MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
LABFRESH products are so much more than just clothes. Each of their products are a culmination of vision, new technologies and hard work. Get a peek into how LABFRESH develops their products and the work that goes into it.
"We aren't just making clothes that look pretty and cool. We make clothes that actually solve problems"
Going from idea to finished product is always difficult. But when your idea is to not create more of what’s already there, but, instead, to reimagine how we think about clothes as such, it’s even more difficult. As with most other R&D efforts, it’s all about trial and error.
“We aren’t just making clothes that look pretty and cool. We make clothes that actually solve problems. And to solve problems, you have to think in new ways,” according to co-founder Lotte Vink. But how do you do that?
LABFRESH in the Lab
Since its crowdfunded beginnings, LABFRESH has spent countless hours in Swiss labs, testing new technologies and treatments for the cotton fabrics that make up most of the LABFRESH product line. “Trying to find that perfect base fabric for a t-shirt or our new bodywarmer is always a huge challenge,” co-founder Lotte Vink says, looking excited as she thinks about the process. “And because our customers demand different properties and functionalities from different products, this is an on-going process. For each new type of product, there’s a new R&D process taking place.”
The R&D process contains multiple phases, all of them necessary to arrive at a shelf-ready product that lives up to LABFRESH high standards. The most hands-on phase takes place in the lab. Here, Swiss textile engineers working for LABFRESH prototype several iterations of the same garment to arrive at the perfect formula. “Our record is 21 prototypes of 1 product before we nailed it,” Lotte Vink says and laughs. “That was our first t-shirt, but I like to think that we’ve become better at nailing it faster.”
It never ends
Even though 21 prototypes sounds like . . . well, a lot of prototypes, LABFRESH co-founders Lotte Vink and Kasper Brandi Petersen still insist on having a constant R&D process going on beside the more traditional disciplines of selling and marketing their existing products.
“More than anything, LABFRESH is about thinking anew and pushing the boundaries of what we wear. We’re so proud of the products we’ve developed so far, but like to think that they’re only the beginning of a much longer journey. And for every new product, we acquire new knowledge that goes into the next, hopefully even more state-of-the-art product”
The Future
So what does the future of LABFRESH R&D look like? “A lot of trial and error in the lab, and, hopefully new fabrics with completely new properties. We might one day come up with a shirt that can power a phone, you know?” Lotte says and laughs. “Who knows! And that’s the amazing thing about being in our line of work. The future is always open and full of possibilities.”