Contemporary textiles and the protection of creativity in Mexico - 1/8 Takamura

Through consistency in design and textile work, 1/8 Takamura has positioned itself as one of the strongest and most recognized proposals in the Mexican fashion industry. It is one of the most sought after and sold brands at 180º SHOP, therefore, we spoke with Guillermo and Jessy (directors of the brand), who as always, with elements of poetry and artistic theory in their answers, shared a little of their world with us. textile and production.

Thus we continue our research on the textile industry and the intellectual protection of creativity in our country.

TEXTILE

180º: What is the relationship you have with textiles? How do you choose your materials?

1/8 Takamura: Textiles are the most important instrument with which we achieve dialogue with people. We work with natural fibers, cotton and wool; Their characteristics such as softness, lightness or resistance make them more friendly.

180º: What is the origin of the textiles/raw materials? They're Mexican?

1/8 T: We have textiles such as cotton and wool that are made in Mexico, but we also work with cotton from India or China because they are lighter, since such light raw materials are not produced in Mexico.

" Textiles are the most important instrument with which we achieve dialogue with people ."

180º: Do you work with the same suppliers?

1/8 T: We always try to be a team, but we also look for new elements; adding means growing.

DESIGN

180º: How do you protect your designs?

1/8 T: With creativity.

180º: Is there legal intellectual protection of designs?

1/8 T: We know that there are organizations that can protect designs through legal means. We do not apply it for now, but we keep our internal record of the designs and ideas.

"We protect our designs with creativity."

180º: Who do you work with on ideas/new designs?

1/8 T: Each collection or designed piece is a different story; For the process we look for experts such as textile designers, artisans and pattern makers, but our products have a line of values: experimental, functional and contemporary.

PRODUCTION

180º: What is the production process?

1/8 T: At 1/8 Takamura we have three different production processes:

• El Industrial: design, pattern making, cutting and making;
• El Artesanal: design, hand embroidery, dyeing or hand-woven;
• Customized: transformation of t-shirts into different clothing proposals.

180º: Where do you produce your collections? Are artisanal techniques used?

1/8 T: Everything is made in Mexico, mainly in our workshop, but we also work with some external maquileros and our artisans. We use several artisan techniques, handmade embroidery in the style of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and hand knitting in the Gualupita style or Shibori style dyeing.

" Competition , globalization and the search for identity are for us the elements that promote design creativity in Mexico."

180º: Do they work under control/quality standards?

1/8 T: We look for the ideal way of doing things. Every stage through which the product is created from its design to its packaging is reviewed and analyzed for improvement and growth.

180º: What are the elements that according to you promote creativity in Mexico ?

1/8 T: At this moment the most important thing for creativity in our country is competition, globalization and the search for identity.

180º: What is the impact of the company in the social entrepreneurship process?

1/8 T: It makes us happy to know that through our work, and through creativity, we generate national added value, in order to generate economic and cultural wealth for the country.

Since 2012, the year the brand was created, the 1/8 Takamura Collections / Chronicles have been part of the Mexican design proposal at 180º SHOP . Look for it at Colima 180, Roma Norte.