Between The Lines 020: Neutra & Byborre
Introducing The Neutra Simbiosi
Words: Sian Lori
Neutra have announced the second instalment of their collaborative journey with textile innovation studio BYBORRE. Continuing to explore the power of bespoke and conscious textiles, this project sees Neutra step outside their traditional design language with a wildly new silhouette, the Neutra Simbiosi.
The project of Francois Duret and Mathias Courdier, Neutra continues to create lasting products for the future, reimagining classic shapes through a considered lens of quality and craftsmanship. For a young brand, collaboration offers the unique opportunity for problem-solving and innovation and BYBORRE, the 14-year project of Borre Akkersdijk, has innovation at its core.
“We try to seal real partnerships with everyone we work with, whether it’s factories, our quality leather suppliers, or other brands”
Francois Duret (Co-founder of Neutra)
BYBORRE is a showcase of sensory state-of-the-art textiles and virtuosic techniques with a global initiative and a tech platform that aids creators around the world in designing and evolving their own textiles. No strangers to collaboration, BYBORRE’s portfolio includes the likes of Gore-Tex, Adidas, Rapha, Porter Bags and Diemme. BYBORRE and Neutra began working together in 2022, transforming Neutra’s experimental camo-pattern into a 3D textile for their Hakone Trainer. The Neutra Simbiosi denotes the beginning of a fuller collaborative approach.
The Neutra Simbiosi markedly pays homage to the project’s roots in Italy alongside the collaboration’s leading concept of synergy. A true collaborative endeavour, co-designed with Borre himself, its a “1+1=3 approach” explains Francois. This definition of synergy prioritises genuine human connection for a combination of energies, resources, talents and efforts that are more than the sum of their parts. As a result, the Neutra Simbiosi represents an entirely new and unexpected venture for each collaborator.
Following an intense workshop and industry feedback in Milan, the Neutra Simbiosi boasts a detailed sculptural Vibram sole, a rip-stop midsection and a unique draw-toggle fastening. The low-top style is complete with an original tactile Jacquard textile, developed with BYBORRE’s technology, and delivered in a blush pink-tone. The Simbiosi is launched alongside a structured utility vest rendered in the same textile and finished with black taping that mirrors the shoe. A larger playing field for the innovative fabric, the vest signifies the world in which the Simbiosi inhabits: a world that understands the practical and stylistic needs of consumers.
While the Simbiosi is radically different for Neutra - who regularly look to timeless shapes - it maintains BYBORRE’s radical approach to textiles and the same craftsmanship and quality engrained in Neutra’s DNA. The shoe is a direct representation of the shared values and goals of its collaborators: to readdress the current systems of production by placing value on raw materials, people and labour. BYBORRE gives creators access to the notoriously wasteful and expensive process of Research & Development, enabling conscious decision making from the yarn-up. The Simbiosi utilises this R&D and, like all of Neutra’s products, it is manufactured in France, in the same factory, by the same people, using the same highcalibre leathers and trims.
Neutra defines quality in the overall process, output and effects of their products. By blending the expertise of traditional French production with BYBORRE’s modern technology, Neutra’s ongoing collaboration with BYBORRE is sure to lead to better textiles, better footwear and better decisions.
