Go back, start and use for the first time. These are the verbs that we wanted to put into motion after liquidating the last winter season and presenting the new collection for next spring at Première Vision Paris. In this limbo of past and future proposals, we can only talk about the present, in this case the spring-summer 2022 collection that we are eager to show in all its splendor through the catalogue, the online store and our physical space in Barcelona.
Roughly…
We start the season inspired by a quote from the Israeli historian and philosopher Yuyal Noah Harari : “This storm will pass, but the decisions we make now could change our lives in the years to come.” This phrase marks the course of the collection because, without neglecting the contributions of the past, our eyes are fixed on the future and on the path we have to follow to explore new territories without losing our identity.
“This storm will pass, but the decisions we make now could change our lives for years to come” – Yuyal Noah Harari
In the context of uncertainty that we have had since the start of the pandemic, we have seen people cling to solid values such as security and trust. For this reason, the textile proposals that we present this season will focus on articles that reassure, calm, do not disappoint and, above all, are durable. We are not interested in the frugal or the unstable. This season, colour is the catalyst that will bring consumers back to the world of design and trust in it. For this reason, colour is essential to shape fabrics and plays a key role in defining new proposals. From neutral tones, to their brightest reverses, through blues and greens to bright pinks and oranges.
In general terms, we present to you a season that we would like to be tranquil, brimming with calm, joy and optimism, but always guided by the need to make products that take into account the environment and the surroundings in which we live. Here below, we give you more details.
The colour softens
This season, colours are oxygenated and lose saturation to establish harmonic mixes and emotional combinations that calm and reassure. Neutral tones stand out, incorporating sparkles, transparencies and small brushstrokes of colour in blue, pink, green and yellow. The soft and delicate tones provide a contemporary vision and are understood discreetly, without excesses or additions.
If we discussing precisely, we highlight the beige colour of kraft paper, the white that helps us to work shapes and volumes, and the black that we will use to add sophistication and create total looks with designs of great graphic impact. As happier tones, within this palette of fresh but less saturated colours we highlight millennial pink, blue in its most multifaceted, versatile and adaptable version, and green that brings us closer to nature and continues to play a leading role in fabrics from the season. As a counterpoint, we highlight the optimism of lime yellow, attenuated orange and coral that are perfect for refreshing and adding light to items. These tones are mixed with an antagonistic hue: turquoise in a refreshing and unique combination.
Lastly, the colour will also be worked on in different ways: in plain, two-tone or multi-colour versions for a liberating and stimulating effect.
Huggable fabrics and commitment to sustainability
This season we highlight natural fibres that are involved in resource management and also recycled and regenerated synthetics. Specifically, we will work with BCI cottons, FSC viscose, tussah silk, undyed natural linens and recycled polyesters, some of them obtained from used plastic bottles.
In the spring-summer 2022 collection we want to enjoy simplicity for a more comfortable, minimalist and beautiful type of fashion. To do this, we will use gazar, voile and organza in neutral tones, gently differentiated between them, which will define the lightness of the fabrics. We want to produce that fresh and affectionate component, like a tender hug. We will also work with fil coupé techniques that connect us with a modern romanticism and weave structures with soft contrasts for simple beauty.
“We want to enjoy simplicity for a more comfortable, minimalist and beautiful type of fashion”
Within the collection we highlight clean-looking matte poplin and satin, classic weaves, embossed reliefs inspired by cardboard packaging, Jacquards with geometric structures in rhythmic repetition, summer tweeds with thick yarns and piqués for structured weaves. This season the rustic aspect is also plays a leading role and through the fabrics we want to achieve a tactile rusticity through fancy yarns.
Within the collection we highlight clean-looking matte poplin and satin, classic weaves, embossed reliefs inspired by cardboard packaging, Jacquards with geometric structures in rhythmic repetition, summer tweeds with thick yarns and piqués for structured weaves. This season the rustic aspect is also plays a leading role and through the fabrics we want to achieve a tactile rusticity through fancy yarns.
The season is also characterized by proposals with an irregular appearance through inspiring wrinkled fabrics and natural finishes, with other lighter ones such as precious organza that covers the body creating volumes without excesses, voiles that are worked in layers, gazar that provide the appropriate transparencies and sensual cotton satins that can be either plain or printed.
Refined designs that still bear the floral gardens
In general terms, the fabrics will be expressed without decorative excesses through serene geometries and visible contrasts, but without visual noise. It is not a season of excesses or shrillness, quite the opposite. We are inspired by the ethnic and folk style from a stylized and refined point of view. In terms of prints, there are fabrics that welcome abstract strokes with brushstroke details. Also the stripes with a manual stroke and the checks persist, but in their freer version.
