SEALSON Spring/Summer 2027: The Shape of Function
Following the presentation of their Spring/Summer 2027 collection at Paris Fashion Week, Taiwanese brand SEALSON reflects on the ideas behind its restrained, highly functional design language. Shaped by dense urban life, a humid climate, and close proximity to the outdoors, its products explore how materials, structure, and construction can respond to the way a generation moves through the city. We spoke with them about functionalism, creative process, anonymity, and why a product is never truly finished.
SEALSON balances precision with restraint. How difficult is it to know when a product is truly finished, rather than simply capable of adding another feature?
SEALSON's products are almost entirely free of design elements that exist purely for decoration. We largely follow a functionalist approach, believing that every detail should have a reason to exist. But functionality is only the starting point. Through innovation in structure, materials, and construction techniques, we try to reinterpret familiar products in a way that reflects the culture of our generation. A product is never truly finished. It is simply the best answer we can offer at that moment.
SEALSON feels like it is about re-engineering the city rather than escaping it. Do you think modern cities are becoming more human, or are we simply designing better ways to survive them?
I see cities as the accumulation of layers of civilization. Every generation shapes them according to what it believes is best, which means they can never be equally welcoming to everyone. Rather than trying to change the city itself, we create products that express how our generation chooses to live in it.
Your bags feel almost architectural. Do you begin with an emotional idea, a technical problem, or what is your process?
Most of the time, these things happen simultaneously. Within our team, product design feels like an ongoing conversation. We discuss needs, research materials, analyze existing products, and continuously exchange and refine ideas by sharing what each of us brings to the table. Creativity rarely arrives as a sudden breakthrough. Instead, the direction of a product gradually emerges through ongoing discussion and refinement.
Taiwan sits between dense urban life and dramatic mountains. How does living in that tension shape your design language compared to brands from Japan, Europe, or North America?
Outdoor culture has become increasingly global, but Taiwan's lifestyle and climate still have a huge influence on how we design our products. Instead of thinking about how a buckle performs in the snow, we're more likely to think about ventilation while carrying, how materials age in hot and humid conditions, or how they resist hydrolysis over time. Living in Taiwan constantly pushes us to rethink materials and design, and that's become a big part of how SEALSON evolves.
Many fashion brands chase nostalgia, while your work feels focused on the future. Is there anything from the past you deliberately refuse to let go of?
If there is one idea from the past that continues to influence us, it would probably be functionalism. Although it originated in another era, I believe its core values of restraint, efficiency, honesty, and giving every detail a reason to exist will only become more important in the future. Technology will change. Materials will change. Culture will change. But those values will not.
Your products are intentionally understated without big logos. In an era driven by logos and algorithms, can anonymity become a luxury?
Being understated has never been the goal. We simply don't think about the logo very much during the design process. More often than not, we finish the product first and only then start wondering where the logo should go.
If someone found one of your bags fifty years from now with no knowledge of today’s culture, what would you hope it would reveal about the way we lived?
If that day ever comes, I hope our products will reveal how our generation approached outdoor culture, and how we brought together urban living, material innovation, and functional design into a single object.
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Photographs by Vasilina Alamani at Paris Showroom
