British Label Looks To Archive For Inspiration

Forward-thinking menswear brand YMC (You Must Create) have launched a secondary line that looks to their archive and reinterprets it. Aimed at being “an alternative to our current AW14 collection,” says the label’s Alex Harley, the collection is a ‘greatest hits’ with favourite pieces from past seasons curated by the label’s designers. Rather than have a disparate range made up of previous collection’s diverse prints and colour palettes, YMC have pulled a consistent thread through the latest YMC DYE offering. Using artisan dyer Prestige Dyes, based on the outskirts of London, the entire line comes in a palette of deep navy and soft black. “We’ve always incorporated elements of the dying process into our collections, but recently we had been working with a dyer that was close to us here in London. Instead of using a dyed fabric, we experimented with dying the entire garment, which gave some really interesting results – especially with the stitching and patterns already present on the garment,” explains Harley. With the brand wanting to bring back a process to the UK that is now mainly outsourced to other countries and put the focus on their own archive, the YMC DYE line is very much about playing with a sense of heritage. Key pieces include the stripe work jacket and an over-dyed version of last season’s leopard print bomber – both classics for the label and within menswear’s own timeline. The YMC DYE collection is available now from YMC, priced between £75 and £160.

YMC Dye Collection