Ten c has found a rather unusual way to make brand-new clothes look as though they already have a story to tell, using an experimental 'dust' dye that leaves fabric with a slightly worn, parchment-like appearance. The Italian outerwear label unveiled the SS27 collection during its London Fashion Week debut at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, putting material experimentation firmly at the centre of the presentation.
Ten C Makes Its London Debut
The presentation explored Ten c's idea of a Permanent Wardrobe, bringing new and archive garments together rather than treating each collection as something that simply belongs to one season. The installation highlighted the brand's focus on material, functionality and longevity, showing clothes designed to change character through use.
At the centre was the Ten c Wardrobe, where newer pieces appeared alongside archive collaborations with Awake NY, sacai and Diemme. The presentation also previewed Ten c × COMOLI, an eight-piece collaboration set to launch on 23 October 2026, combining Ten c's material approach with COMOLI's softer proportions and understated styling.
The Dust Dye Creates A Worn-In Finish
One of the more unexpected experiments in SS27 is Ten c's new 'dust' dye treatment, which uses powders that settle on the surface of the fabric. The brand describes the result as slightly worn and parchment-like, giving new garments a finish that looks less polished and more naturally weathered.
Rather than making the clothes appear heavily distressed, the treatment adds another layer to the fabric's surface and colour. It fits into Ten c's wider interest in materials that develop visual depth, with the collection using sprays, overdyes and two-tone finishes to create changing effects across different pieces.
Titanium Fabric Takes Centre Stage
Another major development is a garment-dyed titanium nylon polyester fabric that Ten c says was developed through more than a year of research. The material appears in three key pieces, the Jeans Jacket, Alpen Jacket and Windproof Anorak, with dyeing creating iridescent highlights that react to light and movement.
The palette includes Pompeii red, sandy shades and Sienna, alongside other earthy and muted tones used throughout the collection. The titanium material is intended to give familiar colours a more dimensional appearance, combining a technical fabric with a finish that feels more organic and tactile.
Lightweight OJJ Gets A Summer Update
Ten c also reworked its signature 9oz Original Japanese Jersey, making the material lighter for summer while retaining its recognisable texture. The fabric appears across a jogging suit, field jacket, bomber jacket, trousers and Bermuda shorts, helping build a complete wardrobe rather than a collection of isolated statement pieces.
Other materials push the experimentation further, including Nyfoil, a garment-dyed metal-coated nylon with a titanium-effect internal coating. Lightweight nylon-cotton blends also appear, while worsted gabardine brings a more compact feel to military-inspired pieces and transparent nylon and garment-dyed Tactel are used for lighter versions of the Skye Ten Anorak.
Military Shapes Meet Softer Summer Layers
The collection continues Ten c's long-running use of military-inspired clothing, including field jackets, overshirts and trousers. For SS27, those familiar shapes are adjusted through lighter fabrics, changed proportions and more breathable constructions while maintaining the protective and functional qualities associated with the label.
Colours extend from blue, khaki, beige and sand to off-white, orange-red, periwinkle and black, with Cloud Dancer and mud black also appearing in the range. Sprays and two-tone treatments add further variation, giving relatively restrained silhouettes more visual depth without relying on prominent logos.
Ten C Builds Clothes Around Time
The Permanent Wardrobe concept helps explain the slightly weathered appearance running through parts of SS27. Founded in 2010 by Paul Harvey and Alessandro Pungetti, Ten c has built its identity around Original Japanese Jersey, a high-density Japanese fabric that is garment-dyed and constructed in Italy before developing its own character through wear.
That philosophy is reflected in the London presentation, where archive pieces stood alongside new designs and collaborations. With its dust dye, titanium fabric, lighter OJJ and new Ten c × COMOLI project, SS27 continues the label's attempt to make material development as important as the clothes themselves.
