RÆFOUND

For RÆBURN, military surplus had long provided a starting point for transformation. Original parachutes, uniforms and equipment were deconstructed and RÆMADE into entirely new garments and objects.RÆFOUND turns that methodology on its head.Instead of asking what could we make from this?, the question becomes does anything need to be made at all?

RÆFOUND is an evolving, non-seasonal collection of original, unworn military apparel and accessories, carefully sourced and selected for their inherent design, functionality and continued relevance. All-weather parkas, insulated trousers, field jackets, bags, hats and complete uniform systems are wear-tested and quality-checked through the RÆBURN studio, but otherwise left virtually untouched.

There is no unnecessary redesign and no attempt to disguise where the garments have come from. Aside from minimal RÆBURN identification as a mark of provenance, the original product is the product.

NOTHING NEW. NOTHING WASTED.

RÆFOUND is both a product proposition and a provocation to an industry built around the continual creation of newness.

The fashion system has become extraordinarily effective at making things, but less effective at questioning whether those things needed to be made in the first place. RÆFOUND proposes another possibility: newness doesn't necessarily require new production.

Military surplus provides a particularly compelling example. Garments can become obsolete because a specification, camouflage system or operational requirement changes, while the objects themselves remain unworn, highly functional and capable of decades of further use. RÆFOUND identifies value within that redundancy and brings those existing garments back into circulation.

In doing so, the role of the designer changes. Design becomes as much about curation, judgement and restraint as intervention; recognising when an existing object has already solved the problem remarkably well.

RÆFOUND therefore sits alongside RÆMADE, RÆDUCED and RÆCYCLED as one of the clearest expressions of the wider RÆBURN philosophy. Where RÆMADE demonstrates the possibilities of transformation, RÆFOUND demonstrates the potential of preservation.

It challenges conventional ideas of creativity and consumption by proposing something deceptively simple: sometimes the most radical thing a designer can make is nothing at all