Developing relationships with designers early on is key for Riri as well. Though its products are likely out of most fashion students’ budgets (if you have to ask how much their zippers cost, you’re in the wrong place), the company forges connections by visiting schools like FIT to give students sample products. “We sponsor a lot of people,” Howell explains. “We need to help the industry and we need to help the young people starting out. It’s in their interest in and also in our best interest.” After all, the race for new styles never ends.

Currently, the manufacturer sees lacquered plastic as one of the trends in hardware that still poses the biggest technical challenges. As Montonati explains, lacquering plastic components in different colors can not only create a bottleneck in production, but the final product is also far more prone to chipping than the galvanic metal finishes more traditionally used in luxury products. “Durability of the lacquering, this is something we are working on a lot because it’s definitely a trend, and we have to make it much, much better,” he says. As menswear designers continue to send eye-popping colors and monochromatic looks down the runway, Riri is looking to car manufacturers to learn how to make more durable colored finishes.

Sustainability is also changing the industry; with more luxury brands going green, their partners and manufacturers need to as well. “They need to know what our carbon footprint is so they can put it into their calculations because they’re buying things from us,” Howell explains, and adds that Riri has appointed a sustainability manager to look at everything from air filters in their offices to dyeing processes in their factories. There’s also a trickle-down effect with designers using more sustainable products as a whole; according to Montonati, “green” leather can have extreme effects like oxidation on metal hardware, which means more research, more testing and more development to make products to fit with the new materials.