The Stockholm-based Eytys crew has come pretty close to mastering the art of trainers with their already classic low-top Mother style and the high-top Odyssey version, so now they’re on to a new category. For the Fall/Winter 2015 season, Eytys founders Max Schiller and Jonathan Hirschfeld have graduated from footwear into bags, the holy grail of fashionable product design.

Void is a line of three bags: a backpack, a tote bag, and a document holder, with prices ranging from $130 to $300. Prelaunching this spring, the capsule collection is the result of designer Schiller’s own need for watertight luggage. “As I commute by boat between my home on an island in the Stockholm archipelago and the city, I need bags that are functional and water-resistant without making me look as though I’m geared up to go on a kayak hike,” he says from Eytys’ Parisian showroom. “It’s always been a ‘mission impossible’ to find a bag that is water-repellent and sleek, so we decided to develop our own line.” The bags are made in a factory that specializes in high-frequency welding: “It’s very high-tech—they usually make inflatable life rafts, kayaks, and army tents, but they didn’t have the right kind of material, so we had to develop our own fabric. It’s polyester-coated with matte black polyurethane and it’s completely water- and airtight.”

Eytys is in many ways a minimal brand. There’s no excess on the trainers. Void was born with very much the same agenda. “Function and a personal need is always the starting point, a mission to make stylish products we want to use ourselves. It’s the combination of the two that makes the line unique,” Schiller, a former Acne Studios employee, explains. Everything you see is there for a reason, no more and no less. And unisex—we’ve always believed men and women can act and look confident in the same way.”

http://www.style.com/trends/mens/2015/eytys-void-bag-collection

Today, more than any other time, footwear is important. In menswear, shoes, and especially trainers, have become the equivalent of handbags and perfumes in the women’s fashion industry. Brands spend as much time on getting the accessories right as they do on the ready-to-wear clothes as, at the end of the day, that’s where the money will come from. And if you don’t do shoes, which in itself is a major operation, you have to look around you and find a partner to collaborate with. That’s exactly what London designer Christopher Shannon has done.

A longtime staple during London Collections: Men, and the recent winner of the first BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund, Shannon was part of creating a new breed of contemporary fashion inspired by equal amount sportswear and streetwear. Footwear, as we all know, plays a massive role in those fields as well. Since last season, Shannon has collaborated with classic construction company Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) to rework some of their more iconic boot models. In January, the Liverpudlian designer showed his second season, dominated by a new version of CAT’s Colorado style. Removing laces and adding nylon details, Shannon updated the workwear boot to the 21st century, while also adding his own very characteristic look. Over the years, Shannon has succeeded in coherently displaying his design DNA, season after season pushing his aesthetic forward while still consistently staying true to his fundamental ideas. These boots, and most likely the ones we’ll see in June for Spring/Summer 2016, are now a natural part of that look…

What’s your relationship to CAT? Did you wear them when you were younger?

I did. It was an ongoing challenge to find black footwear you could wear for school that wasn’t really naff. I remember I bought a black suede Colorado with gum sole and white top stitching. They were a bit too big but I wanted them so badly I just wore thicker socks and a steel toe cap which was always handy for school.

Were there any sub-cultural connections?

I think any clothing or footwear that has its roots in workwear usually has some connection to sub-culture.

It’s very much a workwear boot. Who does the style correspond to with the Christopher Shannon aesthetic?

I think my research always touches on documentary photography and portrait work, and often from British photographers. The imagery is based in realism and working life, that’s something we strive to embrace and distort. I love working with staple garments and pieces that relate to real life.

What style did you work on for Fall/Winter 2015? What did you do to them?

We worked on the changes we had already made to the Colorado for the Spring/Summer 2015 show. I just loved the back zip and the removal of the laces, it almost looked like a moulded shoe, so we decided to carry on working with that, with nylons rather than leathers.

It’s your second collaboration with CAT. How has that relationship grown and changed?

I think you build trust. It’s always difficult to work with huge companies as their time lines are so much further in advance than ours. As a smaller company you have the luxury of being a bit more spontaneous. I think CAT now trust that I’m not out to ruin their heritage – I just like bringing another point of view.

Is it an ongoing partnership? Would you want to rework another CAT style?

I’ve already started the direction for Spring/Summer 2016. It’s quite a different direction for CAT and the technology we are working with is really advanced and new to me which makes it exciting.

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/03/02/christopher-shannon-interview/