Outbreak Lab’s new collection “Retreat” focuses on traditional techniques, material experimentation, and a slower approach to fashion design. Presented during Paris Fashion Week, it explores how garments can be made using natural processes such as oxidation, hand-dyeing, and locally sourced fibers.
The collection was developed around a simple question: what does progress mean when innovation starts to feel empty? Instead of chasing newness for its own sake, the studio focused on methods that predate modern fashion systems. They worked with raw materials like iron ore, natural dyes, and native cotton, and let time, oxidation, and imperfection shape the results. Some fabrics rusted unexpectedly. Others took on marks that couldn’t be planned or reproduced. These irregularities weren’t treated as flaws but as evidence of process.
The Outbreak Lab team worked with farmers and researchers who are preserving a native cotton variety, one that is naturally brown, before dyeing. In Assam, they partnered with communities that repurpose discarded silkworm cocoons into usable fabric. They also revisited historical adornments, creating silver and gold buttons plated with rhodium to simulate age. Each step prioritized longevity, resourcefulness, and working with what’s available.
The design presentation was situated within 13th century Japanese architecture, not as a backdrop but as a model of continuity and restraint. That same restraint shaped the clothes themselves: the silhouettes are calm, the palette earthy, and the finishes raw but deliberate.
During the showroom week, Outbreak Lab also collaborated with Anda-Ba, a design studio by Armaan Bansal, on a lighting installation titled “Bless The Mesh”. The piece explores the overlap between textile, structure, and ritual, echoing the themes of the collection without overstating them.
“Retreat is a quiet dialogue between past and present, trying to find new ways to belong.”
Photos: Courtesy of Outbreak Lab / Photography: @jasonrenaud
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COLLECTION
