VIN + OMI is a fashion label taken from the names of the two designers which is the designers. Vin and Omi are two people from different countries, collaborating to form a clothing label. Vin is from England, while Omi is originally from Singapore. They have cooperated for more than 10 years to date.
Both shared their tastes in contemporary art until they felt they had a bond and finally decided to collaborate. Their designs seem unique, eccentric, and environmentally friendly. The designer duo of the label’s founder creates sustainable clothing from recycled materials or materials obtained organically.
VIN + OMI is Not Just an Ordinary Fashion Label
Vin and Omi claim that they are not just a fashion label, but an ideology. The founder is a fashion award winner and multimedia designer who works on an international scale. They received the NESTA award for their innovation in fashion, research and their unique business model.
The business they run focuses on sustainable approaches, as well as their designs and textiles. Through eco-innovation and the social impact created by VIN + OMI, they are now one of the pioneers of fashion brands that are environmentally friendly.
The distinctive feature of this label is its design that plays conceptual and innovative pieces, a contemporary approach, and very much follows the music and pop culture. The clothing style of this label combines strong prints, thick silhouettes, and wide textures. The design is strongly influenced by social and environmental issues that have occurred recently.
VIN + OMI Comes to London Fashion Week
Brands created by Vin and Omi also showcased their designs at the London Fashion Week event held some time ago. Uniquely, the design they display is completely unexpected. Vin and Omi’s designer duo opened their six-day program with their 2019 spring/summer collections made from cow parsley plants.
The plant is generally used to decorate a bowl of soup. However, with this clever duo, the designer conjured the plant into material for clothing. The way they do this is mixing cow parsley with linen (flax) and woven into environmentally friendly fabrics. They named the cloth as “Flaxley”.
The environmentally friendly fabric appearance is accompanied by a hybrid metal fabric. This one is made from cans collected by homeless people in support programs in Birmingham.
In addition, there are also bags from recycled plastic bottles that complement Vin and Omi’s design appearance. They got plastic bottle waste as their main ingredient from the men’s clothing exhibition in July. Bottles are collected, recycled and woven by students at Fashion at London College.
Vin and Omi started developing eco-friendly fabrics since 2004. They focus on the environment and support local communities. The two big successes they have achieved are creating eco-friendly latex from the rubber plantations they fund in Malaysia and vegan “skins” made from chestnut skin.
The two designers have developed 11 environmentally friendly textiles, including fabrics such as wool made from recycled plastic bottles. Initially, they made shirts from recycled plastic bottles. The fabric is very soft, like a cotton-cashmere mixture. That’s where they are obsessed with returning to making new products next.
The recycling process is quite simple, plastic bottles are thinly sliced, they will melt and stretch, eventually turning into threads that can be woven like cloth. This manufacturing process is different from large fashion brands that usually produce clothing that ends in a warehouse or is sent to a landfill.
The accumulation of clothes in the final disposal site makes Vin and Omi try to find new ways to recycle the products they have made so they don’t end up being trash. The way is, buyers who are bored with the items they bought can be sent back to the designer for later use in the next collection. The advantage for the buyer is that she will get a discount on the purchase of the next item.
According to Omi, it was not a brilliant idea because, in fact, they were buying their clothes back. However, the most important point is the circulation. That is, designers, get more money by selling new designs. This method is also enough to help reduce the pollution caused by the fashion industry.
Therefore, make it a habit to recycle unused fashion or other items. Instead of ending up being rubbish, it’s better to use it again and give a new value by modifying it. This method has been exemplified by the VIN + OMI designer duo.
