Motivation behind the idea

Amarins is born and raised in Friesland, the Northern part of The Netherlands. The Netherlands is well know as a country where the long dark days are always lurking and people walk and cycle a lot also in the dark. This makes it super important to be clearly visible for each other on the road to prevent traffic accidents, especially in areas like Friesland where there is on a lot of places no street lighting.

Since she was a child, she has despised reflective clothing. Reflective prints often flaked off, they were mostly grey or black and the reflective material is still always visible on the outside of the clothing at a time when it does not need to be visible, when there is still enough light outside.

This had to be possible differently. In collaboration with the weaving technicians from The Swedish School of Textiles she was able to develop those several woven materials in which she was able to work out her vision on reflective materials.

Traditional weaving patterns, like houndstooth and herringbone, were chosen for the outside of the fabric to give a nod to the artisanal hand weaving technique. While the fabrics are woven with the Jacquard machine, which makes through its freedom the hiding and showing technique and the use of several patterns in one fabric possible.