Inspiration in many forms. Techwear focused blogs, styling inspiration, designer philosophy, cultural inspiration, and how new and conceptual technology is affecting clothing in ways outside Techwear. The end of the series, but a reminder that this is just the beginning.
Note: this article updated on 2/20/14. This article has undergone changes since it was first published. Unfortunately, there is no archived page for the original posting.
Table of Contents
Dedicated Blogs
Styling
Design Philosophy
Articles
Movies, Video Games, Anime, Etc.
Fashion and the Future
Dedicated Blogs↩
- Tech Spec
- Maybe the first dedicated Tumblr, it has equal parts inspiration and found pieces.
- Techwearist
- A newer entrant focused more on released garments and styling.
- Before Me After You
- Tumblr for Keith Tio and Selino Sarno. A rare site with Techwear approved personal fits and generally great photography (tech posts by Keith Tio).
- vblog-jpa.info
- Blog by what seems to be an architect with modern design and Techwear interests.
- Four years with girls
- Tumblr of a technical clothing designer. Infrequently updated.
- On and Beyond
- Blog of photographer Vincent Tsang. The Technerd category is not too deep, but has some great posts. Infrequently updated.
- Other Tumblrs of Interest
- 5spec-0ps
- brokeflexin
- CTHDRLS.
- Enfin Leve
- fiorenn
- Flesh-Coated Technology
- Future Fanfare
- systems and cacophony
- Static Sites
- Jamesy
- A blog with tons of hard to find Japanese item pictures. Use the search function to find deep archives of brands like White Mountaineering, Undercover, and North Face Purple Label. Unfortunately, it is no longer being updated
- FOUND_NYC
- Unfortunately, now defunct and available only via the Internet Archive, it's an amazing archive of blog posts from 2007-2010 that covers technical garments generally, but also focuses on Stone Island, C.P. Company, and other Massimo Osti projects. Osti Archive is in the same vein. The forums attached to both sites have a wealth of user-uploaded photos, but require registration. The Osti Archive forum requires payment.
- Reddit Cyberpunk/Techwear inspiration album
- A 94 image collection of Techwear and related inspiration courtesy of Reddit subreddit Femalefashionadvice [1].
- form & function
- A blog that seems to simply be a Techwear enthusiast reviewing items he owns. Has not been updated in a while.
Styling↩
Haven
+A webstore that properly styles its product. Wander through their shop blog, staff blog, and new arrivals.
Silver and Gold
+A Japanese webstore that takes the time to properly style their gear. The link defaults to their Arc’Teryx Veilance products, but definitely look at their brand list on the right side menu for Klattermusen, Nonnative, and Engineered Garments.
Neoninja [1, 2]
+Techwear photographed, then drawn and colored. A collaboration between photographer Vincent Tsang of On & Beyond and art director Jeremy Wirth, styled by Seth Levine.
I Wish They Made This for Girls
+Ongoing series from On & Beyond that features women in men’s clothing. Only a few feature Techwear, but they're a reminder that men's pieces work well on women [1, 2, 3, 4]
Lookbooks and Past Collections
Stone Island Shadow Project FW12 via Hypebeast
An obvious source of inspiration: many brands put out Lookbooks and have archives of past collections. Posted below are well known brands with high quality images. Google other brands from Part 3's Brand list and years+season for more.
- Acronym, on Vimeo
- Arc’Teryx Veilance [1, 2]
- Nike Gyakusou
- Stahl Corp
- Visvim (Click “Archive” on the left)
Runway
Yohji Yamamoto plays soccer with Zinedine Zidane, SS10 via Zimbio
Another obvious source of styling inspiration, runway presentations of futurist or progressive designers. Style.com, Vogue, and The Cut all have runway listings. More obscure brands may only have Lookbooks, or host their own runway photos on their site. Forums are also great resources for older or obscure runway shows and lookbooks.
