About TUBU

We create shapes, not sizes

TUBU is a non-profit design project and an editorial resource. TUBU is rooted in pleasure and friction. Our DNA is text and textiles. We are currently focusing on making limited edition knitwear in Italy with an emphasis on inclusive design and care.

TUBU hopes to address the massive systemic issues related to the apparel industry. We — like other parts of nature — are born, bloom, transform and decompose. We are part of an ecosystem. As will TUBU continue to transform and shapeshift.

Because of this ethos, we create shapes, not sizes — and currently have four shapes in our apparel system (but more will come). Each shape embodies four ”sizes” in one (in total more than 16 ”sizes”), due to the flexibility of the ribbed knit garment.

Our current shapes are: Nelumbo 🪷, Amanita 🍄, Papilio 🐛 and Betula 🌳.

These are the Latin names for the lotus flower, the fly agaric mushroom, the butterfly caterpillar and the birch tree — all beautiful shapes in nature that shift and transform, according to cycles of life and seasons.

Please read more here about our shapes — and how to find yours.

Perennials for all seasons of life

TUBU make clothes for what we call “all seasons of life” — and write stories we think needs to be shared within the realm of caretaking and mending.

The first launch of TUBU is a capsule collection, named Perennials after the plants that brave seasonal changes and come back year after year, although in different shapes. The collection will consist of base layer items in digitally knitted ribbed merino wool, a technique with inherent flexible properties.

The garments are knitted on demand at the knitwear factory Maglificio Pini in Forlì, a small town outside of Bologna, Italy. Maglifico Pini have a best-of-both-worlds approach to fashion, by fusing tech and tailored manufacturing, as they create so-called fully fashioned knitwear. The Zegna Baruffa K-Wool yarn is Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) Certified and Maglificio Pini works with a Re:Verso certification, as well as Impresa Etica. See all certifications for Baruffa here.

TUBU consists of non-binary, non-gendered pieces. Clothes are just clothes.

Our pieces are made-to-order, embodying the true essence of slow fashion, with orders produced within an eight week timeframe.

Thank you for your curiosity.

Give

TUBU is a non-profit and we want to give back towards causes we hold close to our hearts. We donate 10% of our profits to research on non-binary and womxn’s health, directly targeting initiatives such as the world leading InterPregGen project on genetic studies of pre-eclampsia.

Thank you

TUBU is a collaborative design project initiated by designer and journalist Thea Urdal.

It would never have been made possible without the incredible help of designer Hanna Ter Meulen, front-end developer Elise Jakobsen, front-end developers Studio Netting, Mari Jæger of The Hapticians, knitwear designer Camilla Bruerberg, photographer Anne Valeur, dancer and artist Veronica Bruce, cook, writer and designer Alisa Larsen, educator and collaborator Sarah Przedpelska, Senior PR Manager Iselin Skogli, curator and editor Charlotte McInnes, marketing wiz Kim Darragon, as well as Design and Architecture Norway.