PROTOTYPING THE FUTURE OF TECHNICAL GARMENTS

Created in close collaboration with London/Reykjavík-based design studio RANRA and Italian development center RGT Italia, Otto Resource c/o Adam Barnard presents the inaugural outcome of Prototype Resource; an advanced research system for innovative treatment techniques and garment development.

Prototype Resource is the physical manifestation of profound experimentation, established to uncover knowledge previously unknown. Based on the mutual interest in redefining outdated industry processes/thought patterns, the three-way collaboration will address a broad spectrum of unique design challenges.

Constructed from a resistant Ventile cotton ripstop, the OR-PL01 Two-Piece Uniform is a utilitarian interpretation of the classic tracksuit, developed exclusively for the Otto Resource c/o Adam Barnard studio team.

The jacket sees ultra-lightweight 1000-S cotton deployed across its generous chest pockets, with the straight-cut pants featuring a unique wrap pocket in the same material. Both items feature concealed adjustable layers at the cuff and hem.

All three iterations stem from the same chemical and material baseline. In order to broaden the project’s results however, three unique garment dye treatments have been applied: pigment, direct, and gel dye.

All three uniform treatments were exhibited at Otto Resource c/o Adam Barnard’s anniversary event, “A Year in Noise”.

The event also revealed a series of ongoing collaborative endeavors with Acte TM and Rave Skateboards, as well as a small retrospective of projects finished over the last year. Included among these was a fanzine developed in collaboration with Alex Anyaegbunam and Swiss book publisher Innen.

To hear further insights on the conception and inspiration behind the project, we sat down with Adam Barnard from Otto Resource and Giovanni Bruno from RGT Italia

could you please tell us more about the origins of this project?

Otto Resource c/o Adam Barnard is first a foremost a digital-facing research and analysis hub. We however began to see that our digital-only presentation had certain limitations. It was at this point that we decided to embark on a project that would see our wealth of knowledge and expertise physically manifest itself. Despite our design consultation being implemented by a number of brands in the past, we never had the chance to take something from A - Z [while maintaining complete control and freedom throughout].

Having been a long-time fan of Arnar and Luke’s work — and knowing that they too questioned the limitations of contemporary design — this partnership just felt right. I’m excited to see where things will go!

What was the inspiration behind the two-piece uniform?

The OR-PL01 Two-Piece Uniform is a tracksuit-inspired design constructed from a hard-wearing Ventile ripstop. We find the concept of uniform interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, its root in functionality and youth (sub)culture both fall close to Otto’s own expression and interests. And further still, we find uniforms interesting for their ability to underline social affiliation and delineation.

The track top lends from classic military silhouettes such as the Eisenhower jacket, while the pants take the form of a casual, straight-leg chino rendered technical with hidden functional inclusions. The use of a resistant ripstop material and its resulting color palette also express notions of military attire, yet, when perceived holistically, parallel sportswear through fit and freedom in motion.

Driven by its manifesto of “Redefining Archetypes,” the OR-PL01 uniform feels familiar, yet distinctly new.

one of the goals of this collaboration is to optimize production processes. How did you achieve this goal?

While the optimization of production processes is undoubtedly important, we saw this project more as a means of optimizing access to knowledge. We found it limiting that brands interested in garment dyeing often chose untreated materials and wanted to see if we could achieve a similar result with pre-treated (RTD and PFD) materials. We hope our results have prompted at least a few to think beyond what we consider a typically unquestioned industry standard.

“The project began when Otto Resource had the rather unconventional idea to develop a garment dye process using a fabric like Ventile. This stimulated us at RGT to find a formula that would turn this idea into reality, and after a number of trials, we found some options that worked. The result was a well-dyed product with a unique vintage finish, and a full retention of the fabric’s water repellency. We consider this a near-perfect solution for innovative and functional garments, with the possibility to be used by all interested brands!” 

— Giovanni Bruno, Managing Director RGT Italia

Why were RANRA and RGT Italia the right partners for this project? 

“I like to see our collaboration as a swarm intelligence system. With each of us specialized in a different sector from (sometimes) opposing ends of design’s supply chain, we are very quick to identify its limitations, shortcomings, and failures. This knowledge then forms questions that we look to answer through innovation. And as we are freed from all commercial obligations, we only ever add to our catalogue of unique design knowledge, regardless of whether we fail or succeed.”

— Adam Barnard, Founder Otto Resource c/o Adam Barnard

thank you very much for your time!