- Aitor Throup
- Dion Lee
- Hussein Chalayan
- Iris van Herpen
- Issey Miyake
- Maison Martin Margiela
- Mary Katrantzou
- Prada
- Rad Hourani
- Raf Simons
- Rick Owens
- Siki Im
- Tim Coppens
- Undercover
- Y-3
Other Futurist or Conceptual Designers
Wearable Portable Architechture via Mary Mattingly
- Aitor Throup [2, 3, 4, 5]
- Christopher Raeburn
- Civilized
- C.P. Company
- CP Co x Aithor Throup [1, 2]
- Final Home
- FYI Design Depot
- Mary Mattingly
- SISP x Aithor Throup: Modual Anatomy & Articulated Anatomy
Design Philosophy↩
Acronym
- Article – Acronym Interview, via Beinghunted
[Interview with lead designer Errolson Hugh for SS11] - Article – Interview - Acronym / Errolson Hugh, via Beinghunted
[Interview with lead designer Errolson Hugh for FW11/12] - Article – An Interview with Errolson Hugh, via Hypebeast
[Interview with lead designer Errolson Hugh] - Interview - Talking Points No.#003 | Errolson Hugh
[Interview with lead designer Errolson Hugh regarding his work with Stone Island Shadow Project] - Article – Talking Life & Work With… Johanna from Acronym, via High Snobiety
- Video – Acronym's Technical Fashion, via Others by Hypebeast
- Video – Visions of Visionaries with Errolson Hugh, by MADE
Arc'Teryx
- Article - Feature: Arc'Teryx Veilance Fall '12, via Inventory
[A quick, thorough breakdown of Arc'Teryx Veilance's principles, construction, features, and more] - Article - Conroy Nachtigall, via Details are not the Details
[A blend of personal and professional interview with Arc'Teryx Veilance designer Conroy Nachtigall] - Article – Harnessing Menswear, via Montecristo
- Article – Audaciously Inventive, via Vancouver is Awesome
[Long form interview and article about Arc'Teryx with Veilance designer Conroy Nachtigall] - Article - Archetype, via 032c
[Interview with Arc'Teryx Veilance designer Conroy Nachtigall] - Article – Made in Canada: Arc’teryx Factory Visit, via Four Pins
- Video – DIALOGUE 06: ARC'TERYX VEILANCE - A Conversation with Conroy Nachtigall, via Haven
[Interview with Arc'Teryx Veilance designer Conroy Nachtigall]
Massimo Osti
- The old guard; “responsible for the brands Stone Island, C.P. Company and Left Hand and inventor of the industry-shifting garment dyeing technique, Raso Gommato and numerous other fabrics still in use today, 20-30 years on.” [1]
- Article – Ideas from Massimo Osti, via FoundNYC
[Long form article on, and interview with, Massimo Osti in Bright Magazine] - Article - Interview with Lorenzo Osti, via Osti Archive
Outlier
- For a good resource for interviews as they are published, Outlier has a dedicated subreddit.
- Text - Reddit AMA with Abe Burmeister, via Reddit
[Stored page for a live Q&A session with Outlier co-founder Abe Burmeister] - Article - The Search for the Perfect Pair of Pants, via Forbes
[Quick intro of Outlier, its business model, and some financials] - Article – An Outlier's business model, via Crain’s New York Business
- Video – Abe Burmeister: How I Built A Fashion Brand With No Experience, Just Punk Rock Spirit (And The Web), via PSFK
[Presentation on the founding of Outlier, and its sales and pricing practices by co-founder Abe Burmeister] - Video – Outlier, via Others by Hypebeast
[Interview with co-founder Abe Burmeister]
Stone Island Shadow Project
- Site Archives
A full archive of SISP seasons with lookbook photos, design inspiration, and technical specifications.
Uniqlo
- With an Evolutionary Approach, Uniqlo Aims to Create New Category, via the Business of Fashion
[Uniqlo explains how it is more of a technology company than a fast fashion company, and its commitment to casual Techwear (without naming it).]
The Supermodern Wardrobe [Amazon Link]
- A book that some have mentioned is very interesting but slightly outdated.
Articles↩
Arc'Teryx Bird's Nest Project
- Project to create weatherproof capes from excess GORE-TEX fabric and donate it to Vancouver’s homeless and impoverished community.
What’s New in Corporate Menswear
- A brief look at the rise of “Performance Menswear.”
We Can't Know What the Future Will Bring
- William Gibson on the future of tech and fashion
Movies, Video Games, Anime, and Culture↩
Do a Google Image Search of “___ Concept Art” or “___ Character Design” and you can pull up a treasure trove of images. Futuristic movies and games yield the best results. Kotaku, a gaming site, has a whole tag dedicated to concept art. Techwear, and Futurism in general, has been highly influenced by the Cyberpunk genre. Below are a few suggestions for each category
Futurist Movies
Screencap from Blade Runner
- List of Futurist Movies
- Blade Runner (Video of Syd Mead discussing art direction)
- Cloud Atlas
- The Fifth Element
- Minority Report
- Inside Minority Report’s ‘Idea Summit,” Visionaries Saw the Future, via Wired
- A fascinating article about how Steven Spielberg built the world for Minority Report.
