Every Detail Counts: Inside gnuhr’s Ultralight Vision
“To do more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing.”
Martin Margiela, Kim Jones, and Christophe Lemaire — just a few of the incredible talents that Nur Abbas has had the pleasure of working alongside. These decades of experience with high-fashion powerhouses, paired with democratic design work for the likes of NikeLab and Uniqlo U, gave Abbas the tools to create gnuhr, an ultralight gear brand that maximizes the purpose of each item it produces by considering every detail.
When contemplating the design philosophy of gnuhr, Abbas identifies two natural enemies to functionality: use cases and price. By designing items driven by utilitarian components, stylish sensibilities, and a genderless perspective, a greater level of functionality is achieved as items cross over from one context to another with ease. Take, for example, the Shag Sweater and crossbody Sling bag, the former of which balances a graceful touch and sheerness with versatile thermoregulating properties while the latter welcomes everything from hiking essentials to groceries. gnuhr products are supposed to be an active, go-anywhere piece of a user’s daily tool kit instead of pieces that sit in their closet waiting for the perfect occasion
Regarding pricing, it’s crucial to Abbas that no item is too precious to be used as intended. “I can count on two hands how many times I saw someone wearing my Louis Vuitton designs, whereas I saw my Uniqlo designs everywhere,” he jokes. Given the brand’s ultralight approach to design, which minimizes material use and assembly steps, gnuhr can accomplish price points that are far more accessible than many of its contemporaries. Its most expensive item to date is a packable windbreaker that costs $199 USD (about one-half the price of a similar offering from a brand like Arc’teryx) and weighs a mere 71 grams.
Logan Fairbrother/Hypebeast
Logan Fairbrother/Hypebeast
Logan Fairbrother/Hypebeast
Logan Fairbrother/Hypebeast
Stepping into the gnuhr studio in Portland, Oregon, I’m introduced to the small crew behind the brand that, in the wake of selling out its Warp Short Short and Breaker Wind Shirt launch, is again hard at work cutting patterns and designing digital models. The studio’s lengthy southern wall is lined with sewing machines and textiles, while the northern end is covered in towering boards detailing the many projects gnuhr has in development. Side rooms offer an ever-growing archive of products to organized bins for order fulfillment, 3D printers, and a photography studio. Considering gnuhr only launched in early 2024, its workspace is remarkably refined.
I entered the space carrying an established appreciation for how incredibly light gnuhr’s designs are, as well as for its fashionable approach to outdoor gear. However, I hypothesized that, with a resume as impressive as Abbas’ and a stockist list from local Portland gems like Stand Up Comedy to industry cornerstones such as Dover Street Market, I was only scratching the surface. And I was right: to fully grasp the brand’s brilliance requires not only holding an item in your hand, but tracing its long lineage of consideration.
“The whole experience [for luxury fashion] has to be considered — the shows, photoshoots, casting, styling — so every individual detail is intentional.”
Walk into any traditional retail space for outdoor gear and you’ll find it flush with options to address specific needs. However, this functionality-first mindset often overlooks what surrounds the solution. In comparison, when dissecting luxury fashion, Abbas remarks that “the whole experience has to be considered — the shows, photoshoots, casting, styling — so every individual detail is intentional.” The two worlds are, in essence, opposites, yet each one informs gnuhr’s point of view.
One of Abbas’ big takeaways from his transition between Kim Jones’ Louis Vuitton to helping Christophe Lemaire launch Uniqlo U was that the same amount of care, if not more, went into making a $100 USD Uniqlo jacket as it did a $79,000 USD alligator jacket. “It’s not because the jacket costs less that you care less,” he muses. “You almost end up caring more because the responsibility is greater, there are hundreds of thousands of people that will be affected by it instead of a select few.”
With gnuhr, a balance is struck between these different worlds: Abbas and his team strip designs down to their bare necessities while maintaining a curiosity that invites experimentation, an approach aptly illustrated by one of the brand’s newest products, the aforementioned Warp Short Short.
