Troa

Troa is a fashion house started in 1966 in Seoul, South Korea. Troa Cho started out selling needles door-to-door and teaching herself to sew, but eventually transformed her company and her brand into a fashion powerhouse. Her son, Han Song, was a highly celebrated couture designer and was named Fashion Designer of the Year by the Seoul Fashion Council. In 2004, Song started experimenting with a traditional Korean fabric, hanjisa, and centuries-old natural dyeing techniques. He appreciated that the fabric and process were eco-friendly, but also loved how the fabric was able to hold the natural dyes so beautifully. Over 8 years, he developed a soft and luxurious fabric and created a denim like no other. Now considered the world's leading expert in hanjisa, in 2012, he decided to enter the global denim market, confident that his hanjisa fabric could transform the denim industry. The fabric is soft and light, but yet insulates in cold temperatures and wicks away moisture in heat. Women wear jeans every day and with Troa, they can finally have only natural fibers and natural dyes hugging their skin. Denim companies across the board are making efforts to reduce their water footprint, as one traditional pair of denim can use 500-1000 gallons of water per pair. However, Troa's hanjisa fabric uses less than 1% of that. They are also naturally anti-microbial, requiring fewer washings. In Fall 2013, Troa debuted its denim line exclusively at Barneys New York and Colette in Paris with traditional denim styles, including skinny, cigarette, bootcut and a moto style that highlight Song's attention to detail and his beautiful lines. Song loves that he is blending his futuristic vision with some of the oldest traditions in Korea - hanjisa and natural dyeing.