A NAME TAKEN FROM THE LAND

SAN263-1 was founded in Seoul in 2019 by designer Minjoo Kwon. The name is an address: San 263-1 is the land-registry lot number of a coastal sand dune in Korea.

The name carries a second reading too. In Korean, san means mountain, and the label describes its aim as building a culture slowly, until it becomes a deep-rooted mountain.

RESPECT FOR THE INCOMPLETE

At the heart of SAN263-1 is respect for Korean history, culture and everyday objects, and for the beauty of things left incomplete. Garments are allowed to look worked, washed and touched rather than finished to a uniform surface. Its techniques include:

• natural dyeing
• process washing
• hand embroidery
• waxed cotton, linen and lamb leather, often with black taping

COLLECTIONS AS RECORDS

SAN263-1 numbers its collections like records, as LPs. The first, Virtual Time, imagined a traveller crossing past, present and future, and the series has continued through 9LP, Amazigh.

The format suits the brand: each collection reads as a set of pieces held together by one story.

MADE IN KOREA

Production takes place in Korea, sometimes with materials sourced from Italy. The lamb leather fencing jacket, for example, is made in Korea from Italian leather, lined in eco-dyed cotton, closed with Riri zips and waxed after making, so it softens and develops character with wear.

Fencing references recur across the range, from leather jackets to shirts, alongside slit-knee jeans, layered hems and asymmetric zip hoodies.

SAN263-1 AT ORIMONO

Orimono carries a selection of SAN263-1, focusing on washed denim, jersey and leather. Pieces we carry include:

• slit knee jeans and curved stonewashed jeans
• asymmetric zip hoodies and layered hem sweatpants
• fencing shirts, including a natural-dyed version
• the lamb leather fencing jacket and zipped overshirt jacket
• pieces that pair with Professor.E, D.Hygen and Blackmerle

Read more about another Seoul label in Blackmerle, or explore SAN263-1 at Orimono.