There's a centre of technical and tailoring expertise on the edges of Porto, in the gorgeous Duoro Valley.
If you’ve ever held a FRAHM, you’d know that the level of quality, detail and exactness, especially given its handmade, only comes from people with immense skill and experience.
People who own and work at this shining beauty - Pafil. No sweatshops here.
First up, fabric testing in Pafil. Pafil is a state of the art family business near Porto. This is the CEO. She knows everything. I’m showing the guys I need them to shoot this. I’m excited. They’re testing our Waterproof Utility Field Jacket fabric and seam taping.
The process involves pushing water against the fabric at ever higher pressures. They couldn’t believe the strain the fabric was taking was taking. Not a drop.
Next we tested a seam without tape. Low pressure (a shower), it’s fine. High pressures (we’re talking deep sea diving, but don’t try that at home kids), comes through in big drops. Next, they showed me the lab test report. It was suuuperb. You can see the joy in my eyes. Way better than it’s official rating. That’s Pafil. They’re not cheap. But I went there and was reminded why we use them.
Next up, Somelos. The fabric library here has literally hundreds of thousands of fabric samples from the past eight decades. Proper kid in a sweet shop stuff.
Somelos supply many of our high quality fabrics. They're legends and it shows. Especially in in the end product. Pure cotton flannels, tartan linings, cotton cashmere shirting… I’m salivating.
Finally, back to Pafil to see the laser being prepped for laser cutting. Lasers are cool. Laser cutting is used on synthetic materials like waterproof or softshell fabric for extremely clean, sealed lines. Complicated or tricky shapes can be created.
This is something only the most skilled factories offer and I'm chuffed that FRAHM get to use it to create our jackets.
And, to repeat, lasers are cool. Peow peow.
FRAHM works with a number of factories across the globe to achieve the finest technical quality in our garments.
We love factories. They’re fascinating
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