Stone Island Heat Reactive

Author: Nitty Crew Posted: March 31st, 2011

Heat Reactive - An interview with Paola Rimondo.
Text and image from stoneisland.com

Hello Paola, first of all could you tell us something about yourself and what you do in Stone?
I’ve been working for a long time in the company and after several tasks, I started following fabric research and quality, more than 15 years ago, together with the product office. For us it is very important to combine research and quality, for sometimes choices made on a mere stylistic basis do not apply to production. My task is to develop the research, but also to evaluate the risks and the right application of materials.

Let’s talk about Heat Reactive. When was it first introduced on the market?
Between 1988 and 1990, together with a Japanese company, we started working on a thermo-sensitive coating for fabrics: reacting to cold (Ice Jacket) and to heat (Heat Reactive)

So from a technical perspective it’s a thermo-sensitive coating. How does it work exactly?
These coatings contain micro-encapsulated agents, whose molecules happen to rotate according to temperature variation. This modifies the light flow, affecting the colour of the fabric.

27° Celsius is the threshold for colour change. Was it your choice? How so?
The temperature variation can be chosen. We opted for 27° Celsius for Summer clothes (Heat Reactive) and 15° Celsius for winter garments (Ice Jacket).

Has this technology imposed any limitation to the style office? (I.e. the technology can be applied only with a certain colour, or the coating can be made only on a given fabric…)
There could be limitations, but so far we have achieved what we wished.

Is it a technology entirely developed by you, or have you started from something pre-existing, in order to achieve the final result?
Today we are reinterpreting a fabric from our archive, updated to present demands, produced by an Italian supplier.

How did the Heat Reactive technology meet the Stone garment? Was it a request of the style office, or on the other hand, the production office suggested the use of this technology?
We have a massive archive of garments and fabrics, many of which are an exclusive of ours. There we take inspiration for new ideas or ideas to rethink and update some of our cult pieces.

Is it a delicate garment? Does it require some special washing instructions?
Yes, these pieces are delicate and are accompanied by the right care instructions, but the colour-changing feature has been and still is time resistant.

Thank you very much for your time.
Enjoy your work.

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Nitty Gritty Music - Blue

Author: Eric Posted: March 30th, 2011

This week Hugo Bergström, the head buyer of Nitty Gritty, want to celebrate the colour blue! It’s not that he’s feeling blue he’s just very fond of the colour! This has become a bit of a problem here at Nitty Gritty. The other day Hugo turned up body painted blue and playing a bagpipe screaming “This is the next years shit” It’s a bit scary. Here’s Hugo Bergström’s Nitty Gritty Music - Blue



If you have any question or complaints don’t hesitate to contact me at eric@nittygritty.se

BACK SOON

Author: Cecilia Posted: March 30th, 2011

In bed since Sunday. Fever and flu times... Back soon.

x
Cecilia

AYRTON SENNA

Author: Marcus Posted: March 29th, 2011

In June the documentary of one of the worlds greatest sportsmen, and definitely the greatest racing driver of all time, Ayrton Senna, will be released.
R.I.P Ayrton.

GORGEOUS ALIX PETIT

Author: Cecilia Posted: March 25th, 2011

Our DJ for the night, the gorgeous and very talented designer Alix Petit of French label Heimstone! With a feather crown and silk and linen jumpsuit she´s the coolest cat around. Lots of love from all of us at Nitty Gritty to you, Alix!



/Cecilia

PS. We do have that jumpsuit in store, we just haven´t shot it for the webshop yet. Soon!

IT´S OFFICIAL!

Author: Cecilia Posted: March 25th, 2011

Listen up, all you true grit girls out there!

Last night, we had quite a big event at Nitty Gritty. We invited a bunch of incredible women (and a few men) to indulge in our fab womenswear section, which has grown so much during the last year. And for this special occasion the womenswear took over almost the whole store, he he. We wanted to share the fantastic news that Nitty Gritty (for the first time in our 20 year long history) will open a stand alone womenswear shop this coming fall! September 1st, to be precise. I´m sooo happy!

And it was such a good night. We flew in Alix Petit of Heimstone from Paris to DJ, we had a lecture with trend forecaster Henrik Mattsson, and we served great finger food from Bockholmen and lots of champagne! Thank you everyone who came to share this special day with us! I´ll post some images from the party itself in the next posts, but first some snapshots of the store and beautiful details on our many fantastic pieces including Helmut Lang, Jil Sander Navy, Heimstone, Isabel Marant Etoile, Cornelia, Jerome Dreyfuss, Rodebjer, Barena, Paul Smith, Roseanna and A.P.C., to name but a few...

xo
Cecilia

Womens Indulgence

Author: Nitty Crew Posted: March 25th, 2011

A few pictures from last nights event.
Thank you all for coming, and we sincerely hope you enjoyed yourselves. We certainly did!

Nitty Gritty Music - Damon Albarn

Author: Eric Posted: March 23rd, 2011

Today it’s my all time musical hero Damon Albarn’s Birthday! The man is turning forty three and he’s more active than ever! This year he has already released a Gorillaz album called Fall and he’s apparently working with Flea and Tony allen on a new project and a new The good the bad and queen is in progress. What can I say he’s a great man to be a fan off!
Here’s twelve classic Damon tunes. Nitty Gritty Music - Damon Albarn



If you have any question or complaints don’t hesitate to contact me at eric@nittygritty.se

GREAT HAIRDO

Author: Cecilia Posted: March 19th, 2011

Sneak shots of a fantastic hairdo on a lovely young lady while waiting for a fashion show at Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
And speaking of Tokyo, I pressume everyones thoughts, including mine, go out to Japan right now. We can all try to help! Start by making a donation here, and don´t forget to support also the people of Libya. Swedish local Red Cross site here.

/Cecilia

MARIA

Author: Cecilia Posted: March 19th, 2011

I´m looking through the camera from Paris. Memories of spring, superb food, great wine, beloved family and fantastic fashion... And not the least our sweet Store Manager Maria, who doubles both as a porcelain doll and my side-kick when buying for the womenswear department of Nitty Gritty. Here, a couple of pictures from Palais de Tokyo before and after a fashion show we attended.
Note the rose pink top, it´s also by Heimstone, same as mine but without the print. Pretty stuff indeed, just landed in store the day before we went to Paris. Good timing...



x
Cecilia