Thomas Hooper for 3sixteen's 20th.
Our 20th anniversary has provided us with the opportunity to take stock of the people and places that have contributed to our brand’s success over the past two decades. One of our longest standing friendships is the one we share with tattooer and fine artist Thomas Hooper. This collaboration represents our third project together; he first designed a special edition SL-220x jean and black bandana for our Decade Collection, and then partnered with us again to design a capsule collection exclusively for Journal Standard in 2018.
At the heart of each project we’ve worked together on is functionality. The Decade Collection SL-220x jeans were built off of Thomas’ then-favorite jeans that he wore and worked in every day - you can see photos of them in our editorial we shot in 2012. The capsule collection for JS featured fabrics that would function well in the Texas heat and would wash down easily after getting blood, ink and paint on it. We even designed a hat with an unstructured short brim that wouldn’t cast a shadow while he was working.
For our 20th anniversary collaboration, Thomas requested that we create a work vest that takes cues from vintage Carhartt examples that he loves. We started with a hardy duck canvas base fabric that was piece dyed black and then given a stonewash treatment for a perfect worn-in look. We paired it with a high-pile brown sherpa lining that gives the vest a plush hand and superior warmth, and a YKK gunmetal double zip closure to provide greater range of motion when Thomas bikes to and from his studio. The inside of the vest features two pockets: one has a patterned screen print of a repeating pattern Thomas designed for the project, and the other is a white duck (what our base fabric began as before it was dyed and treated) which gives the impression of a blank canvas.
The focus of the piece, though, is the beautiful hand embroidery on the back. Thomas painted a six-point shape that is made of two three-sided forms overlaid on top of each other. This artwork was then simplified and passed on to our partner factory in India; they reached out to hand embroiderers who carefully applied the motif onto the back of the vest using a beautiful, textured sewing technique that mirrors the geometric nature of the shape. We chose to use a chunky black thread to allow the decoration to be discreet at first glance. Alongside the vest, we created a screenprint of Thomas’ artwork in a signed, numbered edition of 40 that will be available for purchase.
If you are local to NYC, we will be hosting Thomas and his family this Saturday, October 28th from 2-5pm to celebrate the release of the collaboration and we invite you to join us. Alongside the vest and print, we will have a variety of Thomas’ original paintings on display that will be available for purchase - some of which informed the collaboration, and others which are recent works of his. We will also be giving away unsigned, unnumbered silkscreen prints to the first 40 attendees who come by the event. Remaining work vests and prints will launch online this upcoming Monday, October 30th.
3sixteen
190 Elizabeth Street
October 28th, 2-5pm
