When talking about fashion, one think of Paris or Milan. However, it has been almost a year now since Albanian fashion has reached a milestone with 3D ties designed and produced in Tirana.
Fiordi Pernaska, the executive director of Tirana-based VIP Tie 3D says the company is a fully run Albanian brand and that he is proud of the fact because it is not only ‘Made in Albania’ but both designed and ‘Made in Albania’ at the same time.
“Currently, we are the sole international brand that produces these final products and we have been awarded by the prestigious New York-based 3D printing community 3Dprint.com as the first international company that managed to fully integrate the 3D technology in the production process to achieve the final product,” he tells Deutsche Welle in the local Albanian service.
A young entrepreneur, Fiordi Pernaska has graduated in economic science from Italy’s Bocconi University and it is not by chance that he is in the fashion industry.
“That is closely related to my family’s legacy because that is something that has been passed through generations. In 1927, my great-grandfather established in Tirana the first fashion atelier in Albania and was the official designer of the then Royal Family and he was really addicted to those accessories and we decided to integrate something like that on the market and we have integrated that as a solution to potential male customers because it’s a product that allows for unlimited customization to express oneself as good as possible,” he says.
But how is a 3D tie made?
Gerti Struga, the company’s technology director, says once a specific design has been selected, it is later modelled on a computer where the whole tie is designed in 3D and then a sample image is sent to the customer to check for any final changes. After being designed in 3D, it then switches to the printing process and is then hand-sewn, a process which applies to all ties.
Usually it takes 15 to 30 hours for a tie to produce in a process involving all its stages.
However, 3D ties are rather costly.
Gerti Struga says the production cost is relatively high because the product is a novelty, but the company has also managed to produce products at friendlier prices for 3D and customized ties starting from €77.
Every 3D tie or bow tie has customized details including buyer’s initials on the front part and the full name on the bottom back.
Albanian motifs are also incorporated in most of them. One of the special items in the company’s collection includes a tie with neighborhoods of the old Tirana city pictured on it.
“The idea is to integrate different parts of the city in the tie with the target of making each final product unique,” says Pernaska.
The company’s big target is to integrate this kind of Albanian brand internationally and make it a symbol of Made and designed in Albania.
New York-based 3DPrint.com, a portal focus on the 3D printing industry, describes the Albania-made ties as well-designed, attention-getting, but not overly flashy.
“With prices ranging as high as €240, these ties are not cheap, but a lot of work goes into handcrafting and 3D printing each individual piece. This isn’t mass-produced, throwaway apparel. Each ties is carefully, painstakingly crafted, with care being taken to make them as individual as their wearers,” says 3DPrint.com
The Albania-made ties made their debut at the 2016 Miss Globe Albania contest as the Balkans’ first fully 3D printed fashion collection to hit the runway.
The garment industry is one of the top employers in Albania’s private sector but is mostly involved in cut-make-trim production and overwhelmingly imports raw materials, designs and patterns from Italy, the main destination of the locally processed products.
Only few local garment and footwear products have upgraded to full cycle production and are marketed as Made in Albania brands.
