Tom Routh: At the Root of Innovation | Hypebeast

One area materials could still improve a lot is achieving performance and comfort in natural materials. Maybe it’s because I live in a tech bubble, but I’m tired of wearing synthetic materials all the time. For ultimate performance, when you really need it, synthetics work the best. The rest of the time, I want overall comfort to be a higher priority. A natural fiber is much more comfortable next to skin. So “natural high-performance comfort” would be an interesting departure. Wool has gone through a revolution in finishing technologies over the last decade and there are some really amazing base layer textiles out there now that really are comfortable next to skin and arguably perform better than synthetics. That was impossible 15 years ago.

Although regardless of materials innovation, it’s still a matter of what you do with the materials as a designer and the quality of execution at the factory. An amazing material with a great design is still a piece of shit without quality workmanship. Quality is suffering today. Everything just falls apart and is essentially disposable. Even some of the highest end fashion labels have terrible workmanship in their products today. People are paying a premium for something special and (in some cases) getting something below average. It’s pretty amazing. The biggest improvement in my opinion that can be made in garments today is in the quality of workmanship at the factory level.

It does make sense that when you incorporate a certain level of performance you need a complete package that includes manufacturing processes and materials. It seems as though sometimes brands might leave it up to a brand-name material to sell their product. We have seen various Japanese brands from a more fashion-minded background incorporate technical materials including the likes of SOPH. How did your initially meet up with them and could you give us some background into the FSF Urban Project which was recently unveiled?

We originally met the SOPH crew last December. Hiroshi Fujiwara introduced us and had the idea for the recently seen FSF Urban Uroject, which stands for FYi x SOPH. x fragment. We are working with Hiroshi on the AK457 program as well. The whole thing was Hiroshi’s idea. Coming from North America, SOPH. was a new brand to us, and Hiroshi took us there to meet Mr. Kiyonaga and Yasushi-san. The philosophy was to apply our technical construction expertise to SOPH.’s sophisticated Japanese urban streetwear. SOPH. and fragment developed the “FSF Urban Project” identity and selected all the final colors and branding details inside and outside the garments. SOPH. and fragment defined the type of jackets they were looking for and gave us the creative freedom to design and develop our best work. Then Yasushi coordinated all the sourcing and manufacturing logistics. The project is running really smooth and the line is growing.

Do you find any differences in design approach between the Japanese and their Western counterparts due to their cultures?

I do see some differences culturally, although it really depends on the client and the project. In the case of SOPH., they have initial ideas of what they are looking for and then they totally trust FYi to drive the design from there. In the case of AETHER, they are really relying on us for technical construction details, materials and fit development, yet they have a very clear vision for what they want and who their customer is, so we take that direction from them and design accordingly. With Global Burton [ak], we are really driving the vision and we generally don’t even want or need design briefs. We live, eat, and breath this program, and we know what we need to do. For AK457, it’s a more unique situation. This is a special line specific for Japan. Normally we do all our design and development work with Burton headquarters in Vermont. However with 457 we are working directly with Burton Japan, Hiroshi-san, and Masanori Takeuchi. We are using a different factory too, so the entire process is different from global [ak]. The focus is really on the most technical gear for snowboarding, and Hiroshi and Masa are both great snowboarders, so we’re speaking the same language, even though we’re not (literally). Each project/program runs differently and we tailor our services accordingly. I’m not sure if it’s so much geographical cultural differences, as it is corporate cultural differences between how different companies work. Although having said all that, I do think that culturally, there is a greater appreciation for attention to detail, and technical product design in Japan.

It sounds as though each client and project entails its own very careful planning and separation. What can we expect going forward from FYI, any chances of an FYI in-house label? Any last words you’d like to say?

Well, we will continue to develop [ak], AK457, AETHER and SOPH./FSF for the foreseeable future… we’re very committed to those programs. Beyond that we have a few new projects on the go. We are kicking off an S/DBL x FYi collab. That’s a project with Shawn Stussy and his label S/DBL, that will be very interesting. As for a FYi house label… all I can say is that we have a variety of projects in development, and that they are in unrelated categories to anything else we have done to-date. But it’s too soon to say what it is just yet. Sorry to be cryptic, you’ll know as soon as the time comes. Thanks for the insightful questions. Good discussion. Cheers, TR