Sustainability is one of fashion’s talking points, but too often the quest to create ethically minded clothing is viewed as an obstacle rather than an opportunity. Abdul Abasi and Greg Rosborough’s Fall 2019 collection offers a glimpse at what happens when designers modify their perspective. Though their six-year-old label has always utilized deadstock fabric and natural materials, this season they took the concept a step further, offering buyers a greatest-hits selection of silhouettes available in combinations exclusive to each store. The goal of the customization: pieces with greater individuality and less resulting waste.
By targeting their menswear staples to the needs of each market and creating only what is needed, Abasi and Rosborough cut down on overhead while getting a blow by blow on what their consumers actually want. Wool coats and thick sweaters may satisfy designer whims, but clients in temperate locales don’t need them; likewise smaller orders with one-of-a-kind pieces edge closer to the limited-edition-drops model adopted by countless labels. In a moment when exclusivity is prioritized, the move toward fewer items is a smart one, but let’s be honest: Without great clothes, it’s all moot.
Thankfully, Abasi and Rosborough’s output is compelling all on its own. Fall found the duo playing with ideas about functionality, offering up reversible outerwear in contrasting shades of crimson and black, luxe leopard-printed bomber jackets, and an array of textured separates shot alongside reams of material in the corresponding lookbook. The customizable nature of the collection means that there will likely be several incarnations of each design—those obi-belted blazers would sure look good in the aforementioned crimson—but the strong silhouettes guarantee a degree of polish no matter the fabrication.
