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ROA Hiking FW22
footwear and apparel [Review]
footwear and apparel [Review]
ROA was born in 2015 as a result of the interaction of Slam Jam's creative team and technical footwear designer Maurizio Quaglia after he met Slam Jam's founder Luca Benini. Since then, the team and the project have been growing fast and earned its reputation in the industry, relying on the use of technically advanced and experimental materials, high-quality Italian construction, and modern design.
This year they have stepped even further. The world of functional fashion has been their new venture: ROA showed its first apparel and gear collection.
During our European trip, we visited Slam Jam's creative studio in Milan to take a look at samples of future collections, made a couple of shots, and now are happy to share our thoughts with you, adding some comments from the brand's creative director – Patrick Stangbye.
ROA Hiking FW22
footwear and apparel [Review]
footwear and apparel [Review]
ROA was born in 2015 as a result of the interaction of Slam Jam's creative team and technical footwear designer Maurizio Quaglia after he met Slam Jam's founder Luca Benini. Since then, the team and the project have been growing fast and earned its reputation in the industry, relying on the use of technically advanced and experimental materials, high-quality Italian construction, and modern design.
This year they have stepped even further. The world of functional fashion has been their new venture: ROA showed its first apparel and gear collection.
During our European trip, we visited Slam Jam's creative studio in Milan to take a look at samples of future collections, made a couple of shots, and now are happy to share our thoughts with you, adding some comments from the brand's creative director – Patrick Stangbye.
During our European trip, we visited Slam Jam's creative studio in Milan to take a look at samples of future collections, made a couple of shots, and now are happy to share our thoughts with you, adding some comments from the brand's creative director – Patrick Stangbye.
Recently, in the world of functional and technical fashion [or the so-called gorpcore], the design language of collections has transformed. In our autumn 2020 issue – TECHUNTER 06 ONLINE, we investigated the origin and development of the outdoor and fashion scenes merging together. Back then, brands and designers still divided the design language of both directions into separate elements. Users could safely choose technical clothing for urban purposes, and use it both in the city and in the wild. However, there were very few experiments with design: outdoor brands were quite conservative in their approach, most often using more restrained colors and "heritage" design elements or silhouettes.
In 2022, we are seeing much more experiments in patterns, cuts, and visual presentation. At the same time, they are not inferior in their technical prowess, materials, and technologies. Simply put: before we saw more outdoor lines with adaptation to lifestyle/urban/fashion concepts, and now there is more priority on fashion/design-first approach, based on modern and new silhouettes and the use of technical-advanced materials. Today, it seems that ROA with its new lines is going in this direction.
In 2022, we are seeing much more experiments in patterns, cuts, and visual presentation. At the same time, they are not inferior in their technical prowess, materials, and technologies. Simply put: before we saw more outdoor lines with adaptation to lifestyle/urban/fashion concepts, and now there is more priority on fashion/design-first approach, based on modern and new silhouettes and the use of technical-advanced materials. Today, it seems that ROA with its new lines is going in this direction.
According to Patrick:
"The footwear made the foundation for what the apparel both could be, but also to some extent had to be. It was once again about the hybrid, and exploration of the realm that related to the hybrid. As you probably know at this point, ROA is a brand without a face. There is a great design team that designed the product, and it's about collaborative effort. When we started to develop what it could be, it was, as you say, a desire to create something that can function in everyday life, with the cues to our origins and attitudes towards different landscapes".
In this new incarnation of ROA, we observe classic and urban-adapted garment silhouettes: overshirts, straight-fitted shorts and pants, hi-dense cotton t-shirts, and much more. Details and technical elements of the collection are not left aside: laser-cut, hidden pockets, anatomical sleeves & knee articulation, and complex pullers. It also affected shoes: classic loafers, Chelsea boots, and slip-ons were added to the roster. This hybrid approach of the brand perfectly demonstrates how you can adapt more traditional, time-tested silhouettes to technical design, while not losing reputation points on either side.
"The footwear made the foundation for what the apparel both could be, but also to some extent had to be. It was once again about the hybrid, and exploration of the realm that related to the hybrid. As you probably know at this point, ROA is a brand without a face. There is a great design team that designed the product, and it's about collaborative effort. When we started to develop what it could be, it was, as you say, a desire to create something that can function in everyday life, with the cues to our origins and attitudes towards different landscapes".
