Walk Through:
Thinking Ahead
Editorial
Edition 100
22.07.2021
Tied by a unified style story, Walk Through is a themed focus on key pieces from brands exhibiting on Pitti Connect’s digital platform.

The next installment of our Walk Through seasonal trend breakdown celebrates defiant, imaginative thinking and boundary-pushing creativity consistently thriving — even, and perhaps most notably, in hostile climates. 

If the field of menswear had for a long time been subject to categorization and linearity, things have been noticeably shifting both in couture and ready-to-wear, with an increasing number of designers devoted to the mission of shaking up the norm, and transgressing expectations: from bolder color palettes to androgynous or feminine cuts, but also de-sacralizing wardrobe staples into more relaxed pieces, we salute the designers paving the way to the sartorial aesthetics of the future. 
SUPERDUPER

Founded in 2011, Superduper celebrates this year ten years of bold, audacious headwear, blending the highest quality and Italian craftsmanship with a funky, vibrant, and forward-thinking edge. Alongside their aesthetic signature, the Tuscan brand was also ahead of the curve in its strategic challenging of e-commerce, and dedication to making all online purchases to order — thus reducing excess, wasteful inventory.
ROLF EKROTH

The particularity of the Finnish brand lies in its imaginative reinterpretation of Scandinavian folklore, designing garments especially informed by the aesthetics of wild and rural Finland, yet perfectly adaptable to the urban landscape. “Most answers to our current problems are right before our eyes, in the nature that surrounds us.” says Ekroth of the concept behind his latest collection.
OQLIQ

Born from the collaboration of Taiwanese design duo Orbit Lin and Chi Hung, OqLiq fuses inspiration from the vivacious avant-garde of East Asian urban street style and the philosophical backbone of Zen thinking, as well as Tai Chi symbolism. The result is a collection of entirely sustainably produced and designed garments that reconcile urban style and performance clothing.
TEE LIBRARY

As hinted by its name, the premise of Tee Library emerged out of a love of storytelling, literature, and curation — as such, each T-shirt produced by the label is envisioned to recreate stories into wearable images. 
 
RBRSL

An acronym for Rubber Soul, experimental footwear and sneaker brand RBRSL aims to defy seasonality, gender, and trends in favor of unfiltered creative innovation, freely operating outside the confines of the fashion industrial ecosystem. 
DRM

Design-Research-Manufacture are the guiding principles of luxury sportswear brand DRM, which creates distinctive, trend-defying, and highly modular menswear gear manufactured exclusively in Italy, using cutting-edge design tactics and technological methods.
OFF GRID - EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

Building on a philosophy of environmental studies oneness, apparel brand Off Grid used cutting-edge technology to introduce the idea of a sustainable garment made for the phygital age — clean, timeless and boundary-pushing.
 
JETPACK HOM(M)E

Taking its name from a visual metaphor for breaking free, Jetpack is a unisex ready-to-wear brand proudly emancipating itself from the authoritarian dominion of classically gendered menswear. Using up-cycled materials from repurposed clothing and recycled fabrics, the brand intentionally toys with notions of respectability, and what is considered suitable or appropriate in the realm of sartorial self-expression.
 
XENIA TELUNTS

Inspired by USSR precepts of doing more with less, and designed with respect for the land, Muscovite label Xenia Talents’ collections of made in England, ethically produced clothing epitomize gender-neutrality with an eco-conscious spin.
 
THE WANDERING WIT

TheToronto-based apparel label founded by Gabriel Ting produces elegantly utilitarian streetwear and outerwear, all inspired by the minimalist, futuristic and functional style of the Japanese urban landscape.
 
Visit the business pages of the featured brands on Pitti Connect: