Gore-Tex: Selected Memories of Functionality VOL.2 with FUTURA
For most Gore-Tex technology is known as the holy grail of waterproof garments, mention Gore-Tex to anyone remotely interested in fashion and they will foam at the mouth.
However, there’s much more to the Gore-Tex brand than what’s perceived and known, the brand runs far beyond being the holy grail of all things waterproof.
Following on from the inaugural exhibition last year in Paris with guest curator Stephen Mann, January 2020 saw Gore-Tex Studio present volume two of the continuing exhibition series, Selected Memories of Functionality, this time around teaming up with street legend Futura and his product powerhouse, FUTURA LABORATORIES.
Futura at his studio in New York
Whilst most museums and auction houses around the world are latching on and playing catchup, scrambling to wrap their heads around street culture and its ultimate impact on fashion, not just in the form of today and the bubble of hype product, but very much having a hard time documenting the pioneering 80’s and 90’s cultural impact, it’s refreshing to see a brand present a space in which the public can learn and participate in the celebration of these eras that have had an everlasting impact.
The selected memories exhibitions are a timeless celebration of cultural pioneers with added storytelling being channeled through the selections and curation of products that they choose.
It’s too easy to dismiss clothing items as just something we wear as a necessity and for a lot of people they are just that:
A requirement we need for orderly conduct in a developed society.
But for others, they become an extension of you and your demeanor, almost like a time-capsule that catapults you back to critical moments in your life, as Futura states in the video below he spent a winter living in his Burton AK.
No doubt some of the legendary work we know today will have been created whilst he was wearing his favorite jacket.
For those who are not familiar with Futura, simply put, he’s widely regarded as the godfather of graffiti, a product of the city of New York in the seventies. Futura played a pivotal part in transcending the movement of graffiti from bombing trains and being seen as an act of vandalism by the mass public into a celebrated art form that it is widely known for today.
His graffiti style, with its focus on futuristic, abstract designs and most importantly breaking the art form free from the confines of the throw-up, set him apart from his peers and on a path that ultimately led him to establish his arsenal of trademarks that everyone knows him for today:
The atoms, cranes, circular saw blades, and the pointman characters.
Having established and sustained a global cult following over the last thirty years through various avenues outside of the immediate art world, most notably in the music world with his covers for MoWax, Futura has become just as well known in the realm of high fashion, graphic design and streetwear as he has in the art world.
The artist has collaborated with a plethora of brands and products through-out his career.
To only scratch the surface and mention a few, his CV runs like a who’s who of streetwear, working on projects with the likes of Supreme and Nike, all the way through to Ura-Harajuku legend Jun Takahashi and his label Undercover.
Collaborating on many of their most memorable products over the years and most importantly with them taking place in the early and critical developing years of what’s now regarded and known today as streetwear.
All of the brands listed have also been long time partners of the Gore-Tex brand.
When you analyze this, this newly formed partnership makes sense: A graffiti artist known for pioneering new techniques and articulations, teaming up with a high-tech fabrics and ingredients company known for doing the same.
For the selected memories exhibition Lenny McGurr aka Futura (2000) selected a range of products both from his personal archive and from recent collections that caught his attention whilst studying the Gore-Tex brand’s archive.
As you can imagine having served in the military, Futura has a fascination with camouflage as well as widely known military colours and this ultimately shines through with his curation choices.
Featuring digi camo Clarks Wallabees, Danner and Timberland boots, Nike SB Dunks, weather-proof Converse, as well as jackets from the likes of A Bathing Ape, NikeLab ACG, Beretta, Burton [ak], Junya Watanabe MAN, and Off-White.
Each product representing a rich cultural impact as well as presenting and showcasing the diverse range of Gore-Tex technology applications.
As part of the project Futura collaborated with Gore-Tex through his recently relaunched label, FUTURA LABORATORIES, experimenting and creating exclusive products that sadly will only ever see a friends and family release.
The first takes the form of a Gore-Tex rain poncho developed in-house at Gore with the second executed as a conceptual footwear style dubbed Project-X.
Designed & initiated by The Footsoldiers to commemorate their 10-year anniversary & developed in collaboration between Gore, Avery Dennison, who produced the upper materials and components, as well as Vibram presenting the sole technology and SHOEfabrik working on production.
For Gore’s execution of this particular shoe a signature pattern designed by FUTURA LABORATORIES was applied to the upper and components.
This same pattern also appears on the custom-produced Gore-Tex rain poncho, both shoes and poncho were created as non-commercial concept styles with a clear focus on the current status quo of fabric and footwear technologies.
The star exhibition pieces came in the form of four all-white Gore-Tex jumpsuits that were designed and produced specifically for the exhibition, each individually customized and signed by Futura.
The jumpsuits themselves being a style we’ve never seen executed before using the Gore-Tex fabric and very much seem to be a play on the traditional disposable overalls you’ll discover in any paint shop across the world, especially one’s workers would don in a train yard when re-spraying a subway train.
Alongside these exhibits, the showroom also gave visitors the chance to experience a diverse range of recent highlights; unique products that have taken shape through collaborations between the Gore-Tex brand and leading partners in the fashion and lifestyle categories.
In today’s landscape where coveted product sells out rapidly, it is important to showcase and celebrate these creative outcomes and allow people to get up close and personal with the items, to inspect, study and allow for future innovations to take place.
It’s unfortunate these collaboration pieces will not see a public release however we can only hope that both entities will continue to create experimental pieces that will hopefully lead to a mainstream release in the future.
Far from just being a tech fabric brand that shields us from the rain, Gore-Tex has a wide range of innovations in its arsenal.
World-known for its guarantee to keep you dry, Gore-Tex is pushing boundaries, from SHAKEDRY™, an advanced lightweight, breathable and exposed Gore-Tex membrane which allows the hydrophobic properties to kick into overdrive and for the garment to literally be shook dry, right through to the recently developed INFINIUM range which focuses on high performance in conditions that don’t need the traditionally expected waterproof capabilities.
With tech fabrics being around for decades it is interesting to be able to pull back the curtain and discover that the industry is continuously innovating and pushing boundaries to bring us garments that adapt to our environment.
Even more so with a brand that not only innovates but has the ability to celebrate and elevate the creative partners they team up with, especially when most of the names they work with are somewhat in competition with each other on various different levels, it is a rare occurrence that virtually never happens in such a fast-paced and intense industry.
To get a more in-depth insight into all things GORE we spoke with Jörg Haas and Florian Gemmrich from Beinghunted and Gore-Tex Studio, as well as the star of the show, Futura.
Futura
It’s great to see the relaunch of Futura Laboratories and a new generation being exposed to the label, what fuelled the desire to bring back FL?
Yes, it's exactly that. The opportunity to bring it back, after almost a 10-year gap, it seems like everything is in place to reintroduce the brand. In an age of various social media platforms, it's very much helpful in pushing the visibility of your projects.
The Gore-Tex boiler suit your produced is an amazing piece, what influenced your decision to keep it minimal and all-white rather than to drop a DPM option, is it the play on the typical paint shop suits and just like the high vis theory, the best form of blending in is to mimic the very same aesthetic?
Off-White? There's so many options on how to approach anything, and those suits felt better to be minimal pieces rather than an all over color field. In this instance: less is more. BINGO!
The exhibition in Paris is a curation of products that are personal to you or have deep meaning and resonate, how did you manage to narrow it down to these few pieces and if you could have only presented one standalone piece which one would you have chosen?
Yeah, that was very difficult. It's always hard to make a selection. I had a lot of pieces but if I could have chosen one piece, it would have the Bape Gore-Tex camo jacket that Nigo gave me more than 20 years ago. Because honestly, that could be one of the oldest Gore-Tex pieces in my collection.
Jörg Haas
& Florian Gemmrich of BeingHunted & Gore-Tex Studio.
It’s the age-old thing that when anyone who hears the phrase ‘Gore-Tex’ they instantly resonate with a product that is waterproof to the highest degree, no matter how comprehensive their knowledge may be. how are you working to educate the consumer and unravel this brand myth and ultimately focus people to know that Gore-Tex is more than just a waterproof material?
I think that one approach - whether it's active or maybe a bit more subtle and non-strategic - is to get people to actually wear Gore-Tex equipped apparel.
When we do sports, especially activities outdoors, as consumers we look for comfort, lightweight, all the protective capabilities we can get for our money. For our daily attire it's not so much the case. It's more about the look or the appearance we need in a particular moment (most people change into something comfy when they come home after work).
When it starts to rain, you're putting on a rain jacket or open the umbrella. If your cotton coat was Gore-Tex technology equipped you'd be fine right away. If you wear shoes with Gore-Tex technology inside you can wear regular socks, you won't get sweaty feet inside either.
Once you feel the difference you won't want to miss it. It is really about that. Not so much about water columns, etc. When you read "this fabric is more waterproof than Gore-Tex" it's really not relevant. Waterproof is waterproof. It's about breathability, about the feel of the fabric, the drape, etc.
Ultimately with any brand that has created great innovation there IS a heightened element of brand protection and preservation, careful consideration for who to partner with or who to co-sign to use the material within their products. how does a conversation like this take place and what is a typical journey towards gaining the ultimate stamp of approval?
Since we started working with the Gore-Tex brand we've been involved in several such conversations, and we've also been approached by brands that showed interest in working with the laminates.
So far we haven't really experienced any situation where there was little to no knowledge in regard to what it means to work with Gore-Tex fabric or footwear technologies.
For the "Black Diamond" products (fully waterproof) brands need to work with licensed manufacturers. These companies have a long history in handling Gore-Tex fabrics so that aspect is covered already.
A typical conversation between a new partner and the Gore-Tex brand associates usually revolves around initial style/product ideas, potential fabrics, etc. We aren't usually part of the development phase - once the project gets to that stage the manufacturer takes over, but there is always support from the Gore-Tex brand if questions regarding construction, detailing, hardware, etc. should arise.
The final step - the testing - is carried out by Gore but - with the previous support and via the manufacturer's expertise there usually shouldn't be any hiccups at that stage.
Over the years we have seen Gore-Tex technology on almost any form of garment or fashion product imaginable. what are some unusual examples of gore-tex application and are there any interesting projects we can look forward to seeing in the near future that pushes the conventions?
As you might know, Japan has been quite progressive and innovative using GORE-TEX technologies in a wide spectrum of outerwear.
In many conversations, brands that we start discussing potentially working with the fabrics mention pieces by visvim, Mastermind, nanamica, Junya Watanabe MAN, etc.
In my personal archive I have some of these - Harris Tweed Gore-Tex, Italian Cotton Gore-Tex, Washed Camouflage Cotton Gore-Tex (visvim), Cashmere Gore-Tex (Acronym), CMYK all-over-print Gore-Tex (Burton), etc. But also some of the latest products are definitely stand out pieces such as the digital print face fabrics used by Palace Skateboards, all of ACRONYM®'s Gore-Tex pieces, conceptual styles by Bunney, Stone Island or OFF WHITE. With the new Gore-Tex INFINIUM™ category gaining more momentum, there should be some interesting products coming up.
At the moment we are all very excited about Paria's presentation during London Fashion Week earlier this year.
For two years running you’ve flipped the system on its head by presenting a brand showroom in Paris during A/W fashion weeks. rather than being exclusive to a select few you have opened the doors to the public, celebrating the Gore-Tex brand and presenting select notable items in an exhibition format for everyone to enjoy.
The idea of presenting Gore-Tex products during - what we think is - the most important hub for fashion/design came up very early on in our conversations with Gore.
There already were a lot of interesting products but for one these were mostly only for the Japanese market or they weren't highlighted in the brand's communication activities.
Seeing a lot of new products coming from existing but also new partners we thought that it would be a great time to showcase some of these in a showroom-type environment.
Re-cap video of Selected Memories Vol.1 Exhibition with Stephen Mann
Stephen and Lenny / Futura Laboratories added an extra angle, a personal aspect to the more general Gore-Tex brand story. The concept was to explain the core values of Gore-Tex products - garments and footwear - via the curator's own history with the products in combination with a selection of highlight pieces from the past and present that incorporate different types of technologies.
We all have that one piece that no matter how old or worn out it becomes it holds great sentimental value, to the core team over at Gore-Tex Studio what piece do you have in your arsenal that represents this and what’s the story/stories that hold its value and place in your heart?
Jörg Haas
Jörg: I have to admit, I'm a jacket nerd. I've been buying (technical) jackets - not just with Gore-Tex product technology - since the mid-1990s. I can't point to one particular one, but I go through phases. At the moment I've been wearing the Veilance Partition AR Coat and Indisce Pant. Before that the ACRONYM® J1A-GT Jacket, before that the visvim Blackpool jacket. One of my key pieces is the WTAPS Camo Sherpa jacket with painted Tiger-Stripe detailing on the sleeves. For footwear it would be the Ecco Biom C-trail M, Asics x AFFIX, Salomon x and wander, and New Balance x Snowpeak.
Florian Gemmrich
Florian: Around 2000, I’ve spent some time lurking around and at some point working for the local snowboard shop in the town closest to where I grew up - since then my requirements for jackets have become very specific…this winter I’ve basically lived in my Veilance Anneal Down Jacket - knowing we all have too much stuff it is very liberating to find one thing that you could stick to…for footwear I have a similar item - a sample of a adidas Terrex Skychaser from 2014 - I like everything about it / all the data and technology labels applied to it and in particular the white speed lacing system….imo brands don’t properly use this part of the shoe to enhance the design (nearly not in the same way as with sneakers).
If I have to go somewhere on production and have to limit my luggage this is certainly the one pair I bring (or a really worn-out pair of Stan Smith).
There’s a lot out there that people can find on the well-known brands that Gore-Tex are associated with, from Arc'teryx through to the revered Japanese brand Nanamica, what are some of the newer, lesser-known brands that people should keep their eyes on?
Apart from outerwear footwear is probably the category that's been overlooked a bit in general.
It makes such a difference to wear Gore-Tex technology equipped shoes as compared to regular ones. So I'd say the recent Asics AFFIX Gore-Tex, Salomon, Ecco - a bit more visible the Nike Air Force 1s.
For apparel people should watch out for Paria's collection using Gore-Tex Infinium technology that's coming out in the fall. And I'm not sure if a lot of people noticed that Prada is working with Gore-Tex again in some of their Linea Rossa collection.
One of our favorites from last year was Andrew Bunney's coats for his label "Bunney".
The exclusive Futura Laboratories collaboration pieces were easily the star of the exhibition, especially the Project X shoe, how did this come about and can we expect more conceptual, non-commercial studies to come in the future?
The poncho and shoes are concepts developed by the Gore-Tex brand in collaboration with other partners - to showcase the technologies but also to offer a bit of a different direction in regard to what an outerwear piece could be.
It was perfect timing because while these concepts were developing we started the conversation with FUTURA LABORATORIES and it all fell into place.
FL delivered the pattern which was then used for the face fabric of the Gore-Tex poncho and on the upper of the shoes that were done only for Gore.
The other partners in Project X will have the same style of shoe but with a different upper design. Gore constantly develops such conceptual styles in a similar context; to show what's possible. But these never get produced, at least not in a quantity as these FL ponchos.
We truly can’t wait to discover the next installment in the series, thanks to Futura and everyone over at Beinghunted and Gore-Tex Studio for sitting down with us, keep locked for more cultural moments from Gore-Tex.
Author: Stephen Donald
Photos: Flo Kohl & Stephen Donald with key assets supplied by Gore-Tex and BeingHunted.
