NeutralWorks

Collaboration with a Japanese clothing brand using sustainable materials and processes. 

NeutralWorks is a Japanese clothing and lifestyle brand. Established in 2016, they produce sports and outdoor apparel with a strong focus on materials, blending functionality, style and versatility.

We have collaborated with them on their latest project, producing artwork for a limited run of t-shirts constructed from zero-carbon, wood-based fibres and dyed with hemp ash. Responding to ideas of neutrality, circularity and the meeting of nature and technical excellence, we created three designs that were digitally printed onto the garments. 

These combine treated visuals of shards of carbon with experimental typography, contrasting the organic texture of the former with the bold graphic form of the latter, and incorporate occasional interruptions of colour. The result is a futuristic aesthetic that explores how natural materials change form and interact with the imagination. 

The shirts are the product of a closed-loop system – one that uses reuses materials for a more efficient use of resources and a reduction in waste – and bring a cutting-edge material made possible by new technology together with hemp charcoal, which has supported human life for over 10,000 years but is still one of the most sustainable materials today. 

TENCEL™ Modal fibres are extracted from naturally grown beech wood by an environmentally responsible integrated pulp-to-fibre process, which is self-sufficient in energy and recovers co-products from component parts of the wood. The fibres are biodegradable and compostable under industrial, home, soil and marine conditions and so can be returned fully back to nature. The material they produce is known for its long-lasting softness and high flexibility. 

Hemp ash is another sustainable natural resource, with value from root to leaf. It has also played an important role in Japan’s history: traditionally regarded as sacred, it has been used in shrines and sumo wrestling for thousands of years. Each shirt is therefore both a wearable and symbolic item, combining ancient heritage and modern innovation to skew our preconceptions of technology and the possible uses of materials.