despite new collections and garments being relentlessly produced every season, originality and desirability are often lacking in fashion, how can we bring them back?
Gentucca Bini: To make the perfect dish, you must have all the right ingredients and mix them in proper quantities. In the “Bond-In Italy” collection we have excellent ingredients – from the garments designed and made in Italy to the new technology. But we also have other important points – tradition, history and memory. So, for example some shapes and forms are directly connected to Italian irony, while the surreal belts with the hands call to mind Schiaparelli's designs. One of the main aims of this project was indeed replacing some tailoring skills with technology while keeping traditions alive and using our own history as a propeller. I believe that this balanced combination between tradition and advanced technology is the recipe to a new type of desirability in fashion.
At the moment which are the best markets for your designs?
Gentucca Bini: Europe, but also Asia. The Asian market seems to like a lot the shapes and proportions of my designs. I work a lot with Korean clients for example; Korea is a country that has a great avant-garde attitude and this allows people over there to quickly generate, but also spot, very interesting and exciting trends.
For further information on the new technologies employed by the Bond Factory, check out the book "Bond-In. From Technology to Fashion", edited by Dyloan Studio in collaboration with the IED Research Centre, and published by Gribaudo.
All images courtesy of Gentucca Bini/Dyloan/Bond Factory.
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