- A separate article from Salon discussing how the world was created, with two of the Summit participants.
- How ‘Minority Report’ Trapped Us in a World of Bad Interfaces, via The Awl
- And an article that argues user interfaces suffered for Minority Report’s influence. For a further, easy read against the current interface trends, see “A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design,” via Bret Victor.
- And just for fun, here’s a bunch of anime interfaces, via Kotaku.
Games
Metal Gear Solid sketch by Yoji Shinkawa via The Concept
- Deus Ex
- Metal Gear Solid
- Watchdogs
Anime
Screencap from Akira
- List of Futuristic Animes
- Akira
- Ghost in the Shell
Fashion and the Future↩
Articles, concepts, and videos on how technology is affecting clothing generally. Fabrics, E-commerce, integrated electronics, etc. Just scraping the surface.
Wearable Integrated Electronics
When people talk about electronics integrated into clothing, or electronics made wearable somehow, they say usually call it "wearables," though it also goes under "wearable electronics," "wearable gadgets," or "wearable computing." A summary review of the latest articles on wearables indicate that fitness trackers are the most widely available, with people excited about the promise of smart watches. Tech companies will be the ones to develop wearables, not fashion companies, so you'll want to follow tech and gadget blogs if you're interested. I've compiled a list of the most comprehensive wearables tags on tech and gadget sites, as well as good individual articles on the subject.
- Credit Suisse Estimates Huge Market for Wearbles [ed - re-titled for clarity], via Barrons
[Credit Suisse estimating that the current wearables market is $3-5 billion with a potential to reach $30-50 billion, primarily through smart watches and fitness trackers] - Wearable Devices: The Next Battleground for the Platform Wars, via Forrester Research
[Research released in April 2012, argues that wearables have huge potential, but will not take off until they have investment from "Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook." Unfortunately, only a long abstract is available for free] - Fashion Brands Absent From Wearable Tech Revolution, via Business of Fashion
[Article warning fashion companies not to cede the wearable tech battleground. Difficult as fashion companies are notoriously slow to adapt to new technologies, even social media] - Wearable Tech Makes a Fashion Statement, via The Smithsonian
[Summary of wearable tech in development as of late 2012]
- Wearable Tech World
- Smart Watch News
- Ecouterre's Wearable Tech Tag
- Engadget's Wearable Computing Tag
- Gizmag's Wearable Electronics Tag
- Mashable's Wearable Tech Tag
- The Verge's Wearable Tag
- Wired's Gadget Lab
- Other Wearable Electronics
- Google Glass [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Health and Fitness Devices Generally [1, 2]
- Health and Fitness Devices at CES 2013 [1, 2]
- Jacket with Integrated iPod Controls, via YMFY
[Originally marketed as Softswitch, the intellectual property is now owned and marketed by Peratech] - Midi Controller Jacket, via Kickstarter
- Smart Watches [1, 2, 3]
- Business of Fashion: Fashion 2.0
- Business of Fashion's tag for articles on how technology affects all facets of fashion including sales, monetization of blogs, virtual fitting rooms, and more. A very broad, intersting tag.
- Innovation in Textiles
- Tracking textiles in general.
- Ecouterre
- Tracking eco-friendly fashion and fashion tech innovations.
Misc. Developments
- 3D Printing
- Adam Harvey Projects
[A conceptual designer who, amongst other things, creates items and methods to couteract surveillance (even paparazzi)] - Fabrican [1, 2, 3]
[Clothing that can by sprayed on, removed, and reworn. Initial hype for it ocurred in 2010, but was just reported again at the end of May 2013] - NeverWet [1, 2]
[A superhydrophobic coating. The videos are fascinating. And now it's on sale.] - Quantum Stealth [1, 2]
[Canadian company Hyperstealth claims to have developed a light bending cloak that makes the wearer virtually invisible. Only mockups have been made public] - Reflective Materials [1, 2]
- Virtual Fitting Room Development
[Article that documents the most prominent methods online stores are using to assure customers they're getting the correct fit]