We’ve been working in the fashion industry for some years before starting Prototypes and realized that it’s simply not sustainable to proceed producing the ways the industry does. The fashion industry is amongst the most polluting industries globally, next to energy and agriculture. It just makes no sense to us that there are trends like producing new garments which look used or destroyed: washing jersey and denim uses thousands of litres of water, which most of the time won’t be recycled. All this led to the wish to work with material that’s already out there, a classic scenario of «form follows function» which is not only sustainable and takes care of the environment, but also allows for the creation of truly unique designs.

By reusing and upcycling existing garments and items such as football scarfs, denim, or tablecloths, we produce products which are alike, but never identical. Every product is different and unique. On top of that, we encourage consumers to switch roles and become producers: with our Proto Packs we share our knowledge and try to motivate consumers to create their own one of a kind prototype made from garments of their own wardrobe. Believe us: almost anyone can make a hoodie out of two old sweatpants.

We met Betsy through our work at YZY and love each other’s work. We think about the same things and our visions are aligned in a way that made the collaboration feel natural and unforced. It’s been amazing to have her support and we are super happy about everything that came from it.

As mentioned earlier, we strongly believe in the principle of design that’s «form follows function». In that sense, we share some principles with Swiss design as we don’t include any unneeded decorative or ornamental elements in our work. Winning the prestigious Swiss Design Awards in 2022 gives testament to this, we believe.

Reworking, upcycling, and working in ways which are environmentally sustainable are growing sectors in the fashion industry and the constantly rising interest in Prototypes clearly shows this as well. We’ve been one of the first brands which is fully committed to creating high fashion that’s taking this seriously and not only tries to greenwash their brand. Sustainability truly is part of our core identity as a fashion label. The feedback we got from buyers and customers since putting out Series01 was amazing, as producing unique but scalable collections has not really been done before like this.

We’ll keep on doing what we are doing and have a cool story planned for September. That’s all we can say about this for now, but