Hello, this is Kubo.
This time, we are continuing our series on "What a Fashion Designer Thinks About Sustainability." This time, we'd like to talk about fur.
Ever since I was still a budding fashion designer, I have proposed many items using fur, both at yoshiokubo and Muller of Yoshiokubo. At the time, I had a familiar client, and I remember visiting their building to see all kinds of furs lined up in a crowded space.
What got me thinking about fur was when I met Giorgio Armani, one of my favorite designers. With Armani's support, I got the opportunity to try out for the Milan Collection, and during that time, Armani came down and looked at the collection I presented, picking up pieces from it!
He's a legendary figure to us, so to be up close with him was awe-inspiring, stunned, and almost heavenly. As I explained the concept of each piece in English as requested, a tense atmosphere began to form in front of one particular garment. I was speaking to the interpreter in Italian, but it didn't seem like he was at peace...
When I asked him, he said, "We've just announced that we're going to stop using real fur. Are you still using it?!" It was quite a shocking experience for me at the time.
Related article: Scary Stories Series #1
A dozen years later, I saw that a German fabric manufacturer had announced an eco-fur product made by planting individual strands of wool into a base fabric, just like flocking. This was truly amazing, and when I actually touched it, it felt just like real fur!
If you think about it, fur is actually made up of hair growing from skin, so this manufacturer's approach is surely one solution. This innovative idea seems to solve the current problem of "raising large numbers of animals just for the sake of fur, and killing and skinning them just for the sake of fur," and this innovation may lead to the development of new technology and machinery. In that sense, I find it very interesting.
On the other hand, I feel we also need to think about what to do with the fur that has been circulating in society up until now, and how to maintain used clothing. If fur is used as part of clothing that has been carefully and thoughtfully crafted with the intention of "ensuring that a one-of-a-kind piece can be worn with love for a long time, without being easily 'consumed,' then it would be better to maintain or upcycle it so that people can continue to wear it. That's what I think.
■ Official Instagram
■ Official LINE account
■ Official YouTube channel: "yoshiokubo_official"
This time, we are continuing our series on "What a Fashion Designer Thinks About Sustainability." This time, we'd like to talk about fur.
Ever since I was still a budding fashion designer, I have proposed many items using fur, both at yoshiokubo and Muller of Yoshiokubo. At the time, I had a familiar client, and I remember visiting their building to see all kinds of furs lined up in a crowded space.
What got me thinking about fur was when I met Giorgio Armani, one of my favorite designers. With Armani's support, I got the opportunity to try out for the Milan Collection, and during that time, Armani came down and looked at the collection I presented, picking up pieces from it!
He's a legendary figure to us, so to be up close with him was awe-inspiring, stunned, and almost heavenly. As I explained the concept of each piece in English as requested, a tense atmosphere began to form in front of one particular garment. I was speaking to the interpreter in Italian, but it didn't seem like he was at peace...
When I asked him, he said, "We've just announced that we're going to stop using real fur. Are you still using it?!" It was quite a shocking experience for me at the time.
Related article: Scary Stories Series #1
A dozen years later, I saw that a German fabric manufacturer had announced an eco-fur product made by planting individual strands of wool into a base fabric, just like flocking. This was truly amazing, and when I actually touched it, it felt just like real fur!
If you think about it, fur is actually made up of hair growing from skin, so this manufacturer's approach is surely one solution. This innovative idea seems to solve the current problem of "raising large numbers of animals just for the sake of fur, and killing and skinning them just for the sake of fur," and this innovation may lead to the development of new technology and machinery. In that sense, I find it very interesting.
On the other hand, I feel we also need to think about what to do with the fur that has been circulating in society up until now, and how to maintain used clothing. If fur is used as part of clothing that has been carefully and thoughtfully crafted with the intention of "ensuring that a one-of-a-kind piece can be worn with love for a long time, without being easily 'consumed,' then it would be better to maintain or upcycle it so that people can continue to wear it. That's what I think.
■ Official Instagram
■ Official LINE account
■ Official YouTube channel: "yoshiokubo_official"