SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL 50

Alberto

Matteo

Katharine Hamnett

Massimo Berloni - Manuela Mariotti

Panos Sofianos - Piero

Karl-Heinz Müller

Guido Biondi

Gianluca Tacchella

Interview: Enzo Fusco

Interview: Rocco Scazzariello

Cool

TABLE OF CONTENTS MASTHEAD

Sneakers - No Name

Running - Club

Running - Mental Athletic

Running - Distance

R&D

Fabrics - Denim Demeanor

Fabrics - The Era of Ultra Fabrics

Fabrics - The future is here

Ideas (new product and business ideas)

Factory Lab

Raxxi

Garment Workshop

Interview: Marithé and François Girbaud

Interview: Cristina Calori

Fiorucci

G-Star

Pro-Keds

Massimo Osti

Dfv Mediengruppe

Deutscher Fachverlag GmbH

D-60264 Frankfurt/Main

internet: www.dfv.de

tel. +49 69 7595 -01

Executive management board

Peter Esser (speaker), Markus Gotta, Thomas Berner

Supervisory board

Andreas Lorch, Catrin Lorch, Dr. Edith Baumann-Lorch, Peter Ruß

Editorial office Milan Piazzale Cadorna 15

20123 Milan, Italy

Editor-in-chief

Tobias Bayer

Art Director and Graphic Designer

Chiara Favero (freelance)

Executive Editor

Maria Cristina Pavarini

Contributors

Andrea Bigozzi

Tim Dörpmund

Rami Eiserfey (freelance)

Tom Kiesewetter (freelance)

Rocco Scazzariello (freelance)

Chloe Street (freelance)

Copy Editor

Christopher Blomquist (freelance)

Publishing Directors

Christian Heinrici

Franziska Welp

Advertising Sale

Udo Fischer

Anna Pellizzola

Barbara Sertorini

Project Coordinator

Margherita Cimino

CONGRATULATIONS!

50 YEARS... AND STILL KICKING IT!

The media wasn’t his thing. Ernst Happel, a legendary football coach who led clubs such as Feynoord Amsterdam and Hamburger SV to glory, hated interviews and avoided journalists. He often ended press conferences just after a couple of sentences. Whether he was ever asked or not what he thought about fashion and style, we don’t know, we’re afraid. But we can imagine how he would have answered: “Write whatever you want. I don’t care anyway.”

Still Peter Schindler, founder of Jeans Intern that later became SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL, put Happel on the cover. As you can see on the back page of this edition, the photo shows the Austrian “Grantler,” which might be translated as “grumpy old lad,” with a grim expression next to the Club Brugge squad that he coached from 1975 to 1978. The reason for their inclusion? At that time, the Belgian team was sponsored by “49R Jeans,” an iconic denim brand.

It was a curious cover choice–and a typical one for Schindler. He was always at least one step ahead of his time. When he started publishing Jeans Intern in 1975, his concept was “little understood […] encountering smiles of condescension and a textile industry that had great difficulty in appreciating its perspective,” he wrote in the foreword of the 30th anniversary issue.

Both Jeans Intern and SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL were completely different from the other trade journals back then. Instead of just gathering facts and figures, Schindler and his team had an eye for future trends that

they captured in elaborate photoshoots. “That’s why SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL always excelled. It showed the trade how to portray fashion as people would wear it and not just as garments,” said Michael Belluomo, publisher of the North American edition, in that same 30-year retrospective.

The magazine talked about culture and community. It threw itself into the nightlife and described the club scene, from Los Angeles to Rimini. It explored the relationship between fashion and art. In 1980, when SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL published its first US edition, Schindler persuaded Andy Warhol to design the cover. “Warhol loved jeans,” Schindler wrote. “He had a very sensitive skin, which found denim the kindest fabric–the fabric of our dreams.” Some years later, it was Keith Haring’s turn. The New York graffiti artist created the cover in 1987.

As its name suggests, the spirit of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was truly international–and so was its reach and organization. Starting from a castle in Ratingen, Schindler went global. He opened offices in New York, Paris, Milan and Sao Paolo. The denim and SPORTSWEAR boom of that era helped. A powerful partner was useful, too. At the beginning of the ’90s, the DFV Mediengruppe acquired the majority. The publishing house from Frankfurt that also owns TextilWirtschaft and Fashion Magazine guaranteed financial stability and brought operational efficiency.

The beating heart of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was the Milan office in Via Forcella 13. In the middle of Superstudio 13, a former industrial site that Gisella Borioli and her husband Flavio Lucchini had transformed into a creative hub for the fashion industry, the editorial team and the graphic department shared two floors in a stocky building which is an outlet today.

It happened regularly that they encountered celebrities who did a shooting in one of the studios nearby. On one day, Jon Bon Jovi was spotted.

On another day, Italian showman and comedian Fiorello had a drink in the bar across the street, whereas top model and now actress Monica Bellucci got ready for one of her many shoots at Fabrizio Ferri’s photo studio Industria Superstudio.

When Schindler visited the Milan office, he always slept in the Hotel Pierre on Via De Amicis. He chose it for practical reasons. He was a tall man–and the Pierre was one of the few hotels whose beds were long enough for him. Schindler himself wasn’t a denim guy. On his Milan visits, he wore dark suits and colorful ties. He was rather reserved and kept a distance from his staff, but he had a flashy side, too. The company car was a Ferrari. Once Schindler took Margit Michels, former editor-in-chief, for a drive through the city and let the engine roar.

It was a corporate culture that attracted and forged talents and embraced innovation. The journalists used electronic typewriters; the layout was done externally. But the change happened quickly. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was one of the first publishers in the early ’90s to switch to Apple computers. Since they weren’t available yet in Italy, several MacIntosh computers with large screens were imported directly from the United States. From then on, editors could write their texts on the new miracle machines and do the layout on their own.

The fashion industry that SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL covered was permanently in flux. “It’s a fashion sector, which has been constantly changing, and which has wonderfully fuzzy borders,” wrote Christopher Blomquist, former US bureau chief, back in 2005. A magazine that wanted to stay relevant needed to be a contortionist, a shape shifter. As Jeans Intern, it focused on jeans and thrived as medium for trade shows like Interjeans in Cologne. When it widened its scope to SPORTSWEAR and expanded overseas, it morphed into SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL. Before the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, it launched a sport special and dealt with activewear.

By continuing to adapt without compromising its identity, SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL managed to stay authentic and relevant over the decades. “In the sensitive world of jeanswear, endurance is a quality that can only be achieved with additional values like authenticity, charisma, cult status, and magic,” Schindler wrote in the 30th anniversary special edition and added: “I hope that we will be able to celebrate its 50th anniversary together.”

Unfortunately, Schindler died in 2012, but his legacy is still alive. In your hands, you hold the 50th anniversary issue he talked about 20 years ago–with features, interviews and portraits that look back and ahead at the same time. For the cover, we took the one with Ernst Happel from the ‘70s and asked ourselves how it would have looked if it had been shot today.

As you can see from our front page, we’ve opted for a female-only team from all over the world, since SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL stood for women empowerment, diversity and inclusion. Instead of a professional squad in a stadium, we gathered a group of friends who play in their spare time on a lawn in the city, since sport has become an integral part of urban life. Lastly, we replaced the club uniforms with individual outfits. The coach even dares to wear high heels.

One thing we left unchanged, though. All of them have a serious look and don’t seem to be very inclined to do small talk with the press. They are focused on the game. As Ernst Happel once said: “If the players want to talk, they have to become vacuum cleaner representatives.”

Tobias Bayer Maria Cristina Pavarini

Credits:

Photographer : Francesca Turrin

Assistant Photographer: Giorgia Pettinari

Make up & hair stylist : Chiara Fedi, Etoile Management

Stylist : Vanessa Dagostino & Roberta Lo Verso

Brand : Nude Project, Pilot, Rosa Antica, Bikkembergs, Sorrymjmmyarchive, Aura.archivex

Models : Cece Tipps, Claudia Bernardi, Cristina Farina, Eva Kuznietsovia, Julia Walczuk, Juliane Santos, Karolina Pawlowska, Vittoria

CONGRATULATIONS, SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL.

HERE'S TO 50 YEARS OF INSPIRATION.

THE EVOLUTION OF SPORTSWEAR

When we were kings – we are kings Interview: Enzo Fusco

WHEN WE WERE KINGSWE ARE KINGS

A random walk through 50 years of SPORTSWEAR (What’s the essence of SI)

JEANS INTERN IS BORN!

In the mid-’70s there were hippies in patchwork dungarees, Travolta wannabes in white suits and disco divas in lurex. Yet almost everyone wore jeans–and a new magazine was born. In August 1975 Peter Schindler published the first edition of Jeans Intern to address the jeans and SPORTSWEAR markets, fashion’s strongest growing categories with sales of more than 1.5 billion DM.

American Country was omnipresent. Turn-up jeans and cowboy boots were everywhere. Denim was the fabric of choice worldwide. In their advertising, the market’s hottest brands played to the Western tune. Burlington SPORTSWEAR Fabrics announced that “100% American quality denim is now available to Europe from Europe” thanks to a new denim mill in Ireland thereby showing a series of drawings of delicious-looking bottoms.

HEAVEN VS. HELL

“Oh my god, h.i.s.”, exclaim three nuns on a bike. “Some like it hot,” says Luzifer and adds: “Luzifer, it doesn’t get any hotter than this.” Well, whether you are in heaven or in hell, a good pair of jeans is needed.

FIORUCCI RULES

“Cool Hunter,” “Andy Warhol of Fashion”: Elio Fiorucci had many nicknames. Jeans Intern and SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL accompanied him throughout his career, in good times when he was hailed as the “man with the golden nose” and in bad times when his company was in financial distress and the brand Fiorucci was acquired by the Tacchella family.

SPORTSWEAR IS LAUNCHED

Nomen est omen? Not in the case of Jeans Intern. The magazine was never only about jeans, but about clothing that people wore in their free time. At the end of the ’70s, when polo shirts and tricots took fashion’s center stage and a wave of sports-inspired casuals were hitting the streets, Peter Schindler started SPORTSWEAR Europe and merged it with Jeans Intern.

In 1978, a shoot showed how to dress like a leather-clad punk vs. a shorts-wearing

SEX SELLS!

Advertisers knew that the pictorial combo of jeans, skin and voluptuous curves was a sure-fire way to turn your denim brand into a coveted bestseller. Whether it was Paddock’s, His Blues or Original Tweans, many labels lured clients with bare skin and a touch of suggestiveness.

REMEMBER CLAUDIO

Italy had always a special place for SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL. The editorial team worked from an office in Via Forcella 13 in Milan and covered Italy’s entrepreneurs, designers and innovators. One of them was Claudio Buziol. When the founder of Replay died in 2005, the magazine dedicated a heartfelt obituary to him. It mentioned his love for speed, quick decisions and sporty cars, but also his need for private moments to recharge. “My whole life is fast,” Buziol is quoted. “Whenever I can take a few days off, I disappear.”

YASUHIRO MIHARA

For creatives and designers, it was a honor to be interviewed by SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL. The magazine had always great access to the stars of the moment. In 2010, it interviewed Yasuhiro Mihara. The founder of the avant-garde luxury Japanese fashion house Maison Mihara Yasuhiro reminisced on the pathbreaking collaboration with Puma. His statements back then are still highly relevant today. He said: “We’re in a time period in which it’s very difficult to tell the future.”

Let’s call it niche sport. Usually, polo is played on horses. However, it can be played also on a BMX bike. In 1987, SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL explored this rather curious discipline. Later on, it encouraged its models to do acrobatic tricks in a park.

BORN IN THE USA!

It started with a big splash. At the beginning of the 1980s, SPORTSWEAR Jeans International was launched in the USA with a cover design by none other than Andy Warhol. Peter Schindler knew the artist personally. “I was able to create an important alliance with him at that time, building a bridge between jeans and art,” Schindler wrote years later.

KEITH HARING WAS HERE!

STORE CHECK

Whenever the reporters travelled to another country or city, they took the opportunity to take a stroll and look for interesting retail concepts. Size didn’t matter, but clever ideas and a beautiful setting did. Take L’esploratore Azurro, a megastore for the “teenager of the future” in Turin, or Passage Central in Amsterdam, in the mid-’80s one of the biggest vintage stores in Europe.

For the North American edition, Peter Schindler chose Michael Belluomo as editor and publisher. “Over the years, the ongoing issue in the fashion business has been the choice between growing a business through volume or by content. From what I’ve seen, content is always the winner. And content is about generating impact through creative images and a reputation for providing fashion,” wrote Belluomo. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was always true to his words. The cover of 1987, designed by Keith Haring, definitely had a huge impact.

SPORTSWEAR GOES SPORT

Sport and fashion got closer. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL spotted the trend and introduced the new sector “Fashion Sport” in 1987. The segment experienced a growth spurt thanks to the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary and Seoul. By 1989 it had become so important that a separate section about it appeared. It showed sneakers, football jerseys, swimwear and cycling apparel.

PROVOCATION BY DIESEL

“Rebellious,” “ironic,” “controversial”–there are many attributes that describe Diesel’s advertising campaigns in the ’90s. Diesel’s Renzo Rosso used SPORTSWEAR International often as a platform for his bold, tongue-in-cheek messages that made fun of military leaders and highlighted the risk of smoking by encouraging it cynically. Next to a skull it wrote: “Man, who needs two lungs anyway?”

THE WHO’S WHO

The internet was in its early stages, professional digital networks such as LinkedIn didn’t exist, and the BoF 500 wasn’t created yet. That’s when SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL launched its “Who’s Who,” a special edition to show the movers and shakers of the industry. Companies such as Billabong, Converse and Nike published their addresses–and even their telephone numbers.

BREAKDANCE

In the late ’90s, the need to belong to a community was especially strong and city-based scenes included tribe-like crews of skaters, graf artists or breakdancers. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL portrayed the “Green Tribe” crew in 1998 who wore labels such as Phat Farm and Ecko Unlimited, the “world famous rhino brand.”

BLADE RUNNER

Science fiction isn’t always as positive and optimistic as Star Trek. It can be quite dark. One of the genre-defining films is Blade Runner. The movie from 1982 is set in a dystopian Los Angeles. Edland Man, photographer and that time art director, created a shot with “young technorellas” wearing “skin-tight tops and corsets in black, metallic and dull military colors.”

THE SCORE

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL didn’t limit itself to apparel. It sometimes wrote about athletic hardgoods. In a shoot in the ’90s, it mixed football shoulder pads and rollerblade gloves with high-top sneakers and colorblocked clothes.

GOLD AND GLITTER

Bodywear was relevant, too. At the beginning of the ’90s, SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL did a shoot in which the models were dressed in gold – from the jacket to the bikini and the underpants.

DEAR...

The Proust Questionnaire is often used by interviewers today. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL developed its set own set of questions and always headlined the format “Dear...” The entrepreneurs and designers were surprisingly candid in their responses. “Is Paris still the fashion capital of the world?” the magazine asked Jean-Charles de Castelbajac who replied: “No. (…) My ideal town is if Paris was in London and it was distributed by Milan and communicated by New York.”

The hallmark of early 1990s casual fashion is arguably the grunge look, which rolled out of the city of Seattle that was in thrall of Nirvana. Plaids came back with fury. However, rave culture emerged as well, characterized by plastic aesthetics and tie-dye outfits. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was at the cutting edge and published a shooting entitled “New Rave” in 1992.

Being a writer at SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL meant working late hours, since the magazine always had an eye on nightclubs and the subcultures it attracted. Take Goth. The magazine explored its influence over the decades. In 2005 it brought the creatures of the night into the light.

MARKETSHARE

Hard facts were always important to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL. Regularly the magazine published statistics. Marketshare data was devoured by its readers. The rankings are testament of the enormous industry shifts over the last years. Among the market leaders in Italy were Casucci, Americanino, Rifle, Wampum–all brands that have been almost forgotten today. One Italian brand has managed to defend its position, though. Carrera is still on top of the list.

MASSIMO OSTI

This man doesn’t need an introduction. Massimo Osti, the founder of Stone Island and C.P. Company, is one of the greats of Italian SPORTSWEAR. Still, he kept a low profile. “A star in spite of himself,” SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL called him back in 1987. “Instead of seeking the limelight, he is far happier if he can design his collections so that they need no further comment.”

From the mid-’90s, the rapidly approaching new millennium prompted many to embrace the future by spacey or stretch looks. Edland Man, illustrator and photographer who worked for SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL, translated the fascination with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock into sci-fi shots in 1995 and 1996–just using his scissors and is imagination.

ENZO FUSCO: “TODAY

THE BEAUTY OF FASHION

IS THAT THERE IS NO FASHION”

We met with Enzo Fusco, a long-time insider whose experience ranges in many fields—from jeans to outer apparel to haute couture. “ Creating a project is great, but it’s difficult to make it last. You can do it if you have a clear idea,” is his mantra.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Tell us about your career. You have a long history in this industry and have worked in various segments....

It’s quite a long story. I started out as a sales assistant, then I became a window dresser, and from there I opened boutiques. My evolution began when I created my first childrenswear collection in Turin. Then I met Gegè Schiena, who passed away a few months ago. He wanted me to work with him at Americanino, I became his business partner, and we founded Manifatture del Nord. After this experience, I opened my own style office. It was a very important opportunity because I met Adriano Goldschmied, I joined the Genius Group and I worked with him on Goldie Italia and Goldie Utility. From there, a whole new world opened up.

I worked with denim, but not only that. Of course, I worked with jeans, collaborating with Elio Fiorucci, but also with Armani and Kenzo Jeans. That was in the ’70s and ’80s. I was part of a world that belonged to me because I had many skills. My culture was born with denim.

Then I grew up in the world of sports, specializing in outerwear.

You’ve been through a lot of changes, but you’ve also worked with the haute couture brand Lancetti, right?

That was the last thing I did, because before I dedicated myself 100% to FGF, my own company, the new owner of the Lancetti brand called me to ask me to design for him. I had never done haute couture before, but when I saw the Lancetti archive and how they worked in the style office, I was amazed....

I didn’t have a knack for making evening dresses, but I brought innovations to haute couture such as garment dyeing and embroidered jeans, which even Cavalli wasn’t doing yet. I was also good at choosing materials, colors, and ideas, and it was a success.

And then?

Then I decided I didn’t want to work for others anymore. I became an entrepreneur, and I think I did pretty well because Blauer is still with us after 25 years. I bought C.P. Company. Then I sold it because I created Ten C, which is a high-end SPORTSWEAR brand that is becoming very important.

Looking back on your extensive career, what can you say about this market? How has it changed?

Everything returns into circles, but there have been two main changes. On the one hand, materials have changed significantly because there has been an incredible evolution in technology and in the creation of new fibers and materials.

On the other hand, the way we dress and combine styles has changed, especially after COVID, which has accustomed us to trying to dress in an increasingly comfortable way.

So, is comfort more important than fashion?

Today, the beauty of fashion is that there is no fashion. You dress how you want. Once upon a time, men wore pinstripes, gray suits, blue blazers, camel coats and so on. Today, there are no rules. You can wear a camel coat with ripped jeans and a T-shirt.

Everything has changed, but it’s more beautiful and less boring. But if you ask me what’s in fashion, I can’t answer you. I can tell you that you make your own fashion. In fact, if you have a modicum of good taste, you can create the style you like.

Let’s say that SPORTSWEAR is comfort. For me, this defines all fashion right now: garments that must be comfortable, practical, and convenient, such as wearability for greater comfort in movement, travel and everyday life.

What has always distinguished you in this transformation? What has been and is the key to your success?

My mentality is to always do the opposite of what is mainstream, so if they tell me that down jackets are in, I make coats.

But the difference is that you have to work very seriously every day, always be present, and know what’s going on in the world. If I went to Paris and sat at Café Flor, I only had to sit there for an hour to understand whether bomber jackets or coats were in fashion. So you have to have a particular sensitivity, which is something innate. Then, maybe it’s because I was born in Turin and am of Apulian origin, but in the end, good taste in combining colors and fabrics also makes a difference.

In the past, for example, we wore flannel, cool wool, cashmere, vicuña,

and linen. Now there’s polyester, microfibers, and synthetic fabrics. The landscape has changed. You have to know both, but I think you need to know how to put everything together with a little good taste. I also pay a lot of attention to detail. So maybe I’m rewarded for that.

What’s more, I want to say that the world is moving forward, and quite quickly. Luckily, I managed to create a DNA for the Blauer brand and then for Ten C. Creating a project is very nice, but it’s difficult to make it last. You can do it when you know who you are.

Let’s talk about a product’s quality. Has there been a decline, or has quality remained high?

We Italians taught the Chinese how to manufacture, and not only them. Today, with their financial strength and workforce, they have become better than us. It is almost certain, of course, that there are certain types of products, such as suits, jackets, and custom-made shoes, that can only be made in Italy, but in the world of SPORTSWEAR, if you turn to qualified manufacturers, they have very advanced facilities and machinery, such as robots, that we don’t have in Italy. However, I think that you have to know how to create quality.

We design the paper pattern and make the prototype in-house. Then we send it to our supplier, who sends us the sample. When we receive it, if there is something wrong, we say so. We have technicians who deal with quality control in China, and we try to make as few mistakes as possible because you create quality if you have the skills to do so.

This is the source of Blauer’s success: it has perfect quality and price, but everything is balanced because I couldn’t afford certain processes for a certain price range.

Blauer is backed by a company that has been there for 25 years, ready to meet the needs of its customers. In fact, the product is not enough. Service and distribution also count. Everything is important, but being close to the customer makes the difference. If they have a problem, they call us; if they have payment issues, we meet them halfway. If they can’t sell certain items, we exchange them for other merchandise, and so on. All this cannot be built in one day; it takes years.

How will this market evolve over time?

The future is quite uncertain. The younger generations have a different mindset and prefer to take one more trip and buy one less item.

Today, it is increasingly difficult to survive in a market where half of the younger generation buys online and through large chains. In addition, many multibrand stores are closing. To survive in this situation, you have to specialize and be stronger than your competitors. We don’t have funds or partners to finance us. We run everything as a family business. It’s like making pasta at home: as long as you make it yourself, it tastes better.

I hope these wars end because they are certainly not good for anyone, least of all the market. I make 3- to 4-year plans, and they look promising because we are expanding distribution for Blauer and because our product sells well... Just think, if you ask ten people if they know Blauer, nine will say yes, and if you go outside a middle school or high school, 40% of the kids are wearing white or black Blauer down jackets.

What’s more, our brand also appeals to 30-, 40-, and 50-year-olds and, unlike our competitors, we also appeal to women, because in winter,

GOLDGARN CHARITY X ARTIST 20 25

FROM MANN HEIM

TOTHEWORLD

IN COLLABORATION WITH INNOVATIVE AND EMERGING ARTISTS, WE LAUNCH A CHARITY T-SHIRT COLLECTION EACH SEASON MADE FROM 100% ORGANIC COTTON

€5 FROM EVERY SHIRT SOLD IS DONATED TO THE ORGANIZATION WIR (WATER IS RIGHT).

IN 2014, THE FIRST “SCRIBBLED PORTRAIT” WAS CREATED BY MANNHEIM-BASED ARTIST MARILENA HAMM.

FROM WHAT INITIALLY APPEARS TO BE A RANDOM JUMBLE OF LINES, EXTRAORDINARY DRAWINGS AND PORTRAITS EMERGE - DEPICTING THESE DEPICT INSPIRING PERSONALITIES FROM THE WORLDS OF MUSIC, ART AND SPORTS, AS WELL AS ANIMALS AND OBJECTS FROM OUTER SPACE.

AS PART OF A NEW COLLECTION FOR GOLDGARN CHARITY, SHE HAS CREATED THREE UNIQUE DESIGNS INSPIRED BY THE MARINE WORLD PROCEEDS FROM THE SALES WILL HELP GENERATE VITAL FUNDS TO SUPPORT WATER PROJECTS ACROSS THE WORLD.

45-46% of our sales are to female customers.I believe that what keeps us going is our strong identity and clear vision, product, intentions and objectives.

What is your most important memory of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

I liked it a lot because it produced very interesting articles. It was a beautiful publication that I enjoyed reading because it was ahead of its competitors at the time and communicated very well. You were less sophisticated than others but more incisive.

You were even on one of its covers, remember?

