Cao Bang, Vietnam

My friend Thao runs her brand kilomet109 - she pairs traditional techniques with innovative design.

Equally impressive is the fact that the weaving communities she works with grow all the fibers and dyes required for her collection. She is absolutely amazing and took me to a village in the north of Vietnam, a mountainous area close to the border with China.

The community of the Nung Anh is the last one in the area to weave their traditional fabrics and festive garments. The women are extremely hardworking and have a vast knowledge of farming the fibres ( cotton, flax)and dyes such as indigo, yam root  and magenta leaf and are masters in spinning yarns, weaving and embroidering.

They are a treasure of skills and warmth and I am forever thankful to have seen the process of making the fabric that i use for jackets and shirts that are then cut and sewn in the Kilomet109 workshop in Hanoi.