Borre Akkersdijk took a circuitous route to making some of the most innovative menswear on the market. It started when he was a kid, noticing that his favorite toys and clothes shared the quality of being made from “really good materials.” But really it started in college.
“I went to New York to go to FIT, to do womenswear. Then I went back to do graduate work at the Design Academy Eindhoven. And it was there I was introduced to the world of knitwear for mattresses.”
Probably not the career-altering influence you were expecting to hear. But the creative potential of this industry was immediately apparent to Amsterdam-based Akkersdijk, who is equal parts dreamer and technician.
“I came to a factory where they made thick, mattress ticking materials, saw the 3-D designs, and said, ‘I want a jacket of this.’”
Within a week he learned to operate the factory’s industrial circular knitting machines, hacked the software (“very easily”), and figured out how to feed different yarns through all four quilting needles. That was the start of ByBorre.
The Fall/Winter ‘19 collection is heavily quilted, but unlike brands such as BODE and Kapital, known for their quilting and handcrafted aesthetics, ByBorre is fundamentally more computer-driven. This season’s GORE-TEX collab includes a colorblocked crossbody bag zipped into a coat; the knitwear includes wide-leg judo pants and a sweater with topographic “weight map” texture.
