THE VERY BEST OF TIMES
“THE VERY BEST OF TIMES” – a twelve-piece collection created together by Cone Denim, Miles Johnson, Tonello and AMK atelier.
The idea for this collaborative collection came in the middle of the 2020 pandemic, as a way to unite partners from across the globe to create and inspire with authentic designs, using the best possible fabrics, trims and washes.
From our respective locations – Cone Denim in the United States, Miles living in the U.K., Tonello based in Italy and AMK atelier in the Netherlands – we used Zoom to its full potential to coordinate design briefs, fabric selections, wash developments, fitting - the whole project executed digitally from start to finish. Our efforts were captured on film by Eduard Nijgh – see it here/below.
Film made by Eduard Nijgh
DESIGN -
MILES JOHNSON
Miles is a responsible and environmental design consultant who specializes on how to action systems and design and sourcing level change in the fashion industry
DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
For this twelve piece collection, Miles designed all the styles and details, inspired by work wear and natural shades and colours.
Cone Denim and Miles worked closely together, selecting the sustainable fabrics with recycled and organic cotton, hemp and natural indigo.
The designs were briefed with AMK atelier and together over Zoom, all styles were developed from sketched idea to final product.
The raw collection was sent to Tonello where Miles and cone developed a range of vintage washes and natural dyes for the collection.
FABRICS -
CONE DENIM MILL
A leading denim fabric innovator for more than 128 years, they deliver unparalleled expertise and advanced denim capabilities that service and inspire the global market. They promote sustainable practices in their operations and development of new denims.
From performance fabrics and superior S Gene® technology to vintage re-creations of their Cone Deeptone Denim™ reaching back to the early 1900s, they offer unique collections of performance, stretch, selvage, and natural indigo denims crafted out of the Cone 3D R&D incubator.
SUSTAINABLE FABRICS
The twelve piece collection consisted of six fabrics, all unique and with different characteristics and shades. From shades of natural indigo dyed yarns, to fresh ecru to a petrol look.
There was a variation in structure and weight to match the fit developments; specific fabrics to wash for authentic worn in looks, and the ecru was rinsed to keep its crispy look or dyed with natural pigment and colours.
CREATE -
AMK ATELIER
It was a great honour for me to work with such experienced partners on a project like this. The knowledge that Miles shared by way of leading the project and designs, and the art Tonello adds to the rich fabrics with their strong laundry was truly inspiring.
To develop a collection online was a new challenge that brought me new skills and gives me confidence for a future of digital development and I truly enjoyed working together with this team to create this products.
FIT DEVELOPMENT
- Searching for input garments fits and silhouette matching Miles’ designs.
PATTERN & FIT SAMPLES
- Drafting the shape and fits to the patterns and stitch fit samples for the online fit sessions.
CUT & SEW THE COLLECTION
- After all shapes, details and construction were signed off, the actual collection was cut and sewn in the AMK atelier. The raw garments were sent to Italy for Tonello to add their wash magic.
NATURAL COLORS
& RECYCLED FIBERS
It is important for me at AMK atelier to work with partners who share the same core values as me, in this case, sustainability.
Within this collaboration, we all worked towards promoting a greener fashion industry and I was truly inspired from Miles’ design - to the fabric offer and the washes - thought the total collection the goal was to create a authentic and beautiful collection with as little impact as possible on our planet.
SUSTAINABLE FABRICS - CONE MILLS
- Recycled cotton, hemp and organic cotton are some of the sustainable fibres that Cone used in their fabrics for this collection. Some fabric was dyed with natural indigo dyed yarns.
NATURAL INDIGO, ONION & AVOCADO - AMK ATELIER
- Labels, trims and cord was hand dyed in the atelier.
INDUSTRIAL NATURAL DYES - TONELLO
- Organic Wake Dyes. Soft wash techniques using only 100% organic plant and vegetable waste. Beautiful colors was created by using pomegranate peels, logwood, walnuts, elderberries and madder.
WASH -
TONELLO
"WE HAVE BEEN RESEARCHING, EXPERIMENTING AND INNOVATING SINCE 1981. AND WE DO MUCH MORE THAN JUST BUILD ‘MACHINES’".
Tonellos commitment has always taken you well beyond the product, for they are at the customer’s side, offering services with a personal touch and, especially, with ideas and practical solutions.
VINTAGE & AUTHENTIC WASHES
- Creating a collection called "The Best of Times" calls for authentic worn in looks inspired from hard work and long time worn denims, which is Massimo Falaguasta hewad of wash development at Tonello's specialty.
SUSTAINABLE WASHES
- Tonello used laser and water saving washes for this collection, each step for the wash is made in the most conscious way possible.
NATURAL DYES- Tonello have achieved this by using vegetable waste and natural fibres.
Walnut, Logwood, Solidago and Reseda was used for the washes.
LOOKBOOK
