For the first time, Kowtow has created new pieces crafted from surplus yarn rather than fabric. Reimagined through meticulously tweaking yarn by yarn, the Kowtow design team crafted new knitwear blends – brought together through a play of cut, paste and proportion.
"We looked at what surplus yarn we had and narrowed it down to 19 colours which we created marled hues with," said Marilou Dadat, Kowtow’s Creative Director. "Then we printed and literally cut and pasted these coloured marled textures together to kick start the design process. It was handy to see them all together and play with how these colours could sit together."
Kowtow have fantastic 3D technology in their workroom that they could have used to mock it up instead, but Dadat explained that there is a beauty between the hand and the eye that gets creativity flowing, having something physical makes you not overthink too much and have a play.
When the team were looking at what yarn they had leftover to work with, there weren’t big quantities left of any specific colour which is where the inspiration to mix the yarn and create colour blends came from. The marle was an inspiring solution of how to use up miscellaneous colours at scale.
The Reimagine series started last year as a response to circularity goals set out in Kowtow's sustainability strategy. Challenging themselves to look at what material they had leftover from previous collections that could be turned into new garments. The first two capsule collections were leftover fabrics but this time they turned to their yarns used for knitwear.
"We see this surplus material as an opportunity for creativity. It is a different brief for our team to design from, it’s exciting. It is a reuse strategy, but the reduce step is key to our circularity goal in the first place. We are getting better and better at forecasting quantities and using up fabrics, I don’t know how long we’ll have these surplus material capsules."
The four piece capsule is a nod to the nostalgia which is so often embedded in knitwear. Dadat spent a lot of time looking at vintage knitwear online as she finds the old imagery of knit patterns fascinating. "We paid homage to vintage ski wear staples in the stripes and silhouette’s used and added details, to add a contemporary touch."
