Function focusing brands and designers have become the most exciting talk of fashion right now.

From the utilitarian need of clothes, to providing a minimalist design, to just styles rooted in subcultures and contemporary trends. The focus becomes form and function for several reasons.

In recent years we saw streetwear and high fashion colliding and opening up a new market where different consumer groups met, and we continue to see how both market heavily borrows from one another.

Now we’ve begun to see streetwear and high fashion both leaning and tapping more and more into functional clothing. Making it an exciting area for new audiences to learn and listen, and an exciting playfield for outdoor fans and functional clothing connoisseurs to find the lesser-known brands and wear the more sophisticated product.

We see the Gore-Tex logo getting bigger and bigger all over footwear and outerwear. From every major brand borrowing the vast array of textiles from W. L. & Gore, to try and bring functionality together with style.

At the same time, we also see smaller performance labels moving into the spotlight that offer function and form in a sleek, stylish, and more organic way. These designers and curators lead the way of a young generation of utilitarian design.

Young functional and truly creative designers in the social media and brand spotlight have become a very positive development in recent years. From Alex Hackett, to Colin Meredith, and Nicole McLaughlin, as well as Functional Clothing Lab - a new type of influential designing is coming up, and it has more to do with conscious practice.

This idea of new designers emerging quickly is not uncommon, especially in the streetwear community, but the new level of creativity is deserving in many other ways as well. Focusing on the use of social media, the supportive community, and a relentless willingness to grow, good design and good designers are on the rise of becoming a new pathway towards contributing in the ever so special world of functional fabrics.

A designer who we at Sabukaru think has endless potential is Rob Boyd.

The young creative from Bristol who recently started his design role at Soar Running is combining all the talent and creativity to leaving an impacting mark on the area he focuses in on.

Bringing together the traditional path of studying sportswear design with his roots in British vintage and archive culture, he uses his talent to fuse both worlds together as a stylist. Rob offers the blueprint groundwork to one of the most contemporary takes on functional design.

One of the critical points in this contemporary work is the sense of mixing classic and iconic tendencies of design from the fashion archives, with modern and streamlined functional fabrics as well as functional designs that continue to work. It’s easy to observe the cultural heritage that feeds into his vision.

Ultimately, Rob Boyd is a U.K. designer, an influential country when it comes to vintage culture and functional clothing, a place where both have been tastefully integrated together for quite some time.

Whoever visited the North of England will agree that there is no bettrr place in the world that mixes old Prada Sport with Arc’teryx, Nike, and Japanese heritage brands. It shows their ability to use range, unequivocally.

Rob has an immense talent to take all the nostalgia and translate it into the current world of functional design. He precisely knows where functional fashion can tap into traditional fashion and where traditional fashion can allow itself to become naturally functional. To have someone with this understanding and talent impact on actual fashion design is one of the most exciting stories in our niche area of focus right now.

Similar to how you may see the work of many designers at Nike, the impact one has is not always on the product itself, but also the community and culture that product is brought into. Design means changing impacts, it means growth. Rob knows that his culture is impacted by his work, and he continues to be inspired by it.

To find out more about Rob, his role at Soar, and his design philosophies, Sabukaru’s editor in chief Adrian Bianco, spoke to the young designer.

Dear Rob, please can you tell us more about yourself, your life, and your work. Where have you been the last few years and what have you been doing?

Hey Adrian and the Sabukaru team

Thanks for reaching out and giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts and answer some of your questions. I appreciate that.

I'm predominately a sportswear designer but I dabble in other mediums within the industry like styling and visual work for stores and various brands. I'm from Bristol (U.K.) currently residing in East London. I wasn't much of an academic at school and found myself a little lost during the time period where most people where deciding on beginning career paths. I ended up painting and decorating and doing general construction/labour work to earn some cash – Most of this was spent on my long-standing and ever-present interest in clothing – ‘I've always liked having a nice kit for as long as I can remember’.

Both my parents studied in the Arts which I guess led to my interest in design, product and aesthetics. After deciding being a labourer wasn't for me I learnt you could actually study design & sportswear design in London. The loan from the university enabled me to leave Bristol, study and then peruse my current career. Being in London gave me the opportunities to network and learn about the industry. I was fortunate enough to work with various small brands and some larger sportswear companies like Converse and Y-3 before graduating my sportswear design course at the London College of Fashion. I had teased some of my creations whilst studying, unveiled my first capsule collection in summer 2019. I was fortunate enough to receive some job offers stemming from this soon after which lead to my current position working as lead designer at Soar.

Can you tell us what your design process looks like and where you get your inspirations and influences from?

My initial approach to design is similar to a product design process. It often begins with the want or need to improve a garment or to design a product I feel the market needs that doesn't already exist. We approach things like this at Soar in particular. I think spending time researching current products is always a good place to start and I'm often referencing the greats when it comes to menswear – Issey, Rei, Muccia and Jun to name a few.

