GLOBAL SOURCING- Niche Brand Research (Christmas Project)

Over the two weeks we had for Christmas break, we were given a project to start. We had to research a 'niche' brand that has been established within the last 5 years. A niche brand is a brand that's different from any other and that caters for a very specific target market.

I'm very interested in unisex and gender neutral brands and both of these are very up and coming currently. I decided to research a Scandinavian unisex brand called Armoire Officielle which translates literally to 'Wardrobe Official'.

Here is the start of my essay/ research:

Armoire Officielle is a scandinavian unisex brand, established in the summer 2012 in Copenhagen. Starting with their first ever (men's) collection in 2013, ‘Armoire d’homme’ and then going on to produce their womenswear line in 2015, ‘Armoire de femme’, (Danish Fashion Institute) the brand’s reputation took on a life of it’s own subsequently after nominations for DANSK Design Talent Award and International Woolmark Prize. (High Snobiety)

The International Woolmark Prize is nominated to those who reveal the ‘beauty and versatility’ of Australian Merino Wool in their collections- Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent being previous award winners.(Wool Mark) 18 European designers are shortlisted and then separated into menswear and womenswear categories. They then compete against various other designers from the U.S., Asia, Australia and the Middle East for the winning 2016 title. Armoire Officielle was up against other up and coming menswear designers and brands; Christian Pellizzari, Etxeberria, Giray Sepin,Harmony, IvanMan, Jonathan Christopher, MariusPetrus and Pavel Ivančic. (F.Benjamin, 2015)

Armoire Officielle takes sustainability and ecology very seriously, they strive for sustainability and longevity in every step of their design and fabrication process, it is also one of the main focuses in regards to their design identity.(Linked In) Creative Director Kjetil Aas adopts scandinavian design methods to create timeless, durable pieces- pieces that will last a lifetime. (F.Benjamin, 2015) The idea behind these kinds of pieces, is that it rejects the typical ‘slow fashion’ that is exercised by the fashion industry everyday and is one of the many problems that we are having to face in regards to the consequences of fashion.

The brand describes themselves as being ‘inexorably tied to its home country’s design traditions’. With the 1950’s being their inspiration behind their design identity, their collections aim to focus on minimalistic pieces with functionality and practicality at the core of their designs. (Selectism) Armoire Officielle use a constant minimalistic/ neutral colour palette running throughout their collections with a repetitive use of the colour blue. Their website holds a quote written by artist, Georgia O’Keeffe that reads: “…that blue that will always be there as it is now after all man’s destruction is finished,”. The artist painted a series of animal bones, either of the complete bone or of a section of the bone, applying great detail. This quote relates to a particular painting whereby she holds a pelvic bone up to the sky. She described the sky as being permanent, immovable and unchanging- something that would withstand after manmade and mankind have dissolved from existence. Armoire Officielle relate to this by mirroring the same idea with their sentiment for longevity and sustainability within their garments.