London, Berlin, Budapest, Barcelona … in the main European cities there are commercial initiatives that revolutionize – and revalue in turn – industrial areas in a situation of abandonment and that, together with other economic and social aid, become residential areas full of life that have a wide cultural and leisure offer, always maintaining the manufacturing aesthetic that characterizes them, marginal areas that become the cool neighbourhoods of the moment.
In Igualada and on a more modest scale, the Rec.0 initiative celebrates 10 years of action based on creativity, the industrial district of Rec, an authentic quarter which more than a hundred old tanneries inhabit – the majority in disuse – that testify to the textile legacy and the importance within the leather industry which this small quarter of Barcelona has had from the 18th century until today. This year specifically the organization of Rec.0 has opted for revealing the intricacies of the neighbourhood’s industrial heritage via various activities such as the uncovering of new tanneries converted into cultural equipment, workshops about the artisanal creative processing of leather and guided visits to various areas of the neighbourhood that are still in operation, among others. This set of activities not only seeks to reveal what was in this unique neighbourhood, but also bear witness to the ways in which the Rec has been transformed in the last ten years.
Apart from the wish to preserve and publicise heritage, Rec.0 remains the same as always: a biannual commercial festival in a one-off format that for four days revolutionizes this area of the city via pop up stores of international fashion brands and local firms, coexisting in specifically different industrial areas that are recovered and adorned for the occasion so that the participating brands can sell at special rates. With that same formula, repeated edition after edition, in the last decade it has established itself as an indispensable – and alternative –place to visit within the commercial and cultural ambit of Catalonia.
Author design guides Rec Experimental Stores
In this edition the urban tour of the Rec neighbourhood includes 60 temporary areas that will surprise the consumer and that house more than 80 brands of different formats and products for sale specifically of stocks in stores that only exist during the fashion festival. There are new products by Brownie, Vans, Pretty Ballerinas, Mascaró, or Eastpack, among others, that coexist with flagships such as Levi's, Adidas, Munich, Mango, Sita Murt, Indi & Cold, Nice Things, Ash …
What we find most interesting is that these large national and international firms are side by side with independent designer brands such as Miriam Ponsa, Txell Miras and Josep Abril which always share the same pop up store and have become the trident of Rec 0 design, to the extent that the festival is the reason why the three of them decided to join forces to boost their joint stores in Barcelona.
This year, Gorni Kramer or Who are also to be found in the designer area. Precisely in order to give more space to small-scale firms, the Rec organization has opened a new courtyard where a new brand will be installed every day. This allows it to make its way into the world of fashion and offers commercial possibilities to emerging designers. They will exchange synergies with other Catalan fashion brands such as Brava Fabrics, Woodys Barcelona or Cuirum that will coexist with the Nordic fashion of Sessún or Samsoe Samsoe. Finally, in this area dedicated to the most local design there is also the pop up store 080 with the winner of the Rec.0 competition next to the Catalan catwalk. This year the winner was IAIOS, a brand of sweaters made with recycled thread.
Leisure and family culture
To liven up shopping and visits to the industrial environment of the industrial district, Rec.0 has organized a cultural and gastronomic agenda in parallel with free activities for all audiences and tastes. In music, concerts by local groups and singer-songwriters such as Joan Colomo, Red Pèrill and Beth are the stand-out items among other performances. Discussions and reflections on issues related to the festival are also promoted. This year in the Rec meeting area GenÃs Roca will give a talk about digital transformation. For movie lovers Zoom, the International Audiovisual Content Festival of Catalonia, will feature the screening of short films and innovations on the small and the big screen. Finally cuisine is also a highlight, with areas set out for local producers and KM0 cuisine where chefs will offer local food in the various pop-up bars that have been expressly built for the festival.
The new edition of Rec.0 begins today and will take place until November 9 in the Rec quarter of Igualada.
If there is a keyword that defines and describes with accuracy the phenomenon of Rec Experimental Stores in all its amplitude, that is the word “transformation”. It concerns the metamorphosis of the Rec district of Igualada and its characteristic tanneries – many of them in disuse – into a pop-up stores fashion festival, where for four days anything can happen quite apart from commercial sales, its main objective. Hence its festive, unconventional and carefree component.
This edition Rec.018, which begins today until next Saturday, presents a commercial platform which hosts more than 100 fashion pop-up stores of major international brands and local designers who settle in different industrial areas in the neighbourhood and transform them into lively commercial areas, decorated for the occasion, where each company takes the opportunity to sell their stocks from past seasons at unbeatable prices. One comes across these temporary stores almost by surprise via an open urban circuit that runs through the streets and alleys of the industrial district of Igualada and which is divided into five large areas where most of the firms are grouped. The most natural aspect of this is the setting, where the creativity of each area is combined with industrial heritage, creating a unique and changing environment in each edition of Rec.0.
Together but not mixed
On a creative level what we value most about the Rec.0 initiative is that unique formula where the big international companies coexist in the same festival with established designers such as Josep Abril, Miriam Ponsa and Txell Miras as well as with emerging talents. Together they complement a promotion of fashion and design which is adapted to the needs of all audiences. What is most interesting is that the designers themselves are in contact with the end-customer, “defending” their designs and knowing first-hand the tastes and preferences of their clientele. It is precisely the emerging design section which offers the most growth with regard to previous editions. These local companies are located mostly in pati Martà Enrich, in two large industrial buildings. Names such as Carlotaoms, Ssic and Paul, Who, Gorni Kramer, David Valls, Susi Sweet Dress, JordiRafart or Pau Esteve are complemented by others promoting small-format local design. The Rec Pop Up Day Estrella Damm area is also much utilised, designed as a small market where every day there is a different designer. On this occasion brands such as Fang of Morsa, Nona BCN, Heidi Soto, Batech, Mireia Playà o Micuxu, among others,will be featured, attracted by the uniqueness of this commercial platform.
