3x1’s founder, Scott Morrison, discovered a new way of approaching denim in Japan. In a trip to Okayama, he researched on the production of denim, considered an art in which the experience was as important as the tools used, apparently obsolete vintage machinery with which selvedge, a completely different kind of denim, is created. A fabric with a slower manufacturing process, with a lower width that shows off the seams and with a completely different texture. What started out as a business that distributed products made in Japan by hundred-year-old companies soon became a homage to denim in the heart of NYC. Even the name, 3x1, is a wink to three needle sewing machines.
NIKE AF1 3X1, COLLABORATING WITHOUT EVEN LEAVING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
To understand certain collaborations you have to take a trip around the world, but others can be easily understood without having to leave the street you’re in. Especially if you’re on Mercer street, taking a walk around New York’s SOHO you can find Balenciaga, A.P.C. and NikeLab M21 stores. Just a few steps away from the premium swoosh store you’ll find 3X1, a denim atelier in which you can choose between 70 different types of materials with 800 different finishings and in which 24 people work in plain sight as a way of being extremely transparent.
It wasn’t only about making the best possible product, it was also about involving the customer in the process. The example for his atelier was the number 15 in Mercer street, just a few yards away, NikeLab M21’s Bespoke studio in which you could customise some classic Nike sneakers. 3x1 duplicated what was happening with NikeLab’s sneakers in denim. It was a matter of time that these neighbours would eventually find each other.
Eight years after its foundation, 3x1 launched a collaboration with Nike to create new Air Force 1’s. The sneaker that was created in 1982 was possibly the model with the greatest number of iterations, which meant that this would be a complicated feat. How can you create something new that we haven’t seen in AF1’s 1500 different editions? 3x1 uses denim with different types of materials with unique washing processes carried out in Los Angeles. The seams, in contrast, the denim’s interior lining or the details related to the history of the brands are the final details that show that the relationship between 3x1 and Nike goes beyond that of neighbours who are asking each other for salt.
