A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES FROM TAIWAN

Professor.E was founded in Taiwan in 2017 and is led by a designer known simply as Ken, with a team that prefers to stay anonymous. The brand even gives itself a fictional origin story, describing Professor.E as a character born in a Second World War laboratory.

Its own description is more telling: a living Wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosities in constant motion. Each season draws on the clothing cultures of a different region between the 15th and 17th centuries, filtered through workwear, military pieces and tailoring.

TIME AS A MATERIAL

Professor.E treats age as something to design with. Pieces are hand-dyed, faded, distressed and mended, often following repairs found in Ken's own collection of vintage garments. The aim is not costume, but clothing that feels as if it already has a history. Techniques include:

• hand-dyeing and natural dyes
• hand-woven cotton from narrow 45 cm handlooms
• handmade buttons and deconstructed patchwork
• overlocked seams, embroidery and raw edges left in view

FORGOTTEN MATERIALS

The brand's highest line, Forgotten Materials (formerly known as ONE-OFF), works with scarce and historic textiles. Because the fabrics cannot be reproduced, pieces are made in very small numbers, often marked with an item number and the total made.

Hand-spun tussah silk, timeworn shirts and aged knits sit at the heart of the line, showing how far the brand will go to make a garment feel lived in.

BEYOND TAIWAN

In 2022 Professor.E became the first Taiwanese brand to collaborate with Levi's, on Levi's REDefined by Professor.E. The project used the brand's own black denim jacquard, its first self-developed denim, for the last time.

In 2025 the brand opened its second store, Moss Archives, in a courtyard house of around seventy years old in Tainan.

PROFESSOR.E AT ORIMONO

Orimono carries Professor.E's mainline, with a focus on tailoring, outerwear and trousers. Our selection includes:

• tailored double-breasted trench, E belted overcoat and belted cropped trench
• distressed knitted blazer, overlock mandarin collar blazer and E jacket in stripe
• embellished bomber, reworked coach jacket and puffer jacket
• embroidered overlock trousers, firefighter work pants and foldable waist embroidered trousers
• derelict work shirt, E drape shirt and slate top
• pieces that pair with Ziggy Chen, Marc Point and D.Hygen

Read more about another Asian avant-garde label in D.Hygen, or explore Professor.E at Orimono.