In this new incarnation of ROA, we observe classic and urban-adapted garment silhouettes: overshirts, straight-fitted shorts and pants, hi-dense cotton t-shirts, and much more. Details and technical elements of the collection are not left aside: laser-cut, hidden pockets, anatomical sleeves & knee articulation, and complex pullers. It also affected shoes: classic loafers, Chelsea boots, and slip-ons were added to the roster. This hybrid approach of the brand perfectly demonstrates how you can adapt more traditional, time-tested silhouettes to technical design, while not losing reputation points on either side.
Without forgetting about its basic concept and the origin of the brand, the team also focuses on more technical and outdoor models, paying tribute to outdoor culture and inspiration from the surrounding landscapes. We see more trekking pants with ankle zippers, taped-seams hardshells, waterproof closures, fleece jackets, as well as compression underwear made with 3D textiles using one-piece garment construction technology, also bags, textile socks, and gloves. It is noteworthy that most of the collection is made in "earth colors", which also refers to the hiking origin of the brand.
"ROA relates to our perception of landscapes, and how we perceive opportunities within them. The narrative can be both urban and rural, man-made, or what to the eye is seen as natural (but is also often been adapted by humans through time). There is a certain beauty that resides in nature that is important to capture and to use to inspire people in this time and age, where we have big environmental and political problems to solve globally".
– Patrick Stangbye [ROA, creative director].
– Patrick Stangbye [ROA, creative director].
With all that technical equipment, and even more interesting insight for us was the references and inspiration of Italian fashion from the past decades.
The design team of ROA clearly brings here a fresh and at the same time traditional look at technical fashion: we see cropped oversize puffers, long bell-bottomed trousers, as well classy loafers, and their signature hiking boots give the overall complete image of an Italian style.
ROA is also known for experimental, high-quality, and technically advanced materials for its products. The selection from the new collections that we saw in Spazio Maiocchi promotes the brand to an even greater level. Among the apparel: dense gabardine and cotton, lightweight waterproof nylon, 3-layer membranes, shaggy fleece, softshell, 3D textiles, as well as Cordura and X-PAC composites for bags and equipment. Among the shoes: coarse-grained leather, metalized nylon, metal mesh, premium and smooth suede and nubuck, and more.
Here is what Patrick thinks about whether the team is going to use more ingredient brands:
"We will add other ingredient brands I'm sure. The most experimental and complex-to-integrate fabrics are difficult to use in reality. There has been a lot of experimentation done both now and in the past, and a lot of things never made it to the market. In the end, fabrics chosen for clothing or footwear need to be functional".
"We will add other ingredient brands I'm sure. The most experimental and complex-to-integrate fabrics are difficult to use in reality. There has been a lot of experimentation done both now and in the past, and a lot of things never made it to the market. In the end, fabrics chosen for clothing or footwear need to be functional".
In addition to the new clothing collection and the use of new materials, the ROA shoe selection is replenished with new models and silhouettes:
"The Chelsea and Slip-On are completely new silhouettes. Others are revised and adapted. We prefer to do incremental changes to our product in order to get closer to the reality we hope for. There are certain colors or cues to traditional mountaineering equipment, but also others that reference modern sculpture. ROA is in the end a hybrid, as I said. Our approach can be about nature as well as about what we consider man-made".
Since the foundation of the brand, the team at ROA has been showcasing modern and progressive technical design, not being afraid of experimentation either from the side of form or function. Their new clothing collection pushes the boundaries even further in its research, probably becoming one of the leaders in the functional fashion industry.
Having checked it out ourselves in Milan, we are looking forward to the main clothing line release and new experiments of the team, each time setting a new bar in the design community.
The first ROA clothing collection will be available for purchase in the next upcoming months.
Having checked it out ourselves in Milan, we are looking forward to the main clothing line release and new experiments of the team, each time setting a new bar in the design community.
The first ROA clothing collection will be available for purchase in the next upcoming months.
Produced by TECHUNTER Media.
Words: Alexander Zabelin [TECHUNTER, chief editor].
Comments: Patrick Stangbye [ROA, creative director].
Edit: Ivan Dzhatiev [THM].
Layout: Alex Zabelin [THM].
Images: Ivan Dzhatiev [THM], Alex Zabelin [THM].
Md, styling: Alex Zabelin [THM].
Special thanks to FUJIFILM for the gear support during our trip.
Stay tuned for more articles from our European tour soon.