Yes, I remember it very well. I think that in this sector, some of us are still here working in this field, as well as having made history because since the ’70s we have contributed to and participated in changing it. And as long as we are here, we will try to tell its story. What is certain is that today it is more difficult than it used to be. In the past, any entrepreneur, even without a particular background, who wanted to create a jeans brand could open a factory and be successful. Everything was definitely easier. Today, it is not a question of style or product. Today, companies have to be almost like banks or financial institutions. That’s why everyone is bringing in funds.

Credits:

p. 28: ph. Ioan Pilat

p. 30: courtesy FGF Industry

DENIM HEADS

Interview:

Nicolai Marciano

Denim aroud the World

Denim and Art

The Jeanseria

NICOLAI MARCIANO, GUESS:

‘I

THINK THE FUTURE FOR US WILL BE JUST BEING CLOSER TO THE CONSUMER’

Nicolai Marciano, Paul’s 28-year-old son, is reinventing Guess. He has redesigned Guess Jeans, returning to the “hard and pure” jeans product and the stonewashed look of the 1980s, making it become a brand on its own within the family holding company. But the story doesn’t end there. Marciano’s new disruptive journey is only just beginning….

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Many companies in the denim sector are seeking new horizons. Guess has chosen a specific direction that differs from other players in the sector. It has done so by rediscovering the brand’s original denim identity, when, in the 1980s, the Marciano brothers created a pioneering jeans brand that was keen to experiment with new techniques such as stonewashing.

Today, thanks to Nicolai Marciano, son of co-founder Paul and head of new business development, the brand is revisiting its past to reinvent itself even further. “This is just the beginning of a major transformation that will be full of twists and turns thanks to the structure of the large holding company we have become,” Marciano explains.

Nicolai was born in 1997—16 years after Guess was founded in 1981. His mission was to go “Back to the Future.” It began in s/s 2024 and is strategic because it is the most important challenge of his career, his chance to shine and set a new direction for the holding company.

“Denim is the DNA of our brand. It’s where we started, and for me, it’s always been something I have enormous love and respect for,” says the young man.

The Marciano family founded Guess as a denim brand, which grew and transformed into a complete total look with a “sexy” attitude, offering everything from hyper-feminine clothing to accessories, jewelry, perfumes and much more, eventually becoming publicly traded on the stock exchange.

Today, Guess wants to achieve even more significant results and is doing so with unexpected moves: for the first time in its history, it has acquired a brand—Rag & Bone. It has chosen to create a separate brand distinct from Guess, Guess Jeans, drawing on the heritage of its origins to win over young consumers and the male market.

Soon Authentic Brands will own a 51% stake in a newly formed entity that will substantially own Guess intellectual property. What else can we expect?

Nicolai talked about it during an exclusive web interview—one of the few he gives–from the company’s US headquarters in Los Angeles. He wears a dark, slightly oversized polo shirt, has shaved hair, and a proud look in his eyes. He answers in a frank manner, always getting straight to the point, like someone who prefers facts to words.

He started his career early. In 2014, at just 17 years old, he joined Guess to launch his brand, but discovered an unknown world based on unique characteristics such as heritage, identity and deep expertise in denim. Right from the start, he literally got his hands dirty learning everything there was to know about jeans, from denim production and design to cutting, tailoring and laundry processes.

He also visited the company’s production hubs in Mexico, Morocco and China. “For the first two years, I learned the fundamentals of this business,” he explains. “I worked in product development, production, washing and stonewashing. It was vital to learn all of this because it led me to this relaunch ten years later.”

He had some special teachers along the way: “Paul was my main mentor, along with those involved in denim product development in those years. He is very strict, but at the same time he thinks big, knows how to be open and change, and always gives great support to all the company’s new initiatives,” he points out. “The time spent in the company has allowed us to develop various concepts, achieve more results and bring new energy to the company,” he adds.

In 2016, Nicolai first launched Guess Originals, a streetwear-inspired brand, working alongside A$AP Rocky, and in 2018, he founded Guess USA, distributed by Slam Jam, involving artists, creatives and musicians.

These are two niche, aspirational brands that delivered immediate commercial and image returns and reached a younger audience than Guess’s average target, as well as entered high-end stores, where the brand had never been before.

Since 2023, Nicolai has focused on a strategy of segmenting the Guess universe to build a new architecture, distinguishing Guess from Guess Jeans, managing it as a brand distinct from the holding company’s vast offering, and redesigning its identity starting from its origins.

During his apprenticeship, he discovered a Guess that was completely different from the one that exists today. He wanted to revive Guess Jeans from s/s 2024 onwards by offering more denim than in the past, accounting for around 25% of the total, and more authentic.

During these projects, he also understood the importance of environmental issues. For this reason, he developed a new generation of jeans, similar to the original ones, no longer treated with stonewash, but made in a more sustainable way, using organic or recycled materials and treated with Guess Airwash, a new technique developed exclusively with Jeanologia and presented at Pitti for over two consecutive years.

He has also given the brand a new direction, rethinking, for example, more gender-fluid styles, a less sexy but more characterful woman, and redesigning the stores with a more Californian attitude in terms of materials and colors that hark back to the places dear to the brand’s beginnings, but always with a new twist.

“I think Guess is a really unique example and case study of evolution. The brand started as a California, denim-centric, kind of casual wear brand in LA. It was kind of like an era-defining movement for Los Angeles and fashion in general in terms of like the ’80s and ’90s style. But over the decades, I don’t know how many other companies have seen the same kind of evolution that we have had in terms of product, in terms of scale, size, assortment, what we’re selling and how the business has changed,” he explains.

“The company started as a denim business and today, we’re one of the biggest handbag manufacturers in the world,” he points out stressing how Guess blossomed and came to fruition. “And today we’re something so different than what we started as. In terms of product and the lifestyle, it really developed much farther than the expectations of Paul and his brothers. I don’t think they ever thought that what they set out to do would become what it is today, 45 years later.”

Guess has grown in a very balanced way in terms of categories, markets and geography and even if there was a downtrend in denim or in a segment, it found success in something else and pursued constant growth and resilience through the years, he points out.

But present times are even more exciting for Nicolai. “Denim is having an amazing moment. I think just in general that fashion and denim across every major fashion houses you see how many people on the street are wearing it. Denim is definitely having a big moment and resurgence as it always does, as it always comes in and out.”

This is the vision he points out, but he also recognizes that the real turning point for the industry was pioneering stonewashed jeans Guess launched in the ’80s—a technique that also struck him significantly when he started his first steps in the company learning about its early days. “I think that’s definitely the most moving and important aspect of our history,” he says. Though the future cannot be less inspiring and interesting for Guess. As the brand has evolved so much from its origins becoming something totally

different, it can take new even more astonishing directions. “What we did shows the capability that we have and that we’re capable of pivoting, changing, modernizing, doing things in a bit of a different style–whether that’s product, aesthetic, sustainability or performance. I think that we have a lot of potential that isn’t realized yet, even though the company is quite meaningful today and substantial.”

“I think that this next chapter, let’s say the next decade, is going to be an even more transformative one than even more some of the last few decades. I think for us it is just being closer to the consumer. It’s about targeting a new audience and evolving the strategy in a very different way. It’s going to be a bigger picture showing the direction of the company. It’s going to be about what audience we want to target and what strategy we want to follow to acquire that audience and evolve.”

That evolution may include growing the athleisure business. “That’s something that started during Covid and has been surprisingly successful for us and is growing at a very fast pace.”

“Whether it’s with the footwear market of On Running and Hoka, or similar other brands in apparel, there are significant new players coming up and I think with us, we have such an established platform and network that a lot of these newer brands don’t have. We’re poised to find a lot of success in new ideas because we’ve built the infrastructure over the last 45 years. So we will be focusing on and we will put our efforts on a market segment with a high potential,” he concludes.

Credits: courtesy Guess

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD GERMANY NO FAITH STUDIOS

FROM THE EIFEL REGION INTO THE WORLD

The streetwear industry is currently undergoing a paradigm shift. Whereas a few years ago it was enough to release collections consisting of hoodies, T-shirts and joggers, today’s end consumers expect more. New, promising labels are emerging every day, while things like innovation, brand identity and quality are becoming increasingly important to buyers. As a result, only a few labels that experienced hype during the coronavirus pandemic are still active today. One of them is No Faith Studios, which, from a small studio in Germany’s Eifel region and with only three employees, has ambitions to conquer the whole world.

When 13-year-old Luis Dobbelgarten attended a skate camp in the summer of 2012, he discovered his passion for fashion. A screenprinting machine allowed the teenager to print his own T-shirts. Dobbelgarten immediately took a liking to producing his own clothing and, after the camp, immediately sold all his Jordans to buy his own machine with the money. The first designs were sold at his own school and at the local skate park. Things like pricing, marketing and brand identity were not yet in place.

At 15, he expanded his skill set by buying clothes from H&M and altering them with his grandmother. This upcycling project laid the foundation for the No Faith Studios brand, which was created in 2016. Although he was only 16 at the time, the look of his label stood out from the rest of the market. While other labels were trying to become the next Stüssy or Supreme, No Faith Studios’ designs clearly reflected an enthusiasm for brands such as Undercover, Number Nine and Raf Simons. When the first Flared Denim Drop followed in 2020 and hit like a Black Friday sale at a Walmart in Utah, there was no turning back. Since then, the brand has gained a reputation as a premium denim brand in addition to its avant-garde designs.

By Rami Eiserfey

The range continued to expand, with washed-out denim and leather pieces, utility bomber jackets, and ribbon, buckle and strap designs eventually dominating the collections. This diversity was very well received, with pop-ups in Cologne and Tokyo causing long queues and even campouts. And in the US, too, the brand from the Eifel region became so popular that it even surpassed its already strong European and Asian customer base. In addition to their own creative standards, the three minds behind the brand—Luis Dobbelgarten, his brother Leon and his best friend and designer Moritz Himmler—attribute their success primarily to one thing: their community.

ALL THE WAY UP!

Anyone who has ever been part of an NFS pop-up can truly grasp the actual impact of the brand. Luis and his team have managed to turn their buyers into true fans. They believe in the brand’s vision, live its aesthetic, and connect with other fans around the world on social media. The community has made a name for itself at pop-ups, above all through its positive and inclusive nature, which has created a kind of safe space for the many outsiders of the elitist streetwear bubble. It doesn’t matter where you come from, how old you are, or how much credit you have left in your PayPal account: No Faith Studios unites them all into one common, fashionable spearhead.

At some point, this loyal community represented such a high demand that No Faith Studios had to expand its wholesale strategy. In addition to its own web shop and pop-ups, it collaborated with retailers such as online giant Ssense and the Japanese equivalent of Slam Jam, the Nubian Store. The response has been consistently positive: the brand sells out quickly

and pieces rarely end up on sale. At the time of writing, the first images of an upcoming collaboration with Puma have also been posted online. Based on the Mostros silhouette, NFS is expanding the collab series in Herzogenaurach, where brands such as Heliot Emil, Balenciaga and Ader Error have already made their mark. Thus, No Faith Studios’ flight path has hardly changed in the last nine years: it’s consistently upward.

HAVE FAITH IN THE FUTURE

No Faith Studios is currently facing one of its biggest challenges. The Chinese manufacturer of the brand, which was initially important for producing many pieces in a short time, is unfortunately failing on another level. As noted, quality and creativity have become increasingly important to customers. And when NFS tried to meet this demand, serious mistakes were made. Sherpa jackets from Norway were actually 100% plastic from a factory somewhere in China. Vintage Gap crewnecks, where each piece was supposed to be unique, were unfortunately neither vintage nor unique, but merely new goods of unknown origin with a print instead of handmade distressing.

In an interview, Luis mentioned that relocating their own production to Italy or Japan was the next big step in meeting their quality standards. We believe in the future of the brand and are certain that as soon as things like quality, transparency, logistics, and perhaps a little sustainability are in place, this brand will conquer the catwalks around the world. Until then, the field will continue to be cleared from the Eifel region.

Discover the collection

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD JAPAN DENIM DREAMS MADE IN JAPAN

By Rami Eiserfey

When we talk about jeans today, the big American names immediately spring to mind: Levi’s, Wrangler, Lee, etc. But in fact, there is a second home for all things denim in the Far East, because a denim culture has developed in Japan that is admired worldwide. We spoke with brands such as Blue Blue Japan and FDMTL to learn more about their approach to our favorite fabric. Let’s dive in together and visit the country where jeans are stored in tubs and still made by hand.

“Denim is no ordinary material,” says the Blue Blue team. “It transcends eras and connects with people’s everyday lives. Its timelessness deepens its meaning.” Gaku Tsuyoshi, founder of FDMTL, describes it in even more personal terms: “The longer you wear denim, the more personality it develops. It’s as if it lives with you.” Both agree that durability plays a crucial role. This is hardly surprising when you consider where it all originated. The Blue Blue Team still sees this as the core of the Japanese denim spirit: “For us, timeless means that a garment fits into any era. We combine traditional techniques with modern lifestyles.”

After WWII, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers came to Japan. They brought Coca-Cola, jazz, and jeans with them and distributed them throughout Japanese society. Many Japanese saw these new things as relics from the land of opportunity. Artifacts of freedom–and jeans were to be the uniform of this movement. Soon, the first secondhand stores opened in Tokyo, selling old Levi’s jeans from the GIs of that era and triggering an ever-growing hype. Soon, it was no longer enough to wear American jeans. People wanted to make them themselves.

Old looms were brought to Japan from Europe and the US to weave denim as it was originally made. This is how selvedge denim came into being, with its firm edges and typical density. The province of Okayama became the center of this movement. Over the years, brands such as Big John and Kurabo Mills emerged there, followed later by Studio D’Artisan, The Flat Head, Eternal, Samurai Jeans and Evisu. Each brand had its own style, but they all shared the same reverence for craftsmanship and materials. “Japanese denim is the crystallization of craftsmanship,” says Tsuyoshi. “Whether it’s yarn, indigo or stitching, every decision is based on an idea of beauty.”

A turning point came with the rediscovery of traditional Aizome dyeing. In open vats, the fabric is dipped several times in natural indigo and oxidized in the air. Layer by layer, this creates a depth that appears vibrant and enhances the denim fabric. The subsequent fading, the lightening caused by movement and use, is not considered a flaw, but a sign of life. “We design clothes that are completed by being worn,” explains the Blue Blue team. For FDMTL, it is the visible evolution of time that makes the fabric special. “I see denim as something that is constantly changing. Wear and tear is a memory, not a flaw.” This credo comes from the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi, the beauty of imperfection. Jeans can have rips, creases

and marks because they show their history. The Blue Blue Team sums it up: “We remove everything unnecessary and let the silhouette, seams and subtle fading speak for themselves.” FDMTL goes even further and makes signs of wear a central design feature. “Boro stands for the respect of loving things so much that you repair them. We don’t hide flaws, we make them visible. For us, that’s where beauty lies.”

Japanese brands outdid each other to offer the most authentic form of denim. Some weave heavy fabrics that only mold to the body after weeks of wear. Others use irregular yarns to create lively textures. Still others pay attention to the origin of the cotton, preferring durable materials from the southern states of the USA. Every step, from dyeing to sewing, is carried out with a precision that seems almost ritualistic. “For us, simplicity is not a deficiency, but precision,” says Blue Blue. “Essence instead of ornament.” Tsuyoshi adds: “Function comes first. Then come small shifts that make the familiar appear new. It’s art that moves in everyday life.“

In Kojima, a district of Okayama, you can still feel this dedication today. Small studios, dye works, and shops line the streets. Walking through the streets here, you experience denim as a living high culture. Tsuyoshi says, “Many young people tell me that they feel a human warmth in our work. Perhaps because they live in a digital world and long for the traces of the hand.” Blue Blue also observes this resonance: “People all over the world respond to the sincerity towards material and technique. They feel the passion that goes into it.” Haptics over hype is the motto that inspires an entire generation, even outside of denim. “Clothing that lasts a long time creates bonds and memories. It stands for sustainability instead of consumption,” explains Blue Blue. FDMTL sees it similarly. “Using something for a long time is the most honest form of sustainability. Signs of repair are proof of affection.” Many FDMTL customers repair their jeans or sneakers themselves. For Tsuyoshi, this is not an act of necessity, but a moment of closeness. “This time spent repairing is part of the relationship between people and clothing.”

This creates a culture that preserves the old and curiously explores the new. Japanese denim manufacturers reconstruct historical fabrics and techniques with the utmost precision, without falling into nostalgia. “We combine traditional methods with a modern attitude to life,” says Blue Blue. Tsuyoshi describes his vision with a look to the future: “Japan is now a leader in reproducing the origins of denim. FDMTL wants to reconstruct these origins: bringing together the old and the new, the Japanese and the Western.” It is no coincidence that Japanese denim is now considered the best in the world. It is the result of decades of dedication, obsessive craftsmanship and the ability to give an imported fabric its own soul. “Rarity and craftsmanship mean that something is not mass-produced, but created with intention,” says Tsuyoshi. “Possession becomes an expression of shared appreciation.” Blue Blue sums it up succinctly: “Simplicity for everyday life. Clothing that remains silent and therefore remains.”

Perhaps that is precisely the secret. Japan did not invent denim, but it was reborn here. Not as workwear, but as an expression of a culture that loves authenticity, craftsmanship and the beauty of becoming.

Credits:

courtesy Blue Blue p. 42: FDMTL SS 26 runway show, courtesy FDMTL, p.43: Gaku Tsuyoshi, courtesy FDMTL

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD UKRAINE KSENIASCHNAIDER, PROUDLY MADE IN UKRAINE

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Kseniaschnaider is a Ukrainian denim and fashion brand with a strong focus on denim and sustainability. It was founded in 2012 by Ksenia and her husband, Anton Schnaider, in Kyiv and continues to be proudly designed and made in Ukraine, having become one of Ukraine’s most internationally recognized labels, a symbol of resilient creativity, and a leader in responsible design, reworking thousands of garments each year into new forms.

The most popular pieces from the brand’s offerings are denim, fur and patchwork off-cuts based on organic cotton and Lyocell fabrics, along with upcycled fabrics made from vintage clothing, all used in signature silhouettes. To date, Kseniaschnaider has upcycled around 45 tons of denim jeans—approximately 550–700 pairs per month.

It is mostly known for pioneering upcycling in contemporary fashion, transforming discarded denim into bold, forward-thinking designs that merge streetwear, tailoring and conceptual play, while it has been collaborating with various brands, including, among the most recent ones, Adidas and Lee Cooper, and its innovative study on “literally” square styles of jeans, tops, dresses, accessories and hats.

Trendsetting and constantly challenging the status quo, Kseniaschnaider’s unique Demi-Denim statement jeans, mixing different denim elements in the same garment, became one of the most viral trends of 2017, according to Lyst. The brand’s unorthodox but highly wearable denim trousers and jackets have been worn by celebrities including Bella and Gigi Hadid, Rita Ora, Blanca Miró, and Celine Dion.

Kseniaschnaider believes in its “design minus design” philosophy, whose parameters are “If it can be used, it should be reused. If it can be recycled, it should be recycled. If it can be upcycled, it should be worn again.”

“We mix our conceptual design approach with everyday wear. Every collection starts with experiments: deconstruction of silhouettes, unusual cuts, upcycling, patchwork and organic certified materials, which is always balanced with functionality,” the designers say.

What distinguishes the brand mostly is the fact that all its design and production take place in Ukraine; it’s part of the brand’s DNA, as they often collaborate with local artisans and manufacturers. “Our work reflects resilience and creativity as part of Ukrainian culture, which feels especially important in the current context,” is one of the brand’s mantras.

For the brand’s founders, denim and SPORTSWEAR are moving toward low-impact production and multifunctional design, believing that the future of the industry cannot be anything else but sustainable, versatile and transparent.

Kseniaschnaider’s connection with SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL is deep and strong, as it dates back to 2016. “We had just shown at Premium in Berlin, and seeing our denim pieces picked up by the magazine, it showed us our brand could speak globally,” they say.

Credits: courtesy Kseniaschnaider

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD SOUTH AFRICA TSHEPO JEANS: ‘AS GOOD AS THE REST OF THE WORLD’

By Tobias Bayer

Tshepo Mohlala has built South Africa’s most iconic denim brand. Now he wants to go international and show everyone what the country’s creatives are capable of.

It all starts with his grandmother. “She was a pastor and a storyteller. She used storytelling to spread a message of hope. We had little, but my grandmother would share it with the community,” says Tshepo Mohlala, who grew up in a rough township outside Johannesburg. “When I was young, I was inspired by her. I wanted to become like her.”

Well, he did. Mohlala has become a storyteller like his grandmother, but instead of words, he expresses himself through his clothing. In 2015, he founded Tshepo Jeans. In just ten years, the start-up has turned into South Africa’s most successful denim brand. It’s worn by celebrities such as Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle and American superstar Beyoncé.

The story that Tshepo Jeans tells is a simple one: “We South Africans are as good as the rest of the world.” It’s an uplifting message for a country that’s still grappling with its past.

After Apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994, denim brands from the US and Italy entered the South African market. Jeanswear that was considered worker’s clothing before became a status symbol almost overnight.

The regime change did unleash a lot of creative potential in the country. However, in fashion, it was somehow held back. South Africans didn’t believe in local labels and doubted themselves. “There was a lack of confidence. We weren’t confident to put our name onto things,” says Mohlala. “It’s been a big fight. It’s been slowly changing over the past ten years.”

Tshepo Jeans has been one of the most vocal gamechangers. It’s become a hit, especially among African women, who struggled to find the right fit. Tshepo Jeans caters to their needs by offering jeans that are tailor-made for tiny waists and generous hips and buttocks. The denim garments are sourced from Japan, the ready-to-wear is manufactured in Mauritius.

The company has an atelier in Victoria Yards, a “vibrant arts and culture precinct” in Johannesburg, where 15 tailors sew and cut bespoke jeans. It has a webshop and stores in Hyde Park Corner and Sandton City, two of South Africa’s top malls where one can find designer and luxury brands such as Paul Smith and Versace.

The expansion is likely to continue. Mohlala wants to open at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. He’s dreaming of landing in Amsterdam and London, too. He has already opened a pop-up in Amsterdam. “We sold out. It was truly amazing,” he says. Most of its clients are currently from South Africa, but also tourists open their wallets. The Tshepo fans hail from Europe and the Middle East, but also from Asia. “Recently we had two customers from Thailand,” he says. “Wow!”

The way to success hasn’t been easy. It needed a lot of “hustling,”, as he says, to make it to the top. He caught the fashion bug through his grandmother and aunt, but also through television in the early 2000s where he saw the Spice Girls in their “boots, white T-shirts and flared denims.” He started to wear skinny jeans. “I became the laughingstock of my community,” he recalls.

When he told his family that he wanted to study fashion, at first, they were less than enthusiastic. “In my area, someone who works in fashion is synonymous with being a tailor. It means to be somebody who works in his mom’s garage and never ever has the chance to leave the neighborhood. If he’s lucky, he gets to work on somebody’s wedding dress, but most of the time, he just trims other people’s old clothes.”

Nonetheless, he enrolled at university to study fashion design but dropped out because he couldn’t afford the tuition. “That was like a blessing in disguise,” he says. “It was a very important moment in my life.” He needed to prove to himself and to his family that he was serious about his fashion dreams. “I had to get a job. I went onto the street. I began styling people.” He made a name for himself, launched a label with some friends and decided to try it on his own.

“Something big is coming,” he wrote on social media. Several months passed “but nothing was happening,” he remembers. Finally, he met a lady who helped him get his brand off the ground. “Listen, I’ve got access to a loan of 8000 Rand. If you want to start this thing, let’s go to the bank.” With the small venture capital (around €400) of his friend, he bought a role of denim fabric and created his first model of jeans, a basic five-pocket, the Presidential Slim Fit.

He organized a small party at the entertainment hub 44 Stanley and put the item on social media. Sales were slow. “It took me a long time to convince people that these jeans are cool. On a monthly basis, I’d sell probably one pair.” Many sceptics asked themselves: “Why would I buy Tshepo if I can buy a Levi’s in a beautiful store with a beautiful experience?” But some people saw something in him. “They loved the quality, because the biggest thing that I focused on was the quality and the craftsmanship,” says Mohlala. “It kind of grew from there.”

