Nepenthes, the quietly huge Japanese company that owns domestic labels like South2 West8 and NEEDLES and American makers like Engineered Garments, is stepping into a brave new world. Or should I say lacing up?
Eh, probably not. It seemed appropriate, because tActi, a brand-new Nepenthes sub-label, is launching with a collection called “Tie UnTie” in reference to the various lacing constructs that appear throughout. But a reach is a reach.
tActi is the brainchild of YoungJi Cho, a Korean-born and New York-based designer who interned at Engineered Garments and went on to work in the production and design branches of New York’s Nepenthes branch.
Before debuting tActi, Cho oversaw BLANK, a separate line under the Nepenthes umbrella.
Despite its name, BLANK offered rather expressive womenswear that reinterpreted workwear tropes — field jackets, cargo pants — as cropped layers, skirts, and cropped trousers.
tActi, available at Nepenthes stores and a handful of stockists, similarly skews the familiar, mutating fishing vests, overalls, work shirts, and denim shirts into generous dresses that warp into belted coats or unbutton into jacket and skirt sets.
It’s all redolent of everything Nepenthes — a little Engineered Garments in the textiles, a little NEEDLES in the generously shifting silhouettes — but still plenty distinct. Further, tActi’s launch reminds me of COMME des GARÇONS, a classic Nepenthes touchstone.
Partially in the line’s dynamic detailing, sure, but also in how it reflects Nepenthes’ recently expanding world.
CdG represents a vast family of brands that range from avant to ordinary. Nepenthes, similarly, reflects a variety of likeminded but independent operations. This is not new. But tActi’s launch provides a worthy moment to reflect on the current state of things.
“Nepenthes is slowly building up its womenswear range” to fill a gap in the current market, a Nepenthes representative tells me. This caught my ear because I tend to pigeonhole Nepenthes labels as menswear-leaning, which isn’t necessarily true.
He also hinted that the company’s current slate of imprints offer “a clue to what Nepenthes has planned in the very near future.”
Beyond tActi and its most famous lines — NEEDLES, EG, S2W8 — Nepenthes launched Rhodolirion, another womenswear line, and Shiden, a motorsport-leaning collection overseen by Japanese stylist Masataka Hattori in the past two years while RandT and AiE, two menswear lines, have “ceased operations.”
There are also endeavors like EG Workaday, footwear-leaning Woburn Walk, and the various exclusives and special projects undertaken by local Nepenthes branches, or even the many seasonal collaborations and third-party shoes sold in-store.
Phew.
It’s a rich world that Nepenthes weaves. tActi is demonstrative of it getting even richer.