Alec Marchant
Alec Marchant
Alec Marchant
Weighing just 161g, the Warp Short Short is made from fine-gauge warp-knit nylon that offers a 3.5” inseam, hence the extra “short” in its name. What defines its ingenuity is the waistband, which is tall enough to offer six pockets of storage directly at the hip while maintaining ample elasticity, making it ideal for the needs of ultra-endurance athletes like trail runners and ultramarathoners, as well as a practical “daily cary” piece. The short also features the same engineered perforation mesh as the brand’s Tryptagaiter — an all-purpose tube scarf with various screen printed designs that remind you not to take things too seriously — and will be utilized again with an unreleased product coming later this month (I was sworn to secrecy), highlighting how gnuhr’s products serve as an incubator to prompt further innovation.
While the Warp Short Short is immediately identifiable as a “considered” design, the brand’s Tubular T is ordinary by comparison. “Nobody ever asks me about the Tubular T since it’s a t-shirt but, even with my decades of experience, it is completely novel,” Abbas posits, noting that the design is his favorite gnuhr creation to date. Upon close inspection, you’ll notice that a single stitch line at the rear forms both the body and its sleeves. This patent-pending technique eliminates the traditional side seam entirely and, through innovative pattern cutting, removes the need for shoulder and armhole seams too.
Tees and shorts aside, any outdoor — or outdoor-adjacent — brand worth its salt offers a layering system and gnuhr just completed its first loadout by introducing the Breaker Wind Shirt. This packable windbreaker, constructed with an ultralight 7-denier nylon, is built to endure the elements while activating the insulating properties of gnuhr’s various Shag mid layers: the Hoodie, Sweater, and T. Each is constructed with Polartec’s Alpha Direct fabric, minimizing weight while offering either breathability or warmth, depending on whether an external layer like the Breaker Wind Shirt is present.
Alec Marchant
Alec Marchant
Alec Marchant
Alec Marchant
All three Shag products evolved this year with a new v2.0 construction. In the case of the Shag Hoodie v2.0, adjustments range from a boxier fit to the removal of its front pockets to prioritize simplicity and weight, resulting in a reduced price point and underscoring gnuhr’s commitment to continual refinement. A reminder of this mission is offered on every gnuhr care tag, sharing the R. Buckminster Fuller quote: “To do more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing.”
One of the advantages of operating as a small, tight-knit team is that everyone is intimately involved with the entire product range. “As soon as we have a sample made we’re all excited to try it on and share our immediate feedback,” says Abbas. “The expectation is that we’ll keep working on something to perfect it before we even send it out to a factory.” Once prototypes arrive, it’s time for field testing, which ranges from day hikes to multi-night trips throughout the Pacific Northwest. Abbas recounts a recent trip to Eagle Creek wherein, “the five of us were all nearly head to toe in product, from stage one samples to old designs that we’re still looking to improve upon.”
“Design works best when a client is seeking a solution.”
gnuhr also enhances its output by offering design consulting via its gnuhr services branch. This involves everything from assisting with development for Goldwin 0’s recent collections to creating a knit suit for 1X Technologies’ NEO Gamma humanoid robot. “Design works best when a client is seeking a solution,” comments Abbas. “Working with a brand like Goldwin is great because they’re established. They have amazing pattern cutters and incredible specialized factories, not to mention experience. All of this offers us more freedom with what’s possible.”
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Collaborations — or “synergies,” as Abbas prefers to call them — are another vehicle by which gnuhr subverts the limitations of its size. Its first foray involved a t-shirt with design label CW&T, the precursor project to upcoming collaborative gear that the gnuhr team identified a need for, such as a pair of ultralight scissors. “Working with them felt natural, not only because we’re friends, but because we’re able to combine our expertise to create something that benefits both of us,” Abbas observes.
While Abbas has great aspirations for gnuhr, he’s against growing it into a huge line. “It’s about staying true to the idea of just enough, only what you need,” he asserts. In a world dependent on virality and blind to excess, gnuhr’s steadfast commitment to purpose reminds us that fashion can still be an act of intention.