2018 was the tipping point. He met the artist Ayanda Mabulu who’s very popular in South Africa, but also a bit of an agent provocateur. Back In 2016 Mabulu had released a painting of then-incumbent President Jacob Zuma performing a sexual act on Atul Gupta, the wealthy Indian-South African businessman who has been accused of influence over the president. The designer and artist shared stories. “We kicked it,” says Mohlala.

It was a Friday. Mabulu took pen and paper. He wrote Tshepo’s name on it and put a three-pronged crown on top. After that, he sprayed his drawing on the wall and explained it. The crown? “You’re a king.” The three prongs? “You represent a new generation of storytellers. Your mom, your aunt and your grandmother have made you the person that you are.”

Mohlala embroidered the logo on his new range of jeans and posted it on social media. “It went super viral. I was on prime-time news, morning news, midday news, evening news and on the radio. Everybody was talking about this,” he remembers. Unfortunately, they weren’t talking in a positive way about him. “It was not trending because I’d made the most amazing denim. I was trending because people were saying: ‘Who the fuck does this guy thinks he is?’”

Still, the “Black Twitter” wave, as he calls it, took him from semi-obscurity to prominence. One mentor encouraged Mohlala who was crestfallen, not to lose faith: “As long as they’re not talking bad about your quality, all the other things can be fixed.” He turned out to be right. After a while, the results were tangible: “Slowly people started to like it.”

Today Tshepo Jeans is the pride of the nation and a guiding light for other South African denim brands such as Afrikanswiss, Denim by Dome, Imprint ZA, Refuse Clothing Brand and Dungr Authority. “Tshepo Jeans is a powerful representation of African identity, craftsmanship, and global ambition,” says Hlompho Matobole, founder of Dungr Authority.

Through collaborations, Mohlala raises the brand profile further. Recently, he launched a capsule with the Luxurious Marble Circus, a food and music festival. “It’s like Tomorrowland.” Soon he’ll hook up with DJ Maphorisa, who’s one of the biggest music stars in the country and told him: “I love clothes, and I want to go into fashion.” He replied: “Hey, man, listen, let’s do something together. Let’s create a line for you.” It’ll be called “OVI.”

The designer’s grandmother is “super proud of him”: “She saw me once on stage and told me: ‘Oh my god, you are amazing.’” Asked whether he has ever thought of including the storyteller of storytellers in one of his campaigns, he answers: “No, I haven’t, yet. Do you think I should?”

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD ITALY

GROSSI: ‘THROUGH DENIM I’M LOOKING FOR A CONNECTION WITH REALITY’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

The denim and fashion world has a new up-and-coming talent—Andrea Grossi and his Grossi brand. The young designer made his debut during the January 2025 Milan Menswear shows and Munich Fabric Start, inside the Bluezone. He presented his highly experimental collection made up of unique research materials, treatments, coatings, and redesigned silhouettes and proportions, along with unique hybrid pieces that mix workwear influences with jeans’ evolutionary pillar elements.

After he graduated from Polimoda in 2019 and won the Hyères International Fashion Festival contest, he collaborated with key jeanswear labels such as Diesel for several years along with other independent experiences.

His brand, made up of about 45 pieces, will launch his second season in January 2026, evolving from his previous one focused on offering both denim and non-denim items, betting on a new approach that strays away from traditional five-pockets and plays with material mixes, traditional jeans styles placed upside down, and bell bottoms reinvented with twisted legs à-la-Levi’s Engineered.

“I wanted to create a wardrobe that does away with tradition and stereotypes and opted for a sexier and more fluid approach to menswear,” Grossi explains. “I experimented on new hybrid uses of materials by adding flock effects onto denim and sweatshirts, rubberized denim and neoprene, then scraping them off, and reimagined workwear through weird material combinations. I also reinvented traditional items like jeans and jackets, turning them upside down or making them baggier and funkier,” he adds, explaining what his brand’s DNA is like.

“My work is characterized by a mix of artisanal treatments and elements of national pop culture. A research into masculine aesthetics that is credible but also manages to break down some barriers,” he underscores while stressing the importance of his sense of belonging to Italy and the Italian culture and craftsmanship. He actually collaborates with the most significant industrial districts scattered throughout the peninsula by having his jeans treated and washed in Abruzzo and Marche and manufacturing his leather pieces in Tuscany.

Looking at the future of the industry and of the sector, Grossi believes in the importance of hyping creative research regarding design and a quest for quality of the product—as he will continue to do with his own project.

“I’d really like one of my pieces to last over time and remain in the wardrobe of those who buy it, beyond seasonality. I especially hope denim is something you can grow fond of, a piece you can wear both when you go to the club or to the Esselunga supermarket. I’m looking for a connection with reality,” he adds.

Credits: courtesy Grossi

DENIM AROUND THE WORLD ITALY

CYCLE: ‘DENIM IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Cycle, founded in Italy in 2001 by its designers Andrea Bertin and Elena Boaretto, and previously owned by Gegé Schiena’s Italservices, was recently acquired by Numero 8, the Italian family company founded by Enrico Spinazzè.

This creative and visionary entrepreneur owns some successful brands like, for instance, Sun 68, a cool apparel and sneaker collection born in 2005 and constantly growing. As a serious denim fan, he is deeply and personally involved in keeping Cycle’s true DNA alive.

Unique fits and funky silhouettes, a special focus on outstanding materials, a maniacal passion for high-quality, and stylish Made in Italy products, led him to grow this very special fashion-minded brand.

How does Cycle manage to stand the test of time?

We have remained faithful to our DNA based on quality, craftsmanship and Italian identity, but with the ability to constantly evolve. We have never wanted to follow trends: we have interpreted them in our own language and transformed this into an opportunity for growth. Each collection is a dialogue between roots and contemporaneity, allowing us to remain authentic and at the same time relevant to new generations of consumers.

The brand has always had a unique and disruptive approach to communication and advertising. How does Cycle carry on this legacy today?

Since its inception, Cycle has communicated in an unconventional way, preferring authenticity to glossy messages. Yesterday as today, we don’t just sell jeans, we share an attitude and always follow the same pioneering spirit, focusing on creativity and sincere storytelling. For example, instead of traditional one-way campaigns, we build dialogues with our community—we directly engage those who share a passion for denim, online and offline.

We favor innovative digital projects, artistic collaborations and content that invites consumers to be part of our world, maintaining a bold tone of voice consistent with our DNA. Being “disruptive” in 2025 also means talking about the values we believe in—quality, sustainability, individuality— in a transparent and creative way.

How have SPORTSWEAR and jeanswear changed?

The boundaries between SPORTSWEAR and jeanswear are increasingly blurred, and so is their reciprocal interaction. SPORTSWEAR has become part of the global everyday wardrobe and is synonymous with comfort and urban style.

Jeanswear has evolved from utility workwear to a premium, cult fashion item. Despite its ups and downs, denim has never really gone out of fashion, nor has its essence changed: jeans remain a symbol of personal expression and SPORTSWEAR remains synonymous with practicality and dynamism. Consumers seek authenticity, quality and an emotional connection with what they wear.

Trends, players and sales channels have changed, but comfort and authenticity remain at the heart of the success of SPORTSWEAR and denim.

How will Cycle evolve?

We will continue to innovate while remaining true to ourselves. Our vision for the coming years is based on a few cornerstones: further strengthening the brand’s digital and international presence, attention to sustainability and promoting the Italian culture that defines us.

I see Cycle increasingly focused on global scenarios. While remaining a niche brand, we will engage with an international audience of denim enthusiasts. I imagine the brand becoming increasingly connected with the younger generations: to truly evolve, we must listen to young people, involve them in collaborative projects and cross-pollinate with other creative disciplines.

Denim is a universal language, and we want to “speak” it with new generations around the world, blending our Italian sensibility with multicultural inspirations.

What key aspects will define the brand’s evolution in such a volatile market?

Cycle will grow based on five clear pillars: Italian heritage and craftsmanship; continuous innovation in materials and processes; authentic sustainability; niche positioning with an international reach; and dialogue with new generations through cultural and creative cross-pollination. These elements will allow us to strengthen our identity and guide the brand into the future.

How will jeanswear and sportswear develop?

They will become increasingly similar: the former will become more lifestyle-oriented, technological and sustainable, while the latter will rediscover its artisanal roots with a circular and responsible approach. Innovation, authenticity and community will be the common drivers: those who can combine comfort, aesthetics and ethical values will lead the future of both sectors.

Credits: ph. Renato D’Agostin

DENIM AND ART GERMANY ANNA WEBERARTWORKS & DENIM: ‘DENIM IS A LANGUAGE’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Anna Weber is a German fashion designer who has been working in the industry for over ten years. After she founded her own fashion brand, Artworks & Denim, she also started creating art pieces like imaginary portraits and fancy designs by using old jeans, denim leftovers and indigo dyed threads. Many of her pieces are reflective of the style of 16th century Mannerist painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo, who recreated people’s portraits by combining fruit, vegetables, fish or everyday objects.

Weber recreates new subjects with denim waste.

“Denim has always been more than just a material to me—it’s a language. Through my label, I’ve found a way to explore and express that language artistically,” she explains.

“Because I work so closely with jeans every day, I naturally started experimenting with them in my free time. At some point, I stopped seeing denim purely as a textile for clothing and started viewing it as a medium with almost endless creative potential. That’s when my artistic journey truly began,” she adds.

Her art also has a responsible aim in mind, as she wants to show that denim can become so much more than a pair of jeans. “It’s a versatile, sustainable and expressive material. You can reuse it, reshape it and tell completely new stories with it. That’s what drives me,” she says.

One of her most personal and evolving projects is the “Denim Heads” series. She started by draping denim trousers and creating sculptural shapes she first photographed, and then digitally edited.

Over time, she began turning these digital works into real, physical sculptures using textile hardener. The final result? Each piece becomes a kind of frozen moment, formed out of something as commonplace as a pair of jeans.

Among other techniques, she also likes to deconstruct jeans down to their core and obtain single threads. By carefully extracting the indigo-dyed yarns, she has used them to create thread-based images and sculptures. “There’s something incredibly honest and delicate in working with the material at this level—almost like revealing the soul of the fabric,” she notes.

Weber thinks her artistic work is deeply connected to her design background, but it also allows her to move beyond fashion and into something more abstract and emotional and a crossroads between sustainability, street culture and self-expression. “Through Artworks & Denim, I want people to see denim in a completely new way and make them ask themselves what art is,” she adds, implying that art can be everywhere—from fashion to everyday materials.

Credits: courtesy Artworks & Denim

DENIM AND ART UK

IAN BERRY: ‘JEANS ARE A STATEMENT BY SIMPLY WEARING THEM’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

British artist Ian Berry is known for recreating unique, realistic portraits and installations by assembling hundreds of different blue-tone secondhand denim scraps. He created two iconic covers of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL in 2014 and in 2019 and has crafted a vast number of portraits of well-known personalities, including Giorgio Armani, Gisele, Ayrton Senna and Debbie Harry, along with historical personalities such as Levi Strauss and Giuseppe Garibaldi.

He also worked on portraits of some of the most inspiring and influential personalities of the denim world as part of “Denim Legends”, a project unveiled in 2022 as an installation of the most iconic personalities at Textilmuseet in Borås, Sweden.

Commissioned to make the portrait of Levi Strauss for the Levi Strauss Museum in the iconic denim innovator’s hometown of Buttenheim, Germany, in 2023, Berry was also chosen to celebrate the Levi’s 501 jeans model’s 150th anniversary.

He did it by designing “The Greatest Story Ever Worn—by Ian Berry,” a record-size fresco-like work made by assembling upcycled pieces of secondhand 501s. The special celebratory artwork debuted at Milan Design Week 2023 and later traveled to Madrid and Paris.

He has exhibited many of his works in various countries, giving people a chance to see his work in person, from across Europe to the USA. His most recent creations were shown in Turkey, in Istanbul and Ankara, in 2025.

He started this path in the 2010s by one simple observation. He noticed a pile of old jeans and their contrasting shades of blue. By picking up scissors and glue, he soon became one of the most talked about young artists and one of the leading top 30 artists under 30 in the world.

While it all started out as an experiment, he realized his own connection with jeans. Understanding how denim makes everyone feel so comfortable, he found his way to communicate his sense of art and craftsmanship and his love for jeans as an unmissable means for expressing oneself.

“Jeans have always been about people’s movement, and it’s less obvious today,” he says.

“Take, for instance, when the Berlin Wall fell down and everybody was wearing them. That was a very strong moment. When we see the pictures today, we think it’s normal, but it is a very powerful message: the people in West Berlin searching for freedom were wearing these jeans, while people in the East part were not. It’s very symbolic. Civil rights move if they are worn as a statement,” he explains.

He says jeans have been worn many times throughout the 20th century as a means to express a message or protest, and that denim is synonymous with youthfulness.

Another recurrent theme in Berry’s work is that the personalities he portrayed with his art are often archetypes such as Patti Smith, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean—all icons wearing jeans, a uniform today, but not in the past.

And what are his thoughts about jeans in the future?

“I would love to see a lot more redesigned and repurposed secondhand jeans, but I can’t foresee what kind of movement is going to come out with today’s age and technology moving so fast…. Thinking of youth movements, heroes and subcultures who embraced jeans, each of them did it for a different reason, and it continues to be such a powerful statement by simply wearing them,” he says.

DENIM AND ART UK

MOHSIN SAJID AND SADIA RAFIQUE: ‘WE ARE PUSHING THE NARRATIVE THROUGH CREATIVITY’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

The denim industry is like a huge melting pot where many different professionals and experts collaborate. Each of them has peculiar talents that often disclose more than one ability, according to a fast-forward mentality.

A case in point are the two creative minds behind Endrime—Mohsin Sajid and Sadia Rafique. The London-based couple are husband and wife and business partners—different but complementing each other.

Sajid is a creative director, denim design specialist, collector of about 3,000 rare vintage denim pieces from the 1870s to 1999, but also university teacher, and lecturer for about 20 years. Rafique is the art director of Endrime and a photographer and artist.

Their work is a clear expression of their experience, passion and knowledge of the global denim market, of their constant connection with the industry and of their commitment to help it become more responsible. Their ability to collaborate with different brands, fabric companies and market specialists has made them more than simple consultants. They have grown to also develop creative, marketing, educational and art-focused initiatives.

“With over 20 years of experience in the denim industry each, we are unique and innovative in devising and delivering creative solutions,” they say.

“For each brand we work for we do extensive research which ensures that we deliver relevant and targeted denim collections with well-considered visual communication. We are pushing the narrative through creativity,” they add.

One project, among many, stands out as a true expression of art achieved through a multitude of ways of treating denim—Sake.

This book and exhibition premiered during Kingpins Amsterdam in 2023 and featured denim artwork developed as a collaboration between Rafique and trend forecaster, designer, and vintage archivist Kelly Harrington (hence its name from the artists’ names first two letters). They worked together with treating technology manufacturer Tonello, Endrime and other partners.

Prints, decorations and a hyped sense for art were some of the about 80 new creative artworks using various denim and fabric samples created with very different techniques—all developed with Tonello machines—including laser, ozone, spraying, painting and more, while developing abstract motifs, floral decors and human figures, among others. All were created via responsible uses of resources, techniques and materials.

No less important are the collaborations that Sajid and Rafique carried out themselves, including a strong commitment to education.

“Education is important and never enough. We need more workshops on preferred fibers like regenerative cotton, Tencel, Circulose, Marmara Hemp and many others. We need young and established designers to understand the market and its problems,” they underscore.

While Sajid has been a teacher and lecturer his entire career for various important international universities, they are both involved in publishing books that are informative and entertaining at the same time, as the Endrime Archive book series. The first was issued in 2024, and soon, in 2026, a second one will follow. These books feature historical research on early French workwear and garments from the invention of the overall and blue jeans in 1872 and denim’s early tailoring roots in Europe.

Another publication features six Hong Kong collectors—Vintage Style Research Archive Vol. 1: The Golden Age Of Hong Kong Vintage Collectors. This book features 70 rare styles like rare denim, workwear, military, fashion pieces and unique denim scraps, all with detailed descriptions and historical context.

No less valuable and fast-forward-minded is “3D Denim Archives by Endrime x Rajby Industries x d_archive.” This collaboration between Endrime, Rajby Industries and d_archive aims to digitize and reimagine eight denim pieces from the Endrime Archive as 3D holograms.

They showcased 3D holograms of real historic jeans at the Kingpins Show in April 2025. The goal of the project is to preserve fashion heritage and make it digitally accessible. And the accompanying book presents photo material of the rare denim items, along with paper patterns, and links to download them in digital format.

Studying the past and the present shows what the future will be like, according to Endrime’s multifaceted creative approach—like their creativity and art, which is a lens to observe reality and learn from.

DENIM AND ART COLOMBIA

JUAN MANUEL GÓMEZ:

‘DENIM IS

MORE THAN JUST A CANVAS’

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Juan Manuel Gómez, an expert technician from the denim finishing industry, has a weakness for art, as he considers his expertise in treating denim and fabrics as a means for transforming a simple material or product into a message through different techniques like rubbing, engraving, marking, bleaching and printmaking.

“My journey began by viewing laundry processes as a form of art, experimenting with denim as a medium, and exploring different techniques. The inspiration stems from viewing denim as more than just a canvas— it is a medium that embodies stories and experiences,” he explains.

Driven by this passion, ten years ago, the Colombia-based artist founded Deverazul, his own art project that debuted with an exhibition in a gallery in Medellin supported by Candiani Denim.

“By collaborating with the denim and art industries, I aim to create synergies that resonate with diverse audiences, transcending beyond the denim community and fostering a new perspective on this versatile material,” he says.

He named his project after a Spanish expression that stands for “blue duty,” though it lends itself to different meanings. On one side it refers to the duty to see and look through a blue lens, on the other it recalls the idea of the duty to wear blue as a work uniform. In both cases it is a wordplay that perfectly applies to denim, which is a democratic and versatile material, while it allows for collective creation.

“I think denim is a meeting point between material and language. It is a fabric that adorns us, protects us and becomes a layer that withstands the passage of time, while also serving as a surface that expresses how people live in it, age it and transform it. It is the indigo blue, the color that acts as the thread connecting art and denim,” he adds.

A recurring aspect in all of Gomez’s works is the idea of repetition, as in the processes of the textile industry, akin to automatic drawing or a pictorial gesture and reminiscent of the American artist Dan Miller. Miller’s repetition of images, numbers and words creates complex abstract patterns. His fixations on daily objects are represented through repetitive spelling and sketching, in an attempt to organize and process the world around him.

“Drawing inspiration from this visual reference, I create artworks that emulate cloth or garments. I also acknowledge that the notions of error and learning through repetition are inherent in the textile industry, serving as a guiding principle for me. The act of duty and observation that I leverage to create is a significant influence, both in my artistic endeavors and in the realm of finishes for laundry processes,” he explains, making clear how his art project expresses his love for both denim and his work based upon constantly finding new meanings for a fabric that is much more than a simple piece of cloth.

Credits: courtesy Kingpins Show

26—27 NOV. 2025

20—21 MAY 2026

THE JEANSERIA

“We are a certainty” It’s the oldest “Jeanseria” in Milan. On the very busy Naviglio Grande canal in a neighborhood that changes permanently and where nothing seems to remain the same over the years, the store Martin Luciano has been around since 1947.

How is that possible?

By Tom Kiesewetter

If you take a stroll down Milan’s Naviglio Grande, you’ll find a store with the sober name of “ditta Martin Luciano.” It’s not only the oldest, but also the last true “Jeanseria” to be still in business in the city. It’s a source of pride for the two owners, Paolo and Graziana.

They are the children of founder Luciano Martin who came to Milan with only 200 lira in his pocket in the 1930s. Some years later, in the fall of 1945, after marrying his wife Bruna, he built his own house, store and warehouse where he opened his activity under a new roof. He collected military surplus left by American soldiers and got his hands on jeans that they wore during their leisure time. In 1947 he began to sell new jeans.

Paolo and Graziana keep doing it to this day. Their store offers a vast selection of jeans, casual wear, military surplus, workwear, packaging materials and accessories and has been officially recognized as a “bottega storica,” or “historic shop,” by the city of Milan. “We enjoy what we are doing even if it might be difficult sometimes,” says Graziana.

Your father founded the company and later passed it on to you and your brother. Would it be accurate to say that you both grew up in the store?

Sure! We had other wishes in the beginning: my brother is an inventor; I was a dance student at the opera La Scala. However back then it was up to your parents to plan your professional path; that’s why our father let us play around the warehouse with the things we found there. He even built a swing for me at some point. That’s how we fell in love with a children’s play, which later became our profession. Our father has lit the passion for this kind of work in us. We loved him and we enjoy what we are doing even if it might be difficult sometimes. That’s what he taught us.

That sounds like there is a great sense of pride.

Yes. It is a sensation that grows with age. We learned to appreciate things that we didn’t appreciate when we were young. Considering that our father started a company on his own, without proper education, without money but with his long-term vision is astonishing. On the other hand, we are also proud of our mother. While our father was the genius who could select the right pieces among several tons of used clothing and military surplus, our mother who previously worked in a law firm dealt with the office work. In their marriage she always stood by his side; you could say that it was a partnership in work and in life. They were symbiotic.

You are the only jeanseria in Milan that still exists today. Why is that?

Perhaps you could call it natural selection. In the late 1960s and 1970s there was an enormous jeans boom; the demand was huge. Due to this situation many boutiques like ours were founded. Even people with little experience in the sector, who previously had a completely different job, founded their own “jeanseria.” Yet there is a difference between knowing a product and selling it on one side and improvising like our parents did on the other side. When the trend was over and the market was saturated, store owners began to struggle with the increase of expenditure and taxes. Eventually outlets and online shops became popular, the introduction of the euro was also challenging, and for some it became impossible to continue with their businesses. Sure, we also struggled with these issues, but we are a company that grew slowly and sturdy, step by step. Sometimes a quick success doesn’t mean that something will last for long. Another reason is that our parents had the luck to have two children to whom they could pass down their passion and knowledge at the right time. I can confidently say that we are a certainty, and we are serious about our profession.

How did you maintain your success with the customers?

We are well known as a historic shop. As we offer a wide range of jeans, customers often look for something specific. Nevertheless, you don’t need to come here with a precise idea; that is our advantage compared to online retailers. It is more about trusting the people that are working here than about fidelity to a certain brand. To our clientele it is crucial to be “in good hands,” to pay a fair price for a product with good quality. And that is really our biggest publicity: we have always been on the customers’ side by having, for instance, a discount on every article. That’s why people who regularly frequent our store even come from other towns. Furthermore, curious people who walk by or find us on the internet can come here to discover a whole little world. It is about the research of certain pieces and about discovering the story behind them.

Once jeans were workwear, nowadays they are mostly considered casualwear. Quality and practicability became less important than trends and style. How did you adapt to those changes?

Since the beginning our slogan has always been “everything for workers,” because jeans were born as workwear and for us they are still workwear. Nonetheless we surely adapt to trends and changes quite well thanks to our long experience. This helps us to predict certain trends and buy in a targeted way. In our store you hardly don’t find what you are looking for, considering our vast selection of jeans. Our goal is to dress everyone with a medium to high quality standard. We positioned ourselves on this level of quality because we don’t feel like selling products that are made poorly and that don’t last; our customers expect a certain quality. Speaking of trends, we of course see ups and downs. Now, for instance, we see a growing interest in the country style, which happens to be our original identity. Our father dreamed about places in America like Michigan, Texas or the Grand Canyon. This is also the context in which jeans originated. It also represents the American dream that spread across the world.

Talking about trends, we can also see that the denim market is evolving in two different directions: cheap fast fashion on one side and expensive luxury brands on the other side. You sell mainly Wrangler and Lee jeans which are in the middle ground. Couldn’t that be a problem for your business model?

We certainly see that the market has changed over the years: we have fast fashion that lacks quality but makes sure that you can always afford the latest trends. On the other side there are, for example, the Japanese denim brands, which produce high quality jeans with a quite elegant sartorial cut that are really pricey. However, the jean was born in another context and it was first popularized by brands like Lee and Wrangler. That’s why I would say that there are three orientations of the market that don’t exclude each other: there is a fast fashion market, there is a market for designer brands and there is a market for us as well. Everything has a place on the market because the jean has become something traditional that is worn by everyone. It is just as essential as a coat or as a wind jacket. Indeed, we didn’t see a decline when it comes to jeans, but rather a general problem in the clothing market. There is the crisis of the last ten to fifteen years that had repercussions on the fashion market and then there is a certain saturation because due to overconsumption and fast fashion our wardrobes are full. Here is where the fact that we are connected to the tradition gives us safety, because very cheap or very niche products are quickly out of fashion when the trend is over. With a traditional jean you are always on the market; if you have a downturn for a year, you will recover the next year. Now looking at what young people do, there is surely a parallel to the situation in the 1980s with the “paninari” who wore specific brands. The brand has become more important than the quality and the price.

