Fashion and function are no longer separate concepts when it comes to apparel, and a group of students at ESMOD Paris Fashion Design School are conceiving new concepts for protective work clothing.
In a partnership with Cordura, an Invista fabric brand known for making tough, long-lasting products with end uses like outerwear for extreme hiking, ESMOD students will develop a line of casual designs for men and women that meld the best of fashion, sport and work clothing.
Students will work with fabrics like Cordura’s Naturalle, a performance fabric with a cotton-like hand, NYCO, which blends cotton and nylon 6.6 for extra comfort and durability, and Cordura denim for jeans with added abrasion resistance.
“Innovation is an integral component of our brand ethos,” global Cordura brand and marketing director Cindy McNaull said. “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.”
Students will showcase their creations at ESMOD Paris Wednesday and select designs will be produced using the appropriate Cordura fabrics. Cordura will also choose designs to display at Outdoor Retail in Salt Lake City, Utah, in August and at Expoprotection in France in November.
ESMOD managing director Christine Walter-Bonini said, “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.”