WELCOME TO OUR WORKSHOPS

May 29, 2019

Behind each of our pieces, passionate craftsmen and masters of a unique know-how

At the origin of the creation of Apnée, the desire to breathe new life into the world of swimsuits. Our ambition ? To offer pieces that combine elegance and know-how, all at an affordable price. To do this, we have decided to meet our manufacturers ourselves, choosing to work directly with them, without having to resort to intermediaries. The beginning of an exceptional human adventure, full of beautiful encounters and new experiences.

It was indeed very important to us to collaborate with a network of craftsmen renowned for their historical know-how and whose values are in line with ours. This is how we headed for the region of Guimaraes, north of Porto, where the textile industry is one of the most advanced in Europe. In addition to an immense talent, we have above all discovered passionate craftsmen.

Weaving

Among them, our weaver and textile designer, by far the best we have met.

With more than 80 years of experience behind him, this swimwear fabric expert now works for the biggest luxury brands thanks to machines that can work more than 6,000 filaments at a time.

Together, we have developed a unique fabric from fibers unearthed in Italy and Portugal. A long-term job of which we are particularly proud today, knowing that we wanted to create a fabric that was pleasant to the touch, very resistant and capable of drying quickly.

The impression

We then chose to entrust the printing of our fabrics to masters in the field for more than 20 years. This couple of artists takes care, among other things, of printing the jerseys of the Portugal football team.

Thanks to them, our fabric is printed by sublimation, an ecological process that does not require any water. The drawing is in fact affixed to paper then compressed at a very high temperature on our white canvas, thus ensuring the greatest resistance to salt and chlorine, while preserving the brilliance and finesse of the patterns.

The making

Finally, we send our fabric to our tailoring workshop so that the magic can work.

This team of outstanding craftsmen – whom we unearthed by tracing the trail of the biggest brands – devotes itself with passion to the realization of an ancestral know-how: cutting, embroidery, assembly, sewing, eyelet... Placing the quality at the heart of their commitment, the latter also regularly invite us to dig into production in search of a manufacturing defect.

In vain...