How do you cater to the growing consciousness about the environment?

Our father began by selling used products, later with the jeans it shifted more towards new clothing. Fifteen years ago, we got into recycling: this way we communicate to our customers that it is crucial to preserve the environment, to collaborate and not to waste. For instance, the stools we are sitting on right now are made from the scraps of jeans that we hem for our customers. We also give some scraps to artisans who craft bags or jackets. Everything can be reused somehow; if you don’t need it anymore, it might still be useful for someone else.

Many people now buy clothing online. You have an online shop; how important is it for your business?

When we launched the website, we didn’t expect it to be a great success. We are rather using it as a showcase, in order that customers can check out the sizes, colors and see what is available. Our product is nice to touch, to try on and to compare to others in the store. It is crucial for our business

model that we have a direct contact to the customers, because it is the contact that many miss. We also offer services that you don’t get online: for example, we shorten the pants when needed for free and we can give professional advice. Indeed, there is now a small comeback for retailers. Talking about consumer trends and the internet, do you think that stores like yours have a future?

Of course, it’s neither as simple nor automatic as it used to be. Nonetheless, there is a great interest in this company also among young people. That’s why it is very likely that this activity will continue for a long time.

Credits: ph. Tom Kiesewetter

ICONS

Three questions, three answers

Interview: Adriano Goldschmied

ALBERTO CANDIANI

Alberto Candiani, son of Gianluigi, represents the fourth generation and the present of Candiani Denim, the family business specializing in the production of high-end Made in Italy denim. His goal is to enhance what has been built in more than 80 years by his predecessors, combining Candiani Denim’s textile heritage with the most advanced innovations for sustainable fashion.

Alberto Candiani has been committed for years to supporting and promoting more conscious production and consumption, making sustainability in fashion the industry standard rather than a feature of a few virtuous companies.

Candiani Denim’s focus on sustainability is centered on developing circular models that have a positive impact on the planet and improving traceability and transparency in the industry.

Under his leadership, the company has also focused on various other activities that complement the already complex business of studying, producing and offering denim. For several years, he has focused on launching capsule collections of denim products and, for example, TRC, a brand that combines workwear and fashion. He has also opened two companyowned stores in Milan—the Candiani Denim store, which sells premium jeans brands that use Candiani fabrics along with a made-to-order custom line of jeans produced on site, and the multibrand Candiani Corner store— both overlooking the central Piazza Mentana.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

The most significant memory I have is from my teenage years, when owning a pair of jeans was considered the ultimate purchase. I’m talking about the ’90s, and this isn’t just a personal memory, but a representation of an entire era. The coolness of a pair of jeans back then is comparable to the excitement surrounding the latest iPhone today. “We” as a generation had a strong desire for jeans, and the industry was thriving: research and development, innovation and aesthetics were all evolving into a more fashionable time. I clearly remember forcing my mother to take me to a jean shop to buy my first pair of Diesel jeans because I wanted them just as much as I wished to have an Inter Milan jersey or a PlayStation.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Hopefully, quality. The explosion of the ’90s that I previously mentioned led the industry toward mass production, capitalizing on the rapid globalization that was taking place. What we need to restore now is quality, durability, and above all, a renewed appreciation for jeans, which have lost their essence, despite remaining among the best-selling items in the apparel market. Traceability should serve as a crucial tool in this process; it has the potential to be key for the near future. However, it must be viewed by the industry, especially brands, as a significant opportunity to strengthen their products and enhance marketing efforts while involving and engaging the end consumer.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

The first time I saw it was in Cologne when I was 16, attending a trade show with my dad. Quite frankly, I was beginning to feel a bit bored, so he handed me a copy of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL to keep me entertained while he spoke with a customer. Well, that magazine immediately made me realize that B2B and B2C could be somehow connected to marketing and communication. That moment not only changed my day but probably also shaped my entire perspective on the industry, transforming a dull trade show into an enlightening experience.

CARLO RIVETTI

Italian entrepreneur and creative director Carlo Rivetti comes from a family that for centuries produced fabrics, and then clothes. In the 1950s his father Silvio introduced Europe to garments made using a sizing system that facilitated the shift of the apparel industry from couture to ready-to-wear. As his father passed away when he was only six years old, he spent his childhood dreaming of making clothes.

Although he already worked for the family’s company GFT (Gruppo Finanziario Tessile), a huge Italian industrial conglomerate that produced and distributed pret-àporter brands like Armani, Emanuel Ungaro and Valentino, in 1982, at the age of 25, he stumbled upon Stone Island, a newborn SPORTSWEAR brand founded by visionary designer Massimo Osti. “That brand entered my bloodstream and went straight to my heart. I have never seen clothes like these before,” he says. For him that brand was the absolute opposite of banality, fueling his passion for research and functionality, to such an extent that he convinced his family to buy it and ten years later he and his sister Cristina bought it themselves. He then became its creative director, fulfilling his childhood dream.

Lots of research, experimentation and a constant pursuit of innovation led the brand to global success to such an extent that in 2020 Moncler bought the majority of Stone Island with Rivetti still occupying the roles of president and creative director. Despite this, in 2025 Rivetti quit the fashion business preferring to focus on other interests, like, for instance, the Modena Italian soccer team he bought in 2021, making space for another of his passions.

Credits:

ph. Nick Griffiths

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

I have been fortunate enough to live in this world for a long time, but one of the things that is absolutely unforgettable for me was when, together with GFT, with extraordinary intuition, it was decided to combine industry and creativity, signing the first production and distribution contract, for example, with the master Giorgio Armani. This is one of the memories that remains indelible for me because it marked the birth of Made in Italy. For Italian industry, it was a fundamental step in addressing the challenges that arose in the late 1970s.

Personally, my memory is of the first trip I took with Mr. Armani when we flew to New York for the first fashion show held in the US, at Saks Fifth Avenue. We flew economy class because we couldn’t afford a higher class. It was an absolutely innovative and different period that completely changed the concept of Italian fashion and Italian style. At the time, we were identified with checkered tablecloths, pizza, and mandolins. For Germans, I’m referring to the notorious cover of “Der Spiegel”, we were also a Walther P38 on a plate of Spaghetti. Instead, we showed that we were a country with great creativity and industrial capacity.Speaking more specifically about high-end SPORTSWEAR such as Stone Island, we have always considered performance to be the most important aspect.

A fundamental step that marked a milestone in my career was undoubtedly the moment when we managed to switch from garment dyeing of natural fibers to man-made fibers. This opened up a completely new and much broader field of research, performance, and results. Still on the subject of SPORTSWEAR, as I experienced it, I was able to collaborate with many experts, including Massimo Osti, but not only him, which was also a wonderful human experience—an experience that filled my youth and, unfortunately, also my maturity.

Another key step was that, since we wanted to have a product that could be sold all over the world, the idea of one man in charge no longer made much sense. That’s why I thought multiculturalism was a winning strategy. I realized that if you ask a German, a French, and an English guy to design a fill jacket—which is a very simple thing—you’ll end up with three totally different products.

From this, I understood how each culture could also enrich Stone Island. So, starting from Italianness, we became truly global, offering a product that was even richer in ideas, interactions and creative and industrial capabilities. But at that point, we needed someone to act as a coach, because getting creative people to work together is not that easy. I enjoyed a certain prestige and took advantage of it to become creative director.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

This question is not easy to answer because visibility into the future in terms of time is very limited and subject to constant change, but I believe there is a fundamental underlying trend. It is the approach to sustainability, which in the future will also mean producing less.

In recent times, there has been a real overproduction—sometimes without even having the markets to sell to, whereas I believe that a correct approach to sustainability is really to respect the market, consumers and the people who work in the industry more, because producing less probably also means producing better, working better and having a more peaceful life.

In concrete terms, it is true that companies could earn less, but our sector still has extremely favorable margins. Then, I have to say—but this has always been my approach, because I’ve never been good with numbers and never looked at balance sheets—we will probably have to earn a little less, perhaps even investing a little more in human resources, but continuing to invest in research, even if times are not easy. I know that investing when times are tough is not normal.

However, I believe that entrepreneurs and companies in our sector should be a little less greedy and a little closer to the market.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

I have a wonderful memory. I can’t remember his name anymore, but at one point a very nice German colleague of yours came to do a wonderful interview. We started talking about fashion and clothing, but after four minutes we started talking about soccer; we opened two nice beers and spent two hours chatting about soccer, sports, and the role of sports in society.

And that was one of the best interviews—undoubtedly the most different— I’ve ever had in my professional life.

For Stone Island, after all, sports and fashion have always been closely linked. Stone Island was chosen by athletes, but it wasn’t a strategy decided at a desk. It happened spontaneously because the brand was loved by people who played on the field, those who sat on the bench, and even those who went to the stadiums— in basketball, soccer, and many other sports. That’s why we’ve always felt very close to the world of sport, and among other things, I’ve had the honor over the years of being the captain of the National Football Designers’ Team, a team that has raised more than €1 million for charity, which we have donated to children’s hospitals throughout Italy.

What is the most significant memory that you can’t forget when you think of the last 50 years of this industry? And why does it remain stamped so sharply in your mind?

Replay’s journey has been marked by iconic collaborations that have defined our brand’s evolution. From our partnership with Neymar and Usain Bolt, where he showcased our denim with effortless style, to our recent collaboration with Martin Garrix, blending music and fashion seamlessly, these alliances have been pivotal.

Additionally, our association with FC Bayern Munich has allowed us to merge sports and style, dressing players in our designs. These partnerships not only highlight our versatility but our commitment to staying relevant across diverse cultural spheres.

Reflecting on the past five decades, it’s evident how much the fashion industry has transformed. From traditional retail to the rise of digital platforms, the way we connect with consumers has evolved dramatically.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come and why?

The future will be defined by how brands connect with younger audiences. With Replay Inc. for example, we are creating collections specifically for Gen Z, combining modern aesthetics, digital-first approaches, and a playful, bold take on denim. Understanding this generation’s taste and behavior will shape the next decade of fashion.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

One of the things I really appreciate about SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL is that it has been a reliable voice in the industry for decades. It’s impressive to see a publication maintain its perspective and influence over so many years. For us at Replay, it’s always a pleasure to be featured, because it reflects not just our products, but our position in the global SPORTSWEAR and denim landscape. Being recognized by a platform that has witnessed so many industry changes feels truly special.

MATTEO SINIGAGLIA MAURIZIO DONADI

Maurizio Donadi is a longtime insider of the denim and SPORTSWEAR global scene. While being a keen collector—mostly of vintage apparel pieces—and consultant for brands of different segments, he lives between Los Angeles and Italy and brings an extensive experience in the industry, which led him to be Champion Europe’s creative director and redesign the US brand’s product lines and seasonal collections.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

I don’t have a significant memory of a moment in time but always enjoyed being part of it. I randomly fell into this industry by luck so I still feel curious interested, involved, excited and open minded to new ideas, brands and projects–but mostly to people. They really make my world memorable and special every day. Even after 45 years.

What

will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

For the future, I am really looking forward to seeing what new ideas (through experimentation and innovation) will arise and how their applications will affect our daily lives. I am afraid there will be a lot less creativity involved and a lot more technology/data studies available to scale any product, particularly clothes. It comes without saying that Artificial Intelligence will rule every industry and their strategies, particularly ours. It’s difficult to predict exactly how but easy to see this coming. This industry has been unhealthy for a long period of time and what I see coming is a contrarian way of building brands and products. A way that must come from the intellectually flat world we currently live in.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

I don’t have a particular memory but I always liked and appreciated the large format of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL magazine. The oversized (therefore important) format was an invitation to keep and collect the magazine rather than quickly discard it. Very smart.

KATHARINE HAMNETT

What is the most significant memory that you cannot forget when you think of the last 50 years of this industry? And why does it remain so sharply stamped in your mind?

The most memorable moment in my career, despite awards, including Most Influential Designer of the Year in 1984 and the British Clothing and Knitwear Council’s Export Award (which I’m most proud of, as it recognized real business achievement) wasn’t about trophies or titles. I’ve had countless wonderful shows in London, Paris, Milan, and around the world. I’ve launched trends, models, and photographers’ careers. I’ve had immense fun, met amazing people and was even voted Britain’s Favourite Designer, which was lovely.

One unforgettable highlight was a Bateau Mouche party I hosted during Paris Fashion Week, with Lily Savage and the Sex Kittens as cabaret. People talked about it for 15 years.

But what truly sticks in my mind is a moment that changed everything. A CEO, one of Italy’s top factories, which I was working with at the time said to me: “If you carry on with this ethical and environmental shit, you can take your collection and fuck off.”

In that instant, the scales fell from my eyes. I realized this was the fundamental attitude of the industry I’d been working in, an industry I had believed would change once it understood the facts. I thought it would adapt rapidly, willingly, happily. But it didn’t. Even now, there’s still cataclysmic environmental degradation happening as I write, and millions of people working in conditions worse than slavery across the planet. Most of the industry doesn’t give a damn. New laws could change things — but they are slow.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come and why?

The clothing and textile industry has to be defined by sustainability and accountability, because its current practices are driving climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and human rights abuses at a scale that threatens both the planet and the industry’s own long-term survival. Without radical reductions in environmental impact and stronger supply chain responsibility, the industry risks stricter regulation, loss of consumer trust, and exclusion from key markets—making sustainable transformation not just a choice, but a necessity. In short, what will define the industry is its ability to reduce environmental and social harm while remaining commercially viable. Those that lead in energy efficiency, water conservation, chemical elimination, waste reduction and circular economy innovation will set the standard for the years to come—because survival of the industry and all of us, depends on it.

HEINER SEFRANEK

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry? And why does it remain stamped so sharply in your memory?

On November 9,1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down and the border to East Germany was open. Helmut Kohl and Mikhail Gorbachev talked about the reunification of Germany. For me it was clear that Mustang should be active in this new East German market from the very beginning. The best way to enter it was to take part in the Leipzig fair in March 1990. Even though the fair management was highly interested in Mustang, it seemed impossible to get a booth there. Everything was booked out for years.

At least the management gave me a special tour through the exhibition center. On the tour we passed the director’s offices, which seemed empty to me. I asked whether it would be possible for us to use them. After some moments of contemplation, they agreed, and we had our presence at the fair.

The fair itself was extremely successful. We sold around 150,000 pairs of jeans in three days for delivery in the second half of the year (1990).

Then the next problem occurred: The assumption was that the Deutsche Mark would replace the Ost-Mark. No payment insurance would insure those orders.

What if our new customers in the new federal states of Germany didn’t have the money to pay their bills? Despite many warnings I trusted them and was convinced that they would pay.

In fact, there were absolutely no payment defaults, and our customers rewarded our trust with very close business relationships in the future. Another thing pops up in my mind when I think back to those years.

Our East German customers were extremely interested in support with advertising material and optimal presentation of the brand and its brand world at the point of sale, whereas in the western part of Germany this attitude was much rarer. The West Germans were afraid of getting too dependent on the different brands. Consequently, by the end of the Nineties our per capita sales in East Germany were higher than in West Germany and at the same time we proceeded in many other eastern countries.

MANUELA MARIOTTI, MASSIMO BERLONI

Manuela Mariotti and Massimo Berloni, longtime fashion insiders and founders of the brand Dondup, have been focused on the sporty-chic fashion brand Seafarer since 2019. Both are busy with their enterprise–and Berloni is also involved in politics as the newly elected mayor of Fossombrone, Italy. They serve, respectively, as creative director, and president, with daily activities focused on the development and production of collections.

Firmly believing in the importance of manufacturing their entire product offer in Italy and involving local craftspeople in embroidering, knitting, finishing and treating, they are appreciated by an increasing number of players from both local and international markets. They also constantly pour their energies into developing creative projects involving young artists, designers and emerging talents that enhance the distinct identity of this historical American brand, which was founded in Brooklyn in 1896 and later became popular among celebrities such as Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

One of our most vivid memories is linked to the moment when we took part in a real denim revolution. Those were the years when jeans were changing their look, becoming the protagonists of a new, freer, more personal and more feminine aesthetic.

We remember with great emotion the birth of low-rise jeans, which represented an epoch-making change in the perception of the body and style. It is an indelible memory because it marked not only a transformation in the product, but also a profound cultural and social change—and we were there, contributing to that revolution.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

We believe that the future will be driven by a strong need for authenticity and a return to our roots: a sort of “back to roots” revolution in which we rediscover the value of time, quality and work done with care. In a world dominated by speed and saturation of supply, what will really make the difference is the ability to create honest, durable, consistent products that tell true stories. This is what we are pursuing with Seafarer: a conscious approach that combines tradition and innovation, rooted in the values we deeply believe in.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time connected to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL occupies a special place in our history. They were the first to believe in us, to understand our language and to give us visibility when we were still in our infancy. We vividly remember the excitement of seeing our work published in the pages of a magazine that has always been able to pick up on the real signs of change in the industry. We sincerely thank them for contributing to the success of our company: that recognition gave us strength, credibility and confidence, and will always remain an indelible moment in our journey.

Credits: courtesy Seaferer

Piero Turk is a longtime expert denim industry insider who has been working for the global industry as a freelance jeans designer, a denim manufacturing consultant and as a collaborator for trade shows since 1983. Starting as a pupil and later assistant of Adriano Goldschmied, he has certainly found his way in the denim world. “I worked for all of the major players of the whole denim and jeanswear industry and it’s faster mentioning those I didn’t work for,” he says without showing off. No less important are the passions outside of work that he cultivates. He dedicates constant time and effort to dog training, reading and photography, among other things. He considers himself an amateur photographer focused on capturing unique details of a landscape, urban snapshots or unique denim pieces and details and has published his own photography books.

What is the most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

When stonewashing came out. It completely changed the possibilities of jeans treatments. It remains in my memory mostly because that time was the beginning of my career. I was very young and enthusiastic about everything.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Finding the right balance between fair trade, social impact of the supply chain and environmental issues related to pollution, waste and overproduction. But I think this might just be a dream.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL was “the denim bible.” I remember the excitement waiting for the new monthly issue to be delivered to my studio and being hungry to read information and evaluate trends. Having it gave me the feeling of being part of the denim community.

PIERO TURK PANOS SOFIANOS

Panos Sofianos is an expert denim industry insider, a circularity strategist and the Denim Innovation curator of the Bluezone area of Munich Fabric Start, the specialized denim trade show that takes place in Munich twice a year.

This skilled manager counts on his lifelong experience working in the textile industry. His 360° value chain competence in product management, communication and marketing skills always made him occupy key roles in the international denim scene.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

What remains stamped in my mind is the time when I met Renzo Rosso in Diesel’s headquarters in Asolo. I felt as if I discovered a precious treasure and his determined attitude made me love this job.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

This industry’s future will have to rely on the real responsible mindset that will have to replace greenwashing in denim making. It will have to be a fully integrated process— from seed to shelf—as we cannot baptize everything “green.”

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

What I cannot forget is the SI Berlin summit where I had the chance to enlarge my mind about the future. It was the first multidisciplinary event on the denim of tomorrow.

KARL-HEINZ MÜLLER

Karl-Heinz Müller worked in sales for Levi’s, Big Star, Pepe Jeans and Marc O’Polo. Together with Christian Geyr and Wolfgang Ahlers, he invented the Bread & Butter trade fair. Today, he owns the 14oz shop in Berlin.

What is the most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

My most significant memory relates to Levi’s. After working in the food sector, I joined the iconic denim company in 1982, the beginning of my career in the fashion industry.

And then, it was Levi’s again, in 1999, when I opened my 14 oz. store in Cologne. That’s when Levi’s launched Levi’s Vintage Clothing. The line included original 501 replicas of all significant years in the brand’s history, as well as Type 1, 2 and 3 denim jackets. There they were, the iconic 501 jeans from 1937, 1944, 1947–to date my favorite year–and so on, produced in the original San Francisco factory, made of the famous “White Oak” denim from Cone Mills. I was thrilled–and my Levi’s orders were huge. I think I was the first German retailer to order the line and had to convince my customers to buy 501s four times more expensive than the ones one could find everywhere on the high street. Nobody had heard of a red selvedge so far. It’s been a Herculean task, but in the end, I was able to convince my customers.

Unfortunately, Levi’s closed the San Francisco factory where they produced the line. And Cone Mills no longer exists either. It breaks my heart. Levi’s was, so to speak, my first love.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Even the dumbest understand slowly but surely that the excessive consumption of clothing–and beyond–is damaging our environment severely. Therefore, I believe that people will consume fewer garments in the future. As a consequence, I assume that the notorious suppliers of cheap and even cheaper goods will lose relevance in the market.

Consumers will shift to garments of higher quality, and products will become more important than brands. So-called favorite pieces will play a significant role as the foundation of a lasting wardrobe, not following trends but reflecting personality.

Consumers are becoming conscious about what they buy. They will be even more critical and evaluate carefully what they purchase. Therefore, brands and labels will need to be transparent: they must unveil their supply chain, show where and how they produce, and whether they operate in an environmentally conscious and socially responsible manner. Personally, I believe in honest products, made from natural or advanced materials that are functional and durable, often from small-scale manufacturers. That’s friendly, likeable and simply feels good. And I also trust in the revival of specialty stores with carefully curated assortments. I see many owner-operated stores run by passionate entrepreneurs who know their customers and can engage them directly–using modern social media campaigns and events to connect with them.

These businesses are rising in B and C locations of major cities, because A locations have become unaffordable for multibrand retailers. Meanwhile, the traditional A locations–with their low-cost retailers and exorbitant rents–will degenerate into junk ghettos.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has been a longtime companion to me. During my time with Big Star, Marc O’Polo and Pepe Jeans London, I was regularly in contact with the magazine, since denim–and jeanswear–was at the heart of SI. Naturally, I knew all relevant editors in person. When I had the idea for Bread & Butter in 2001, nobody wanted to listen to me, and the leading trade magazines didn’t want to report on us, yet... there was a certain Ina Köhler. At the time, she was a young trainee at SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL–and the first one who listened and believed in us. She took it seriously–and wrote the very first feature about Bread & Butter.

GUIDO BIONDI

Guido Biondi is the creative director of Roy Roger’s, the first Italian jeans brand (founded in 1952) and part of Manifatture Seven Bell. This expert denim insider is extremely keen about searching for unique jeans pieces from all over the world and translating their special fits, materials, washes, details and elements into new products that can appeal to modern consumers looking for high-quality Made in Italy jeans. He runs this historical brand whose offering spans from authentic styles to modern workwear and cool women’s jeanswear, with his mother and daughter of the founder, Patrizia Bacci Biondi, and his brother Niccolò who is CEO of the company.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

Denim has played a special role in the history of fashion. It began as workwear, then went through different eras and revolutions, becoming a symbol of rebellion and freedom.

Today, it is everywhere: from high fashion catwalks to everyone’s everyday wardrobe. Its strength lies in its extraordinary versatility: it can be elegant or casual, can adapt to any context and be worn by people of all ages, cultures and identities.

It is one of the few garments capable of saying something about the person wearing it. The more it is worn, the more beautiful it becomes, and the signs of aging are details of great authenticity.

What I cannot forget about the history of Roy Roger’s was the event for the brand’s 70th anniversary. For us, it was an important milestone, not only because we are such a long-standing Italian company, but also because all the countless economic storms and, finally, the pandemic have still allowed us to pass on the company created by my grandfather in 1952 to three generations.

It is 70 years of history of a company that created the first Italian blue jeans made with American denim.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

At Roy Roger’s, our vision for the future is to make choices that make sense and that are consistent with the identity and values on which the brand is based. Our goal is to create a democratic product, with an excellent balance between quality and price, while remaining as faithful as possible to Made in Italy.

All this is possible thanks to a network of relationships we built up over time with companies that share our vision and objectives. More than just suppliers, today we can talk about real partners, with whom we have established a solid and ongoing relationship.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

There is no specific moment, because SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has always been a constant point of reference for the world of denim. With competence and professionalism, it has chronicled the evolution of the sector, giving space and voice to those who are actively involved in it thanks to its in-depth articles and interviews of great interest.