In spring, flowers cannot be missing, and this season will not be an exception either. A walk through the country gardens brings us renewed inspirations for a new creative spin on these prints that use flowers and leaves, chosen for their particular shapes, inspiring textures and surprising colours.
Finally, it should be noted that we continue with our commitment to sustainability, which began in previous seasons and is here to stay. Our collection uses regenerated and recycled yarns with European certificates and this helps to reduce the environmental footprint of textile production: BCI cotton, regenerated cotton, tussah silk, linen, FSC viscose, New Life and recycled polyester, are some of the yarns present in this new spring-summer 2022 collection that we have just launched. Brand new, this verb that we like so much…
We invite you to discover the entire collection in our shop online!
Barcelona is emerging, step by step, as a sustainable city in all its facets, including fashion. In this area the city will become this weekend (29th/30th November) the epicentre of the debate on sustainable and ethical fashion in southern Europe with the celebration of the first edition of the Re-Barcelona Sustainable Fashion Global Event: it is an international meeting point where sustainability in the fashion sector will be the protagonist and where the growing need to reimagine the fashion industry and rethink our consumption habits will be discussed. This unique event, co-organized by the Asociación Moda Sostenible Barcelona (MSBCN) and Seed & Click, and promoted by Barcelona City Council, has the vocation of becoming the voice and discussion forum of the best practices and initiatives in creation, production, sales and use of sustainable fashion among Mediterranean countries.
Presentations in sustainable key
Re-Barcelona will bring together more than 30 international professionals in sustainable fashion at the Disseny Hub Barcelona. The first day is aimed at professionals in the fashion industry and the second day will be open to the public, seeking to make consumers aware and point them towards more responsible consumption habits via fashion exhibitions, workshops, projections and masterclasses .
Thus on Friday 29th the Summit Sustainable Fashion and Beyond will take place, which for professionals will address the realities and challenges of the fashion sector in order to to bring about a more sustainable industry. During this day session prominent international names such as Rossana Orlandi , one of the most influential personalities in the world of design, will participate and among others Marie-Claire Daveu , director of sustainability at Kering, Sara K Arnold, founder of Higher Studio, Aldo Sollazzo, CEO of Noumena, Manel Subirats, general director of Greendyes Research Lab of Nextil, Mar Isla, Director of the Chair of Circular Economy, TecnoCampus, Kavita Parmar, founder of IOU Project and Marilyn Martinez, senior analyst at Make Fashion Circular at Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
In addition the meeting will feature four round table fora: the first, to discuss the capacity of fabric recycling and reflect on innovative and sustainable materials for the future; the second, to discuss new business models; the third, on the consumer mindset ; the last one, on sustainability in its entirety, incorporated into retail of the future. Prominent spokespeople from the sector will participate, such as, among others, Manuel Martos , Group Managing Director of Nextil, François-Ghislain Morillion , founder and CEO of Veja, Elena Foguet, Business Director Spain of Value Retail, Mariona Sanz , director of Girbau LAB in Girbau, Carolina Álvarez-Osorio , director of marketing and communication of Ecoalf, Carlos Lahoz , Global Brand Innovation Strategist for Textile Printing Business, of HP Inc ., Franco Ghiringhelli , general director, of Ezio Ghiringhelli Spa, Pau Solanilla , president, of Reputation Republik and Tamsin Lejeune , CEO of Common Objective. Iria Pérez, editor in chief of Modaes.es will be a moderator, as will David Allo, director of sustainability at Texfor. This summit for professionals is a paid event and tickets are on sale on the official website.
In addition the meeting will feature four round table fora: the first, to discuss the capacity of fabric recycling and reflect on innovative and sustainable materials for the future; the second, to discuss new business models; the third, on the consumer mindset ; the last one, on sustainability in its entirety, incorporated into retail of the future. Prominent spokespeople from the sector will participate, such as, among others, Manuel Martos , Group Managing Director of Nextil, François-Ghislain Morillion , founder and CEO of Veja, Elena Foguet, Business Director Spain of Value Retail, Mariona Sanz , director of Girbau LAB in Girbau, Carolina Álvarez-Osorio , director of marketing and communication of Ecoalf, Carlos Lahoz , Global Brand Innovation Strategist for Textile Printing Business, of HP Inc ., Franco Ghiringhelli , general director, of Ezio Ghiringhelli Spa, Pau Solanilla , president, of Reputation Republik and Tamsin Lejeune , CEO of Common Objective. Iria Pérez, editor in chief of Modaes.es will be a moderator, as will David Allo, director of sustainability at Texfor. This summit for professionals is a paid event and tickets are on sale on the official website.
