THE BRAND

Cottweiler is a British men's fashion brand with a conceptual approach to design and implementation of premium ready-to-wear clothing. The name Cottweiler consists of Designers Ben Cottrell´s surname und Matthew Dainty´s mothers maiden name.

With its composition, the label offers a harmonious mix of the environments of designers Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty, sportswear, fetish and casual clothing. The implementation aims at fabrics and cut, fitting is a top priority. in return, the brand dispenses with large brandings.

The brand is known for its extraordinary interpretation of tracksuits, which offer a luxurious touch, contrasting to many other participants in the industry. Cottweiler is a label with the claim to always remain original and authentic. In addition, they renounce trends, mainstream and often deliberately decide to act contrary to the flow.

HISTORY

Cottweiler was born in 2012. After studying, the two heads Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty joined forces to create a label. The label was Cottweiler and despite always working for other big companies, they kept their maxim and finally focused on themselves. The experience and know-how were essential for Cottweiler's career. With a kick-off immediately after graduation, you wouldn't see the image of Cottweiler today. Cottrell and Dainty could never have offered such quality and variety otherwise. They let everything grow and flourish at a healthy pace. The result was a finished and well thought-out collection.

The breakthrough came in 2012 when the UK Store Primitive launched the Cottweiler collection. A little later another giant of the scene came on stage. The Tokyo-based store GR8 came to the fore. Leader Mitsuhiro Kubo came across the London label and was immediately affine with Cottweiler's vision and look.

With only a handful of stores initially that offered Cottweiler, they grew to nearly 30 distributors worldwide in just a few seasons.

Furthermore, Cottweiler has distinguished himself in many competitions. They won the Pioneer Award at the Center For Fashion Enterprise, were nominated for the LVMH Prize in 2016 and for the British Fashion Award as Emerging Talent Menswear just one year later. They won the International Woolmark Prize 2017 for their merino wool collection and twice the British Fashion Council´s Newgen Award for their Spring / Summer 16 and Fall / Winter 18 collections.

DESIGNER

Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty met during their fashion studies at the University of West England, Bristol. Cottrell and Dainty shared their work flow and the views on creativity, as well as the understanding of design and fashion.

The two quickly became friends, during an excursion of their fashion class to Paris they preferred to go out and explore the French techno scene instead of carrying out their activities as students. The two kept this bold attitude and so their approach to some topics is still today.

After graduation, the two worked with heavyweights from the fashion industry, so Matthew Dainty teamed up with Kim Jones and worked with him on his collaboration for Umbro. Even at that time, the aim was to create an appealing and high-quality version of the sporty silhouettes.

Ben Cottrell, on the other hand, worked on the famous Savile Row in London for Ozwald Boateng and gained a lot of his field experience there.

The harmony of nature and humanoid effect has always been important to Cottweiler. In the course of time, this theme was also increasingly represented in the collection.

The environment and social surroundings are still influences to which the two designers attach great importance.

Cottweiler's designs are always unaffected by fast-moving trends, they set themselves the task of swimming against the flow.

COLLECTIONS

Fall / Winter 19

The collection has a wider product range than the prior ones. They wanted to move away from just the sportswear idea of the brand. By using more tailoring, denim, and sheepskins. Cottweiler added a more formal touch, with hand-dyed merino shearling, mohair appliqué, and semi-transparent sheer fabrics for the shirting. The collection comprises trademark thermoregulated soft shell tracksuits, libidinous style details (exposed nipples, diagonal flies on the pants), and two new collaborations: one outerwear, one footwear. That's how the brand plays with the tension between sportswear, menswear, and underground subcultures.

Spring / Summer 19

Cottweiler starts the spring season with new inspiration, this time the creative flow comes from a trip of the two designers Cottrell & Dainty to the Blue Mountain Mediation Centre in Australia. It's about exploring one's own inner self, about the beautiful & also the inner dark side that everyone carries within themselves.

The styles are also divided in two. On one side we find black, shiny tracksuit combinations, on the other side we find soft lilac, baby blue and tones from ochre to yellow & gold in a restrained colour intensity.

Fall / Winter 18

The secluded life in a cave is the setting for the F/W 18 Cottweiler collection. Dualism or the clash of man and nature have always been a theme for the London label.

Now they have come to terms with the seclusion of a cave expedition. Especially for this they visited a Slovenian cave system.

The fabrics have once again been chosen very naturally and stand in contrast to the original synthetic fabrics Cottweiler used in their beginnings. Cave climbing equipment has been transformed into accessories, hooks and karabiners are attached to belts and trousers and provide the technical part in the otherwise natural look. Shimmering fabrics reflect the interior of a cave and provide a perfect colour scheme.

Spring / Summer 18

Life in the desert, survival and nomads are the subjects of S/S 18 collection. Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty dealt with it intensively, even lived for a week in a remote desert city to feel life there. The interaction of nature, the people and the animals there was important to make her mindset.

Accordingly, the colour is very earthy and sandy. Beige and soft green are rarely pierced by popping orange pieces.

Fall / Winter 17

For this season Cottweiler leads us into a problematic topic of today's generation. For the duo, solidarity with nature has always been important, so it is all the more regrettable that this possibility is suffocated by the industry. In today's consumer society it is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with oneself and the environment. With this in mind, the setting introduces us to the idea of camping in a mall.

Here contemporary purple meets natural green, the looks are inspired by camping objects, sleeping bags and air mattresses have been modified. Some fabrics are so frayed that they look like hunter camouflage suits.

Spring / Summer 17

With her first show ever Cottweiler could attract many interested looks. The concept convinced many and the runway's ruin-like appearance with various shards of clay on the floor created a dystopian look in which the futuristic collection was shown.

Transparent white and a soft blue were the dominant colours of the season. The design was elegant and sporty as usual.