Meet PARSEL: It's Not A Bag
What was the most challenging part of creating and launching PARSEL?
We established many of the key ideas early on, so one of the main challenges was having the patience to go through the entire process and get the finished product into people’s hands. Taking the time for practical prototyping and perfecting the aggressively serious industrial design was important part of the process though. Otherwise, it didn’t feel like a challenge in any traditional sense, it’s such an amazing team of people that it’s a dream design project.
Following this, how did the design process differ from your previous work at Yeezy and Nike?
PARSEL has been a good balance of those two extremes. Like Yeezy, there’s the freedom to explore a new creative vision, but there’s also the structure and rigor of a place like Nike. In many ways, it’s closer to my experience working in fashion and luxury during my time in Paris, but with a new perspective guided by purpose, utility, and modern materials.
The brand is launching with only a singular product, what the reasoning behind this restrained strategy?
While the package is singular, I think about it as a collection of components we’ve been working on. Each part has been considered, the unit itself, the liner, the strap, the handles, and the fastenings. In that sense, what you see is a body of work that functions perfectly together.
It’s not a traditional collection; it’s more of a starting point for a platform of complementary products.
Functionally and quality are at the core of the brand’s mission, why do you think this is so needed in the fashion industry today?
If you’re going to the lengths of creating a new physical product, my point of view is that it needs to be useful. There’s already plenty in fashion that’s purely decorative. I think there’s a certain beauty in high-quality industrial execution, whether it’s the precision of a machined aluminium fastening or the seamless soft lines of moulded EVA foam.
How did you manage to balance this functionality whilst still creating an aesthetic product?
I think one informs the other. We’re always trying to find an elegant solution, and when something works well, there’s usually a good chance that the utility informs a new and interesting aesthetic. The aesthetic isn’t accidental, but when we’re designing, we’re guided by decisions that allow for functional elegance, and the look becomes a byproduct. It helps that everyone involved has a strong point of view on taste.
What was the process of deciding the materials and construction for this product?
On one hand, there’s the objective, analytical approach to finding materials that function well — providing protection or strength without adding too much weight. On the other, there’s the filter of taste that comes from a more intuitive level. If there are two fabrics that are both waterproof and weigh the same, and the only real difference is texture and how they interact with light, then the decision comes from a more human, gut level.
Something like color, which we’ve treated with great care, thanks to an excellent color designer on the team, has negligible effect on physical function but perhaps the most immediate and visceral effect on someone encountering the product for the first time.
The photography campaign is simultaneously camp yet highlights the everyday usability of the product, what your and Roe Ethridge’s intension with this?
While the process of designing the product has been very serious, the intention is that it should work on a human level. There’s a tactility to the materials, a satisfaction in the snap of a magnetic fastening. Roe brings a perfect balance to this. There’s technical precision in the images he creates, which perfectly complements the humor and humanity within the product itself.
PARSEL is launching their product as a modular carry system rather than a bag, could you please explain how you see the difference?
We wanted to be as inventive as possible with PARSEL. Nothing is off the shelf; every element of the product has been developed from scratch. Therefore, we didn’t want to carry any baggage of pre-existing ideas about what a “bag” should be.
