The New Milanese Underground: Rayon Vert How a brand born among mountain-loving friends challenges production systems and the relationship between public and fashion
Sustainability has become the unicorn of the fashion industry: everyone talks about it, everyone chases it but reaching it still seems like a fantasy and there is still a clear trade-off between the profitability of a product and compliance with ethical standards at the production and sales level. This is a blatant inconsistency that has its roots in the contemporary production and consumption model, in which products are replaceable and not very long-lasting and the purchase is stimulated by infinite factors that nourish the same relationship between user and brand. Among the rare realities that have the courage to imagine a different future is Rayon Vert International, a research brand founded in Milan in 2017 and run by Yuri Kaban and Andrea Ferrari, two friends united by a passion for travel and the mountains.
Aesthetically the fashion industry has cannibalized many subcultures, today gorpcore and hiking aesthetics are going through their moment. How does Rayon Vert experience this kind of relationship since he proposes to be a purely technical brand?
We decided to work in the field of technical clothing because it is what amuses us and we find there is a greater challenge from a design point of view. Entering this world from initial users to actual producers became spontaneous the moment we started practicing outdoor activities in a more or less serial way.
That now technical clothing has its moment in the spotlight is indisputable, but we believe that in the last twenty years it has crept in in a rather stable and now indispensable way, even for a few SKUs, even for materials only, in every brand and at every price level.
You recently partnered with IUTER for a workshop: what are the plans for the near future?
Our collaboration with Iuter, of which we are very satisfied, was a bit of a test of what we would like to continue to do in the future, implementing techniques, products, machinery and the number of participants. Iuter has made its company available with its machinery and its employees and 16 guests who, although they have never sewed, have used the space to create their own backpack. If the evolution of the lockdown allows, we would like to try to expand this kind of project as much as possible, trying to get to as many people as possible. Of course, physical space is limited to a narrow geographical area of action. We are trying, and this is the main focus for the future, to also digitally extend what are our objectives.
