She starts her university career studying ancient history, which soon gets replaces by fashion design. She never abandons her interest in history and, inevitably, merges her two passions by setting up her vintage clothing shop near Porta Romana: TUG. TUG stores a variety of unique pieces with a character that not everyone can get straight away, nor it fits every body. It’s the destiny of vintage c
lothing, after all: each piece has a different story and each piece is for a different person. Ivan is born in Trentino and lands in Milan for his studies in fashion design, working his way through this relatively casual choice. The two meet in fact in their university classrooms, where they develop a natural, simple and silent complicity. These three years of study see them working together in unison, while dreaming of “one day we will create our own space, where we can offer beautiful things, good things, things that bring people together, things that tell stories: stories always worth being told.”
This dream gets parked in the proverbial drawer. In the meantime Miriam opens TUG, and Ivan moves to London to attend a Masters Degree in sustainable fashion, immediately followed by 10 years of work with Katharine Hamnett: the pioneer of sustainability in the fashion industry. Time passes and it gets clearer and clearer how the most sustainable answer is not achieved by making something ‘new’. It instead lies in the appreciation and use of what’s already existing: what is often considered as ‘old’ or ‘waste’. It’s a matter of changing the way we look at fashion, while revolutionising the way the fashion industry looks. In 2020 Miriam and Ivan can finally pick up their joint dream, and merge their expertise. This time, Genova is the cradle where they let their plan to grow. In its new home, TUG stretches out by creating an atelier dedicated to making new products out of Tug’s own ‘waste’ and recovering other ‘unwanted’ materials. What used to be a vintage shop, has now turned into the heart of two parallel modus operandi:
- FOUND BY TUG is written on the (100% recycled polyester) label stitched on all the treasures found during uncountable research sprees. They all have a distinct excellence: being it the cut, material or character.
- MADE BY TUG is the alter-ego label, branding TUG’s new approach to selling vintage and second hand: up-cycling it. Recovering and repurposing are the drumming heartbeats of TUG’s philosophy, together with the awareness of all the areas these practices touch: from fabrics to the environment; from people to the garments they already own. This approach is what dresses TUG’s communication with a much bigger echo and purpose, meant to narrow the gap between what’s ‘made well’ and what ‘does good’.
