Old tanneries became fashion stores in Igualada, Central Catalonia

Igualada (ACN).- ‘Rec Experimental Stores’ is one of the most famous events in Igualada, located some 50 km west of Barcelona (in Central Catalonia). ‘Rec Stores’ transforms during 3 days the old tanneries and textile factories of Igualada’s Rec neighbourhood into temporary fashion stores. In its seventh edition, which run from Thursday 15^th to Saturday 17^th November, 40 brands participated. Some of these were the usual ones such as Sita Murt, Custo Barcelona and Desigual. However, this event hosted five new trademarks. According to the organiser of ‘Rec Experimental Stores’, Jordi Ribaudí, the festival aims to “unveil the neighbourhood, giving life to it and structuring it as a part of the city”. The ‘Rex Experimental Stores’ event began last Thursday and lasted until Saturday, where 40 trademarks have sold their fashion clothes in different buildings in the Rec neighbourhood.

The project ‘Rec Experimental Stores’ run its seventh consecutive edition. In this last weekend’s exposition, where visitors have found discounts up to 70%, the established brands, such as Desigual, Levi’s, Sita Murt, TCN and Custo Barcelona, have been joined by five new ones. These five new trademarks are Superdry, Nice Things, Tsunami, Diadora and Anaïd Kupuri. Children’s brands are also present at this event, which has displayed a total of 40 brands.

One of the organisers, Jordi Ribaudí, explained that the event started with the objective to “change the status quo of Rec’s neighbourhood which was about to be destroyed”. “We looked for people and brands to get involved, together, to bring people to this neighbourhood”, Ribaudí has said. The main objective of the project was to save the Rec neighbourhood and Ribaudí has explained that “nowadays, there are some spaces that are being rented to establish new businesses”.

From a brand’s point of view, Txell Miras and Josep Abril agreed that ‘Rec Store’ “adds value because brands can have direct contact with people”. Moreover, Miras explained that they are interested in “the project’s philosophy because usually designers cannot be in contact with the public and here you can learn exactly what they need”.