It’s always a head-spinning experience to go through a new Visvim collection with its designer, Hiroki Nakamura. Not only are his collections sprawling, encompassing men’s as well as a newer women’s line (WMV), but most pieces have unusual and distinct origins that beg to be told and heard. And Nakamura, a gifted raconteur, is more than happy to share their stories.

Essentially, Visvim begins and ends with vintage fabric. But here’s the thing: Nothing is actually vintage. Rather, each piece is created anew in the spirit of vintage, usually the result of a long and international chain of artisanal workmanship. Nakamura described how, for example, one sweater began as organic Italian cotton, which was then hand-knitted in Peru before being finished in France. There were also men’s shoes woven out of bits of raffia in Morocco, but which, because the craftsmen there weren’t experienced with a particular shade of blue, required a team of Japanese dye specialists to assist. Dyeing is otherwise done in Japan, as a rule, as in a series of lightweight cotton dresses with an all-over checkerboard pattern made by brushing dye over rice resin in a technique called katazome. That innocuous-looking plaid suit jacket? It’s made entirely out of paper pulp, for extra breathability.

Aside from his obsession with vintage fabrics, Nakamura is also a collector of found objects or flea-market finds, things he picks up on his travels and packs into the five or six suitcases he says he takes with him on every trip. He assembled a display of these items for the showing today: a jar of shells he found on a beach in Montauk that he drew as a shell print for the collection; a parasol from Alsace that inspired him to make an indigo-dyed umbrella; a jewelry box from the 1900s that he liked for its brass studs; Geta slippers whose once-bright velvet faded long ago. On the topic of shoes—upon which the company was founded and which still whip up enormous cult-like zeal—some important news: first, a new sneaker style called the Roland Jogger is launching, and second, the famed FBT moccasin that started it all now comes with a protective leather overlay, by popular demand.