An area open to the public
Additionally Re-Barcelona will feature an area open to the public that during the two days of the event will be the scene of presentations, round tables, activities, workshops and screenings of fashion films . The Open Space, entitled ‘ Conscious Space Beyond’, will include an exhibition area with stands of entrepreneurs, companies and entities related to sustainable fashion.
Among the exhibitors are the entities resident in Disseny Hub Barcelona: BCD Barcelona Design Centre, which will promote “Hula Hoop: the experience in circular design” to raise environmental awareness via workshops; and MODA-FAD, which will celebrate the “MODA-FAD Sustainable Challenge”, a design marathon where 30 students will create new pieces from textile waste.
Attendees can also enjoy the show ‘Victor Papanek: the design policy of the Museu del Disseny’, the first major retrospective focused on one of the precursors of social activism and sustainability in design. ‘Reimagine Textile’ will also be exhibited, an entrepreneur programme in which TecnoCampus participates and will present start-ups with innovative projects also Reshape, which will show the winners of its annual competition on smart products and wearable technology, thanks to the support of the Italian Consulate General in Barcelona.
Finally, in the Open Space, Girbau will offer a masterclass on “wet cleaning” or water washing system, the green alternative to perchlorethylene for dry cleaners. In this same area there will be presentations of several projects, and as part of the Re-Talks, round table discussions will be held. Finally, fashion films will also be screened , in collaboration with the British Council and the Italian Consulate General in Barcelona.
The move towards greener companies is nowadays an obligation, not merely an option to contemplate. The superabundance of industrial processes and the consequent mass production of the last century are inconceivable in the 21st century if we fail to take into account the impact they have on the environment.
The industry has inherited an unsustainable development model based on the misuse of social and natural resources with consequences for the Earth which for decades have been evidenced in a frequent and increasingly common way: the increase in the temperature of the planet, the large-scale deforestation, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions or the expiration date of many natural resources and energy sources due to irresponsible use without considering the consequences. In short, the dreaded climate change we are already experiencing. Today we talk about environmental crisis, a type of global recession that adds to the financial, economic or industrial consequences with which we are too familiar. Quite apart from the large-scale ecological disasters, if adequate measures are not taken to stop this phenomenon, the environmental crisis can lead to social conflicts and the inability of companies to continue maintaining their economic activities.
Rosa Pujol: “Sustainability is a necessary collective commitment”
Aware of the situation, we believe that new opportunities also arise from the crises and those companies that commit to the new “green economy” will be the ones that will have competitive advantages and will position themselves as leaders. “Gratacós wants to grow and accordingly understands that other parameters must be taken into account. Sustainability is a necessary collective commitment in all sectors, ”says Rosa Pujol, creative director of Gratacós. There is a growing need and demand among consumers for sustainable and ethical products, especially among new generations that have greater sensitivity. “We create collections for generations of the future because change is in them and they are asking for the industry to take action,” says Pujol.
Rosa Pujol: “We create collections for generations of the future”
In this sense, at Gratacós we have been working for a sustainable future based on efficiency in the use of energy and natural resources. In the Barcelona offices and the Canovellas warehouse we have opted for an energy efficiency policy and a new BOP lighting system (with plasma base) that is currently the most technologically advanced product on the market. In addition all the plastic material we use for the packaging of our merchandise is supplied by a company that certifies its manufacture with 100% recovered material, whilst the cardboard in boxes has the REACH certificate that controls and restricts the use of chemical substances.
One step further
Currently our mission in the field of sustainability also extends to the production processes and a gradual commitment to innovation and research of sustainable fibres and fabrics that are already being integrated into the collections of each season. “We are talking about a change that affects weaving with regenerated and recycled fibres and the commitment to bio fabrics. Right now we are working under these guidelines, ”explains Rosa Pujol.
In the current Autumn-winter 19/20 collection, some recycled and regenerated fibres have already been introduced, but our real and palpable commitment will take shape in the next summer 2020 and winter 2020/2021 collections: recycled polyester, recycled or regenerated cotton and cupro are, among other innovations that we are already presenting at international fairs. This move towards greener attitudes is unstoppable!
This commitment to sustainability has a certain handicap. “These fibres are a bit more expensive because they have gone through a regeneration process. Gradually the customer will come to understand this added value, ”argues the creative director of Gratacós.
Could 100% sustainability be achieved?
The sustainable commitment is gradual but unstoppable and our intention is to strengthen and work in this direction in the coming years. “Right now it makes no sense to speak for so many future years because what matters is the position and attitude of the company looking for new formulas for sustainable development,” explains Rosa Pujol. And she adds by way of conclusion: “If we do not do so, we have no future.”
