INTRODUCING: PAL OFFNER
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"OUR VISION IS TO MELT BOUNDARIES BETWEEN MASCULINITY AND FEMINITY, STRAIGHT FORWARD AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, ZEITGEIST AND TIMELESSNESS." WE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO DEFINE THEIR OWN LIMITS. TO DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES HOW FEMINIE OR MASCULINE THEY WANT TO DRESS. BECAUSE GENDER DOES NOT STAND ABOVE PERSONAL TASTE. SOCIALLY DEFINED ROLES DON'T RULE OVER THE INDIVIDUAL."
Strict design disrupted by the use of cut edges, exceptional details, creased materials and handmade finishings. Asymmetries and deconstruction fuse with classic tailoring, playing with polarity. This is what defines Pal Offner.
Founded in 2013 by Nele Offner, the creative heart, and Sabina Pal, the strategic head in Germany. Together Pal Offner aim to create pieces that make you feel unique, yet comfortable and something special that will last you a lifetime.
“We are opposites with the same aesthetic. This leads to focus in dispersal. To perfection within the aesthetic of the ‘imperfect look’. Our biggest similarity besides our aesthetics is a big open smile and loads of energy.”
It all started with two backpacks and a bag. Ever since the timeless and fair leather collection keeps growing, from bags to small leather accessories, all of them made with diligence and passion in a one-man-manufacturing process in Greece.Each bag is handcrafted by artisan manufacturer, Ioannis, who hand makes each individual bag by himself in his Greece Workshop. Each piece you hold is completely authentic, no bag is quite the same. His passion for working with leather is infinite, made with love for the craft.
Ioannis approached the duo at a fashion show in Milan, and felt they could be quite the match, “and we truly are!” says Offner, “He understands our aesthetics and finds solutions for any design idea we come up with in his very own workshop in Greece. His passion for working with leather is infinite. We are very proud to say that our products are not only made with love, but also under fair, self-determined conditions.”
Ioannis develops the pattern stencil by hand. He does this cutting, but hand. He does the sewing - ok, fair enough he uses a sewing machine. He adds buttons, button holes and fixation stitches - by hand. He washed each item to get the lively leather look - by hand. Eventually he adds the signature ‘PAL OFFNER’ embossment to each item - by hand.
Nele Offner and Sabina Pal share a deep connection with Ioannis, working closely over the years to grow the leather collection.
“Clothing was conceived as a multi-use tool for man to have something for protection from the wildlife and also warmth in times of cold. For years I’ve been trying to find a more contemporary replacement for this definition of clothing. Pal Offner has given me the opportunity to manufacture garments and accessories using the first fabric used by man with the good being the expression of the soul of both the wearer and the manufacturer. Clothing now is the reflection of someone’s mind and soul, the simplest way of understanding a person’s views and truly and extension of the body. Grow your leather winds” - Ioannis’ then 18 year old son on his fathers work.