It would be a shame to design something amazing and then find out another company has already made something similar so brand awareness in general in imperative. Creating mood boards and gathering seasonal color pallets often comes next and then hand Sketches gradually turn into Tech files that can be sent off to development and the factories. It’s also crucial to test samples, collate notes and send back for amendments, this can go on and on until the product is correct.

Wear testing when designing sportswear is mandatory. The key purpose to any of my design work should be that the outcome solves a problem or improves the wearers performance in some way. Sporting/Utilitarian performance enhancing product!

I want everything I design under my own name and other companies to be completely original, sometimes this is difficult due to budgets, marketing restrictions and so on so forth but someday I hope to lead my own design team.

Would you say the needs of functional clothing have changed over time? Does a jacket or pair of trousers in the year 2020 needs to fulfil another role different than one of your archive pieces from the 90s?

Soft-wear development within the industry with programs like Clo, Gerba and Lectra have definitely taken outerwear design to new heights. This is evident in many mountaineering brands – when looking at their older garments and the fit and structure compared to the shaping and articulate finishing's now, there has been a huge change. So in this sense products that where fulfilling there role in the 90s are just doing it a lot better and more efficiently in 2020.

It completely depends on the brand as to what the needs or change should be in their product. For example combing two products to create one could solve multiple issues whilst also meaning less product hits the market in turn making the production more sustainable and eco-friendly. For example an upgraded pair of bouldering shorts with and integrated/modular chalk pouch.

While functional and utilitarian clothing is on the rise, we still see uniqueness and a lot of "U.K." in your designs and styling. What would you say makes you different from the usual tech-wear trends and global styles?

Firstly thanks, I take that as a huge compliment. That's a tricky one to answer… I think a reason could be that the blend of contemporary menswear, sportswear and utilitarian style isn't new to me, I've dressed this way since school.

I remember wearing TNF summit series trousers with a Yohji track top back in 2014 when my peers were wearing skinny jeans, so I guess its always naturally been my chosen style that grew from basic tracksuits and the labeled 'Chav' culture.

My design style is just an elaborated more aware version of that. It just so happens that this trend falls into the realm my wardrobe was already at. Therefore my own designs are genuinely things I would personally like to wear or things that didn't exist in my wardrobe already, allowing me to create something authentic based on a style and subculture I already understand.

Studying garments and wear testing garments over the years and then being able to produce and design my own capsule collection allowed me to insert details that I've always thought should be included in certain garments that weren't before. It’s all about minor improvements, the moment I make something I'm already keen to make it better and start a mark 2.

The North of England and cities like Manchester have a really impactful and characteristic interpretation of functional wear and your design and styling seems to resemble the true essence and form of it. So, please tell us how much "North" is in your clothing and styling?

Well.. I've always understood the styles from up north, A friend of mine has family in Liverpool, when we where younger around the age of 15 he would tell me about seeing the older kids up North dipped in Berghaus and TNF but I wouldn't say their style has influenced mine.

Since school days I've been wearing sportswear. Growing up in Bristol everyone around me would wear tracksuits and waterproof jackets, it was the uniform - but if your North face had the "white inside" (2 layer Gore membrane fabric) as oppose to the standard Hyvent model or your Nike trackies had the metal rivets and the contrast swoosh instead of the basic Sports direct it made all the difference!

We couldn't afford all the elite outerwear back then but I did a lot of trading with older friends. A cheap pair of TN's wasn't easy find so needs must and I actually bought a fake pair of Air max 1's to wear to school. It's always been in the details for me, I love performance garments they're often full of them! So I guess these where the times that made me appreciate design and become style conscious.

Then Forums started, eBay came along and I've been hunting obscure sportswear and technical apparel ever since. I've always tried to wear sportswear items that have been taken that step further or contemporary menswear with a twist, be it a tartan jacket with laminated zippers and a nylon hood or a Harrington style jacket with reflective yarn.

So back to your question I guess my personal style and my menswear designs do resemble the Northern look you referred to but ide like to think it stems from what I saw when I was younger. Now that I understand a wider range of subculture and global style I would definitely say there is a lot of Japanese influence in my work/style too. The fusion of a classic British fabric mixed with a technical material and hardwear is something the Japanese do so well and I often try to intcorperate this in my design work.

Let's talk about the garments you collect and style. When did you start collecting and what is the main motivation and idea behind the archive?

Ah yes, I've been collecting clothing ever since I discovered eBay I guess, I would find out about shoes and clothing from older mates, Nike Talk and a blog/forum called Super Future Talk. From there I would scour eBay and look for the item's ide seen online. later came Facebook groups making it easier to find niche items as the sellers where all like-minded or at least interested in slightly more alternative apparel. I collect early Gyakusou, Comme des Garcons, Undercover, Nikes alpha project footwear and early Prada sport items to name a few. I know the majority or the garments designed by UC, Prada and Comme aren't sportswear specifically but when these brand incorporate sporting hardware or silhouettes they do it so well, it just mixes into my personal style effortlessly. I like wearing runway garments with some cheap jogging bottoms.

