Since its inception in 2012, Db has been clear about its mission: it’s, merely, to “create higher journey options” for its neighborhood of athletes and adventurers. Its most up-to-date assortment, Weigh Lighter, is as a lot a labor of affection as it’s a realization of its core function, comprising 5 exceptionally light-weight and equally sturdy luggage constructed with a comparatively new mono materials known as Graflyte – a “next-generation” composite material created by revolutionary supplies firm ALUULA, Graflyte is described as having “eight occasions the strength-to-weight ratio of metal [with] a tender nylon really feel” and is waterproof, UV-resistant and might be recycled.
A homegrown success story in Scandinavia, Db has emerged as a quick rising international cult-favorite amongst travellers worldwide – not too long ago, LVMH’s Luxurious Ventures Fund (LLV) introduced that it had acquired a minority stake within the model, an funding that’s testomony to each its pedigree as a purveyor of premium journey items as it’s to the rise in international curiosity it has been experiencing. The brand new Weigh Lighter assortment is rooted in Db’s core rules to create the perfect merchandise while additionally looking forward to discover and use supplies in new and revolutionary methods, performing as a form of crossroads the place its robust latest development meets its ever-growing ambitions as a model. “I feel it’s protected to say that this assortment represents a brand new chapter for the model,” Vincent Laine, Db’s Inventive Director, tells Hypebeast, including that the method of bringing Weigh Lighter to market “carved new lanes in our inventive considering and gave us new instruments for the long run – new pillars that we now can proudly construct upon shifting ahead.”
The gathering was developed over greater than a 12 months of rigorous trial and error with Db working carefully with ALUULA to attempt, check, and study which of the various completely different configurations of cloth thickness, placement and design would make one of the best finish product. For Db, creating Weigh Lighter was additionally a little bit of a leap of religion: it was a completely new course of for its workforce, a few of whom have been with the corporate from the beginning. “We didn’t know precisely the place we might find yourself and the way it could prove,” Laine tells Hypebeast, “there was no assure this is able to work – we simply needed to imagine in it collectively.” Laine – who joined Db from Leica, the place he’s credited because the lead designer of each the Leica Q and Leica Q2 cameras – attributes his private development and the workforce’s evolution to the venture, telling us that “as designers and creatives this venture allowed us to evolve as a workforce” and including that the method in the end “challenged [and] modified our preconceptions.”
“As a workforce, we have now by no means finished this a lot heavy lifting simply to create one thing this mild.”
The Weigh Lighter assortment options 4 luggage and a snow curler, Db’s signature product, together with the Weigh Lighter Sling, a super-light shoulder or waist bag that matches as much as 10L of stuff and weighs simply 138g; that is joined by the Weigh Lighter Backpack, a 25L capability “mountaineering bag” that appears simply at house within the metropolis because it does on the slopes, which encompasses a roll-top closure and a two-way vertical zipper for fast entry, weighing solely 470g; the biggest of the lot, the Weigh Lighter Break up Duffel is a Graflyte tackle one in all Db’s hottest fashions, that includes an enormous 70L of area and weighing simply 1.3kg (round 2.8lbs). With snow sports activities at its coronary heart, Db’s Weigh Lighter assortment additionally consists of the Weigh Lighter Helmet Bag, a 32L multi-use carryall that matches giant ski and snowboard helmets, in addition to absolutely anything else. And final, and fairly actually least (given the model has made lower than 20 items), Db has revolutionized the Snow Curler – the very first product it launched – with the 127L Weigh Lighter Snow Curler Professional, creating what it says is the “the world’s first size adjustable, compressible ski and snowboard bag.” Weighing simply 2.4kg (round 5.3lbs), the Weigh Lighter Snow Curler Professional is 50% lighter than the unique Snow Curler, a extremely restricted area of interest product with a value to match.
In addition to being extremely mild, Db selected to make use of Graflyte for this assortment due to its translucent nature. At a look, the luggage are white; however, up shut, you discover that they’re partly see-through. Db’s design language is one in all its signatures: it usually makes merchandise which are modular and might be mixed for comfort with others. Db utilized the identical strategy in designing the Weigh Lighter assortment, utilizing the fabric’s naturally clear qualities as a function for its customers. “We strategically designed panels and pockets to offer visibility the place wanted, permitting customers to see contents at a look,” explains Laine, including that the model additionally included “opaque compartments for privateness.”
“This interaction of transparency knowledgeable each the outside and inside development. Past perform, translucency grew to become a design instrument in itself, permitting us to rethink branding and layering. As a substitute of conventional floor functions, we embedded components beneath the material, letting them emerge subtly by means of the fabric. This strategy additionally led us to proudly expose structural elements which are usually hidden—similar to our recycled foam, turning them right into a defining visible assertion slightly than concealing them behind layers.”
To shoot the marketing campaign for its new assortment, Db headed to Nordkapp (North Cape) in Norway – an all-white place with an otherworldly really feel located above the Arctic Circle. The cape, positioned on an island known as Magerøya, can be the northernmost a part of Europe, the literal final piece of land on the continent – an acceptable location for a deserving assortment. If Db’s ambitions as a model weren’t already clear by means of its newest assortment, it could be protected to say that its location scout got here by means of as backup.
“Translucency typically signifies that a material is skinny or weak in conventional phrases – besides on this case, the place it’s the most sturdy material we have now ever used. This actual twist of our preconceptions felt as if we have been dishonest physics, it sparked a way of one thing otherworldly and ethereal that in the end guided our visible expression in addition to the placement the place we shot the marketing campaign, in North Cape – the northernmost level in Europe,” says Laine. “This panorama speaks in sudden extremes and for this journey there was no exception. The colorway by which we launched Weigh Lighter known as Aurora, mirrored within the purple and lime inexperienced accents all through the gathering. On the final night time of the shoot we received to expertise aurora and its grand mystique – closing the circle by connecting the intent of the product, our visible idea within the very nature that impressed us.”
The Weigh Lighter assortment marks the beginning of a brand new chapter for Db, showcasing the model’s technical prowess whereas remaining true to its design DNA. It’s obtainable now worldwide on Db’s web site and choose retail companions.
