Original Madras Trading Company was founded by current owner Prasan Shah’s grandfather in the early 1970s when he arrived in New York from Madras with a trunk full of checks and other woven Indian textiles. He established an office on 38th Street in the New York garment district, and where they still trade from today.

While they continue to supply fabrics and garments to well-known other brands, this is the first season with their own eponymous range.

A little history lesson. The weaving of cotton cloth in South India was renowned for centuries prior to the British building a harbour in Madras - now called Chennai - in the 18^th century, but it was this port and the British East India Company that led to textiles from Madras being traded throughout the modern world.  That is the origin of the Madras check.

Originally and to this day the best Madras is woven by hand. This is a process that takes each individual weaver several hours per metre and results in no two lengths of cloth being identical. OMTC is a 3rd generation family business who have been weaving and producing Madras for 50 years in factories owned and operated by the family. 

TheChicGeek says, "Who doesn't like checks? These feel distinctively authentic and I particularly like the Indian influence in the styles, like the longer shirt lengths and hooded kaftan styles. For AW20, which I saw at January's Pitti Uomo, OMTC have the cutest checked quilted trousers. The brand is currently available at Trunk Clothiers in London." 

Left - Original Madras Trading Company Cotton Madras Button Down Shirt - £125 from Trunk Clothiers 

www.omtcnyc.com 

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Rock ’n’ roll style never goes out of fashion and is continually ripe for reinvention. From Bowie to Styles, the male rock star and his snake hips go together with sexy fashion like groupies and backstage.

One designer making waves is Barcelona born knitwear designer Archie Alled-Martínez. A graduate of Central Saint Martins in 2018, he was awarded with the LVMH Graduate Prize the same year. 

Fulfilling all our 1970s disco fantasies his latest AW20 collection, showcased at 080 Barcelona fashion week, was an homage to the deceased Sterling St. Jacques, who was said to be the world’s first black male supermodel.

The Alled-Martinez man is a decadent dandy who mixes the elegant decadence of the 30s with the energetic night-life of the late 70s and early 80s. Think lots of sparkly jumpsuits and elegant long jackets for the contemporary lounge lizard. This shit never gets old.

Left & Below - AW20 Presented at 080 Barcelona fashion week

Right - Harry Styles on stage

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A French term for a place you'd grow elm trees, now sadly long gone due to Dutch elm disease, 'Ormaie' is a mother and son - Marie-Lise Jonak and Baptiste Bouygues - team producing completely natural and vegan fragrances. Seven in total, all featuring striking and sculptural wooden stoppers, they are produced and formulated alongside renowned raw natural ingredient specialists, Robertet. The glass bottle is by Saverglass, the only French glassmaker to recycle their own glass magma.

Fragrances include '28°', said to be Bouygues' perfect temperature, 'Yvonne' named after the grandmother and 'Le Passant' meaning the passing man, and deemed the most masculine fragrance.

TheChicGeek says, "Of the seven, I liked 'Les Brumes' (The Mists) the most. It is a citrus inspired by morning mist on the fruit trees. Ingredients include lemon, mandarin, bergamot, ginger and sandalwood." 

Left - Ormaie - 100ml - £180 Exclusive to Harvey Nichols

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GROUNDTRUTH is a new premium bag brand made from a bespoke PET fabric which was developed using post-consumer plastic extracted from the environment. Even the thread is recycled.

Left - RIKR RANGE 24L BACKPACK - £ 256

GROUNDTRUTH was founded by Sophia, Georgia and Nina Scott, three sisters who have experienced a lifetime of intercontinental, and sometimes extreme, travel. Together, Georgia and Sophia have spent over a decade working and living in communities around the world while filming documentaries for their company, Groundtruth Productions, while Nina has spent her career in product development and artisan textiles, pioneering sustainable products and innovative fabrics. 

In addition to reducing plastic pollution, GROUNDTRUTH prioritises ethical production methods by partnering with manufacturers who are approved by bluesignâ, an organisation which provides safer and more sustainable working conditions to change the environmental impact of the textile and fashion industries. 

The brand’s first range is called ‘RIKR’, with a backpack being the hero product. Made from 120 plastic bottles, it provides the reliability any traveller might need without sacrificing the wellbeing of the environment for its production. It is 100% recycled.

Right - Founders, Sophia, Georgia and Nina Scott

To celebrate their launch there is a pop-up shop at Protein Studios, Shoreditch until Wednesday 11th September. 

TheChicGeek says, "I'm banning the word 'sustainable' until further notice, but this bag is really making advances by being 100% recycled. I do wonder what we're going to do when we run out of plastic bottles?! The reason the bag is black is because this is the easiest colour with the least processes, and there has been a lot of thought and care gone into this new brand and product."