Bio

In 2012 Montes graduated with honors degree at fashion design ArtEZ institute of the arts Arnhem. Reinforcing discarded wool with fiberglass materials were developed at his studio in Arnhem. The upcycled textiles resulted into experimental high fashion. Collection Illuminosa debuted at Amsterdam Fashion Week 2014. Research and development projects were initiated via Creative Industries Fund NL. The goal was to learn more about industrial textile producing machines. Projects Velero and Tormenta were developed in collaboration with TextielLab Tilburg. Creating woven fabrics that have a luxurious appeal, mainly by using ocean clean up materials. In 2018 Montes was selected for category fashion at the 33rd Villa Noailles Hyères festival international. The collection was based on the fish line of his Andalucian fisherman grandfather. The idea of creating filaments became evident and motivated Montes to found Adaptive Skins, a textile architecture studio. This direction led towards international partnerships via EU Horizon and COSME tech hubs. Interdisciplinary teams produced adaptive filaments that sculpt around the body. The result of project Adaptive Archi-Filament was presented at the Fashion Scout Ones2Watch showcase in London. In 2022 Montes won the BIAAF award, category A – fashion, at the 8th edition of Bilbao international art and fashion. The following year Montes moved his studio to the Basque Country. His grand prize winning collection was developed at BIAAF Lab. The result of project Marinero was presented at the Vanderbilt during New York Fashion Week. In 2025 Montes launched his eponymous fashion brand.

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Jef Montes {-} ”My signature as a designer is in developing the material. Shapes are amplified by the quality of textiles and that’s why it’s so important for me as a fashion designer to create my own materials. I dream about shapes and textures. The co-creation of yarns and textiles helps me to visualize those dreams into fashion collections. I devise this ongoing development in parallel based on my technical knowledge and experimental imagination. To design a Montes garment is like creating a sculpture.”

Email Studio Adaptive Skins: adaptiveskins@jefmontes.com