Officina39 shows new look, same innovative spirit at Kingpins
Italian chemicals manufacturer Officina39’s recent rebranding not only encompassed a redesign, but also extends to the creative nature of its research and experimentation ahead of autumn-winter 2023’s Trustainable collection, the company has revealed.
Officina39's new look is currently making its debut at denim trade show Kingpins in Amsterdam (area four, booth 88), which concludes on April 21.
Its latest “trustainability” collection, described as characterised by principles of “honesty, transparency and social responsibility”, incorporates a new technology, Aqualess Fade, which forms part of its existing Aqualess Mission line.
This most recent innovation is a “waterless special compound”, designed specifically for the discolouration of black or indigo-hued denim. Officina39 aims to recreate the effects of conventional bleaching with chlorine through its lower impact methods, it stated.
The wider Aqualess Mission offering includes three other sustainability-minded technologies: Novascraper Indigo, Oz-One Powder and Aqualess Aged. The latter, a waterless compound for achieving abrasion effects on denim, recently secured the DeniSafe certification of enzyme products by Novozymes, the manufacturer announced, which effectively verifies its safety, both during production and when in use through dry application.
Officina39 said that it remains the “first and only player” to have obtained these credentials.
Creative leader, Juan Manuel Gomez, commented on Trustainable: “This collection explores [our new tagline] concept of ‘chemistry plus creativity’ to offer a new approach to denim and coloured surfaces. It is made possible by rethinking the conventional path for washing and dyeing using low-impact techniques and alternative looks.”
Elsewhere at Kingpins, the company’s technology will be on display via a collaboration with Smart-Indigo, a Swiss enterprise which favours electricity over chemicals in denim dyeing, as well as a series of hand-painted t-shirts realised through a partnership with Spanish supplier Tintes Egara and the Kingpins team. Officina39’s permanganate-free discharging agent Remover Ind/J-N is key to the t-shirts' effects, it told reporters.
Future Cellulosic, a collaboration with Karachi-based mill Naveena, consultancy Endrime Studio (co-founded by Mohsin Sajid and Sadia Rafique) and Lenzing’s wood-based Tencel fibre, is also being exhibited by Naveena at the show.
Image: Officina39.
