Hellequino – High-end Italian denim fashion
Italy, for many known as the boot-shaped country in southern Europe, is famous for its remarkable cuisine, fabulous cars, excellent wine, and, of course, the unrivaled aesthetics in fashion. With a fascinating history, a marvelous culture, and a close to perfect climate, Italy is a country that you must visit at least once in your lifetime.
Next to its renowned capital and cities such as Florence and Venice, Italy shelters many more intriguing cities and villages within its borders. One of these is Carpi, an ancient town in the north of Italy famous for its many breath-taking churches. Right next to those impressive churches you will find another fascinating area, the historical fashion district. With centuries of fashion history, this place is exploding with passion and experience in making high-quality garments. It is right in this place where the Hellequino atelier is located.
Hellequino, the brand
Hellequino started as an evolving research project and was established by the industrial fashion production company, KEO. With forty years of experience, KEO is responsible for the production of multiple fashion brands and is capable of producing up to 60.000 garments per year. Under the supervision of Gabriele Marcotullio, owner and head of marketing, a team of eleven people is manufacturing high-quality garments for several brands, as well as their project, Hellequino.
As we mentioned before, Hellequino is a research project that aspires to be loyal to an innovative style approach, that is firmly engraved into their identity. By combining their heritage in fashion design and their creative mindset, Hellequino is always trying to reinvent iconic pieces from the past. By running small productions in their in-house production facilities, they manage to deliver garments of extremely high quality.
For the first collection, named #rawdenim, Hellequino searched for perfectly matching fabrics for every single one of their designs. Their search led eventually to different mills on different continents and very different fabrics. To illustrate the variety of fabrics, they have used deadstock Japanese selvedge denim fabric from Kurabo, a Japanese mill, to create a pair of jeans, while for a jacket Hellequino used a 13.5 oz. limited Italian vintage re-editions denim fabric. Their way of doing business results in small productions, just big enough to cover most sizes with a minimum stock, today often called; limited. Since the collection is over seasonal, the garments are for sale until they run out of stock.
Some words of Hellequino’s owner about the origin of his inspiration and the future of the brand
For inspiration, Hellequino takes advantage of Gabriele’s personal passion for vintage workwear and uniforms. Stylish, functional, and indestructible are just some characteristics of the workwear Hellequino is using for inspiration. Thinking about this, it isn’t strange that Hellequino chose to use raw selvedge denim for their first collection.
When we reached out to Gabriele to clarify the origin of the inspiration of Hellequino, he answered as follows:
‘The idea of creating a small wardrobe with all the right designs is always my target. Fewer clothes, better quality. Wearing them every day. It’s a little utopia for a creative person, but I pursue the perfect wardrobe in every project. With ten super cool quality garments in your wardrobe, you could be satisfied for at least ten years’.
We also asked Gabriele for a few words concerning the future of Hellequino. And although he cannot spoil too much, which we completely understand, he said:
‘Let’s say I have this idea of combining the main features of the denim iconic garments with the intrinsic beauty of the linen fiber. I found this incredibly heavy and strong pure linen fabric, that is outstanding. Linen and cotton are both historical parents of the denim fabric, and I think it’ll be rad to be able to merge this natural fiber in a collection where is not associated only with super light summer garments. It’ll involve advanced eco-friendly dying techniques and also really tricky technical treatments to give that sturdy feel that workwear must have’.
Hellequino caught our attention with their iconic designs that are made to fit well, and to last for years. The current collection is composed of exciting pieces like denim jackets, dress shirts, and even a selvedge jumpsuit, all made of high-quality selvedge denim. Thousands of brands have been trying to reinvent the classic denim jacket for decades. However, Hellequino succeeded to design a denim jacket that is innovative, iconic, and outstanding. Their designs, which is their number one asset, plus the high-quality selvedge denim and the high-level of manufacturing, make Hellequino a brand that you should check out for sure.
Head over to hellequino.com to have a look at the collection yourself!
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