I have a group of mates with similar interests so we would always trade and buy pieces of each other and the collections been growing ever since. It came to a point where I had some fairly sought-after items so to avoid PayPal and eBay fees I made and Instagram account which I now share with two friends displaying parts of our wardrobe. We buy sell and trade from this account plus it's a nice place for likeminded enthusiasts to visit. It's called ISLE 3, as of now we’re not sure where to take it although its lead to some lucrative styling jobs and other consultancy based work.

Can you please tell us more about your current role at Soar?

I'm currently working full time for the running apparel brand Soar as lead design, it’s a small company and we all muck in where we can across the various departments. But predominantly I work closely with the brand director Tim Soar – He's super knowledgeable when it comes to performance wear and fabric in particular so I learn a lot from him on a daily basis.

Working with sports-specific apparel is much like product design... We are often tweaking products based on its 'Version1' with the outcome being a 2.0 with marked improvements. Other work for the brand includes designing a garment we feel as runners isn't available on the market or product on the market we feel could be better, this involves a lot of design development, wear testing and plenty of twoing and frowing with our factories - "Engineered Running"

Do you feel there is more space for you to be more agile and impactful working at a young brand like Soar compared to running through the sometimes gridlocked systems of one of the big players?

100%, Across the board my opinions feel valued whether that's within design decisions or a topic from a marketing perspective. I understand that in larger companies there are a lot more cross department implications and that's just the way it is.

Working at a young brand is exciting as the cogs are moving quickly, its nice to see items I've worked on in sample form and then later finalized and soon to be on the market. It's also cool to see a brand grow significantly in other departments whilst focusing on my own job roll. I've been with the company for about 8 months so items I've designed or co-designed will soon be available to purchase.

What are the products and design developments at Soar you are excited about right now? Is there anything you can share with us?

I'm not sure I can answer in detail but we're working on some beautiful Pre/Post run garments and also some Trial running kit! I also want to get stuck into some bag development!

Since Sabukaru is also a big fan of your styling vision, could you name us a couple of under the radar Soar basics everyone should have a closer look at?

Of course! All product from Soar is designed by runners for runners, as cliché as that might sound its true and its really noticeable when the product is worn during said activity. I love my 3 Season Short 4.0 and wear them on most runs, they feature a zipped back pocket, compression liner with a laser cut hem that feels great and the bonded construction on the outer short really lends its self to the lightweight speed factor a lot of runners seek!

Another item I run in frequently is the Elite Tempo Top 3.0, it's made from a beautiful Italian fabric that wicks moisture extremely well and the reflective inserts between the seams really aid the luxury feel of this garment, with of course being practical at night. I wonder what the tracksuit iteration of the Elite Tempo 3.0 would look like?!....

What is your take on functional clothing and what are the influences and directions you follow?

Functional clothing for me should always benefit the wearer, for example, My Soar Elite Tempo Top with its bonded construction keeps me at just the right temperature on cooler runs and wicks moisture better than any other product I own. And my Veilance jackets are the first thing to hand when it begins to rain on my commutes, The Gore-Tex fabric shields the rain, the pockets are positioned to maximize easy use and its ergonomic shaping means there is no excess fabric getting in the way. These are but a few examples of brilliant 'functional clothing'. The garments should enhance the activity they've been designed for, if it looks great but doesn't serve its purpose in said environment then its a poorly designed product.

Now, with that being said we also have "tech wear", garments that have a technical aesthetic and fabrication but weren't designed for anything other than to be part of someone's wardrobe/collection. I love "tech wear" just as much as functional clothing, The 'Less But Better' Undercover collection is my all-time favorite depiction of "tech wear". In this collection, we see garments like hoodies, cargo trousers, and bombers jackets inspired by the work of Dieter Rams (Also an inspiration of mine) but this collection becomes technical when laser-cut ventilation, reflective yarn, and hard wear you would normally see in high-performance product is introduced. The appropriation of the functional garment details and hardware used on the runway.

And what can we expect from your next years? What are your goals and challenges ahead?

Well, I'll try and keep this short. I guess I would hope to see my designs and vision follow Soar to new heights. Ide like to further my styling endeavors and potentially work into some current relationships I have with brands that could become more consultancy lead work.

I also want to make my design and the process surrounding it more sustainable and eco-friendly, I understand the industry I work in also needs to make major steps in that direction to but I'm conscious I should personally make more effort and hope others follow. I could talk a lot more about ideas and projects/teams I would like to work with but maybe I'll just end on my interest in costume design. At some point later in my career I would love to work on some film wardrobe.

Film is my number one outlet when I'm looking to chill out at the end of the day, me and my flat mate Javier reckon we watch about 4 films a week. I love Sci-fi/Dystopian films, the outfits by Joseph A. Porro in the Film Equilibrium (2002) staring Christian Bale is a stand out for me.

I reckon I could come up with some interesting costume by using my knowledge in technical apparel and applying that to some slightly more Avant guard garment concepts. So let's see what happens.

Thank you a lot for your time

No, Thank you!

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Authors:
Adrian Bianco & Hussain Razvi