Kilomet 109, a fashion brand imprinted by culture
Designer Vu Thao, founder of Kilomet 109 is known as a captain of sustainable fashion brand names in Vietnam. After nearly ten years of operation, Kilomet 109 has appeared worldwide with high-class fashion lines for both men and women.
Sustainable fashion is a global trend. Kilomet 109 has gone on a journey to build a Vietnamese fashion brand name using native materials.
Each Kilomet 109’ design tells a unique story. The design of a coat named “Vang” is made from hemp cloth which is a hand-made product of the H’mong in the Tay Bac (northwest mountain region). The locals use only one technique to make their traditional hemp cloth. After weaving, their hand- made fabric is dyed using an indigo solution 30-40 times. H’mong women wash the fabric pieces and laminate stone and beeswax to make the material smooth and shiny.
Another genderless design “Lam” is made from tussah silk. The silk is dyed using mac nua (Diospyros mollis)’s latex and soaked in mud. Then the silk is pounded to make it softer and more durable. According to Thao, this is the most durable silk her team can make which is both waterproof and anti-fouling. “Lam” is an ideal coat for different weather conditions.
Besides elements of patterns and styles, Vu Thao’s designs also focus on traditional materials imbued with native features of people and land in the north.
Through her designs, Thao wants to preserve native material resources as well as spreading the indigenous cultural values of Vietnam to the world.
Kilomet 109 combines sewing and embroidery techniques with modern cuts and designs. With simple inspiration from Vietnamese people, nature and living, its designs deliver messages of urban, simple, traditional and national spirit.
The journey of Kilomet 109 seems to be “a difference in difference”. It is like a “hippie” in the fast – cheap- mass fashion industry at present.
Preserving the traditional indigo dye technique of the H’mong, Kilomet 109’s designs are a delicate combination of native cultural values and modern style from European fashion.
Thanks to her creativeness, Thao has promoted new ideas, applied traditional indigo dye technique to create different colors. Kilomet 109 owns its individual color sheet with natural colors from bang leaves, tea leaves, brown roots, curcumin and wood.
Thao has been steadfast in her own direction without fashion trends. Her journey looks forwards to native cultural values which make the Kilomet 109 identity and affirms Vietnamese designs in the global fashion.
Inspiring the essence of East Asia combined with practical European and American fashion styles, each Kilomet 109 design tells stories of people and history as well as the whisper of seeds, flowers and plants.