GIANLUCA TACCHELLA

Gianluca Tacchella is the CEO of Carrera, Italy’s bestselling men’s jeans brand. He is the son of Tito Tacchella, who co-founded the label with his brothers Imerio and Domenico in 1965. Still family-owned, Carrera has followed the same business model since the early 1990s. The company operates through an integrated supply chain in Tajikistan, selling everywhere and never changing its offer. “We are a commodity like Nutella and like your favorite sports team. That’s why we never change!” explains Tacchella, who leads by ensuring that the historic brand stays on its first-place track.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

I will never forget the moment when jeans, once considered workwear, became a universal symbol of identity and lifestyle. That shift marked the beginning of a true cultural revolution, proving that fashion is not only about products but about people, values and freedom of expression.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

The future will be defined by the ability to combine authenticity and innovation: staying true to the roots of the industry while embracing sustainability, technology and new generations’ values. Those who can merge heritage with progress will lead the way.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

For me, SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has always been more than a magazine: it has been a mirror of the industry’s evolution. My most unforgettable memory is seeing how the magazine consistently gave a voice to pioneers and innovators, capturing the essence of every era and inspiring those who wanted to shape the future.

ANDREA CANÈ

Andrea Canè, former Woolrich creative director and currently a brand creative advisor, is a seasoned expert in the SPORTSWEAR and outdoor apparel global scene. In the 1980s he started helping Cristina and her father Giuseppe Calori build an import-export start-up company that has become the well-known Italian WP-Work in Progress company. Among the first brands he scouted there were Vans, Paraboot, Filson, Hawkins and, ça va sans dire, Woolrich. While he helped the company grow and open its first stores, he became its creative director. WP continues to manage and sell, for instance, Barbour, B.D. Baggies, Baracuta and Blundstone. When Calori sold her quota, he left WP, but his passion for SPORTSWEAR and love of work and fun while searching for products “with a soul” never left him.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

It’s difficult to answer because everything has changed in these last 50 years in our industry and in society at large–globally as well as locally (as in Italy, my home country).

I started working in 1982, and the first cell phone came out in 1985, while just a few years before TV programs were still in black and white. Clothing distribution was mainly through multibrand stores, and there were still many sewing supply shops around. There was no internet until the mid’90s, and finding new trends was a pioneering activity.

There were only a few global shows, and you had to do a lot of field research to discover new directions. Our fathers wore traditional uniforms to go to work, and casual Friday was introduced in the ’90s. Authentic products were not trendy, and the ’70s left behind a strong need for change, creating a melting pot of needs and answers.

So technology, access to products, promotion, distribution and buying attitudes completely changed the way our industry has evolved.

In 1985, together with a couple of partners, I opened the first WP Store, what today you could call a “concept store,” but for us it was more a store with different rooms where we wanted to express different attitudes. In the past, people’s buying habits were mainly about showing off status, while now they are more focused on practicality and purpose.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Technology and sustainability will play a big role. We already see the impact of AI on our daily activity, and it’s progressing rapidly. I am not worried about the older generations, but the younger ones will have access to something already in place, without knowing the process that took us there. They will be more vulnerable and probably develop a different personal method to understand the good and the bad. I also think robotics will soon enter our industry as a new wave.

Another big issue will be sustainability, because sooner or later we will need to reduce ownership. Mass production will no longer be sustainable. I see a future in renting or co-ownership models to help reduce the problem and protect the planet’s resources.

I am also curious to see how distribution will be fixed; this is another issue we need to solve. Today we all buy increasingly online compared to the recent past, but this business model still loses money, so it needs to be adjusted.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

I was honored to curate The Outdoor Issue in Summer 2018. I had the chance to interview some of the best people I know, passionate friends with strong outdoor product knowledge. It was released during the first “I-Go-Out” Pitti edition, in which I was also involved. I am still very proud of it.

ALESSIO BERTO

Alessio Berto is an expert patternmaker and creative personality who worked for some of the most important fashion and jeanswear brands such as Diesel, Gas, DKNY and Katharine Hamnett to name just a few. He is a top specialist in men’s clothing, from denim to fabric, SPORTSWEAR and outerwear, as well as a vintage collector. Since 2012 he has been working through his own consultancy studio, The Tailor Pattern Support, and collaborates with companies to offer an excellent pattern service and reliable support in delivery and quality. In addition, he counts many other collaborations for top fashion players, including Premiere Vision show Isko. He is also a teacher for some Italian design institutes in Milan such as IED, NABA and Domus Academy. No less important, he is a skilled DJ and expert music connoisseur of many genres such as acid jazz, grunge and underground to name a few— all influencing and inspiring his work and competence.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

It’s hard to choose just one. After working for 38 years I’ve lived through so many unforgettable moments. If I had to sum it up, I would say: the spirit. I had the privilege of collaborating with designers and entrepreneurs who shaped the history of SPORTSWEAR, in fully vertical companies where the process went from research to production, and where the product always came before profit. Research was carried out mainly in the streets of major European and US cities, breathing in counterculture and club culture. Engaging with colleagues meant capturing the spirit, gathering technical insights and transforming them into product development. The study of fits, the choice of materials, patternmaking and prototyping all respected the original concept. Almost always, the process started from a vintage garment that evolved into something new, capable of representing the brand’s identity without the need to copy competitors. Music was an integral part of the creative process: grunge and acid jazz blended together, creating the perfect atmosphere. That feeling, that energy, that spirit remains indelibly etched in my memory.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Although many would say sustainability, I think that what is missing today is a new approach to professionalism and a long-term vision. They did heavy investment in storytelling and very little in the growth of operational people–the real beating heart of companies. Only with a concrete approach can we seriously address the issue of sustainability and apply it in the way it deserves.

The future must be fast, and to achieve that, it must be entrusted to those who know the development of a collection inside out: with efficiency, precision and awareness. Cutting costs in product development through professionalism and expertise is far more forward-looking than reducing them in materials or manufacturing exploitation. I believe the future must be built on concreteness rather than storytelling. The bubble has burst, and today we are witnessing the collapse of many “myths” that, in truth, never represented the real essence of this industry.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

Without a doubt, it was when, as a patternmaker, I was featured in “The Italian Issue.” Patternmakers have almost always remained behind the scenes. I invested a lot in my professionalism to give this beautiful and extremely demanding craft the visibility it deserves because it is essential and always will be.

Seeing a page dedicated to me in a magazine I had always considered the “bible” of SPORTSWEAR, and had followed for decades, was an honor and a privilege I will never forget.

SANJEEV BAHL

Sanjeev Bahl is a visionary entrepreneur who has a mission—”to be a force for good.” He is passionate and sincere about his holistic approach since 2001, when he first founded Saitex, a garment and denim manufacturing facility in Vietnam, and more recently also a factory in Los Angeles.

Saitex is known for its innovative approach to reducing the environmental impact of textile production and since this company’s first steps he has been operating with a commitment to sustainability, circularity and social responsibility.

Today this LEED-certified company and part of Bluesign organization, which is committed to circular economy and carbon neutrality, is one of the most sustainable large-scale denim producers in the world. Saitex is also the first factory in Asia and the only large-scale denim producer with a B Corporation certification.

What is your most significant memory when you think of the last 50 years of this industry?

For decades, denim had been a paradox; it represented rebellion, freedom, authenticity, yet behind the scenes, it was one of the most polluting garments we made. Seeing that shift, when innovation and conscience started to walk hand in hand, changed how I saw the fabric I’d built my life around. It wasn’t just about making jeans anymore; it was about making them better. That moment stays with me because it was proof that the soul of denim, its grit, its honesty, its resilience, could evolve without losing its edge. It reminded me that this industry, like a good pair of jeans, can wear its history proudly and still find new ways to fit the future.

How have jeans and SPORTSWEAR manufacturing evolved?

Over the past 50 years, we’ve witnessed a complete transformation—from manual, labor-intensive production to sustainable, technology-driven manufacturing. What began as traditional craftsmanship in the 1970s shifted toward globalized mass production in the 1990s, and later, toward innovation married with responsibility in the 2010s. Automation, laser and waterless finishing, recycled materials, and smart fabrics have redefined both sectors, blending performance with environmental accountability. Today, with digital design, 3D sampling, and on-demand production, the focus has moved beyond cost efficiency to creativity, traceability, and sustainability. We’ve moved from utility to conscious innovation—and there’s no turning back.

What will define the future of this industry for the years to come?

Three forces will shape denim’s future: sustainability, technology, and transparency. Circular production and on-demand manufacturing will dramatically reduce waste. Digital innovation will accelerate speed and precision. And full product traceability will rebuild consumer trust. Ultimately, denim’s future depends on blending its heritage with responsible, forward-thinking practices to stay both timeless and sustainable.

How will Saitex evolve in the years ahead, particularly as you expand manufacturing hubs worldwide?

Our goal wasn’t simply to expand manufacturing, it’s to expand impact. Each Saitex manufacturing hub is designed as a local ecosystem that reflects its community, reduces distance and creates opportunity. Vietnam remains our heart; Los Angeles connects us to the West; and new hubs will emerge wherever clean, circular production can empower regional economies. We are building smaller, smarter, and more human-driven factories that show how scale and sustainability can grow side by side.

What pillars will define Saitex’s future evolution to meet a changing market?

Our future rests on four interconnected pillars: deep responsibility, human-centered design, localized manufacturing and intelligent systems. Together, they form the foundation of a company that evolves with intention. Deep Responsibility means taking ownership of every product, process and person in our care. Human-centered design ensures that innovation begins with empathy. Localized manufacturing focuses on agile micro-hubs that reduce waste and increase relevance. Intelligent Systems use data and automation to harmonize precision with purpose. These principles guide Saitex forward, allowing us to adapt to a changing world without losing our humanity.

What is your most special memory or unforgettable moment in time related to SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL?

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has always been a compass for our industry, a publication that connects craftsmanship, culture and creativity across continents. I remember reading it early in my journey and feeling inspired by the pioneers shaping denim’s future. Years later, seeing Saitex featured in its pages felt deeply meaningful, not as validation, but as a reminder that positive change begins with small, consistent actions. To be part of this 50-year celebration is an honor. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has chronicled not only fashion, but the evolution of the values that guide it.

A true fashion classic.

Celebrating 50 years of denim, streetwear and fashion.

ADRIANO GOLDSCHMIED, THE GODFATHER

Adriano Goldschmied is a lively and curious witness to the last 50 years of denim history–just like SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL. He has constantly projected towards his next dream. We asked him to remember the major changes in this industry, and his future vision started from the first utility garments to a high concentration of research, innovation and design and a global blue sea he loves to sail through.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Describing Adriano Goldschmied is quite a challenge. This leading creative personality has experienced a very intense life–and continues to do so— with unstoppable energy, eclecticism and a forward-thinking approach.

He is surely a visionary and pioneer in the fashion industry, who has been experimenting with many paths and directions in denim and fashion over his more than 50-year career.

While often wearing a blazer mixed with jeans and a casual cap, Goldschmied is a multifold and curious expert in various fields, including brand creation, innovative material, fiber, washing and finishing development, along with unique image, marketing and communication skills—all this supported by his wide competence and untiring desire to learn and constantly change his perspective. Such vast competence made him earn the title “Godfather of Denim.”

“I always wanted to think out of the box,” he likes to say. “I have also invented unique brands and products, and after that, destroyed them to follow another dream,” he underlines, describing how his approach made him the originator of about 60 brands in total.

In his revolutionary vision, he elevated denim from its utilitarian origins to a symbol of modern style and cultural relevance. Throughout his many very different experiences—spanning from Italy to the US, through China and the rest of the world—he has blended creativity with technological and sustainable innovation, pouring fresh and visionary creativity into every project—from mentoring young talents to brand launches, along with collaborations with fiber and fabric manufacturers, technology providers and many other players in the denim industry.

AN ACCIDENTAL FASHION DESIGNER

While pursuing his athletic career, he started to work in fashion accidentally, despite having no education or passion for this industry. It all started when he was a kid living in Trieste and a US soldier, in his leisure time, gifted him a pair of jeans. He later opened his own boutique in Cortina and started selling jeans to VIPs and the mountain resort’s prestigious clientele.

“My objective no. 1 has always been one—transforming a product that was a commodity and utility apparel item into a true high-end fashion product in terms of research, style, materials, and fits,” he says.

“Our aim to nobilitate it has been very slow and based upon small steps and small revolutions, but we did it,” he adds.

In the mid-’70s he founded his first brands—Kings Jeans and Daily Blue. He started to sell them to fashion stores, but that was a hard task.

“In those years, we often entered stores that considered jeans a lowquality product. Despite this, little by little we also met a new generation of retailers who were looking for new products, new ideas and a new kind of fashion. Among them, in almost every city of Italy, a new breed of stores and retailers was springing up. They were LuisaViaRoma in Florence, Biffi in Milan, Sugar in Arezzo, Penelope in Brescia—all stores that later have become our clients,” Goldschmied says.

GENIUS GROUP—A HOME FOR TALENTS

Later, in 1981, he also set the basis for his own creative hub— Genius Group-–where he raised many young talents and many brands including Goldie, Diesel, Replay and Katharine Hamnett–just to mention a few. “The Genius Group has been an ambitious operation. Despite the fact that I had no specific education in design, business, marketing or company management, I could count on what I had learned from working in my store, though I also had the intuition to learn from expert insiders and professionals who could help me speed up and acquire the expertise I missed in my education,” he says.

Then he also started capturing quality talents who could not test and afford to offer their collections in the market at their own expense.

“My ideal was to create a home for talents who could enter without showing their identity card and credit card. I wanted to be their booster,” he explains.

WHEN ITALIAN FASHION AND GLOBAL DENIM WERE BORN

While these new rising stars were earning their space in the market, the first examples of Italian prêt-à-porter brands were growing thanks to incredible personalities like Walter Albini and Giorgio Armani. At the same time, on the other side of the ocean, in the US, other brands started giving new impulse to casual and jeanswear and accelerated the growth of important production numbers. Among them were Calvin Klein and Donna Karan,

to name a few, who really set the basis for creating jeans as a fashionable product sold at a mass level.

In those years there were no longer just the three big brands of the early days—Levi’s, Lee, and Wrangler—but a whole new breed of fashion-minded jeans brands was advancing, growing at a fast pace, increasing their production numbers, and expanding all over the world.

At the same time, prestigious French names were also advancing and growing—like, for instance, Marithé+François Girbaud, already born in the 1960s, along with APC and Liberto, to name a few. “The French might have beaten us on the design aspect, but we soon became stronger on the industrial side. That’s why an Italian brand like Closed—at that time designed by the Girbauds—started being distributed worldwide,” remembers Goldschmied.

THE GOLDEN ERA OF JEANS

Then came the ’80s and the ’90s, what Goldschmied calls the “Golden Era” of jeans, as jeans started being manufactured globally. Those years saw the increase of mass-produced jeans, but also the introduction of treatments and washing added to jeans. Various insiders at the same time started testing and introducing stonewash and many other aging treatments that changed the face, the touch and the surface of jeans, though they were immensely polluting and, in some cases, dangerous for the workers involved.

“I was among those who created a revolutionary treating technique, stonewash, but also one of the most polluting ones. That’s something I realized by traveling the world and noticing the impact of such treatments applied to mass market production numbers,” he says.

“That’s also why I soon after started looking for new alternatives that could help heal the damages I had contributed to causing.”

Goldschmied became sensible to themes like responsibility and environmental defense throughout his whole career. All that also led him to find new and less harmful alternative materials, finishes and solutions, while also becoming strongly involved with fabric and fiber manufacturers, collaborating on testing new materials and techniques.

He started embracing the Tencel fiber among the first ones. He developed a Tencel yarn for knitwear that was already indigo dyed and a special technique that made him achieve circular knitted jeans that produced little or no waste at all. Likewise, he also tested and adopted new technologies that helped lower denim, jeanswear and casualwear production’s impact, like laser, ozone and less harmful chemical substances.

GOING GLOBAL

He also started traveling and getting to know the entire market, getting in touch with many retailers globally—from the US and Canada to Japan. “In those years we contacted clients directly. Agents operated—but only in Europe. That’s why we visited our clients personally in the rest of the world. We didn’t simply do that because those were very advanced markets we could learn from, but also because we could carry out very interesting research trips. Also, not less important, in those times work was closely intertwined with human relationships, and clients were all friends… Take Fred Segal and Ron Herman in Los Angeles…We felt like we were at home… With Over the Rainbow in Toronto, we recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, as we are still in touch,” he notes.

Obviously much has changed in recent times. If in those years every relationship was based upon exclusivity, after the 2000s, with the advent of the internet, everything has changed. “If in the past we tested our clients personally and repeatedly to make sure they were trustworthy and had honest connections. Now you can find many other ways to learn about an insider’s reputation,” he explains.

AN ALL-AMERICAN DREAM

In the 1990s he moved to the US and started working more with local brands and companies. In 1999 he worked at Gap 1969, a celebratory collection for Gap’s 30th anniversary. That was the first premium collection, and soon after he also created AG Adriano Goldschmied and Goldsign.

“I moved to the US at the right time, when premium jeans were born, at the end of the ’90s,” he points out, explaining how that market phenomenon entirely changed the perception of US denim. “Thanks to those brands, they managed to offer a selection of higher-quality—and obviously higher priced—denim products, and, from a certain point of view, that helped stop the escape of commercial jeans production from the US for about 20 years,” he explains, describing how California and the US continued to be felt as a true homeland of jeans, although much of the jeans production for many brands had already moved to Mexico, Asia, and China.

WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION

Obviously, that change could not be postponed for long as globalization had already started, and producing jeans in the US had grown significantly expensive and could no longer be compared with the cost of what had become the widespread practice that soon followed—manufacturing jeans in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam.

“I am certainly not the kind of person who tends to defend his own little town. I am aware that in the past years indigo fabric and jeans production has brought lots of problems, unfair treatment and discompensations, but certainly it also brought millions and millions of jobs, in many cases underpaid, but it helped people reach an advancement in their life management,” he continues.

Goldschmied is aware that the textile industry has exploited many people, profited from child labor and obliged people to work in unfair conditions, though, more recently, there have been some radical changes in these countries, too, and it has also brought significant betterment of living conditions.

“When I visit companies in Pakistan or Bangladesh today, I see high technology advancement, new factories, new weaving and spinning facilities that are totally different from the past. They are the result of important investments that have also brought significantly better working and health conditions to the people involved in it. If on the one side there are still examples of wicked economy, on the other side, many big companies are leaders in sustainability, social treatment, health care, wellness, recycling and energy production,” he says.

TOUGH TIMES FOR EUROPE

Although it is still considered prestigious with many brands and upscale designer names, Goldschmied believes the European market has become more difficult because it is focused on the importance of the creative director’s character. “This constant change of creative directors is a bit outdated. Not because they are not creative enough, but because the relationship between industry and creative directors has grown to become an ill one,” he says

He likes to compare the guessing game of who- goes-where about creative directors to the shuffling of soccer players from team to team.

“The consumer, instead, is asking for a certain continuity in a brand’s identity,” he underlines. Differently, for SPORTSWEAR and jeanswear brands he recognizes that there are some brands coming back thanks to careful work of rebuilding and restructuring one’s origins and DNA. For instance, Gas Jeans is now facing a slow recovery.

LEARNING FROM CHINA

China is a totally different country and industrial system, according to the Godfather of Denim. “In that country poverty is no longer a topic they have to deal with,” he says.

“I think that their central government perfectly understands the importance of the apparel and textile industry. For these reasons, they have been investing in renewable energy, recycling, welfare and education,” he adds.

“Moreover, Chinese companies can easily benefit from a vast local market, too,” he notes from experience as he has recently carried out a series of collaborations with Chinese brands and textile projects that made him test the level of organization, efficiency and automation, as well as how consumers have grown more mature, less brand-driven and able to evaluate their purchase upon quality and design content.

His lucid vision of the evolution of this crucial market is also a result of a series of recent collaborations he has carried out in the country—one

above all is Fabrique, a highly innovative Chinese denim brand involving a collective of international designers, offered at a very profitable price-ratio content and constantly delivering new trendy products.

IT’S A BRAND-NEW WORLD

Many other brands are part of the “Goldfinger” of denim’s CV. Mentioning them all is basically a mission impossible, as they are about 60.

Among the most recent and most prestigious ones, in 2022 he revamped Daily Blue, the first forward-thinking woman’s denim brand he had launched in 1974, in a time when jeans were synonymous with utility, while he had launched a premium denim evolution “ante litteram.”

Until 2023, he collaborated with designer brand Chloé, supporting its (now former) creative director Gabriela Hearst in developing a jeans selection sustainable both in terms of materials and finishes.

He has also partnered with the Italian fashion chain OVS and introduced a new denim collection that is both affordable and fashion-forward, while also introducing new sustainable techniques into its wash process. Also on the list is Boss, for which he developed a highly inspiring denim line.

WHEN DENIM IS A FABRIC FOR LIFE

While always pursuing the sustainable cause, Goldschmied worked on innumerable material and technical innovations. Among his most recent, he presented in October 2025 a collaboration with Artmill, a division of denim specialist Artistic Milliners Group. They developed the Digital Blue Wave project, a sustainable high-resolution printed denim that explores new frontiers in indigo culture and pioneers new ways to transform denim into new narratives.

“I am always looking for a new language for denim by discovering new creative pathways that were never before attainable—bringing art directly into the fabric of our everyday lives,” he explains.

He has already talked about many other languages before, as he created some capsule collections for Isko, taking inspiration from Baroque atmospheres from the ancient city of Venice.

SAILING THROUGH THE TEMPEST, EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS

He has also created a special selection of denim pieces for Pioneer Denim. They made a special capsule collection using sustainably treated denims along with wool-cotton denim fabrics and sewn according to a technique that has nothing to do with traditional jeanswear manufacturing techniques.

“I used the same sewing technique used for tailor-made apparel,” he explains, stressing the fact that he always likes to follow his own disruptive approach. “If you continue to offer denim items inspired by the same model—the traditional five-pocket jeans worn by the US gold seekers, miners and hard workers—you will not bring any changes to this industry and the market.”

For Goldschmied, the fashion system must completely change its modus operandi. “The system has to adequately adjust its strategy to new criteria. We need a smart and vigorous change that not only has to do with quality, which is important, obviously, but also has to do with how you bring products to the market and promote them, among other factors. We need a real change; if not, we won’t be able to continue to meet and discuss the industry,” he stresses.

Difficult times require the ability to innovate and create new products and can open new perspectives by always thinking out of the box. “This is the real challenge to innovate denim and jeanswear. They might not be easy and might take a long time, but, as a sailing lover as I am, you recognize a good skipper in stormy weather,” he sums up to explain his lifetime vision and mission.

CULTURE CLUB

THE FUTURE OF SPORTSWEAR?

IT’S A MATTER OF

‘IKIGAI’

Where are SPORTSWEAR and activewear heading? What is the future of outdoor sports brands? They definitely will play a more important role in defining what’s next in fashion—on and off the field—and the most successful ones will be those playing a role in defining people’s lives and their sense of belonging to a community, or, even better, an “ikigai,” a reason of life.

Rocco Scazzariello, an Italian consultant for various global SPORTSWEAR brands, explains why engaging consumers and and making them feel part of their world is the key to succeed in the market of the future.

By Rocco Scazzariello

I think we’re at a really interesting turning point in the industry–especially in outdoor, running and cycling. What’s becoming clear is that the brands shaping the future aren’t just making great products. They’re building real communities around a deeper purpose.

It’s not about chasing hype or followers anymore. The brands that will last are the ones that are rooted in something real, where the values are clear, lived and shared by the people who engage with them. I like to think of it as a kind of ikigai for brands.

This Japanese word (生き甲斐) does not have an exact translation, but it expresses the idea of understanding why you exist, what you love and what impact you want to have. That’s what creates a lasting connection with people.

In running, you can see this with brands like District Vision, where meditation, mindfulness and movement come together in a way that resonates far beyond sport. Its founders Tom Daly and Max Vallot are out there with their community, hosting meditations and leading runs ever since. It’s personal, and people feel that and show up everywhere around the world because they feel connected and want to be part of their community.

Other interesting examples include Bandit, Satisfy, Soar, UYN and Unna. Each of them brings a unique angle to playing sport, but all of them go beyond performance. They create their own identity and culture around running, which is what makes them stand out.

