Unknown Union came to my teammates and I early in their pursuits toward US markets looking for help with sample development for over ten garments, including mostly business garments with a few novelty pieces. Their brand is a highly conceptual interpretation of hidden indigenous people’s cultures, for a corresponding trend-setting customer looking for fresh edgy takes on business casual. 

All work was primarily standard sample development, for which I created several technical sketches, assisted with tech pack specs and fittings, and cleaned up much of the Carlos Luna artwork, a Cuban storytelling artist with whom they regularly collaborate. 

A year or so later, with a new casual but tasteful basics collection called Philos, Unknown Union tasked a communications firm to sieve their lofty concepts of transformation, philosophy, and Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” into an Instagram teaser campaign. Being friends of mine who knew I was familiar with the brand, they brought me onto the project and I helped pitch the IG campaign to match Dan Harman’s “Story Circle”, directed the photography shoot and interview session for the re-introduction of their brand, and created a set of 3D renders of their Philos collection when samples couldn’t come in on time for the 2022 Project Tokyo tradeshow. Founders Jason and Jenifer Story were pleasantly surprised we were able to understand their brand so quickly, and the 3D renders absolutely came to the rescue with the buyers in Japan asking for line sheets.