Beyond fashion
Not everything is fashion in Rec.0. There is also an area for gastronomy and culture, the other two major themes covered by the commercial festival. In this edition visitors will be surprised by more than twenty concerts, DJ sessions and performances for all audiences that will be distributed in the main squares of the industrial district and which will encourage further sales. It offers a totally free agenda for passers-by in the area. Gastronomy is also present via Rec Street Food and their specialized foodtrucks that offer a varied culinary offer with specialties from all over the world: oriental, italian, american, mediterranean cuisine … catering for Vegans and suitable forthose with a coeliac disorder.
The Rec industrial district is coming alive with a new edition of  REC.0 Experimental Stores, the retail genuine experiment where major brands and independent designers sell their stocks at the old tanneries of this picturesque area of Igualada. As you know, Rec.0 is an unprecedented and unique special sales concentration, a festival for the senses that encompasses fashion, culture and gastronomy in an ephemeral format.
For the first time, the summer edition will be held in May, from 10 to 13 and in total 88 fashion brands will be involved, divided into 52 pop up stores that combine the industrial heritage of the city with the creativity of areas of fashion.
In this edition, Rec.015 has managed to attract new brands such as Carhartt, Sebago, Tiny Cottons or Castañer, extending an unprecedented offer. The big international brands like Levi’s, Adidas, Pepe Jeans, Mango, Camper retain their faith in the event, as do local firms like Sita Murt, Punto Blanco, Javier Simorra or Pretty Ballerinas. Sport and urban fashion are also featured in the Rec with Adidas, Fox Head, Santa Cruz, Wesc or Buff.
A design area for 080 Barcelona Fashion
Rec.0 continues to opt for independent design and aims to position itself as a great platform of sales and promotion of Catalan fashion. For the first time, the parade 080 Barcelona Fashion and REC.0 join forces to create a large area devoted to Catalan emerging fashion: the pop up store that will house 080 new designers and brands like Carlota Oms, SSIC and Paul, Les Chausseurs, Pau Esteve or Rita Row, besides the designers Dorotea, IKA Editions, Loa, Maria Roch or Kinetik Supply. As in each edition, the event features the trident of Catalan design formed by Txell Miras, Miriam Ponsa and Josep Abril, who are joined by other leading companies such as Who, Ingrid Munt, Gorni Kramer, David Valls, Poison in the Skin, Cuirum, Susi Sweet Dress or Jordi Rafart, among others. They will be joined by the winner of the Time Out fashion award, which is awarded to an original and dynamic proposal to promote young talent.
More gastronomy and culture
In culinary terms, the Rec Street Food Festival has widened its range with new pop up bars by local chefs and food trucks featuring different international cuisine. Furthermore, there will also be pop and rock concerts and book presentations for all ages with different themes such as illustration or gastronomy. For the little ones there are also some activities planned so that the whole family can enjoy an evening of shopping, leisure and entertainment.
Totally recommended!
We applaud initiatives which bring the fashion industry together in its broadest vision: large fashion-houses are coming together with independent design and young talents in one and the same space, where each one has his or her plot of terrain – and his or her public. And if it is an ephemeral format, then so much the better, because it creates a much more memorable phenomenon in time without exhausting the formula which gives it balance.
This is one of the reasons why we value the initiative Rec.0 Experimental Stores, a retail experiment dating back to 2009 which takes place in the industrial district of the Rec in Igualada. For two months in the year the old tanning factories in the area are home to distinctive pop-up stores of brands and designers in a unique concentration of special sales and concurrent too for just four days with other cultural and gastronomic activities.
The new edition, which runs from the 9th until the 12th of November, sees the participation of more than 80 brands of clothing for men, women and children distributed among four large areas within the district. There the consumer can go about discovering at his own pace what the temporary shops have to offer by following an unusual route through all the tanneries. Apart from the high quality brands such as Adidas, Levis, Mango or Lacoste which raise high expectations in the general public one can also find designers linked to 080 Barcelona Fashion such as Miriam Ponsa, JosepAbril, Txell Miras or Sita Murt. These designers share the same space with others of smaller format who likewise parade on the Catalan cat-walk, such as Carlota Oms, Rita Row, Chausseurs, SSIC and Paul or Paul Esteve. Those are some of the names to be found in this edition on the new space 080. Also present are small brands by young designers outstanding in their originality, yet without abandoning the commerciality of their designs. To name just a few examples : Colmillo de Morsa, Costalamel or Dutch Delight. Rec.0 thus aims to create a platform of brands and emerging designers which is swelled by each new edition.
In addition to their own sales from previous seasons and the opportunity offered to the public to get to know at first hand the designers who are directly involved in the buying process, the initiative also seeks to offer the visitor other gastronomic experiences -food-trucks, cooking competitions – and cultural experiences – concerts, workshops, activities for kids. All of these make of Eec.0 an authentic leisure experience to be shared with family or friends. In the last edition, held in June, more than 100,000 people passed through the district. They must have had a reason…
