Type 1 WW2 Jacket: Original / Updated by hamansutra
The jacket was a World War II unisex style, designed specifically to reduce material usage. This Japanese Denim Special Edition is styled with a lanyard of a type worn by the German Army (Bundeswehr) on ceremonial occasions. I worked for the German Army in their textile workshop. The ideas I saw there live on in my work.
Created Exclusively on Union Special Machines
Made in Germany from Japanese Denim
Available on QUICKSHOP.NYC
Type 1 WW2 Jacket: Original / Updated by hamansutra
The jacket was a World War II unisex style, designed specifically to reduce material usage. This Japanese Denim Special Edition is styled with a lanyard of a type worn by the German Army (Bundeswehr) on ceremonial occasions. I worked for the German Army in their textile workshop. The ideas I saw there live on in my work.
Created Exclusively on Union Special Machines
Made in Germany from Japanese Denim
Available on QUICKSHOP.NYC
German Military Forces
Two powerful forces meet up again, 20 years on: German Military Forces and Hamansutra. 20 years ago, when I was a student at Central St Martins College in London, I did an internship at the Munich-based Clothing Department of the German Military Forces as a tailor’s assistant, where I learnt to appreciate the value of timeless design.
Fast forward 20 years, and let’s take a peek at my 2022 project with the German Military Forces. It’s in line with the times we‘re living through. And that’s exactly why it came about. Back then, during production and preparation of the German army uniforms, the atmosphere in my bunker workshop was tense. Working in a strict code of silence, only breaking it to request assistance from an inspector. Under time pressure to get the uniforms finished, which is absolutely not the way I prefer to work. But I never forgot what all the military vintage clothing from my archive looked like; really rough and raw, put together at incredible speed on high-precision machines for the “mass market” of war. There’s no place there for the kind of painstaking, focused work I do in my own studio.
The uniforms fall into three categories. The first is bespoke, tailor-made. The second is made on a modular “kit” basis, and the third is the “kit” uniform, but recycled and reused. I was assigned to the bespoke category, way back in 2003.
Uniforms are full of secrets. When squaddie Hans Meier (or Joe Bloggs, or John Doe) collected his sergeant’s uniform, he was already thinking about his next promotion. 18 months later… Preparing for production of a Military Police Corps uniform. Collar tabs preserved in baking parchment. Beautifully produced accessories and notions, great to work with. That moment when soldiers attach their nametapes. When I first started in military tailoring, I began to use nametapes like them as branding on my clothes. Made to German military specifications.
I noticed that for many of the civil servants there – because let’s face it, that’s what they were – art and craftsmanship in any form were supremely boring. It was all about mass manufacturing. Their spark had been stifled, and the only thing they looked forward to was getting their pension. Working alongside that lacklustre retiree mentality is usually hellish for designers. Those people can look back on a life of stability, but that life is a black hole that has sucked in any creativity, joy and inspiration they once had.
These days my work is project-based, so I can always step back and regain some pleasure from working in that atmosphere. But it’s rare that my energy can carry across the divide and infect others. As a freelancer, I’m like an A&E surgeon. No time to fuck about. Heart stopped beating? Grab that scalpel, slash open the torso and go right in with bare hands to massage it back to life. I learn, I document what I learn, and I meticulously apply it in my projects. That means many things end up having more in common with a scientific study than a piece of fashion. The process is more important than the result. And when I reach a result, it’s all my own work and I don’t need to start pulling it to pieces.
I constantly weave updates into my designs, but the pen pushers don’t want to know. Promotion is always beyond their reach, but the question is which is their biggest enemy – their head or their body? Is the body just a machine for transporting the head to the office? Or is it the other way round, and the head’s true enemy is actually the lethargic apathy of the body? If companies don’t come up with their own strategy for employing creative minds, I’ll use those companies for my own purposes and make sure they spit out the occasional interesting project. With my help, and with force if need be. People of the world unite, and set up workshops in your garages! They’ll serve as incubators, as laboratories for all the developments that will be so important later on.
© 100% hamansutra
Two powerful forces meet up again, 20 years on: German Military Forces and Hamansutra. 20 years ago, when I was a student at Central St Martins College in London, I did an internship at the Munich-based Clothing Department of the German Military Forces as a tailor’s assistant, where I learnt to appreciate the value of timeless design.
Fast forward 20 years, and let’s take a peek at my 2022 project with the German Military Forces. It’s in line with the times we‘re living through. And that’s exactly why it came about. Back then, during production and preparation of the German army uniforms, the atmosphere in my bunker workshop was tense. Working in a strict code of silence, only breaking it to request assistance from an inspector. Under time pressure to get the uniforms finished, which is absolutely not the way I prefer to work. But I never forgot what all the military vintage clothing from my archive looked like; really rough and raw, put together at incredible speed on high-precision machines for the “mass market” of war. There’s no place there for the kind of painstaking, focused work I do in my own studio.
The uniforms fall into three categories. The first is bespoke, tailor-made. The second is made on a modular “kit” basis, and the third is the “kit” uniform, but recycled and reused. I was assigned to the bespoke category, way back in 2003.
Uniforms are full of secrets. When squaddie Hans Meier (or Joe Bloggs, or John Doe) collected his sergeant’s uniform, he was already thinking about his next promotion. 18 months later… Preparing for production of a Military Police Corps uniform. Collar tabs preserved in baking parchment. Beautifully produced accessories and notions, great to work with. That moment when soldiers attach their nametapes. When I first started in military tailoring, I began to use nametapes like them as branding on my clothes. Made to German military specifications.
I noticed that for many of the civil servants there – because let’s face it, that’s what they were – art and craftsmanship in any form were supremely boring. It was all about mass manufacturing. Their spark had been stifled, and the only thing they looked forward to was getting their pension. Working alongside that lacklustre retiree mentality is usually hellish for designers. Those people can look back on a life of stability, but that life is a black hole that has sucked in any creativity, joy and inspiration they once had.
These days my work is project-based, so I can always step back and regain some pleasure from working in that atmosphere. But it’s rare that my energy can carry across the divide and infect others. As a freelancer, I’m like an A&E surgeon. No time to fuck about. Heart stopped beating? Grab that scalpel, slash open the torso and go right in with bare hands to massage it back to life. I learn, I document what I learn, and I meticulously apply it in my projects. That means many things end up having more in common with a scientific study than a piece of fashion. The process is more important than the result. And when I reach a result, it’s all my own work and I don’t need to start pulling it to pieces.
I constantly weave updates into my designs, but the pen pushers don’t want to know. Promotion is always beyond their reach, but the question is which is their biggest enemy – their head or their body? Is the body just a machine for transporting the head to the office? Or is it the other way round, and the head’s true enemy is actually the lethargic apathy of the body? If companies don’t come up with their own strategy for employing creative minds, I’ll use those companies for my own purposes and make sure they spit out the occasional interesting project. With my help, and with force if need be. People of the world unite, and set up workshops in your garages! They’ll serve as incubators, as laboratories for all the developments that will be so important later on.
© 100% hamansutra
