A B O U T U S
Europe-based brand MERTL & VALENTE wishes to sell only Europe-wide to limit their carbon
footprint by sourcing fabrics and manufacturing locally.
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Fashion designer Stepan Mertl is the CEO and editor with a pragmatic and engineer-like mind
influencing the brand to reach perfection through soft tailoring, skilled pattern cutting, technology and editing.
Fashion designer and illustrator Giorgio Valente is the COO and Creative Director with a more
sensitive and conceptual mind who wishes to unpick societal archetypes, combining art and illustrations, inspirations and ideas with tailoring, elaborate draping techniques and innovative composition.
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Their aim is to propose a new take on modern fashion by creating high-quality and high-performing garments, combining their Czech and Italian heritage with creative thinking and design innovation.With the main focus being quality, comfort and sustainability. In the context of maintaining the health
of our planet, their ultimate goal would be to achieve fully circular economy in large scale.
O U R S T O R Y
Stepan Mertl and Giorgio Valente met in 2016, whilst studying for a BA in Fashion Design, at the University of Falmouth in the southwest of England. They shared ideas regarding a more sustainable future hoping to have a positive impact in the world of the arts.
Originally they started designing pieces of interior decor. But a passion for making garments prevailed, in their meetings with like-minded people on and off-campus, during their stay in the UK.
Consequently, they discussed a plan for a partnership in fashion design. They would often meet in a tiny greenhouse on campus to imagine a future together as a brand.
Mertl&Valente approaches the fashion industry with particular attention to the needs of the people of tomorrow.
They offer a gender-fluid take on modern fashion. In Giorgio’s words:
“It is not about a garment suggesting a specific gender. It is about the compromise between the piece of clothing and the wearer deciding to step outside the box in order to be more fluid.”
The brand does not wish to create genderless clothing. Mertl&Valente aims to create both masculine and feminine garments so that the wearers can decide for themselves. The clothes are designed through elaborated cut and draping to fit both the female and male bodies.
Fluidity and minimalism are both signatures of our brand with an elegant twist that looks with nostalgia to the past and to the ways the past has been used to portray more futuristic apparel.
Most importantly, there is a compulsive need to ensure comfort of the wearer with every single piece by cleaning up each edge and each seam. From the simplest to the more complex designs, everything has to be practical and wearable.
