Wonder Fabric of the 1990's

With a surgence of popularity in outdoor winter sports in the early 1990's, a demand grew that called for a textile material that presented better dimensional stability and tenacity for water exposure compared to standard wool. The answer to this demand came in the form of a synthetic material that became known as "fleece."

Although initially invented in the 1980's, the use of fleece gained momentum in the 1990's with the development of PolarTec®.

Marketed in 1991 as an improvement over a previous invention patented as PolarPlus®, Polartec® offered greater advantages than its predecessor such as:

-versatile enough to be used for different layers of clothing (outerwear to underwear)

-used for warm and cool

-insulating and breatheable

-blocking wind and rain

-quick drying

-"wick"'s moisture and sweat away from skin

-high warmth-to-weight ratio

In 1999, Time magazine named PolarTec® fleece "one of the most important inventions of the 20th Century." Statements such as this further cement the importance of fleece today and in the future.


Posted by: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Espen, Hal. (1998, February). Fleeced. The New York Times Magazine. pp. 20-23.

The Northface. (2007). Technology Partners. Retrieved September 30, 2009 from http://content.thenorthface.com/na/partners_technology.html.

David Carson: "The End of Print"

Graphic Designer David Carson made a splash in 1990 by publishing his work in the first issue of Beach Culture, a new cutting-edge surfing magazine.

In his ground-breaking design, Carson abstained from utilizing traditional print methods by creating a chaotic layout for the editorial that included:

-Experimental typography

-Overlapping Photos

-Numerous different fonts

- Folio numbers larger than the headlines

In all, Carson was lauded for his bold design, regardless of it's lack of a traditional, more legibile format. His "visually challenging" layout of text and images were famously used in other editorials such as Ray Gun magazine and paved the way for other designers to forego traditional typographic standards in favor of artistic expression.


Posted By: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Blackwell, Lewis ed. (1998). The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Digital Poetry Overview. (2009). Typographic Innovations: 1980's and Onward. Retrieved September 28, 2009 from http://glia.ca/conu/digitalPoetics/prehistoric-blog/?p=217.

Going For the "Grunge Look"

In the early 1990's, one trend originated in Seattle, WA that transcended others at the time was "the Grunge Look."

"Grunge" was defined by several trend factors such as:

-torn and dirty jeans (Dickies)

-clunky boots (Doc Martens, Catepillar)

-plaid flannel shirts

-long hair

-sloppy, laid back and comfortable clothing well worn and adapted from the industrial clothing worn by many loggers and manufacturing workers in the Pacific Northwest.

"Grunge" was viewed as a reaction by the anti-disestablishment youth of the the time in response to many of the clean and preppy looking business professionals that had found work in the area due to a growth in the high-tech industry with companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. Outside of this effect, the "grunge" trend was also influenced by local bands at the time such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains etc. all of whom had members that grew up in blue-collar households and had been exposed to such industrial clothing. The growing popularity of these bands greatly perpetuated the trend and introduced it to a global audience it otherwise may have never met.

In response to the "Grunge" trend, designers such as Calvin Klein became the first to produce jeans and other clothing that were intentionally damaged and dirty before they were put on the market. Although the style subsided after two years and was dismissed as a "ridiculous" fad, impressions of it can still be seen in the popularity of damaged denim jeans which continue to sell on the market.


Posted by: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Mason Blair, Karen. (1990). The Grunge Look: Alice In Chains. Corbis. Retrieved September 28, 2009 from http://pro.corbis.com.

Crave Online. (2009). 10 Things About the 90's I'd Like to See Make a Comeback. Retrieved September 28, 2009 from http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/humor/article/10-things-about-the-90s-id-like-to-see-make-a-comeback-73055/2