Tretorn x Nigel Cabourn
Sarek Sneaker
Contribution: Project Lead designer for Tretorn. Design together with Kyle Jobes and Nigel Cabourn.
Season: SS20
The British design legend Nigel Cabourn has worked in the fashion industry for over forty years, producing collections that are not influenced by fashion trends but driven by inspirational people in history and vintage military, workwear and outdoor pieces. I had the privilege to work closely with him and his team in this collaboration.
In the end of february we went to Nigels studio in Newcastle to kick off the collaboration. We spent two whole days with him and his team, sketching, brainstorming and gathering inspiration for the collection which consist of a jacket, a backpack and a pair of sneakers. Nigels studio is a fantastic old gym/recreational center from WW2 that is just filled with vintage. It was truly a perfect place for inspiration.
Tretorn Nylite was launched in 1967 and became the first luxury tennis sneaker in the world. It has been celebrated on and off the court by world stars like Björn Borg, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elvis Presley and Kanye West, to name a few. Tretorn Racket was released 1961 for professional court tennis. They were also worn off court by style icons like Steve Mq Queen. (See pictures below).
Me and Kyle from Nigels Design team came up with the idea of combining the two icons in to one. Not only would this make up for an interesting heritage story, but the two sneakers also matched really well in combination. I especially like how the ”Gullwing logo” follow the shape of the outsole ”foxing”.
In order to make the outsole more "chunky" and robust without having to pay the big cost of opening a new mold, we decided to use the oldschool manufacturing technique of vulcanization. By totally deconstructing the "Tretorn Racket 61" outsole and putting it back together with different foxing layers and a new calendar outsole, we were able to achieve a totally new sole unit.
The Ventile© fabric we decided to use in the bag and the sneaker is a recycled cotton canvas with waterproof qualities. This canvas fabric is the perfect combination of high tech function and genuine retro look/feel. It is super durable and will last a lifetime.
Ventile® was created to save the lives of Air Force personnel flying over the Atlantic in wartime England. Pilots needed a garment that was cool and comfortable in the cockpit, but warm and impenetrable if it came into contact with water. With nothing that offered this functionality on the market, a team of dedicated scientists pioneered a radical solution at the Shirley Institute in Manchester and, after several months of testing, Ventile® was born. Ventile® extended life expectancy in the sea tenfold, which made rescue a real possibility. 80% of pilots who fell into the sea would now survive. Our fabric went into mass production in 1943 and was worn by RAF pilots around the world. The unique weatherproof qualities of the fabric ensured that it was also widely championed by outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers alike. Ventile® was used in the first summit of Everest in 1953 and by Sir Ranulph Fiennes when he crossed the Arctic from 1979 – 1982.
Text source: https://ventile.co.uk/history/
