MILAN — The outdoorsy aesthetic is having quite a moment in fashion, trickling down to collections on and off the runway. Outerwear brands were clearly in their element for fall, catering to the many facets of the trend, from gorpcore and utility-inspired to quiet and sophisticated or mountaintop-ready.
As competition with marquee fashion group heats up, many are banking on adjacent categories and the total look, further telegraphing their DNA.
C.P. Company, which is doubling down by unveiling a new brand, Massimo Osti Studio, during Paris Fashion Week, continued to expand its outdoor-leaning, protective offering for fall, hosting guests at its recently unveiled showroom during Milan Fashion Week.
Rooted in fabric research and innovation, the brand used Microkei water-repellent nylon for garment-dyed parkas and field jackets reprising the signature 500 Miglia design with 3D pockets, a wristwatch viewer and integrated goggles. Embedding Shetland wool for more conservative fashion customers, the brand combined it with nylon linings on parkas and the 1000 Miglia reporter jacket. Garment-dyed puffers crafted from the Bitonal Membrane fabric, a high-density nylon finished with a polyurethane-based water-repellent treatment, featured pockets crafted from tapering materials.
Like many of its outerwear peers, C.P. Company furthered its footprint in adjacent categories, such as knitwear, with oversize lambswool overshirts and jacquard Fair Isle sweaters, sometimes accented with nylon details, as in the Chrome anorak reiterating the brand’s technical ethos.
Along similar lines, the FGF Industry-owned Ten C — known for its patented OJJ, or Original Japanese Jersey, fabric — enhanced its material research this season “to give renewed impulse to our icons,” as designer Alessandro Pungetti put it.
For fall it introduced Ultrasuede, a nylon and polyester blend mimicking the tactical surface of suede. It was worked into a parka, peacoat and anorak characterized by a distressed and worn-in look, courtesy of Dust, a new-gen powdery coating. Garment-dyed puffer jackets with a military undercurrent also hid innovation, treated with a corrosive patina for a color fading effect enhancing depth and shadows.
The brand, which is distributed globally and counts about 200 stockists, forged ties with Milan-based luxury store Antonia, unveiling a dedicated all-white capsule collection comprising its Tempest and Anorak designs, which bore the shop’s geographical coordinates.
Over at brother brand Blauer USA, also owned by Enzo Fusco’s FGF Industry, standouts included mixed-media field and short jackets or peacoats crafted from the signature taslan fabric and enriched with reflective detailing and patches. Some outerwear pieces featured a flash-led pocket with a clear window to accommodate a torch or smartphone.
Military-inspired puffers with a swirling camouflage pattern and an expanded assortment of T-shirts, knits and sweats rounded off the lifestyle offering, a pivotal move as the brand is trying to further its international footprint, according to Fusco. He said the brand generated 30 to 35 percent of its revenues outside Italy last year and that an upcoming deal with a distributor in South Korea should help grow that figure.
Moorer is further raising the luxury level of its range of fabrics, employing precious vicuna, Yanghir and baby cashmere. The Italian outerwear specialist, which has been expanding with total looks, presented down jackets and overshirts with crocodile panels at its showroom in Milan. A quilted down coat in a technical fabric that feels and looks like flannel and an overshirt in wool and cashmere with large pockets and raw edges were among the new pieces, while the selection of mixed-media denim and down jackets were must-haves.
In the U.S., the brand is already available at department stores including Neiman Marcus and Saks and founder and creative director Moreno Faccincani said he plans to open Moorer’s first store in New York in September.
Add, most recently synonymous with good-quality, upper contemporary down jackets, for the first time included childrenswear for fall, served as a teaser to the renewed, lifestyle-leaning ethos ahead for the brand. The well-orchestrated three-pronged lineup hinged on modern outerwear’s defining pillars, from the sober and refined, quiet luxury trend to gorpcore and mountaintop resortwear.
In the latter, cable-knit sweaters and knit puffers done in a subdued color palette mingled with lightweight, wax-like short jackets. Garment-dyed parkas and field jackets with detachable sleeves paired with same fabric pants as well as puffer jackets with curved quilting and filled with the eco-minded Primaloft matched to nylon skirts struck a balance between performance wear and urban gear.