Cycling is going through something similar. Rapha probably set the standard early with RCC, their cafes and group rides, an entire ecosystem around riding. Today, brands like Pas Normal Studios, MAAP and No Gods No Masters—a super exciting women-specific brand from Milan—are continuing that by creating their own visual, emotional, community-led worlds uniting the passion of their community meeting them where they are and including them in their purpose.

In outdoor, there’s been a shift too. It’s less about the rugged outdoorsman’s image and more about how nature fits into everyday life. Comfy Outdoor, North Face Purple Label, And Wander, Snow Peak, ROA, Post Archive Faction and Hiking Patrol all speak to this new generation that places importance in values like design, modularity and purpose.

There’s also something exciting happening around footwear. Zellerfeld is pushing innovation through collabs with labels such as Staple or Hugo Boss, while FCTRY Lab feels like it’s tapping into something bigger that revolves around ideas like community, culture, storytelling and collabs with musicians such as NLE Choppa or NFL players.

Omar Bailey, FCTRY Lab’s founder, is a big part of that. He speaks to young people, shares his journey and really brings the human side into what they’re building. It’s not just about shoes, it’s about inspiring and including.

What ties all these brands and the masterminds behind them together is the sense that consumers are moving away from traditional status symbols like cars, watches and designer logos. They now want to pursue a more purpose-driven lifestyle. Health, movement and community are becoming the new markers of “luxury.”

And it’s not by coincidence that luxury groups are clearly watching this considering what companies and brands they are investing in. For instance, Archive, the company controlled by the holding company of the Ruffini family, owner of Moncler, has acquired a minority stake in Pas Normal Studios, a Danish brand specialized in technical cycling apparel. The Zegna Group has taken a stake in the trail running sneaker brand Norda, while David Wertheimer, heir of the family that owns Chanel fortune, has invested in the activewear brand Satisfy.

Even Aimé Leon Dore, which LVMH Luxury Ventures partially acquired in January 2022, is a good reference. It’s not a running or cycling brand, but what Teddy Santis has built in NYC—being present at the store, cultivating a real-world community—shows how important human connection has become in building a lasting brand.

I think that the brands that will define the next era are the ones that act more like movements than marketing machines. They’re clear on their values, they live them and they invite people in to be part of something bigger.

That’s the future.

Credits: courtesy Rocco Scazzariello

COOL BRITAIN

The UK is enjoying a moment of cultural relevance akin to the Cool Brittania era of the ’90s. Only this time around it’s a richer, more nuanced expression of Britishness.

By Chloe Street

It’s been a while since it was cool to be British.

Approximately 30 years ago, the “Cool Brittania” era (as coined by the tabloids) saw UK culture enjoy something of a heyday. Britpop bands such as Oasis and Blur blasted on radios globally alongside the Spice Girls’ “girl power” chart toppers; the YBA’s (Young British Artists) staged blockbuster, headline-grabbing shows of sharks in formaldehyde and tents embroidered with sexual conquests; Richard Curtis was pumping out his immaculate romcoms such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Ewan McGregor “chose life” in Danny Boyle’s masterpiece Trainspotting. Tony Blair’s New Labour finally toppled the Tories in 1997 after an 18year stronghold and a year later Victoria Beckham and Louise Redknapp cemented the British football WAG aesthetic at the 1998 World Cup.

It was a time when brand Britain felt alive and relevant, in a way it has struggled to for decades since. That is, until now.

It began in summer 2024, when London cool girl Charli XCX exported her pint-swilling, Vivienne Westwood-wearing brazen British Brat Summer to the world and was followed this year by Oasis’ triumphant comeback tour (which followed Pulp and Blur’s own revival tours of 2023). The ensuing Britpop revival has seen heritage British brands boosted, Oasis and Blur offspring grace the pages of British Vogue and Tatler, and Burberry’s classic check become cool once again. “Britishcore” even became a TikTok trend this summer, focused on the charming quirks of English life from Paddington Bear to pubs and Greggs’ sausage rolls.

“British culture is popping in a way I’ve never seen before. Kids from New York and LA are dressing like they’re from the UK and using British slang,” says youth marketing specialist Luke Hodson, who credits a new guard of homegrown streetwear and SPORTSWEAR brands with spearheading the movement— names such as Corteiz, Represent, Monterex and Palace.

“We’re very proud of being a British brand,” says 31-year-old George Heaton, who co-founded Manchester-born streetwear label Represent with his brother Mike in 2011. “It’s something we lean into a lot when designing. It brings an aura, a sense of heritage and legacy.” What began as a line of T-shirts is now a global brand that tracked £94 million in sales in 2024, 20% of which came from the US. “It’s cool to be British, especially when you’re selling in the States,” says Heaton, who chose Manchester United’s midfielder Mason Mount to star in their latest campaign.

“With these ground-up creatives, there’s this real feeling of it being for the people again,” says luxury strategist Chris Morency. “It’s for us, by us in a way that has been missing in the London fashion industry for the last two decades.”

Take London-born streetwear label Corteiz for example, which eschews the old method of achieving exclusivity via high price points and instead sells T-shirts for £30 and down jackets for £180, but only to those who have managed to get their hands on a password or found out the secret location of their pop-up. Launched by British-Nigerian entrepreneur

Clint419 from his bedroom in 2017, the brand has mastered guerilla marketing tactics and community building to become a £30 million business within six years. “It’s never happened before, where a British streetwear brand is as coveted globally as Corteiz is now,” says Hodson. “Even American streetwear brands like Supreme are really looking at what’s happening in the UK.”

Interestingly, the fastest growing British fashion startups of recent years have predominantly been born in the North, particularly Manchester and Liverpool. SPORTSWEAR label Monterex hails from the latter. Launched by two best friends (Daniel Yuen, 27, and Kieran Riddell-Austin, 29) in 2019 with a mission to create stylish, affordable alternatives to the big labels, the brand grew sales to £76.7 million in 2024 and expects to hit £130 million this year. The Times ranked the company 18th on its list of the fastest growing businesses in the UK in 2024. In the ’90s, Oasis adopted hiking and SPORTSWEAR brands like Berghaus and Fred Perry for everyday wear, their counterparts today are wearing Monterex.

Those original brands favored by Blur and Oasis are also keen to cash in on the trending Britpop grunge aesthetic. Berghaus shot to fame in the ’90s after Liam Gallagher wore its red and blue “Meru” hiking jacket on stage in 1997. Not skipping a beat, the British outdoors brand this summer cast Gallagher in its campaign, wearing a relaunched version of the same jacket. “It’s that iconic Manc Hacienda aesthetic that was closely associated with rave culture… A lot of Northerners would wear it to football,” says Hodson. “There’s that sports tech thing that’s a dominant expression in UK culture, and Berghaus has a license to play.”

Gallagher also fronted Burberry’s summer 2025 campaign alongside his children Lennon Gallagher, Molly Moorish-Gallagher and Gene Gallagher and an all-star cast including Goldie, Alexa Chung and Cara Delevigne. The theme was that pillar of British cool, Glastonbury, but through a ’90s lens—Liam wearing his own vintage Burberry parka which the brand reissued this summer as a limited edition. It’s all part of a strategy under new CEO Joshua Schulman to refocus on heritage and Britishness that’s seen Burberry, which has been languishing in the doldrums for several years now, begin a tentative rebound. “The product isn’t there yet, but the last show was way better,” says Morency of the s/s ’26 London Fashion Week presentation that saw British icons like Joanna Lumley and Elton John in front row. “It was a really smart move for them to play into more British tropes.” And what could be more British than their most recent outerwear campaign which sees Olivia Colman watching cricket in a trench coat and serving up fish and chips?

Other UK luxury brands are also trading on their national heritage. Barbour’s a/w ’25 campaign celebrates Ayrshire, the Scottish landscape where the wax jacket maker’s story began, and stars an all-British cast of fresh faces: from Kit Butler and William Gao to Saffron Hocking and Edie Campbell. In September JW Anderson debuted its first collaboration with 260-year-old UK ceramics maker Wedgwood and the Estate of British potter Lucie Rie, displaying the items in its newly opened Soho store alongside Fair Isle knits, the new “Loafer” bag and other British antiques and curios. And it’s surely no coincidence that in the summer of Cool Brittania mark two, Victoria Beckham has released a documentary taking us inside her eponymous womenswear brand, while reminding us she was one of Britpop’s pioneers the first time around.

Back in the days of Spiceworld, a white middle-class woman could dance on stage in a sequined Union Jack dress, and it was empowered. In 2025 however, the wearing of national insignia comes fraught with associations with the UK’s far-right. The symbol is however being subverted and reappropriated by subcultures and the black British community. Stormzy wore a Banksy-designed monochrome Union Jack bulletproof vest to Glastonbury back in 2019, while Doja Cat rocked a Union Jack corset to play a UK festival last summer. London rapper Central Cee wore his flag printed on a beanie for his album launch last year and American model Alex Consani chose to wear a beautiful white corseted Union Jack dress from Turkish-born, London-based designer Dilara Findikoglu to the 2024 British Fashion Awards, where she became the first trans person ever to take home the gong for model of the year.

Where the ’90s Cool Brittania movement was largely monocultural and overwhelmingly white, the way Britishness is being exported now feels like a richer, more varied representation of the true fabric of British society. Many of the most exciting names on the London Fashion Week schedule, for example, are from non-white communities—among them Ahluwalia, Wales Bonner, Tolu Coker and Labrum —or they’re foreign-born like Dilara and Athens-raised Di Petsa. These designers are building successful luxury brands with London life at their heart, but with myriad references to experiences of belonging and identity.

“I think even more so than in the ’90s, there’s now a sense of real purpose in defining Britishness in a way that reflects the fact that it is incredibly diverse and incredibly cool and incredibly creative; at a time when nationalism is doing its best to try and eclipse the virtue of what ‘Cool Brittania’ can mean,” says Helen Brocklebank, CEO of Walpole, the official body responsible for promoting British luxury.

Aside from London’s own fashion brands, Britishness is exported via the designers chosen to helm many of the world’s major fashion houses. Burberry is overseen by Bradford-born Daniel Lee, but over in Milan Manchester-born Maximillian Davis runs Ferragamo and Sunderland-raised Louise Trotter just debuted her dazzling first collection for Bottega Veneta. In Paris meanwhile Sarah Burton, who grew up in Cheshire, is bringing a glamorous buzz back to Givenchy, Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson just debuted his new look for Dior to much fanfare and Grace Wales Bonner has just been appointed head of Hermes men’s. Several other major houses are overseen by creative directors who trained at one of London’s incredible design schools— “it’s either British talent or British-trained talent,” quips Brocklebank.

Those homegrown brands that are trying to export British design to the world need more support, however. The fashion industry currently contributes £60 billion to the British economy and supports around 900,000 jobs and yet its underfunded and faces massive export challenges. Walpole reported in May for example that British luxury exports to the EU are 45% lower than they would have been without Brexit.

Much hope rests on the new CEO of the British Fashion Council (BFC) Laura Weir, who took to the stage at the BFC Summer Party in July and said: “I can’t help but feel that since Brexit and Covid, we have been sleeping on the creative British asset that quite literally touches everyone. It is time to reset.”

Labour MP and former fashion buyer Rosie Wrighting is of the same thinking. She tabled a parliamentary debate two days before London Fashion Week in September with the aim of spotlighting fashion’s role in shaping the UK’s global cultural influence, its economic value and the opportunities and challenges facing designers and fashion businesses in Britain.

“We have to make sure that fashion remains a viable career for young people, particularly those who are outside of London and in working-class communities,” she said. “And that means making it easier for designers and brands to scale up their businesses without being forced to sell early or relocate abroad.”

From Vivienne Westwood to John Galliano, Aaron Esh and Simone Rocha, from Savile Row to the rise of grime and contemporary streetwear, fashion in Britain crosses into art, theatre, subculture and politics. “If we do not tackle the current challenges,” said Wrighting, “we risk losing some of the very talent that makes Britain a leading name in international fashion.” In short, British culture might be popping, but if the country doesn’t nurture and support the homegrown creatives and brands making the movement happen, Cool Brittania 2.0 might well be short lived.

Credits: p. 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103: Burberry Festival, ph. Drew Vickers; p. 98: Represent, ph. Harry Stocks, BTS: Henry Goodfellow

CECI NE PAS UN HYPE

Cycling used to be considered a serious or stuffy sport. But cycling has long since blossomed into one of the most stylish sports around. Who are the driving forces behind this movement?

By Tim Dörpmund

It was one of the insider items at Pitti Uomo, which was shown in the Sala della Ronda this summer. Karl-Oskar Olsen and the team behind his brand Pas Normal Studios created a stage for a special bicycle: a custom-made Colnago C68 road bike was displayed among the styles in the collection. Limited to 29 pieces. Starting price: €16,900. For laymen, just a bike. For connoisseurs, an object of desire.

And what do the makers say? “This is not a bike” is the headline for the collaboration. Because cycling in general, and road cycling in particular, have long been much more than just getting from A to B or simple training. And a bike is not just a bike. And a jacket or jersey is also more than just a jacket or jersey.

“This is not a bike” reads like an allusion to René Magritte’s famous work “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” The Belgian painter and important representative of surrealism became known for changing the way people view everyday objects with his artwork.

Worlds merge. Up-and-coming brands are succeeding in creating new dream worlds, charging once-dismissed SPORTSWEAR with new energy and emotion. And they are finding an interested audience.

Ever-growing hordes of–in some cases very ambitious–amateur cyclists regularly hop on their road bikes or gravel bikes, either alone or in community rides, which are often organized by brands, influencers or retailers.

PODCAST AND PEDALING

The Cologne-based sports brand Ryzon recently demonstrated what activation via micro-influencers can look like. It teamed up with the hosts of the Plattfuß podcast, who transformed their office in Kiel, northern Germany, into a pop-up store for around a month in the summer, where products were sold but, above all, placed in a way that allowed customers to touch them, especially for the D2C brand Ryzon, which is particularly strong online. The community was not only able to experience the hosts in their new role as store owners but was also addressed with ride outs in a suitable setting, among other things.

“From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the store was completely packed,” sums up Lasse Popken, who is behind the podcast together with his brother Hannes.

“Many people were really grateful that we brought the online world offline for a few days.”

And Denis Möllers, marketing team lead at Ryzon, says: “For us, this is a good framework for testing a new form of collaboration. It’s not about establishing retail as a strategic channel–but we clearly see added value in the overall experience at the POS.” This year, the brand not only ran a pop-up with the podcasters but also organized a small tour with stops in Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna and Freiburg. Of course, each time with community events such as runs and bike rides.

“Of course, we also generate sales–but that’s not the main goal,” says Möllers. The temporary stores are “a mix of meeting people, brand experience and a place where you enjoy spending time–with Frodissimo espresso, a relaxed atmosphere and small community rides or runs.”

It’s about “proximity, not just reach.”

NICHE IS NICE

The Oakley brand, part of the EssilorLuxottica Group, also targets niche markets. Recently, there was something called “Oakley Community Days,” a series of events in the DACH region, with local partners. One such partner is the insider sports label BBUC from Vienna. BBUC not only runs a label for progressive cycling clothing, but also the Hotel am Brillantengrund in Vienna. So although the label does not have its own store, it does have a home that is perfect for bringing the community together. For a brand like Oakley, this is a great opportunity to showcase itself in an authentic setting within the local scene. During the latest event in mid-September, there was an evening celebration, and the next day, sunglasses and helmets were available to test during a ride. The concept had previously stopped in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Sölden and Zurich with different partners each time.

At Oakley, sunglasses are just the starting point for the total look. The brand has long had everything in its range and competes with names from Adidas to Patagonia. “Of course, glasses are often the starting point for what we are known and appreciated for. But the total look is already there, including footwear, both in lifestyle and in sports, such as road cycling and mountain biking. And we have a long history and a strong standing in the target group in snow sports,” says Peter Walberer, sports marketing & communication manager DACH at Oakley.

BIG PLAYERS

The growing interest in road bikes and the like is also attracting big players. Berlin-based e-commerce giant Zalando recently relaunched its own “Cycling Hub” and introduced 15 specialist brands, including Isadore, Castelli and Le Col. “Cycling is a growing and at the same time highly specialized sport that offers many learning opportunities and has a strong community with which you can form a deep connection,” says Nina Graf-Vlachy, general manager of sports at Zalando. “Since the relaunch, sales in the cycling category have increased by over 70%. We are evolving from a generalist to a specialist in each individual sport, and that is being rewarded.”

LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON

To keep the energy high, brands and protagonists from a wide range of disciplines are networking with each other. This goes beyond the boundaries of clothing and equipment such as bicycles, helmets and bike glasses.

The Australian sports brand Maap is also considered a trendsetter in this regard. Founded by Jarrad Smith and Oliver Cousins in Melbourne, the brand is no longer known Down Under only but has been represented in Europe with its own stores for some time now in Amsterdam and Berlin. In the US, a store recently opened in Venice Beach/Los Angeles. In its home country, Sydney is set to follow Melbourne at the end of the year.

“We try to appeal to people who are interested in design and fashion–and our sport. I think that ultimately it’s the same customer. So it’s important for us to be where he or she is,” says Smith on the sidelines of the store opening in Berlin.

Maap recently caused another fashion sensation. This time in the form of a collaboration with the Munich-based creative duo Public Possession. Behind the duo are Marvin Schuhmann and Valentino Betz, who started out as DJs and record store and record label owners. They now run a store, including their own collection, and are involved in many creative disciplines, including a collaboration with Highsnobiety as part of Oktoberfest.

For Maap, they have created their own playlists and brought art to the bike in the form of playful jerseys, bibs, shirts and accessories. Slogans and graphics that catch the eye even when racing past on a road bike. A perfect match? More than just hype?

Schuhmann believes in the meaningful connection between the disciplines: “Both have great potential when it comes to distraction, for example from stress, exchanging energy and bringing people together,” he says. “When done positively, art and sports are pretty unbeatable as pastimes.”

Credits: p. 105: MAAP / Public Possession, courtesy MAAP; p. 106: courtesy Pas Normal Studios; p. 107: Ryzon, ph. Felix Goergens

VENEZIA FC: WINNING IN STYLE

By Tobias Bayer

Imagine you’re in Venice. What kind of souvenir for your loved ones would you take with you? If you ask an AI bot, it suggests a Venetian mask, Murano glass, Burano lace, Buranelli biscuits and a bottle of Grappa. Sounds boring? Well, there’s an alternative. And it’s pretty cool!

The jersey from Venezia FC has become a global sensation and a souvenir favorite for the 22 million tourists who visit the Lagoon city every year, even though the football club won its last title in 1941 and plays only in the Serie B, Italy’s secondary league.

One of the reasons for its astounding popularity is its aesthetics. The black-and-gold home shirt of the ’24/’25 season was “ultra-classy”, wrote Highsnobiety. Since August 2024, Venezia FC has partnered with Nocta, the fashion project of Canada’s superstar rapper Drake.

For the ’25/’26 season, working closely with the creative teams of both the club and the hype label, designers Diego Moscosoni and Ariel Mojetta have translated Venice’s layered identity, its art, its fabric traditions, its Renaissance palette, into a jersey that’s more than just a shirt.

“It’s a flag, a cultural statement, and a collectible item designed with integrity. It carries the codes of fashion, the soul of football, and the emotional resonance of a city unlike any other,” says Moscosoni. The away jersey’s color is a soft cream base that flows into deep burgundy gradient sleeves–“a palette drawn from the opulent velvets and silks once traded by Venetian merchants, and the chromatic depth of Renaissance masters like Titian and Veronese.”

Whereas rich clubs like Paris St. Germain or Manchester City can invest huge sums in superstar celebrity players to win trophies and gain global recognition, Venezia FC taps into Venice’s eternal appeal and uses style to punch far above its weight.

“Venezia FC isn’t just a sports club. It’s a diversified brand of cultural relevance,” says Tancredi Vitale, the general manager of Venezia FC. “Our mission is to introduce a new language, whose foundation is football, but which is strongly rooted in the authenticity of the city of Venice.”

The tale of Venezia FC and its jersey is another example of the growing cultural clout of football. Unlike in the past when football didn’t leave the pitch and was the fiefdom for die-hard fans, mostly male and working class, who knew every player’s game statistic, it now speaks to a diverse and international audience thereby transcending all age and social groups.

Hollywood has taken notice. At the games of team Como 1907, stars such as Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Andrew Garfield have been spotted in the ranks. Some A-Listers have taken a step further. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney co-own Wrexham AFC in Wales and Michael B. Jordan is co-proprietor of AFC Bournemouth in England.

Streaming platforms are betting big on football, too. The documentary Sunderland ‘Til I Die on Netflix tells the joy and sorrow of coaches, players and fans of Sunderland A.F.C., whereas Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues on Amazon Prime accompanies NFL quarterback legend Tom Brady who must learn the ins and outs of the sport as new co-owner of Birmingham City FC.

“We’re in the entertainment business,” says GM Vitale. The 49-year-old from Turin whose father Maurizio was one of the pioneers of Italian SPORTSWEAR with labels such as Robe di Kappa and Blue Jesus, has been at the intersection between sports and fashion for over 30 years.

He started at Basicnet where he contributed to the growth of Kappa and Jesus Jeans. He worked at Adidas where he collaborated with Yohji

Yamamoto on Y-3, and at Nike where he led multiple business lines for the Nike and Jordan brands.

At Venezia FC, he’s set three overarching goals for himself and his team: striving for sporting greatness, driving global brand equity, and strengthening the bond with the area around Venice.

The emotional link between the club and the city is key. It’s the guiding principle for every single activity, starting with the players. Venezia FC fosters athletes, male and female, across several leagues, from the age of six upwards. It has launched the initiative “Progetto Unione” that helps smaller clubs in the area to promote new talent. Twenty clubs already adhere to the program.

The whole communication evolves around the club and city theme. The campaign for the Nocta jersey is entitled “Home Ground.” Shot on 35mm film by acclaimed photographer Duncan Loudon, who works also for luxury brands like Burberry and magazines like Dazed, its protagonists are not the players, but local creatives, loyal supporters and the next generation of “arancioneroverdi,” as the fans are called alluding to the club colors orange, black and green.

Loudon shows his cast, including painter-poet Solange Smith, the experimental musician Space Idol and Renato Rizzi, a renowned architect and theorist, not at Piazza San Marco or on the Rialto bridge, but immersed in the labyrinth of streets, bridges and canals where you can feel the hidden heartbeat of the city. Instead of the kitschy Venice that you see on postcards, he captures an unexpected side that is vibrant, intergenerational and constantly evolving.

The storytelling continues on social media. Venezia FC’s Instagram feed is as sleek as the one of “Vogue”. Next to short clips of goals and victory celebrations, there are pics of everyday essentials like hoodies, tees and caps that can be bought in the webshop, and players portraits. The new midfielder Emil Bohinen is filmed while going for a stroll through the city passing by open windows from which the laundry is hanging out.

The Venetian club charges its brand with an energy that hasn’t been created by shrewd executives or ad people in boardroom, but by the youth on the street. The rising cultural significance of football is a bottom-up phenomenon that permeates art, music and fashion.

“A generation is growing up for whom football jerseys are an important element of streetwear looks,” says Daniel Samy El Menshawi, founder of the label SPSR in Stuttgart that combines traditional menswear tailoring with streetwear. He describes his style as a “remix of Antonio Vivaldi by Kendrick Lamar,” referring to the famous Italian composer of Baroque music and an American rapper who’s regarded as one of the greatest of all time according to Wikipedia.

El Menshawi is deeply versed in football culture and its influence on fashion. He cites Off-White with AC Milan and Daily Paper with Ajax Amsterdam as two pathbreaking collabs. He himself has presented one with his favorite club, VfB Stuttgart. “The presence of football jerseys is incredible. The whole ’90s silhouette dominates the street scene,” he says.

Still, it needs capable management to capitalize on it. Like the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, GM Vitale uses the best-in-class as benchmarks. In terms of results on the pitch and financial stability, he considers Atalanta Bergamo and Atletico Madrid as inspiring case studies.

When it comes to infrastructure, he takes clues from Tottenham Hotspur. The club in the English Premier League has built a new stadium that’s considered to be one of the smartest, most technically advanced ones in the world.

There’ll be an upgrade in Venice, too. Currently the city administration is preparing for the construction of a new multifunctional hub including a new stadium in the Tessera district near the Venice airport. Since the public tender is underway, GM Vitale doesn’t want to comment.

