MCM and Harper Collective partner on a new collection of luggage
The launch of Harper Collective, last year at Selfridges in London, caught the eye of quite a few – among those admirers was Munich’s MCM. In just a few months, that interest had grown into a collaboration fit to present at Milan’s Fashion week – a set of Harper Collective’s travel cases that make use of upcycled MCM materials alongside their ocean-plastic shells. MCM’s chairperson Sung-Joo Kim sees the themes of travel and discovery as core to the brand’s identity – these pieces come out of a “responsibility to do things better” – and those eyes to the future see the luggage promoted with CGI concieved by Harper co-founder Jaden Smith and graffiti artwork by Inagaki.
That collection launches in full today, and to mark the occasion Harper’s other co-founder, Sebastian Manes, talked to Port about the thinking behind it and what the future might hold.
You’ve talked about this being part of a new era where sustainability and beauty coexist – what inspires you about that future?
Our passion lies in creating beautiful objects using existing materials whenever possible. We simply love the complexity of reusing existing materials; there’s something inherently beautiful about creating within the constraints of what already exists.
At Harper, we aim to prove that it’s feasible to design stunning and functional products with a significant portion of used plastics, ideally discarded fishing nets. The future of manufacturing must lie in recycling and repurposing materials and halting the use of virgin plastics. That’s the only way to make a meaningful difference.
Could you tell us a little bit about your thinking on repurposing and circularity?
Reusing waste is the foundation of our philosophy. We are dedicated to demonstrating that, despite the significant challenges of using post-consumer plastics, we are proving that is possible to achieve this goal. Our mission is so deeply ingrained that we make our entire supply chain accessible and transparent to everyone on our website. A few months ago, we released a film explaining how we transform fishing nets into plastic pellets, aiming to influence positively by detailing the process. We’re eager to support and advise other companies on their sustainability journeys by sharing best practices and hard lessons we’ve learned over the past six years. Our commitment to using post-consumer plastics remains the same, and we are ready to share our knowledge to make this journey more motivating and less challenging for others.
For the MCM collaboration, the process of bringing everything together has been amazing. The film we developed together with The New Face agency team creatively explains our mission, making it accessible to everyone. Collaborating with the talented Japanese artist Yutaro Inagaki for the avatar in the film added an exceptional touch to the project, enhancing its beauty and art even further.
“To be continued…” at the end of the film signifies that our work is ongoing and that more efforts are needed to further this mission by using recycled materials.
Did anything surprise you about the collaboration?
The ambition of this collaboration was truly surprising. Harper went live on August 8th after nearly five years of research and development when MCM approached us. We were honored to have our efforts recognized at such an early stage. This recognition pushed us to further innovate, leading to manufacturing for the first time with Italian artisans 40 miles from Milan and creating new styles, like the cabin+ expandable. We engineered new lightweight aluminum parts, such as handles and telescopic pull rings, best known for our sleek signature movement. Achieving all this in less than a year was a remarkable feat for our small startup like us working with a large, successful company like MCM. It demonstrated that with collective effort and determination, anything is possible. The speed of execution and the willingness of the entire company to create something extraordinary was the most pleasant surprise.
One of my favorite aspects of the collection is the meticulous attention to detail. This collaboration pays homage to iconic MCM elements, such as the viseto, by incorporating sellier crisscross hand-stitching inspired by traditional artisanship techniques. The quilted lining inside the products, inspired by MCM puffer jackets, is superb. We paired it with upcycled MCM old stock straps that we handpicked from various decades in the MCM warehouse. Additionally, we introduced new technology for the first time, like the Aura digital passport. These details truly highlight the unique blend of heritage and innovation in our collaboration. The term ‘collaboration’ is often overused, but we aimed to create something truly meaningful and push the boundaries, that’s what makes us excited in life!
