ZILVER ANNOUNCES FIRST FLAGSHIP STORE IN SOHO, LONDON, OPENING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18.

Following the success of its London pop-up store in October, Pedro Lourenço’s sustainable label ZILVER proudly announces its first flagship location, coming to London’s Soho this February.

Opening its doors on February 18 at 19 Air Street, ZILVER takes the occasion to also launch its Spring/Summer 2022 collection “VIRGO 1.” ZILVER does not follow the traditional fashion calendar, instead opting to present a range of seasonal clothes alongside flagship exclusives.

About the Store

ZILVER calls 19 Air Street, situated in Soho off of Regent Street, Brewer Street, and Piccadilly Circus, home. With this, ZILVER welcomes a broader scene while also nodding to the subversive fashions that frequent the streets of Soho and its collections.

In true form, ZILVER’s sustainable ethos is threaded throughout the store’s identity. A vertical living garden graces the exterior, bringing the concrete jungle of Central London a much-needed injection of vibrancy while absorbing carbon dioxide, while recycled aluminum columns framing the entrance door introduce the ZILVER aesthetic. The neighbourhood’s infamous neon lights are echoed inside ZILVER as aluminum clothing rails are embedded with LEDs to delicately light up the clothes, simultaneously referencing the brand’s futuristic approach and leaning towards a space-inspired theme.

Futurism is continued with reference to nature, sharing the vision of ZILVER 360 degrees. Glass spans the storefront offering a looking glass into the curated selection of clothes on offer, not condensed to offer customers a relaxed shopping experience, floor-to-ceiling mirrors at the rear of the store are met with a supersized screen displaying ZILVER’s runway and original elements from the store’s previous life have been repurposed.

A kitchen extractor fan has been fashioned as ZILVER’s changing room area, adorned with silver curtains akin to NASA fabrics. Le Corbusier’s modernist LC3 chair has been reimagined by the architect Paul Cournet, crafting the “LC3 ZILVER'' chair from repurposed tennis balls – forming foam blocks – before painting it in recycled metal powder silver paint and fitting this to a second-hand LC3 tubular steel and chrome-polished frame, coming together to elevate ZILVER’s future-meets-nature beliefs and becoming a focal point of the store.

Paul Cournet: “The project aims to question the heritage of modern design objects and their meaning in our contemporary society today. In the Netherlands alone, 5,000,000 tennis balls are going to waste every year… The used tennis balls are shredded and bonded together to create a new soft foam, ideal for the creation of new seating. The metal powder is usually discarded after production and is therefore considered as waste by the metal industry. By mixing it with an acrylic-based binder, the powder is here turned into a new metal coating.”

Pedro Lourenço: “One of the most exciting things about the store and what has fulfilled the whole process is the idea of the vertical garden. Our cities need a new way of thinking. Fashion is such a polluter, and while we do have a very strong commitment to sustainability, we wanted to contribute something to Soho, an area that doesn’t have much greenery.”

“The shop represents a momentous stage for the brand. After testing the retail experience, we understand that the products attract enough attention to warrant a store. It happened organically. Our pop-up was an organic trial and it gave the customers a chance to connect with the brand beyond the digital world. We live in such a digital world and everything is focused on shopping online; there’s something grounding about being able to experience and try on clothes in a physical space.”

ZILVER’s store is built on the ideas of futurism and nature. Optimism is in balance with nature. New ways to produce and consume to secure the future.

“VIRGO 1” SS22 Collection

“Every season we use a different archetype of astrology as the starting point for the creation of the collection. This season it’s Virgo – VIRGO 1 for SS22, and there will be VIRGO 2 for FW22. Virgo is a sign related to precision and purity, something very sharp and clean and direct.” – Pedro Lourenço.

The first drop of VIRGO is clinical, galactical, sharp and calls upon references including but not limited to astronaut uniforms, coding, orthopedic braces, Pierre Paulain’s F 444 Armchair, Walter de Maria’s “The Earth Room” and Hender Scheme’s Lexus LF-Z concept car.

Naturally, the brand focuses on sustainable materials such as cactus leather, apple leather, Responsible Wool Standard recycled wool, GOTS-certified organic cotton, and Global Recycled Standard-certified recycled polyester. ZILVER’s cactus leather, supplied by Desserto, is approved by PETA and the process is free of toxic chemicals, phthalates, and PVC.

Likewise, apple-skin sourced vegan leather is also PETA-approved and is made from a minimum of 50% apple fibre, with this material being sourced from food waste, in turn, repurposing leftover pulp.

Launching in-store alongside the ready-to-wear collection are exclusive hybrid pieces. A trench coat is transformed into a jumpsuit with zips. A bomber jacket becomes a vest. Skirts evolve into trousers, and vice-versa, by the application of a central zipper.

Real-leather manufacturing techniques are applied to ZILVER’s signature vegan leather alternative, taking form on the laser-cut jacket and trousers, serving voyeurism in the most futuristic manner possible – again, breaking the stigma that sustainable clothing can’t be sexy.

Graphic pieces appear in the form of a space-informed tech-jersey, off white and black tech pants with exaggerated pockets are inspired by NASA uniforms, and shiny white midi-dresses complement ZILVER’s signature and updated jacket and the trouser-skirt. The result is clothes of long-lasting quality and ones that eschew fashion seasons, pillars that ZILVER prides itself.

In short: sustainability-first quality is always ensured and pieces go beyond trend lifecycles.