In general terms he refers to the stadium as “venue” and talks about “experience” and “excellence in hospitality.” When you listen to him, he sounds less like a football executive than the manager of a luxury hotel like the Baglioni or the Cipriani. It’s not a surprise, since we already know from him that Venezia FC is so much more than just a football club.

Credits: ph: Duncan Loudon

MSCHF

Going viral without wanting to be viral.

Nowadays, virtually no industry is immune to the pressure to define its success through social media, viral trends and influencer collaborations. And the fashion industry is perhaps the most affected by this. This makes it all the more refreshing to see an artist collective like MSCHF rewriting the rules of the internet by holding up a mirror to the art, fashion and music industries, free of face filters.

THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: THERE ARE NO RULES!

The year is 2016. Daniel Greenberg was forced to reorient himself professionally after the downfall of his former employer, BuzzFeed. He teamed up with his colleague Gabriel Whaley and creative director Lukas Bentel to pursue a clear vision as the MSCHF collective: to question conventional forms of art and consumption and push boundaries with provocative, humorous projects. In their early days, the brains behind the brand remained anonymous so that the focus remained on their projects. From today’s perspective, this seems like an almost noble approach in an era where luxury and streetwear brands build their success on individual influencers.

MSCHF’s first actions were wild: under the name “The Persistence of Chaos,” the collective, together with artist Guo O Dong, downloaded the eight most dangerous computer viruses onto a 2008 Windows XP laptop on behalf of a cyber security company. The malware in question had already caused billions in damage worldwide, which is why the entire project was controversial, as is usual for MSCHF. Later, the laptop was offered for auction live on Twitch and eventually sold for $1,350,000. Such projects became more frequent over the years. One time, they cut up an original Damien Hirst polka dot artwork and sold the individual dots; another time, they set up an ATM that, when used, displayed the user’s account balance on a high score board for all to see. But in addition to art, the collective quickly found a new target for their actions: the fashion world.

THE DEVIL WEARS MSCHF

MSCHF couldn’t care less about the artificially inflated narrative of various SPORTSWEAR and luxury brands. When they presented the “Jesus Shoe” in 2019–a Nike Air Max 97 with holy water from the Jordan River in the bubble–those responsible at Swoosh were still irritated. When the “Satan Shoe” appeared a few years later with real human blood in the air bubble, the HQ in Oregon was completely shocked. After a cease-and-desist order, MSCHF got off with a slap on the wrist, while the sneakers reached over $3,000 on resale platforms. Shortly thereafter, they took the high fashion industry to absurd lengths with the release of microscopic luxury handbags. These were produced using two-photon polymerization and were approximately 0.08 cm in size, making them even smaller than a grain of salt. No one at LVMH would have thought that these mini bags would sell for over $60,000.

Just a year earlier, MSCHF was warned by a fashion giant for cutting up a Birkin bag and reassembling it into a Birkenstock replica. The “Birkinstock” was a critique of the artificially fueled hype surrounding Hermes bags. From their point of view, the world of Birkin bags was completely different from that of a typical Birkenstock wearer. Perhaps they also had the foresight to recognize that the former eco-slip- per brand was increasingly currying favor with the luxury segment? Who knows. MSCHF never relied on foreign silhouettes anyway.

Their “Wavy Sneaker” with a wave-shaped outsole and the “Normal Shoe” enjoyed their own hype. And the “Big Red Boots” adapted from Astroboy became a viral phenomenon on TikTok and Instagram. Ironically, with this release, the collective wanted to criticize the very algorithms that placed a flashy gimmick above design, quality, and timelessness. And that’s exactly what MSCHF is all about at the end of the day.

CONCLUSION

Groups like MSCHF manage time and again to remain creative and challenge the status quo in our world spammed with information, microtrends and influencers. They are the counterweight to our consumer society. They are the manifestation of internet culture in its purest form, whose ideas cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence or measured by conventional KPIs.

Credits: courtesy MSCHF

HOW A BRAND WITH NO NAME STANDS OUT FROM THE CROWD

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Nø Name is a French brand founded in 1991. Since its birth, it has identified itself with its iconic sneakers that express a spirit of nonconformity and a desire to stand out. Its path has always followed the idea to distinguish itself from mass-market, popular brands––all apparently very similar to each other, apart from their names.

“We didn’t create another sneaker brand—we sparked a cultural revolt with a platform sole that gave women height, attitude and freedom, long before empowerment became a buzzword. From the start, we’ve walked against the tide—and turned that walk into a style,” explains Riccardo Ribolla, general manager since September 2025, when the company was reinvented and took on a start-up mindset focused on a fast and visionary new attitude. Nø Name’s new direction is mixing French creativity with urban energy, aiming to stand apart from the crowd by betting on style and personality over logos and conformity.

Nø Name belongs to Ras Group, an independent French house dating back to 1870. The group is a family-owned company keenly focused on sustainable growth while keeping its independence as a key element, along with creativity and reinvention. Other labels in the group include Free Lance, Schmoove and Armistice––all brands rooted in heritage but forward-thinking and focused on innovation. In keeping with its own identity, one of Nø Name’s newest projects for f/w 2025 included launching “Explore Your City,” a capsule celebrating urban freedom and individuality through the lens of four world capitals—Paris, Berlin, Milan and Tokyo.

At the heart of the capsule there is a reinterpretation of the brand’s Carter 2.0 style, a reduced-impact sneaker model with a recycled rubber and organic EVA sole, and a distinguishing 3D honeycomb-cell surface. The sneaker also counts on top qualities like lightness, all-day comfort, excellent grip and shock absorption.

The brand redesigned this style as a travel companion for creative and independent spirits. Each edition captures the essence of a city and translates each metropolis’ atmosphere into texture, color and emotion. For instance, the Paris Edition plays with soft grey hues, evoking the slate rooftops and timeless chic of the capital. The Berlin Edition shows a bold and raw attitude, mirroring the creative rebellion and underground energy of the city. The Milan Edition features warm espresso tones, reflecting its sophisticated rhythm and effortless elegance, while the Tokyo Edition sparkles with electric accents, embodying the neon pulse and futuristic imagination of Shibuya.

“We think that Nø Name represents the future because SPORTSWEAR has become the world’s uniform. Despite this, we refuse uniformity,” says Ribolla. “We take the comfort and function of SPORTSWEAR and elevate them through design, culture and individuality. That’s how Nø Name turns movement into identity, lightness into strength and performance into self-expression. Our vision of SPORTSWEAR is not about blending in. It’s about standing tall,” he adds.

Designed by a French visionary studio that works like a creative and innovation lab, each style of the brand is the result of a collaboration between designers, patternmakers and material experts working as modern artisans who blend intuition, precision and culture.

The brand’s fans are peculiar personalities. “They are cultural connectors, curious, creative and unconventional, and they live across Europe and the Asian market. They stand out from the crowd and they live in motion, between cities, online and in ideas. Not only that, but they want substance with style, freedom with attitude and height in every sense of the word,” he continues, pointing out that the brand bets on accessible elevation, offering the look and detail of luxury without the arrogance of luxury pricing.

As stated by the brand’s DNA, Nø Name thinks that the future of SPORTSWEAR is no longer about performance but about personality. “The next chapter of this market will be emotional, responsible and radically individual,” Ribolla explains.

“We don’t want to follow the future of SPORTSWEAR—we want to write it. And it won’t be about speed, but about expression where fluid forms, intelligent comfort and materials tell new stories where fashion, function and feeling will blur the lines,” he says.

RUNNING RUNNING CLUBS –THE NEW FASHION WEEKS?

By Rami Eiserfey

The loneliest sport in the world is becoming a global phenomenon that brings brands and consumers together, creates communities, and has a huge influence on pop culture and style. Our experts Christian Weigert from the blog Runners Highest and Timo Winter, who regularly reports on the culture behind running, running clubs, and marathons in his podcast Chain Reaction, know that there is more to the movement than just the next TikTok trend.

TRAINING

Ten years ago running was purely a performance sport. From the half marathon onwards, relevant running brands had to watch as the lifestyle market was dominated by sports such as soccer, basketball and tennis. Although runners were not outsiders per se, the scene was certain: it had nothing to do with coolness, let alone style. However, they were wrong. Gorpcore and techwear saw functional clothing increasingly find its way into the wardrobes of hypebeasts, and a global pandemic was to give the whole thing the necessary boost.

THE WARM-UP

With Covid-19, closed gyms were replaced by open streets. What began as a virtue in times of need quickly became an experience. The first friends made plans to meet up, running clubs grew–and running increasingly became a culture. “For many, running became self-care and part of their identity,” says Timo Winter. Christian Weigert also observes: “You saw more and more shorts, running jackets, and functional pieces in everyday life. Performance had long been part of the wardrobe. Running was the next logical consequence.”

THE STARTING SIGNAL

Running clubs such as division:bpm, Berlin Braves, and Bandit Running show that it’s no longer just about pace. Brands such as Satisfy and Norda are bringing the necessary fashion attitude to the sport: clean, minimalist, functional. Winter describes it this way: “Satisfy is a prime example—aesthetics meets attitude. But smaller labels such as Unna and Tiempos also show that running today is almost like an indie magazine.” This is a development that the big brands in particular are watching with resentment. After all, they were the ones who dominated the market and determined aesthetics for years. But anyone who wants to sell the 700th version of the same sneaker with slightly modified details as “exclusive” will sooner or later only be fooling themselves. The new favorites of sneakerheads are innovative, futuristic, and above all, inclusive.

RUNNING

THE MARATHON

What sets running apart from every other short-lived hype is the strong community-first mindset. While people used to be grateful that big brands would at least put up an advertising banner in small towns, brands like Hoka, New Balance, and On are showing how it’s done. They communicate with running clubs and organize events on an equal footing. Whereas in the past only influencers and the trade press received gifts, nowadays even ordinary people without large channels can enjoy seedings. The formula for success is quite simple: the community supports the brands and the brands thank the community. And, of course, in times of complete oversaturation with the same old models and brands, sneakerheads are more inclined to look for smaller brands that make it easier for them to stand out from the mainstream.

FINISH LINE

More and more running silhouettes are being worn in a lifestyle context. Formerly pure lifestyle brands are now beginning to emulate the aesthetics of running brands or even launching entire diffusion lines just to get a piece of the runner pie. In reality, however, authenticity triumphs over artificially created aesthetics.

Because both Winter and Weigert agree: the community decides. Running clubs are becoming creative forces that brands have to reckon with these days. And the best part is that it’s never just about style—it’s also about attitude. Winter sums it up: “Running is for everyone. If you celebrate it in style, that’s cool. If you run in old shirts, that’s cool too. The important thing is to get out there and do something for yourself.”

Credits:

ph. Maurice Pehle

RUNNING ‘MENTAL ATHLETIC GENERATES VIBES AND CULTURE, WHICH IS WHY SALOMON CHOSE US.’

By Andrea Bigozzi

“It’s not just about running. It’s about creating a language, an atmosphere, a culture.” This is how Gabriele Casaccia, founder and creative director of Mental Athletic, sums up the philosophy behind his project. Originally an independent media outlet, Mental Athletic is now an editorial and creative platform that uses running as a starting point to explore lifestyle, aesthetics, shared values and a sense of community.

Right from the start, the project went beyond the boundaries of a simple magazine. “We created a vibe. It’s not just an editorial product, but a brand, a new way of talking about sport and everything that surrounds it,” explains Casaccia.

Mental Athletic expresses itself through a bimonthly print magazine, a digital journal, a global community on Instagram and collaborations with brands such as Salomon, with which it will launch a capsule collection dedicated to trail running in September. “And that’s just the beginning: more important collaborations are coming in 2026,” he anticipates.

For Casaccia, Mental Athletic—which he has registered as a global trademark—reflects a profound change in the world of running: from an individual sport to a cultural phenomenon connected to lifestyle and increasingly present in fashion distribution. “Those who work in retail, fashion, or sports need to understand this. It’s no longer just about selling technical clothing but about connecting with a conscious community with specific values and identities. And to do that, improvisation is not enough,” says the creative entrepreneur, who in the past gained extensive and significant experience at Slam Jam, a pioneer of street culture in Italy and a reference point in the dialogue between fashion, art, and music.

It’s not just a matter of trends, Casaccia points out. It’s not simply a matter of one sport replacing another. The point is that consumers are changing. They are more aware, more wellness-oriented, more interested in self-care in a broad sense, and SPORTSWEAR can become one of the expressions of this attitude. “First it was outdoor, now it’s running. Tomorrow, perhaps cycling.

But the point remains: people want to belong to something. Those who work in this sector must truly share this energy.” It is a cultural and social transformation, even before it is a commercial one.

The keyword is experience: “If you want people to follow you, you have to offer real experiences. With Mental Athletic, we wanted to move beyond the image of the competitive athlete. We are amateurs: we run to feel good, to share, to feel alive. This message has helped us grow. It’s the

RUNNING

same approach I recommend in retail: build something that truly reflects your audience.” But every business must find its own voice. “Too many stores look the same, with the same brands,” he observes. “We need more courage. Focus on independent brands, invest in scouting, build narratives that really speak to people. Only then can we get out of the price war and build a loyal community.”

In this context, physical retail takes on a new centrality. “Forget about the offline crisis. E-commerce alone is no longer enough. People are looking for places where they can identify with and meet each other. That’s why we’ve transformed Mental Athletic’s headquarters into a real destination. Not just offices, but a living space where things happen: photography, music, performance, culture. Everything that represents our way of understanding movement.”

The perception of the product is also changing: “The running market is still too male-oriented, but the female audience is growing. It’s not enough to offer more womenswear: we need to move beyond these categories. Sport, like culture, has no gender. The new generations identify with values, not labels.”

However, sneakers remain central. “They are the meeting point between innovation, storytelling, and identity. But there is also a growing need for total looks: garments that speak about you even when you’re not running,” he says. “We need a new language, not just a technical one, and this is where independent brands are making a difference. In fact, there are many growing businesses.”

For Casaccia, therefore, the future lies in listening to and supporting new voices: “It’s not easy to emerge, especially for small brands. But they are the ones who build communities and bring new aesthetics. If you rely only on big names, you play on price and volume. But you lose the vibe.” And for Mental Athletic, vibe is everything.

Credits: courtesy Mental Athletic

RUNNING ‘FOR US AT DISTANCE, IT’S THE PRODUCTS THAT COUNT, NOT THE BRANDS.’

By Andrea Bigozzi

For Guillaume Pontier and Xavier Tahar, the real catwalk is not fashion week, nor the crowded halls of trade fairs. It is in races or on the roadside that the two buyers and entrepreneurs scout, select brands, observe running styles, and pick up cultural signals, which they then transfer to Distance, their running store, which has now become an identity ecosystem that blends performance, aesthetics and a sense of community. “We don’t find the best products in sterile showrooms,” they say, “but in the effort of real exertion or in the passion of an exchange between those who really run.”

Founded in 2018 in Lyon, Distance was born from the alliance between two visions: Pontier, who grew up on the tracks with a coach father, brings the sporting soul; Tahar, a former financial manager, brings entrepreneurial vision and structure. “We understood each other immediately,” they say. “Our idea was clear from day one: to transcend running and make it a lifestyle.”

The brand is present in Paris, Lyon, Copenhagen, and Iten, Kenya, the home of world athletics. Each opening is a unique project, conceived as an act of co-creation with the local area. “We reject the standardized model,” they say. “Each project is a blank page, to be written with local runners, athletes and the people who animate the city in question.”

Over time, the store in Paris’ Marais district has become a hub for events, group runs, talks, sports screenings, and initiatives such as “Rob it to get it” wherein customers could keep an item of clothing only if they managed to outrun a professional sprinter. Only two out of 76 succeeded. Experience is at the heart of the project. “Our strength comes from a hybrid DNA forged in high-level athletics and nourished by a love of design and fashion,” they say.

This passion is evident in the stores, which are reminiscent of luxury boutiques: raw concrete, natural wood, minimalist installations, industrial lighting. But it is on the shelves that one notices the difference from the classic brand mix seen on the catwalks: Norda shoes, Satisfy garments, District Vision eyewear, all names that are still relatively unknown in traditional fashion distribution but are highly appealing. Distance’s offering ranges from clothing and footwear to post-run slides, home fragrances, food and photography books. Added to this is a constantly expanding Distance line of socks, T-shirts, sweatshirts and trail cups. “We are driven by a passion for the product, not the brand,” they emphasize. In a market dominated by contrived storytelling and passing trends, Distance focuses on “lived” credibility. “Something you can’t buy: you live it. We are the first users. The same rule applies to brands: only offer what we really love, what we use every day. That’s our compass,” they say.

For Distance, there are no trade fairs, no showrooms: only real encounters. “We build collaborations like friendships,” they explain. “Based on trust and shared experiences. Instinct guides everything.” Hence the collaborations with the brand On and the Korean brand Post Archive Faction (special guest at Pitti Uomo in June 2025).

However, from an expansion strategy point of view, the vision does not stop at France and Kenya. Distance is planning new retail openings. “We are looking at Europe, Asia and the United States,” Pontier and Tahar

RUNNING

reveal. There is talk of possible openings in London, New York, Los Angeles, and even Milan. “Yes, Milan is on our road map,” they confirm, “but we prefer not to give too many details at the moment.” The idea is to choose cities where culture, sport and innovation naturally intertwine. “It’s not just about geographical expansion but about extending our dream. Metropolises are our focus. But don’t expect predictable choices: a Distance store could blossom in an unexpected city, kicking off a new chapter.”

Distance continues to evolve on the product front as well. The selection criteria remain unchanged: “We put function and innovation first. Style is essential, but it must serve the technology, not the other way around. Only then does an item become a must-have.”

Meanwhile, the internal line is also being strengthened, always in the name of authenticity, consistency and quality. “Our ambition is not to grow at any cost, but to leave a mark,” they conclude. “We want to build an iconic brand, capable of inspiring a generation to experience running not as a sport, but as a form of expression. And to do so by running.”

R&D

R&D

Fabrics

Innovation (new product and business ideas)

Interview: Marithé and François Girbaud

DENIM DEMEANOR—

HOW A WORKERS’ CLOTH HAS BECOME THE KING OF FABRICS FABRICS

It is a chameleon and has infinite expressions. That’s why denim is one of the most famous materials—and a living being constantly transforming—in the fabric universe. From its humble beginnings as cloth for workers’ uniforms, it has become a fashion statement. It has further grown as a product from one of the most polluting industries to a virtuous and environmentally conscious multifaceted fashion segment, from natural fibers to high-tech developments and AI generated inspiration.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

It all started with Christopher Columbus. He crossed the seas to the New World under sails made of denim, but not the denim that we know and love today. But don’t mistakenly imagine that these sails were blue. Only later was indigo dye—an ancient exotic plant that Chinese and Egyptian people used as far back as 2500 B.C.—applied to denim.

Adding indigo to durable twill fabric was a stroke of genius and began the jeans saga, but no one can say why denim became so popular. Designer Katharine Hamnett has her own opinion about this phenomenon. She says, “Jeanswear has a lot in common with underwear. It contours and shapes, just like sexy lingerie.”

FROM THE WILD WEST TO THE CITIES

At the beginning of the 1970s, the Wild West legend, which had become hackneyed in the US, flooded Europe and made jeanswear also flourishing in the Old Continent.

Denim was very basic in those years, unwashed and 14 oz. The only finishing treatment was self-made in one’s own bathtub. Lying submerged in the water guaranteed the perfect shrink-to-fit look. A personal touch was allowed with some additional brushing, which provided a vintage look. Denim made hippies happy in medium weights, chambrays and colors like pure blue, sky blue and hydron brown, while exploring lighter weights down to 11 oz., while starting to offer women’s jeans, too.

Though the real feminine and curvy jeans arrived in the ’70s. They became as they look today thanks to Marithé+François Girbaud and Elio Fiorucci… with a little help from Lycra fiber added to denim, which truly marked a turning point.

Among the first companies recognized for developing the first stretch denims is Candiani Denim, a denim specialist founded in 1938. “We were among the first denim producers to pioneer it, and certainly the ones who believed the most in its potential. We essentially were the only mill to develop stretch denim fabrics that blended appealing aesthetics with superior performance,” explains Alberto Candiani, president, Candiani Denim.

FANCY DENIMS STARTED FROM HERE

In the mid-‘70s, the time was right for psychedelic experimentation and exploration into the versatility of their banner fabric, too. Tie-dye, batik and bleach treatments became instantly popular. “It was a time of great creativity and experimentation,” comments Giovanni Petrin, a longtime insider who worked for many years as general manager for Lavorazioni Martelli, a legendary Italian specialized casual finishing company run by Luigi Martelli, an icon of the business who passed away at the beginning of 2025.

RICS

At the beginning of the 1980s, the Ramones, the true path-openers for punk music, wore broken-knee jeans, and Ian Dury singing “Sex, Drugs& Rock ’n’ Roll” loved his black denim jeans, contributed to the start of a new wave—and not only in music.

IT’S A STONY MATTER

The 1980s brought with it stonewash addiction. Nearly every jeans manufacturer experimented to find the right formula to soften and fade their jeans by means of stonewashing. To wash 130 pairs of jeans for one hour, they used 150 kilos of pumice stones–natural or synthetic–and 682 liters of water.

“Being among those who invented the most disruptive and innovative effects on denim, we didn’t realize we were also causing such huge damage,” explained Goldschmied and Girbaud. “That’s why we also wanted to find new alternatives that could replace them,” they explained, speaking how they both inspired the industry to find new less harmful solutions.

CRAZY FOR VINTAGE

In the ’90s, while traveling worldwide to find new markets and fresh inspiration, many insiders started discovering rare vintage pieces—especially in the US and Japan. They discovered authentic ring-ring red-selvedge denim pieces from the 1950s. It all fueled the fever for collecting rare jeans paid at star-level prices.

Crazy denim freaks recreated the same ring-spun yarns and wove denim on smaller 75 cm-wide-looms. This also allowed them to produce denim with a red selvage, which was translated into jeans with turn-ups–a trend that vintage fans continue to follow.

FROM DARK AND RAW DENIM TO PREMIUM JEANS

The next spark to ignite the jeanswear market was dark and raw denims with G-Star and its ergonomic Elwood jeans style—still a bestseller today. At the end of the 1990s, a particular US market trend that saw some brands offering higher quality and carefully made in the US jeans. Among them were 7For All Mankind, AG Adriano Goldschmied and Citizens of Humanity to name a few.

2000s-2010s, adding performance, comfort, and a slim silhouette—not only for women’s jeans but also for men’s trousers. In those years, Isko invented “Jeggings,” a breakthrough fabric developed in 2008 merging stretch technology and authentic look and feel.

A GLOBAL DENIM ERA—AND A POINT OF NO RETURN

At the dawn of the 2000s, most of the production of denim had already moved outside Central Europe and The US and had become global. Production moved to countries like China, first, but afterward also Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Vietnam, among others, where production costed less, but often little or no environmental respect was guaranteed, along with social security, health conditions and fair wages.

A striking case that attracted widespread attention and highlighted the need for action was the disastrous collapse of Rana Plaza in a district of Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2013, causing the deaths of more than 2,500 people. That event and the bursting of Covid 19 epidemic made many conscious of the necessity to change business model and produce less but of better quality.

CHANGING MENTALITY IS URGENT

While soon the EU Green Deal set of rules will try to guarantee transparency, traceability and the use of approved substances and include a more responsible approach, some companies had already started to try lower their impact. Over 20 years ago, Sharabati had opened its Tadweer recycling facility in Syria and later relocated to Egypt. “At a time when sustainability was not even a topic of discussion and waste was often ignored, Sharabati invested in recycling,” explains Alessandro Moretti Ciacci, sales and marketing director, Sharabati.“It’s a proof that Sharabati started innovating in this space long ago,” he adds.

As cotton growing can be truly impacting, new solutions were found. Organic cotton and BCI cotton are new alternatives along with regenerative agriculture, a new approach based upon respecting nature’s rhythms and rotating the use of fields. Candiani Denim was among the first ones to adopt it and will transition to using regenerative cotton only by 2026.

MORE NATURE TO JEANS

Extra-EU Asian countries have grown forward thinking and started using alternative fibers and ecofriendly methods. Among them, Pioneer Denim, an advanced vertical denim and garment manufacturer from Bangladesh, is a virtuous example. “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We use only the finest sustainable materials, from recycled cotton and organic fibers to Tencel and more,” explains Christian Reca, marketing director, Pioneer Denim.

