This is our own love letter to the philosophy of Slow. The idea that less is sometimes more, that consideration and intentionality in every step of the process has intangible ramifications to all involved, and that adhering to natural seasons and a holistic view on production is simply, more human.
Slow Style – Seasonless Classics
By default, given the principles and seasonality of our artisan production, we cannot partake in the world of fast fashion. We work our model around that, building a business that takes into account this inherent slowness, with seasonless styles and seasonal fabrics, adhering to timeless principles of style rather than runway trends. Styles are tested by time, and are phased out or brought back accordingly.
Slow Production – Quality over Quantity
We knew that we would never be a fashion label, nor had the desire to be, and so we focus on making the best product possible, not the most. We make small changes to each style in our stable of core products based on continual customer feedback – a top stitch here, a revision of an inch there, because we know we can always be better. Pants Parties and continual feedback from our Fieldtesters and passionate customers keep our ear on the ground for how to improve; we know we’ve got miles to go until we sleep.
Slow Design – Intentionality in Process
The design to product cycle is 6 months in each of our products. The longer design process comes from our inherent design principle of provenance – all prints hail from an existing heritage motif tied to a place and time, with a cultural story of its own. Our work is to retell and translate that story in a way that resonates still with a modern audience. Working collaboratively with our artisan partners where the final print is a result from their feedback and design input also extends the sampling process. Incorporating natural time cycles of printing and weaving of the artisans means having a longer buffer period to take into account serendipities of weather, festivities, and harvest cycles.
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Time speeds up in February, this shortest month of the year, but we’re taking the time to remember why we do what we do, and moving towards what matters to us collectively, and individually. A little less fast, a little more slow, you could say.
Living amidst an ever-increasing rate of change, the message we are fed is that we must always keep up, always stay on the latest trend with the latest information. And yet, there is a growing body of organisations and people adamant that Slow is better. It is an antidote, and a philosophy. There is Cittaslow, translating to Slow Cities; there is Slow Living, Slow Travel, Slow Design, The Slow Science Academy, The World Institute of Slowness, and the famous mother of all these movements, Slow Food, started by one Carlo Petrini in 1986 protesting against the opening of a MacDonald’s in his beloved Piazza di Spagna, Rome.