Much of the resulting waste of the fashion industry stems from poor design and production decisions made without proper consideration or contemplation. W. Rubens designs are conceived as long standing and durable collections. To get them right, we spent months researching, drawing, pinning, and fitting our T-Shirts. The concept had been in place for 6 years — so there were many strong ideas from inception.
The highlights were developed at a suitable and reliable pace, meaning only the best designs were selected and produced. We avoided indulgent prototypes and designs for the sake of it. Instead, we made our T-Shirts as simple as possible, by making a signature body shape the best we could. This body shape, which is also referred to as ‘the slim block’, took months both to create and to choose the final and exact fit. Our approach is determined and committed, which is the reason we end up using many Slow Design principles. These approaches allow the best ideas to emerge, to be refined and improved upon and it was during this process that our celebrated ‘signature back’ detail was born.
Our signature back detail and no-seam body materialised during the methodical journey of the block’s development. With that single seam came our signature lapel; a detail which originated on a sketch we all liked. However, it wasn’t immediately perfect and at first looked a little rushed or stuck on. After taking a step back and looking again, it came to us. We made it an integrated and integral part of the design. Since that moment, our collection focused on having only a single seam on the body. We rejected the fast-fashion approach of cheap and easy side seams and moved to a straight block with a final single seam with the lapel line detail at the bottom. It worked well for the look but also had an amazing effect on the fit. The flat pattern for the body is like nothing you’ve ever seen — almost like a complex work of art combined with the wing of futuristic spaceship… but it works. It removes the twisting, puckering, or bagging that sometimes stems from side seamed garments, holding the body in all the right places. Whilst this collection was slow and methodical in its development, we firmly believe it is now iconic and timeless.
As with anything that’s worth while doing, it took the time it had to take.
With all the effort we have invested into getting these T-Shirts exactly how we want them and how you deserve them, it would be a genuine waste to see them not have a long and well used life. So as part of our commitment to zero-waste cutting, in addition to actively extending the life of T-Shirts for as long as possible through our care guide, we have created returnable eco bags that you can use to send us back your well used T-Shirts. When we receive it, we will salvage as much of the fabric as we can, so we can give your T-Shirt a new life by remastering it into a creatively up-cycled item to be auctioned for charity and worn all over again.
