[FABRIC INSIGHT] HANDSTITCH

It's time for another installment of FABRIC INSIGHT, a series we created to give our customers a peek into the background of the fabrics that make up their favorite Engineered Garments pieces. This time, we focus on the Handstitch selection of fabrics - lightweight designs that feature unique embroidering. Each season, the brand picks various materials from around the world, each year's choice providing a new dimension and an irreplaceable quality. 

According to Engineered Garments' designer Daiki Suzuki, more expensive doesn't mean better. His brand is devoted to crafting products with character. He is not interested in preparing his items with bleeding-edge technical capabilities or seeking out the most opulent ateliers in the world. Instead, he leverages his unique vision - honed through years of importing American products through Japan - to select qualities only he can see: an inevitable imperfection in a denim weave, a modification to classic army gear, or the combination of contrasting textures and colors to create clothing that is simultaneously light and dark, loud and silent. The Handstitch series of fabrics encapsulates this attitude, as they harbor an innate individuality. 

As the birthplace of iconic textiles like ikat, batik, and bagru, India is a crucial fabric source for Engineered Garments. In the current marketplace, fabric buyers can procure a traditional Indian design like madras from mills anywhere in the world, from China to Italy. Still, to Daiki, they cannot compare Indian mills. While other manufacturers may display a higher degree of accuracy in a weave or use pricier yarn, there is an indefinable quality from authentic Indian fabrics, formulated from the subtle lesson passed down through generations, and irreplicable.

In addition to traditional motifs, Indian mills are highly adept at making complex embroidery patterns, such as SS22's Indigo Bird Embroidery Denim or FW21's Multi Color Floral Embroidery. Daiki chose to maximize the yield, cutting in a way for each piece to feature a unique portion of embroidery. Intrigued by this concept, Daiki became interested in the Handstitch produced by these mills, first testing it in his RandT label before bringing it to Engineered Garments.

When he began drafting the concept for the Spring Summer 2023 season, Daiki looked to the Handstitch fabrics, choosing four styles: Khaki Triangle, Orange / Yellow, Navy Square, and Multi Color Stripe. These feature bright, vivid colors, keeping with this season's inspiration of Issa Samb and his vibrant personal style. More importantly, they all feature unique embroidering across the entirety of the fabric. Some are applied in parallel lines, while others display various arbitrary shapes. This quality aligns directly with Daiki's conception of "earthwear," reflecting a sliver of the individual who sewed each stitch.

The Handstitch fabrics' lightweight and breathable cotton construction makes them an ideal choice for outerwear. When applied to classic silhouettes like the Aviator Jacket and Cardigan Jacket, these hardy silhouettes are imbued with a folk style, completely changing the look of the garment. 

These bright colors rarely appear among Engineered Garments clothes. But the textiles' unique quality - which expresses a true sense of humanity - and the season's theme somehow makes it fit, giving something simultaneously small and large, soft and hard, and 100% Engineered Garments.

The Engineered Garments Handstitch appears in the production of the following items for Spring Summer 2023:

Aviator Jacket

Cardigan Jacket

Loiter Jacket

Dome Hat

Fez

Shoulder Pouch

Carry All Tote

Fatigue Short

These items are available for purchase in-store and online at nepenthesny.com.