Copenhagen, DENMARK – The clothing brand Stem abandoned the conventional runway at Copenhagen Fashion Week and instead invited participants to work with textiles in an interactive workshop.
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The event, in an airy warehouse on Papirøen, showed the fall collection for this year.
Stem, founded by Copenhagen designer Sarah Brunnhuber, is built on a production method of cutting waste.
For the designer’s fifth season and the collection called To Wool, she approached wool as a teacher and collaborator with a spotlight on its elasticity and needle felting.
According to Stem, they specifically used Danish wool, which is often sidelined in the industry due to its reputation as a coarse, tough material, a stark contrast to its merino counterparts.
After Brunnhuber met Berit Kiilericht, a female shepherd based in Denmark who tends a flock of 800 sheep, Stem experimented with the material.
To Wool marks a shift in Stem’s elastic wool research. Where previously limited to handwoven prototypes, Stem has now partially industrialized its process.
The pieces are created with 100% wool, avoiding synthetics all together.
One of Stem’s four principles is “Checks as Structure” which refers to patterns in the material.
Stem’s process ensures that the patterns are woven into the fabric and not printing on the surface.
Through the weaving process, the seams, fringes and finishes are left visible.
Brown, black and off-white are center-stage on the color palette for the collection’s industrial side, not as an aesthetic choice, but instead due to the availability of neutral-toned deadstock – leftover material not used in production – in Italy.
In the images above, models wear some of the Stem clothing made with neutral tones. (Noah Haynes/YJI)
Noah Haynes is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.
