Our materials

For The Grove Line, there is a strong connection between food and fashion.

In the culinary world, the French word terroir is used to describe the quality and taste of wine. Terroir describes the unique combination of environmental and cultural factors of a specific place that give a product its distinct identity. Factors include climate (temperature, rainfall, sunlight), soil composition (minerals, texture, drainage), topography (elevation, slope, orientation), microclimate (local atmospheric conditions like wind and fog), and human influence (farming methods, tradition, craftsmanship). That explains why wines from the same grape variety can taste completely different depending on where they grow, and even how the same grape at the same place tastes different from year to year when the climate is not consistent. Terroir is used to highlight the product’s deep connection to its place of origin – whether geographical, cultural, or emotional. The word is used to express authenticity, provenance and a sense of rootedness.

Applied to The Grove Line, the idea of terroir means that the materials we use are shaped by the land, the light, the texture of the soil, the hands of the craftspeople and the cultural rhythm of a place. All of these elements leave a trace in the finished garments and objects. In our opinion, the land and what grows on it are connected to the people and their needs in relation to clothing. In a cold European winter, there is nothing more suitable than using wool from English sheep, that grows to withstand the harsh conditions of the climate – perfect for a big winter coat. For less warm wool garments like trousers or suits, wool from French Merino D’Arles sheep is more suitable because their wool is adjusted to a milder climate and is therefore finer. The same philosophy applies to Belgian linen or French hemp that is grown naturally without additional irrigation. The fabrics reflect the climate and the soil of the land and are comfortable to wear on hot summer days. We also believe in the regionality of our fabrics – the people working in mills and tanneries close to the source of the fibres understand them and have mastered the processing of these raw materials through techniques rooted in local history and craftsmanship. In addition, transport distances are minimized and emissions are reduced. It is difficult to put in words, but applying the concept of terroir to our material selection adds an emotional resonance to our creations. It results in garments and objects that carry a sense of place, memory and meaning.

Keeping the idea of terroir in our minds, the usual way of selecting fabrics or leathers changes. Rather than selecting based on small samples that you get by post, or talking to sales representatives at fairs, we are visiting the mills and tanneries we want to work with.

We talked to a British weaver, who has been weaving for more than fifty years, about his undyed British wool fabrics. Seeing the sparkle in his eyes when he explained the characteristics of the wool and all the different natural colours, ranging from different shades of grey to different shades of brown, made us understand that choosing fabrics is much more than having a perfect looking fabric in the colour you want. His love and decades long experience in working with sheep wool are expressed in the richness of colour, the warmth of the touch and in different kinds of checks and herringbones of the fabrics. It is a perfect example of how the terroir in these fabrics is expressed: the pasture where the sheep graze is within a few miles from where the wool gets spun, woven and washed. The natural colours of the sheep represent the colours of the landscape and are woven in patterns that are traditional to this region of Britain.

We visited the mill where we source fine Merino D’Arles suiting fabric, and a French hemp fabric in an undyed / blue dyed traditional stripe. Learning from the weavers how they work and seeing how much joy and pride they take in their work helped us to make a selection of fabrics that not just feel and look right in our personal aesthetic view, but also represents the terroir of the mill, the weavers and the location.

At a tannery in France, where we source our leather for belts and small accessories, we learned about the vegetable tanning by using oak bark – one of the last tanneries in Europe that still uses this traditional technique. The raw leather is purchased from traceable farms in southern Germany. The skins from these cows are the thickest and are perfectly suited for making single layered belts – the animals were on average 7 years old. To tan the skins, water from a small river running across the town can be used, which then again can be returned to the river as there are only natural products and no chemicals involved. The result of this traditional craft is a durable leather with a deep richness of colour and a soft touch that gets softer and richer from year to year.

At a linen mill in Belgium, we saw the tradition and craftsmanship of working with flax fibres. We saw weavers working in the 3rd generation on the same looms. Weaving linen has become their second nature. It was also there that we saw first-hand how the climate and changes in the weather are closely connected to the finished product. If there is too much rain or storms, or too much heat at a certain point of the growth or harvest period, the fibres break, which results in less refined fabrics with more irregularities.

In the East of France, we visited a young weaver that made it his mission to preserve traditional French workwear fabrics. All by himself he is repairing old shuttle looms to achieve a high density, which is indispensable for the strength of the fabric. Seeing his passion and hard work was exceptional.

The region of Bern in Switzerland is where we source our soft organic goat leather from. Goats are part of the Swiss landscape and are mainly bred for the use of their milk to be turned into goat cheese. Therefore, our leather is only coming from male goats whose meat is used as a by-product of the milk industry. The skins are tanned in Southern Germany by a tannery specialized in vegetable tanning. The fine structure of the leather creates a delicate pattern, and its soft touch is perfect for our small leather accessories. Deepening the colour with our own developed Urushi technique is something truly special and nowhere else to find.

Visiting the mills and tanneries, meeting the weavers and tanners, understanding the work and the local conditions and recognizing which yarns, colours or patterns represent the work and terroir of every single place is our key to a sustainable and meaningful material selection. Asking the weavers and tanners which fabrics or leathers best represent their work also helps us make the right decisions.

For The Grove Line we see it as our mission to preserve and appreciate European mills and tanneries and to showcase their beautiful work. Working in that way, every item in our collections is related to the other items in our collections. By carefully selecting our fabrics, yarns and leathers, we developed a mind that always looks to see what the interconnections are, what the running threads are. For us, creating garments and accessories is much like cooking: if you don’t start with great ingredients, you can never make great food!