Posted January 16, 2017

 

WICHITA, Kan. – INVISTA announced that its CORDURA® brand, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, has collaborated with N.C. State’s College of Textiles and Cotton Incorporated.

 

Menswear reimagined at College of Textiles

 

INVISTA's CORDURA® brand teamed with fashion and textile design students from N.C. State’s College of Textiles Fashion and Textile Design Program to create visionary designs of menswear for the modern millennial male.

 

The collaboration nods to CORDURA® brand's 50th anniversary theme of "heritage meets innovation," taking inspiration from traditional professional wear of the past and adding functionality and durability for the future.

 

Students were challenged to create business wear designed to adapt to various seasonal conditions, combining long-lasting performance with stylish versatility. With access to all 14 of the latest cutting-edge CORDURA® fabric technologies, the students sketched, designed and created prototypes of business wear garments ranging from commuter to tactical and workwear-inspired designs.

 

"The opportunity to incorporate the latest innovative fabrics from CORDURA® brand to design clothing for the future truly inspired the students, and gave them an opportunity to explore their own modern interpretation of 'traditional' menswear," said Dr. Katherine Annett-Hitchcock, N.C. State's associate professor in textile and apparel technology and management. "The students were extremely involved in the fabric selection process, and were able to learn about each fabric technology available in the portfolio and engineer high-quality durable garments. For many, the fabrics also inspired the direction they took their designs."

 

In addition to their built-in durability, the CORDURA® x N.C. State collab fabric collection incorporated specific performance-based capabilities such as cooling and warming properties, and were supplied by authorized CORDURA® fabric mills: Artistic Milliners, Chia Her, Hua Mao, Nishat, One Chang, Tiong Liong and Yoonia.

 

"Artistic Milliners believes in working with the next generation of designers to create fashion of the future, and we are honored to be associated with N.C. State and this project," said Neil Bell, director of global R&D and innovation at Artistic Milliners. "The ownership of our company has a long legacy with N.C. State University and its College of Textiles, and we are excited to inspire their creativity in producing these cutting-edge garments."

 

Through recent design school collaborations with N.C. State and ESMOD, and participation in events like the UK Project 20/20 Awards, the CORDURA® brand is able to teach students about the importance and benefits of long-lasting, durable, performance fabrics while discovering new, innovative ways to use the fabrics in futuristic applications.

 

"The CORDURA® brand continuously works to push the boundaries of durable fabric innovation," said Cindy McNaull, global CORDURA® brand and marketing director. "We are proud to kick off our 50th anniversary year collaborating with such innovative, forward-thinking designers to help propel classic menswear heritage into the future."

 

Final designs were presented December 12 at N.C. State's iLab. Students presented the garments on a model, along with their inspiration board, storyboard and technical sketches. Select garments will also be on display at global tradeshows throughout 2017, including Outdoor Retailer, Techtextil and A+A.

 

Students participating in the collaboration included: Alex Festa, Anna Argentine, Anna Beth Gawarecki, Caitlin Hill, Casey Stein, Catherine Blazer, Catherine Joyce, Heather Nixon, Jacob Shindler, Jayce Arnette, Lauren Stillwell, Lisa Hoang, Madeline Kamal, Mia Pitillo, Rysa Ruth, Sarah Mraz and Grace Raskauskas.

 

'The Fabric of Our Lives' gets upgrade

 

Separately, the brand announced its first-ever collaboration with Cotton Incorporated, the research and promotion company for U.S. cotton producers and importers. Throughout 2017 and beyond, the two brands will work together to explore opportunities to make the “Fabric of our Lives” even more comfortable, long-lasting and durable for a new generation of performance apparel.

 

Traditional, reliable and biodegradable cotton fiber is known for being soft, natural and comfortable. Blending cotton with the performance benefits of CORDURA® fiber technology adds additional comfort qualities such as quick dry, long-lasting performance, durability, extra tear strength and abrasion resistance.

 

"Collaborating with Cotton Incorporated celebrates the ideology we've been working towards for the past 50 years – heritage meets innovation," said McNaull. "We continue to honor and embrace our history of creating durable fabrics, but strive to push the boundaries of how we can enhance them to create cutting-edge innovations suitable for the ever-changing marketplace. We listened to the voice of the customer and their need for cotton-rich performance fabrics that last. Working together with Cotton Incorporated allows us to bring two classics together to deliver the next generation of performance to the ‘Fabric of our Lives.' "

 

Fabrics from the CORDURA® brand and Cotton Incorporated collaboration will initially be offered from several CORDURA® brand authorized mills, including Artistic Milliners, Nishat, Chia Her and Arvind. The two companies plan to extend the collaboration with additional technology innovations in the months to come.

 

"Cotton is inherently comfortable and cotton apparel often becomes a person's favorite item," said Emily Croneberger, technology marketing manager at Cotton Incorporated. "The more you like a particular shirt, skirt or jeans, the more you wear it and the more prone it is to showing signs of wear. Blending cotton with CORDURA® fiber technology enhances a garment’s durability, helping it hold up to the rigors of daily use, and look and feel good, longer."

 

Source: INVISTA