HST – Creative | RuleOfScarCity

HST – Creative is run by the husband and wife team Satish and Hilary Tailor. HST specialize in Product design, trend and colour direction and branding strategies. Although they have an impressive canon of work with big name brands mainly in the world of sports apparel (puma, addidas…) what really stands out tome is the collaboration with a startup company designing denim motorcycle jeans.

Maples owners brief to Satish was to design a pair of high quality denim jeans lined with Kevlar. He wanted his jeans to not only meet the protective requirements of a motor cycle trouser, But to look good also. He wanted them to be stylish enough to be worn out every day. As Satish is not only was a denim enthusiast and expert he also has the experience of designing pumas motorcycle racing suite. So was an ideal candidate for design work.

The result was the world’s first raw selvage denim, Kevlar lined motorcycle jeans.

Branding for the company is firmly rooted in the resent revival of classic biker styles. Using traditional styling the jeans are hand finished and made to measure. On the outside they look like classic raw denim jean as worn throughout the fifties and sixties by rebel bikers, rockers and ton up kids<café racers>. And could easily appeal heritage blue jean enthusiasts. But of course the carefully integrated Kevlar lining gives an extreme level of protection. The maple logo is on all of the custom made steel rivets and buttons. The back pockets embellished with an M curling of to a small red sewn maple leaf. They definitely look the part. The authentic look goes hand in hand with authentic production methods and choice of fabric…

Selvedge denim.

…made using original shuttle looms. Firsts used for work wear from the mid-late 19th century. American companies were the main producers of this hard wearing fabric. The shuttle looms use continuous cotton threads which pass horizontally back and forth across the loom. ‘The weft’ interlaced with the vertical thread called ‘the warp’. By this process an edge seam is created that resists unraveling. So this fabric with its own edge thus derives its name… Self-edge which became selvedge or selvage. It’s called raw as the denim is untreated unwashed… Using an indigo blue threading one direction with undyed cotton opposing and then by offsetting the over and under patterns of the weave on the weft creates selvage denims diagonal twill coloring. These shuttle looms were used by jeans manufacturers until the faster cheaper projectile looms became available to produce denim that was still highly durable but of not such a fine quality. Many of the now disused shuttle looms got bought up by Japanese denim producers who now make much of the selvedge denim used by modern vintage style and heritage jeans companies.