Between The Lines 003: Brandblack
Wraptech Rubber and the Future of Footwear
Words: Sian Toolan
Photography: Matt Marsh
BTS: Zaineb Abelque
David Raysse & Billy Dill discuss Brandblack’s approach to design, technology and the new alternative to vulcanisation.
David Raysse founded Brandblack in 2012 with fellow veteran of footwear design, Billy Dill. Frustrated by the lack of market diversity and the creative limitations the pair encountered as designers, Brandblack sought to fill a void in a market controlled by a few large companies.
Today’s footwear industry is dominated by large conglomerates that utilise sports celebrity endorsements and strategic marketing, making it difficult for smaller brands to compete. As a designer for a major brand, “you put a lot of time, consideration and creativity into a product, and most of it doesn’t find its way into the marketplace, or if it does, its majorly watered down” explains Dill. “Big companies are ultimately beholden to its shareholders to make a profit. So the decisions are all made based on that” agreed Raysse. The result of shareholder value ruling business is an overwhelming amount of product on the marketplace that is over-produced and overly polished. Small brands, however, are likely to have a closer relationship with their customer, their design process from start to finish and even their supply chain. Starting Brandblack was, for Dill, “a wonderful opportunity to make what we really wanted and create product that we thought people would resonate with”. At the heart of the brand is two sneaker-heads, enthused by basketball and design, attempting to re-capture the magic that is so often lost within the mass market.
fig.1 Rare Metal II Components
Since its first release in 2014, Brandblack has tried to find harmony between functionality and fashion. The brand’s primary focus is delivering practical performance footwear and innovation and technology are intrinsic to this. By experimenting with the shoe-making process and the materials commonly associated with sports shoes, the brand looks to deconstruct classic notions of performance footwear in a way that is “minimal but unexpected”. Without the powerful weapon of celebrity, or The Kayne Effect, “we’ve got to be that much more diligent about how we bring newness and creativity to the table as we are not given that wide berth and acceptance. But again, that’s what gets us up in the morning” laughs Raysse. For Brandblack, innovation does not translate to off the wall, outlandish aesthetics but rather carefully considered and refined design. The aesthetic sensibility of Brandblack is essentially drawn from the pair’s personal style, interests and reactions to the current footwear industry.
“Manufacturing in general has gotten so automated and so consistent - I think we're all longing for the analog, handmade aspects of design”
As a small business, Brandblack is an undeniably personal project and “there’s a real human element to it” chimes Dill. “It's two guys that are putting in a lot of effort and a lot of feeling and we want that to resonate”. As such, technology is employed to emphasise, rather than iron out, the tactile qualities of footwear. David Raysse cites Tinker Hatfield as a significant influence, with his ability to combine technology and narrative, creating “a weird, personal side to design that's unresolved and almost dangerous and rough, a personality, and it isn't perfect”. The footwear industry is relentlessly streamlined, but Brandblack is concerned with the humanity of design. The celebrated imperfectness of wabi-sabi is instilled in the brand’s DNA, and their exploration of the tactility of footwear led to the exciting discovery of Wraptech.
Vibram’s Wraptech is an innovative advancement from vulcanisation. Vulcanised shoes, like Vans, have often been popular "because there's this almost roughness to them that gives them a personality” and Wraptech takes this flawed, human element to the next level. “Manufacturing in general has gotten so automated and so consistent - I think we're all longing for the analog, handmade aspects of design” explains Raysse. Unlike vulcanisation, Wraptech involves adding a fabric layer and creating a much thinner rubber. The sole is then brought over the sides of the shoe and heat-sealed, creating an irregular surface whilst drastically minimising production waste (you don't have to trim off any excess rubber). Billy Dill likens the process to nouveau cuisine or molecular gastronomy, “it is the same basic ingredients [as vulcanisation] but deconstructed and put back together completely differently”. As with any design, Raysse conducted considerable experimentation with the technology, manipulating and refining perceived flaws to achieve Brandblack’s distinct version of Wraptech.
“The first of a new generation of Brandblack products that speaks to the direction of the brand and what we have to say about the state of design right now”
The implications of Wraptech in performance footwear concerns the drastic difference in the weight of the rubber. “I think we've spent the better part of 70 years trying to take rubber away to make performance shoes. But Wraptech can make the rubber so thin…now you can wrap the whole thing in rubber and it's still super light”. Rare Metal is an ode to the original Air Force One or Converse One Star, and the early days of basketball, “practically rubber porn”. The design is intentionally shocking, as Raysse expands “with my love of Tinker, and his breath in this, it’s an almost crude slap in your face level of rubber”. At 11 ounces for a Men’s US 9, Rare Metal is an insanely light basketball shoe that is spearheading the future of performance-wear.
The technology of Wraptech also offers advancements in sustainable factory practices. It’s discovery and subsequent investment somewhat goes to show how big factories are changing. Brandblack strives to work with forward thinking factories and long term partners, “so they're injecting sustainable ideas in the products without us even forcing their hand”. Raysse believes, “it is the parts of a business that are less sexy that have a bigger effect” when it comes to sustainability. In particular, the brand is working with a factory that uses green polymers (cement from plant products), they are working on pineapple fibre textiles for their Spring ’22 collection, and conducting new research into the properties of hemp. Raysse’s ideal vision of the industry would not involve “the hegemony of social media, in which we all want the same thing” or mass production, as the real issue of sustainability in the sneaker industry pertains to the effects of “drop culture”. Shoes today have limited cultural longevity, and the increasing rate in which the next must-have is released only drives the disposability of fashion. Brandblack’s current approach questions sneaker culture, designing shoes intended to last physically and within the fashion market. The brand’s further focus on limited-run functional product that is unconcerned with hype or the gimmicks of marketing solidifies their place as a progressive brand.
“What makes designs interesting is that you have limitations, and then you have to be creative within those limitations” and being a sustainable brand is part of this. “COVID-19 has also become part of that limitation and everybody's doing things a little bit differently” explains Dill. This year has had a significant impact on Brandblack and both designers have found slowing down to be the most important thing. In line with the principles of wabi-sabi, stepping back from the world has allowed them to reconnect with nature, people and their core values. Exploring natural dyes and wood work over lockdown periods, it’s safe to say that Raysse’s design outlook has changed. When designing a new collection, he is reacting to materials, meditating over what is in front of him, and imagining himself as an apparel brand collaborating with Brandblack to “quieten the white noise of designers competing with other designers”. It feels as though the pandemic, alike the discovery of Wraptech, has reinvigorated the brand’s identity, as they continue to work in a way that neither waters down creativity or ethics.
With their impassioned approach to design, Brandblack is simply two purists of the product with an authentic love for sneakers. The upcoming Rare Metal II is “the first of a new generation of Brandblack products that speaks to the direction of the brand and what we have to say about the state of design right now”. Continuing to critique the industry from the inside, Brandblack doesn’t seek to follow trends and believes that the future of footwear really lies in the raw human qualities of shoe-making. As the brand expands upon the imperfection of Wraptech, and pushes into the running category for Spring ’22, we’re excited to see what they teach us next.