Through a design and manufacturing collaboration with designer Stella Ishii and her line 6397, Natalie and the Alabama Chanin design team create a series of upcycled, one-of-a-kind denim throws. 6397 supplies Alabama Chanin with denim overstock from production processes, samples, and test pieces which is cut apart, incorporated with some of 6397’s knitwear and Alabama Chanin’s own cotton jersey scraps, and stitched together to make throws. The finished throws are a nod toward upcycling and quilting traditions. Each throw is unique in color, in texture, and design. The collaboration with Stella and 6397 comes from the very heart of Alabama Chanin’s sustainable design and zero waste ideals.
From Natalie:
“I met Stella Ishii over a decade ago, as I was just beginning to define who I was as a designer. She was simultaneously likeable and intimidating—but intimidating only because of her impressive resume and effortless cool. She began her career in fashion not because she was fluent in design technique—but because she was fluent in English. Japanese-born Ishii heard of a job opening for a translator at a design house and eventually was hired to work for Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons. By the mid-90s, she was head of Staff USA—a branch of Staff International, the Italian parent company of fashion brands like Maison Margiela and Vivienne Westwood. Ishii and Staff USA were key to introducing these (and other) brands stateside.”
Explore the designs of Stella Ishii, 6397, and The NEWS and follow along @6397_news.
Slide 1: Upcycled denim and cotton jersey throw from the Alabama Chanin and Stella Ishii + 6397 collaboration, 2015, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 2: Throws from Alabama Chanin and Stella Ishii + 6397 collaboration in The Factory Store, 2015, photograph by Rinne Allen