TYPE-IX Synflux project
The “TYPE-IX Synflux project” is a project in collaboration with the design laboratory Synflux.
Synflux is a design laboratory which innovates fashion design using cutting edge digital technologies. Synflux designed and operates Algorithmic Couture*, a new design system that utilizes geometry and algorithms to reduce textile waste, which has become a widely known issue in the clothing manufacturing process. By using this system, Synflux can realize rational and sustainable clothing design with minimal fabric waste and without diminishing the functionality, quality or design of the clothing.
The TYPE-IX Synflux project is a future-oriented collaboration that explores how clothing design could evolve in the AI era, by combining Synflux’s algorithms and A-POC’s existing technologies.
Using a jacket made from the original shape-memory material TYPE-U developed by A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE, the design team repeated a process of trial and error, based on a vast volume of simulations using Algorithmic Couture, to create a beautiful optimized pattern with no waste on a piece of cloth. The result is two models; STRATA and MONOLITH.
TYPE-IX
STRATA Model MONOLITH Model
The carved cut lines of this pattern resemble geological strata.
The distinctive square shapes of the cut lines resemble a towering monolithic sculpture.
The patterns generated by Algorithmic Couture are woven into textiles, giving birth to a new TYPE-U that is both eco-friendly and a piece of considered design for the wearer. Through this project, A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE introduces apparel design of the future imagined together with Synflux.
*Algorithmic Couture is a next generation design system developed by Synflux that makes sustainable fashion a reality. Algorithms are used to enable manufacturing that minimizes fabric waste, and design garments that fit the individual wearer. Keeping in mind the goal to move away from an industrial system fixed on mass production to a smarter coherent one, Synflux aspires to become a research platform that comes up with answers for environmental and social issues involving fashion.
From Monday, January 6 ISSEY MIYAKE KYOTO | KURA will hold an exhibition focusing on the “TYPE-IX Synflux project.”
From Synflux
A transformation of systems is essential for the future of design. Amid rapidly advancing technological innovations and environmental crises that call for a reassessment of responsibility in manufacturing, A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE and Synflux share the same vision. We are honored to take this first step together toward a new journey.
Garments with minimal waste arising from a piece of cloth created from optimized pattern data. The Algorithmic Couture sustainable design system developed by Synflux has been implemented through A-POC’s ideas and techniques.
The theme, “What is digital creativity that transcends efficiency?” runs through the entire project. Through a dialogue with algorithms, the potential for next-generation processes to discover beautiful clothing within a vast sea of simulations became clear.
Please look forward to continued challenges exploring “design in the era of generative technology,” where information and materials intricately intertwine.
Synflux
Synflux is a speculative design laboratory that uses the latest technologies to create fashion that is environmentally friendly. While being considerate of nature and the planet, Synflux aims to promote a recycling-oriented society where people can freely express their personal ideas and creativity. Using AI, 3D technology, blockchain, and other cutting-edge digital technologies, Synflux has created Algorithmic Couture and other next generation design systems for sustainable fashion. The company has won numerous awards including the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix Newcomer Award (2023) and the Shiseido Sponsorship Award (2023) as well as the H&M Foundation Global Change Award’s Early Bird prize (2020).
