CO-BRANDING WITH VIBRAM

Ilaria Venturini Fendi designed a Carmina Campus collection of bags and accessories created from scrap materials reclaimed from Vibram, the world's leading industry in the production of high performance rubber soles.

The collection was first presented at design store ENTRATALIBERA in February 2015 and later at 10 Corso Como both in Milan.

The two brands share the idea that industrial manufacturing should focus on a more sustainable approach to production and trade.

The collection includes totes, clutches and unisex shopping bags. Rubber leftovers of various thicknesses and colours have been used to make the bags' bodies, while scraps of material reclaimed from deflashing processes have been turned into handles or decors.

Defective soles that did not match Vibram's top quality standards were cut into pieces and the typical hobnails of the "carrarmato" were set into metal frames to decorate the bags' handles and flaps.

Necklaces made from the rubber excess deriving from the soles cutting as well as other jewels like bracelets, earrings, rings, pins and cufflinks were also decorated by framed pieces of the soles.

As for all Carmina Campus styles, the leather for the trimming comes from manufacturers' sample swatches. Inserts of fur remnants are often matching rubber enriching the crafting of the most elaborate styles. Replicas of every style are one of a kind because of the varying mix of shapes and colours of materials.

Some styles were made using Ecostep strips, an exclusive Vibram mixture with a multi-coloured dotted effect obtained from production scraps that can reduce waste and the use of virgin materials by up to 30%. The basic shades were black, grey, blue, honey brown.

Side twining and visible stitching on the edges are enlivened by coloured shoe laces (also reclaimed from stocks) that become decors on the flaps of trunk bags, messenger bags, cuff clutches, round minibags.

In the design of special totes small scraps of rubber were hand-braided and assembled by means of shoe lace twinings, while for the Spring/Summer season sandals matching the bags in colours and decors were also included in the collection.