FABRICS

“We combine all natural fibers in the market, like, wool, silk, linen, cotton, hemp, jute, pineapple fiber, organic cotton, recycled pre- and post-consumer cotton, in our fabrics,” he says. Also new is a wool-rich denim made with up to 70% wool maximum.

In 2019 Candiani introduced Coreva, a patented technology, which enabled it to produce the world’s first plastic-free, plant-based and compostable stretch denim. In the right conditions Coreva fabrics can be 100% composted at the end of their lifecycle without leaving harmful residues in the soill, keeping its performance unchanged.

In 2021, Calik patented its own B210 technology, a special treatment that guarantees over 99% biodegradation of their denim within just 210 days, even in elastane-containing fabrics.

“This breakthrough innovation proves that performance and sustainability can coexist. It allows us to offer fabrics that not only deliver exceptional comfort and durability but also return to nature at the end of their lifecycle,” says Ibrahim Ethem Buyukpepe, acting general manager, Calik.

Higher quality fabrics is another must. Sharabati did it by launching its Twillis Collection, a fine and premium-quality flat fabrics line that stands out for its yarn and weaving characteristics but also for unique finishes applied, delivering a refined look and performance. Even softer are “Max Soft” fabrics made from a blend made with Giza cotton mixed with virgin conventional cotton, offering a soft and comfortable hand feel.

THE AGE OF FINISHING

Credits:

p. 124: Pioneer Denim by Adriano Goldschmied (top), Calik Denim (bottom);

p. 125: Officina39/Tonello (top), Candiani Denim (bottom);

p. 126: Twillis by Sharabati

Various new applications and technologies have helped laundering and finishing radically change the way jeans are aged. With the advent of laser and ozone treatment, many treatments become faster, more effective and less expensive. Produced by two main players—Jeanologia and Tonello—they have radically changed the finishing industry. Jeanologia developed smaller size laser machines that can be kept in stores and be used for customizing one’s purchases, as Guess started hosting in some pop-up and flagship stores.

Achieving the right hue and finish without impacting while maintaining stable costs. Officina39, an Italian company offering sustainable chemical solutions, has achieved it with Aqualess Mission, a product range designed to reduce water consumption during denim finishing, and Recycrom, a patented technology that transforms textile waste into high-quality pigments for dyeing garments and fabrics.

“Our innovations reflect our commitment to rethink materials and processes helping brands meet sustainability goals without compromising creativity or efficiency,” says Andrea Venier, managing director, Officina39. The company has just launched ZeroPP/All. A one-product-only system that allows brands and laundries to permanently eliminate potassium permanganate (PP), a toxic chemical agent that unfortunately is still widely used in denim finishing for vintage effects, although its use is no longer allowed.

NEW CHALLENGES FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Printing special effects like denim weaves, microdesigns and motives is also an alternative toi impact less while keeping a denim optic. Twillis’ twills by Sharabati Stella Blu by Prosperity Denim, Artmill by Adriano Goldschmied and Next Printing do it.

Cutting resources like water and lowering emissions continues to be a challenge but Levi’s has set some clear plans. It aims to cut 15% fresh water use by 2030 as part of its Climate Transition Plan strategy—an ambitious target considering that producing a pair of Levi’s equates to a 3,781 liters of water consumption.

Candiani has also developed a new Sound Dye treating technology that can make a difference. Its system utilizes ultrasound to rinse the yarn, a process that generates microbubbles in the water, which implode and create shock waves that effectively remove excess unfixed indigo. It counts a reduction of water consumption by 41,829,600 liters—enough drinking water for nearly 58,000 people for a year!

RICS THE ERA OF THE ULTRA FABRICS

What would fashion be without high-tech fabrics? No seductive bodysuits, no skin-tight stretch trousers, no push-up bras and no windproof and weatherproof SPORTSWEAR. Textile history has written an exciting chapter of high-tech development from the 1960s until now, exploring unexpected frontiers…growing new fabrics made from mushrooms, or using sugar fermentation, while aiming to lower tomorrow’s textile industry’s environmental impact.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

It all started in 1959, when DuPont marketed Lycra, the stretch fiber. The day the first nylon stockings were produced changed the fashion landscape for women overnight. Gone were the days of unmanageable, ill-fitting woolly stockings. Gossamer-thin, clingy and sexy nylons were the epitome of irresistible femininity for women (and men) in the ’50s and ’60s.

Starting with the first nylon stocking–which nowadays would certainly have the charm of an elastic support stocking–right up to today’s high-tech developments, fiber manufacturers have accomplished revolutionary feats. Elastane and nylon set the tone for the fashions of the ’60s and ’70s including hosiery, swimsuits and easy-care men’s shirts. Then came the jersey era with jersey trousers, which “kneed,” and jersey shirts that were soft, flowing and comfortably figure-hugging. The ’70s also saw the arrival of superfine microfibers in polyester and polyamide, launched by Toray, the Japanese fiber giant. Membranes like Gore-Tex were also a product of the same decade. The interest in technical textiles grew rapidly in the ’70s because they were so modern and new. Weatherproof anoraks, padded ski suits, ski jackets, quilted jackets and thermo-trousers were the money makers on the slopes and in the streets.

In the ecologically conscious ’80s cotton was much more the thing. Caring for the environment was in, and awards for environmentally sound textiles were what consumers were looking for. The cotton tracksuit was the clear uniform of the decade. Functionality was only required on the football pitch or on the ski slope. Despite this, the demand for polyester and polypropylene increased dramatically and continued to increase, since ’80s fashions had loads of stretch-minis, leggings and knitted stockings.

In the ’90s and at the beginning of the 21st century, the switch from eco to high-tech was finally complete. Comfort, easy care and functionality are standard for the new generation of fabric. The viscose fiber Lyocell, bonded fabrics, Coolmax, and Tactel by DuPont are only some examples of the innovative high-tech brigade. New developments bet on new figure hugging, synthetic sports outfits with integrated functionality as modern sport fabrics transport sweat to the fabric surface and are also water- and wind-resistant.

The stretch fashion cult emanating from sport has had a profound effect on non-sporting fashions as well. Labels such as Prada, Boss, Armani and Girbaud were the first to pluck the “intelligent” fabrics from the “active” context.

True innovations in fashion are mainly born from the new materials. Nowadays, fabrics regulate the body temperature, are crease-resistant, easy-care, odor-control, scented, anti-static, anti-microbial, need no ironing and protect against UV light.

Thermoactive fibers work like a self-regulating air-conditioning unit for the wearer and protect against cold or heat, depending on the outside temperature. Scented fabrics that caress the skin will eventually make body lotion redundant thanks to microcapsule technology. Many next gen fibers can be laser cut and welded by ultrasound. Maybe one day seams will be held together by silicone alone. In the future, tailor-made high-tech fabrics will be giving natural fiber fabrics more competition, or they will both be used together in “intelligent” combinations up to emotionally responsive cyber-fabrics.

FABRICS

LEARNING FROM BRANDS

Many SPORTSWEAR brands have developed excellent results, offering forward-thinking performance, protection and comfort. Among others, there is Jeanne Baret, a new women’s SPORTSWEAR brand by Italian SPORTSWEAR company Fratelli Campagnolo.

The inspiration for this brand comes from Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe at the end of the 1700s, defying the laws and conventions of the time.

The brand reflects the ability to adapt to living in difficult and unexpected conditions, just like the heroine who inspired it. It offers garments designed for different occasions—from adventurous travel to everyday city life, sports, wellness and leisure.

It uses selected fabrics and materials, along with Supima cotton, recycled polyester, and parachute canvas, combined with sports technologies. All garments feature well-thought-out functional details and design solutions and are designed to be foldable using soft, rollable taped zippers, lightweight weights and padding and super-soft fabrics. Among other materials it uses there are Riopele’s patented Ceramica Fabric, a material composed of polyester and viscose but with Vigogna wool soft-touch aspect that retains its original appearance after numerous uses. Plus, down-free wadding such as Sorona, offers sustainable insulation, and 3M Thinsulate.

Also CMP-Collective (of) Moving People, another brand by the same company, creates urban apparel dedicated to Gen Z and young audiences. In addition, this brand offers high protection and performance for every weather condition and environment.

“We wanted to intercept the 20- to 40-year-old skiers who look for contemporary, oversized, genderless styles, and less colorful items, different from usual ski wear, suitable for both snowboarding and skateboarding,” the company explains.

STRETCHING OUT FOR NEW PERFORMANCES

Though most innovative apparel is now focused on offering catered support to meet every consumer’s request. The newest jeans, underwear and bathing suits offer a controlled stretch effect to guarantee support only where the customer wants it—for instance, in areas like the belly, inner-hip sides and buttocks—but need comfort and maximum stretchability at the knee. The Lycra Company managed to achieve such results.

While the introduction of stretch fiber has changed our lives, it has also produced a wider amount of oil-based fibers in the market. For this reason, high-tech fiber manufacturers have focused and managed to offer lower-impact fibers.

Lycra EcoMade bio-derived fiber, for instance, is made up of 70% annually renewable plant resources. Its commercial launch is expected by the end of 2025.

Hyosung has launched Regen Bio Spandex by replacing nearly all the raw materials previously made with petroleum-based resources with renewable resources for its Regen Bio+ and Regen Bio Max Spandex.

IMPACTING LESS, RECYCLING MORE

New polyester recycled fibers open the way to materials like by Re&Up, a company part of Sanko Holding. They transform PET and cotton fabrics into new fibers, preventing old garments from ending up in landfills and closing the loop on denim waste.

Hyosung, after a partnership with Loop Industries, has developed a new high-purity, virgin-quality 100% recycled polyester practically endlessly recyclable.

THE FUTURE IS AS SWEET AS SUGAR-BASED FIBERS

Looking at nature and mimicking its processes, many other technical materials are now spreading. Many of them are based upon sugar fermentation processes or obtained from sugar cane, mushrooms and other substances that degrade in ocean water without producing noxious substances. Among them, for instance, there is Spiber, a protein-based fiber obtained from sugar fermentation but soon available from other natural-origin materials.

Gozen is a new Turkish company that has just launched Lunaform, a new bio-based material that looks and feels like leather, despite it not being leather.

It is a nanocellulose biomaterial that offers strength, drape and memory. It debuted in Balenciaga’s Maxi Bathrobe Coat for s/s 2024 but new applications will soon arrive in the market, also including apparel and a footwear line created in collaboration with Beymen, a Turkish department store.

Plax is a new plant-based synthetic fiber obtained from Bonsucro-certified sugarcane cultivation developed by the Japanese company Bioworks. It is a that can be used for everyday essentials like T-shirts and denim to dazzling runway fashion, with its enhanced durability, heat resistance and excellent dyeability.

It has the qualities and functions of conventional PLA (polyactic acid) and can biodegrade and be recycled under the suitable conditions and circumstances. Moreover, the fiber has anti-microbial and anti-odor properties and prevents bacterial growth on fabrics. New properties and manufacturing techniques are advancing fast. As the advent of stretch changed our habits, lifestyle and attitudes, new products and manufacturing standards will help make our lives—and clothes—better!

Credits: p. 127: Lunaform by Gozen worn by Sedef Uncu Aki (top), CMP-Collective (of) Moving People (bottom), p. 128: Jeanne Baret

RICS

THE FUTURE IS HERE

Textile industry players spoke about the future of the industry. SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL asked them what key aspects will rule the denim and SPORTSWEAR segments in the days to come.

What will be the next megatrendbigor innovation of the future that will set a true turning point?

THOMAS APLAS, HEAD OF APPLICATION MANAGEMENT GARMENT, CHT:

“I cannot think of a big megatrend for the future except for three aspects that have to improve significantly. We need more truly environmentally friendly chemical products and processes for the garment industry. We also need more sustainable, long-lasting quality and production quantities according to market needs in order to lower overproduction.”

ALBERTO CANDIANI, OWNER AND PRESIDENT, CANDIANI DENIM:

“We envision the future of denim as a product that is both regenerative and regenerated. As the first denim mill to invest in regeneratively grown cotton, we are committed to supporting its cultivation in various countries. We believe this sustainable approach is scalable and could have a significant positive impact on the environment by restoring soil health and rebalancing ecosystems.”

IBRAHIM ETHEM BUYUKPEPE, ACTING GENERAL MANAGER, CALIK DENIM:

ALESSANDRO MORETTI CIACCI, SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR, SHARABATI:

“We are facing a generation of consumers with ever-growing expectations from every product they use. No item today is designed to serve only one purpose. Fabrics and garments will similarly be valued for the extent to which they enhance functionality and performance. Jeans will no longer be seen as just a piece of clothing but as a multifunctional item that responds to new consumer lifestyles and needs.”

CHRISTIAN RECA, WORLDWIDE MARKETING & MERCHANDISING MANAGER, PIONEER DENIM:

“Quality is the real must-have of the future—and it is already the most important aspect of our products. In the future customizing denim according to every single brand’s request will be key as each of them is looking for something commercial but different in terms of branding, always high-performance and top quality.”

ANDREA VENIER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, OFFICINA39:

“While aesthetic and environmental innovation remain vital, a new priority is emerging for the future: enhancing process efficiency and operational resilience. This may not always be visible, but it’s a strategic response to skyrocketing cost pressures and what Officina39 is fully committed to innovating and delivering.”

PHILIPPE MIGNOT, PROJECT MANAGER, NEXT PRINTING:

“The next megatrend will be the fusion of AI-generated design and sustainable digital manufacturing. AI enables advanced graphic customization and rapid development cycles, while digital printing allows for on-demand production with minimal waste and maximum aesthetic impact. This convergence represents a shift from mass production to responsible customization, a transformation that could reshape the industry radically.”

“The next great transformation will come from AI-driven material innovation and predictive sustainability systems. AI will reshape how fabrics are designed, produced and managed throughout their lifecycle.

It will also allow us to create smart textiles with built-in ecological intelligence–materials that adapt to their environment, degrade responsibly and are optimized for minimal resource consumption. It will also strengthen traceability and transparency, as consumers increasingly demand proof of sustainability rather than promises.”

CLAUDIA DE WITTE, MARKETING & SUSTAINABILITY

DIRECTOR, EASTMAN TEXTILES:

FATMA KORKMAZ, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER SANKO HOLDING/ISKO DIVISION:

“The next big shift is clear: scalable circularity. The industry is moving fast toward fabrics that are regulation-ready, traceable and truly sustainable. Not as a niche, but as the new norm. For us, the future of denim is one where innovation and responsibility are inseparable because the best fabrics don’t just perform well; they make progress possible.”

“A major shift will be the rise of regulation-driven innovation, especially with the upcoming EU Digital Product Passport and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). These policies will define clear requirements for sustainable sourcing, recycled content and end-of-life recyclability. This will push the industry toward materials designed for full lifecycle accountability, from origin to reuse.”

ERWIN O. LICHER, FOUNDER, HERRLICHER:

“Denim is like a smile. It suits everyone and goes with practically everything. Fast-moving trends are like leaves in the wind. Naturalness is not a trend but an attitude to life. With this attitude, Herrlicher continues to stand for authentic fashion that embodies timelessness, quality and genuine style. Our brand’s core is: ‘Trend-conscious yes, trend-driven no.’ Instead of short-lived catwalk trends, Herrlicher Jeans focuses on real values, durability and designs that capture the spirit of the times without succumbing to it.”

MATTEO URBINI, GENERAL MANAGER, SOKO ITALY:

“The current market is going through a period of uncertainty, and optimizing production processes will increasingly become not just a trend, but a necessity. Soko is focused on pioneering sustainable innovation in denim and garment finishing. It does it through cutting-edge chemistry and creativity—from Lumia, our ozone technology that creates authentic vintage effects reducing water consumption and eliminating pumice stones and hazardous chemicals, and Hydrogel, an all-in-one solution for denim finshing that reduces water consumption and speeds up the finishing process.”

Credits: courtesy companies

FCTRY LAB IS A LENS.

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT COMES OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE

More power to designers; democratizing sneaker creation and speeding up design and production times are key, as is building a community and breaking the rules. This is the future of sneakers for Omar Bailey and FCTRY Lab.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL has met Omar Bailey, 42, a footwear development pioneer and co-founder of FCTRY Lab, an innovative sneaker brand, a studio, and a prototyping lab based in Los Angeles.

He is a trailblazing force in the footwear industry who has helped bridge the gap from conceptual design to physically wearable footwear during his extensive career. Together with co-founders Abhi Som and Ravi Bhaskaran, he aims to democratize sneaker creation, putting speed, equity, and access into the hands of creators rather than a few powerful shoe manufacturers. With over 20 years of global product development and manufacturing experience as a design engineer, he developed footwear for entertainers such as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, along with athletes such as Karim Benzema, José Bautista and Jalen Ramsey, among others.

His professional trajectory includes roles at renowned industry brands including New Balance, K-Swiss, Adidas and Timberland.

The studio partners with creators across entertainment, sports and design to bring footwear from concept to the culture. From first sketch to first drop. His passion for sneakers led him across the globe—including China, India and Saudi Arabia—where he immersed himself in the local culture and gained a deep understanding of the bridge between design and contract manufacturing.

His journey into the world of footwear design commenced at the age of seven in his parents’ New York home, sketching out his earliest designs. Educated at esteemed institutions like the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and the College of Design, Architecture & Art at the University of Cincinnati, he honed his craft, pursuing degrees in industrial design. He was also the protagonist of a recent TV series shot by Keanu Reeves, and will soon publish a book about himself and his career. Despite his brilliant career and great achievements, he is a cool and easygoing person. We met him during Kingpins Amsterdam while he was wearing a baseball cap, thick-soled FCTRY Lab sneakers, and a workwear jacket made with a denim by Artistic Milliners/Cone Denim he had customized upon request.

When did you start working in the SPORTSWEAR business?

I started drawing sneakers when I was seven years old, but officially I got into the business in 2003, when I did my first internship with New Balance. I’m 42. In the ’90s, there was a lot of violence in the communities that I grew up in, and a lot of kids wanted to steal Air Jordan sneakers. My family were immigrants from Jamaica. When my mom and dad learned of some of the problems that were happening around the shoes, they didn’t buy me the shoes because they didn’t want me to be a victim of the sort of violence or bad things. So, that’s why I started drawing shoes. That’s where sort of the passion and love started from–drawing the very thing that I couldn’t have.

Then I went into art school, where I got to continue to express this passion, then got into university, where I studied industrial design. That led to me doing internships with New Balance, K-Swiss and Adidas. The first shoe that I created was a basketball shoe for New Balance in 2003. It was the first time I drew a shoe on a piece of paper and got to see it in reality–which was very cool for me. That’s how I officially got into the shoe business.

And then? What happened?

So, in 2006, when I finished school. I started my own business. It was a consulting company called Bright Ideas. Then I met two professional athletes–one was Allan Houston, a professional basketball player for the New York Knicks and probably one of the most popular Knicks of all time on that team, and another guy named Gary Sheffield, a professional baseball player who played for the New York Yankees and the Dodgers. I had the opportunity to design shoes for them. The significance of that project was that it brought me out to China for the first time. And that’s where I really got to understand the ins and outs of supply chain and manufacturing. I started as a designer, but that experience brought me to transition into more of a product engineer or a developer and really understand all the steps of the process and apply my design abilities.

How was your experience at Yeezy, the sneaker brand founded by Kanye West?

I was at Yeezy for almost two years, from 2019 to 2021. At that time we were developing new shoes at a pretty high and fast pace, and a lot of it was experimentation, testing and always trying new things. Being flexible and the ability to pivot are very important as a designer and as a creator for any product in general. And I feel like that’s when you create the best things. Some of my favourite shoes that I’ve created have all sort of been like that as they looked almost like art pieces.

Did that experience help you to shorten footwear design and production times?

For me, it’s about how you have a new idea and how you can execute it as fast as possible without spending six months developing it. So we managed to shorten that development time to less than a month, which allows us to move faster when it comes to production.

Factories just want to produce and manufacture at scale. So they don’t have time to develop new ideas, test small millimeter-size changes and do this over and over and over again.

So, after I founded my brand, FCTRY Lab, in 2022, it made me and my team able to develop these concepts, and being able to work through these design loops in our lab allowed us to finalize the concept and then pass that information on to the factory so that they can produce the idea that it is that we have.

That was actually something that we did at Yeezy. Kanye had really extraordinary ideas and wanted to execute those visions, but a lot of those ideas really needed the time and space. We were able to experiment with these things and share those learnings with the factory and scale it. That really helped speed things up and move things along.

Have you also tried innovative, productive techniques like 3D printing or sustainable material recycling?

Oh yeah, all of the above. We currently use 3D printing in the capacity for development. That’s actually one of the methods that allows us to move very quickly.

So by combining traditional development and prototyping with 3D printing, we can actually give real-time feedback.

And we’re able to build something like that in a matter of days as opposed to traditional processes. We’re actually able to shorten that process from two months down to basically less than a week. So 3D printing plays a huge component in that for us.

In terms of sustainability and materials, we’re going to be producing in the US this year mostly around foam products, but this is going to allow us to really play around with algae-based materials, bio-foams, maybe even re-grinding, re-purposing foam, and sort of re-molding it into new shapes and forms. And actually, one of our shoes that’s on the market right now called the Ruffle Boot is a women’s shoe that we did with Collina Strada, a women’s designer brand of New York. Its sole is actually made out of sugarcane.

So, we’re going to continue to build on that going forward.

Where do you find inspiration for the shoes you design?

I am mostly looking at the market and at the trends, and I travel a lot. Inspiration from anyone and everywhere. My eyes are always wide open, and I’m always just constantly taking in everything.

Is there a success case you would like to speak about?

My real pride is FCTRY Lab, my brand, and my lens. Take our Duck Boot, for example. We came out with a shoe last year called the Duck Boot that we launched with rapper NLE Choppa that did extremely well. It got over half a billion views and impressions on social media across all social media platforms.

We did about a $1 million in sales in just under two hours when the shoe first launched. And it made a huge viral impression on a lot of people. But the interesting thing about that shoe is that I didn’t invent the duck boot. It has been around since 1912, when L.L. Bean created the first version of it. What I wanted to do was create what a duck boot would look like in 2025 based on today’s current trends in fashion the way kids dress and wear their jeans and their pants.

And I wanted to create a shoe that reflected that DNA of the classic duck boot but through sort of the lens of FCTRY Lab and what that vision might look like today. The result was this very big, sort of chunky but very comfortable boot with a very interesting shape and form we called the Duck Boot that got a lot of attention.

So, inspiration can come from anywhere, but at the end of the day, it’s about taking that inspiration and running it through the FCTRY Lab lens and seeing what comes out on the other side.

In the market of action sports and outdoor activities and so on, there is the need to make consumers feel like they are belonging to something. Does it also relate to your brand?

Oh, yeah, of course.

Right now we live in the “attention economy.” So everyone is trying to get the attention of an audience. But the way you do that today is you have to build a community and seek out the people who support your vision and believe in what you’re doing.

I still don’t take for granted one moment when someone buys our shoes. Even at an event organized here in Amsterdam by Artistic Milliners x Cone Denim that I was speaking at, one of our customers showed up wearing our Duck Boot.

It was really awesome. I’m on the other side of the world, here in Amsterdam, and to see a customer who is so loyal and so passionate and who got on a train for two hours to come listen to me speak wearing a shoe that I created.

That’s community. That’s building relationships. That’s what matters at the end of the day and why, you know, I’m even doing this.

So, yes, it’s important for us to continue to build that community and more things to continue to engage with it.

Where are you selling?

We are now selling only online.

We have been in a few retailers so far–Saks Fifth Avenue, HBX, and HBX in Hong Kong–and we did a pop-up with Concepts in New York City and a few more, but I think the next stage for us is really taking that next step in scale and working with an even bigger retail partner.

Are you selling in the US but also in Europe?

Yeah, we’re selling all over the world.

We ship all over the world right now. We sell in Asia, Asia Pacific, including Australia. Furthermore, we’ve shipped all over the world, but we’re looking to do more in the Middle East as well. The Middle East is very important to me.

Are there any other projects you’re involved with?

Keanu Reeves, the actor and director, made a documentary about me and the company. It is part of a series—“Visionaries.” It came out on Roku, which is an American streaming platform like Netflix. Furthermore, it came out earlier this year, and I was super excited to be able to do it.

Keanu Reeves and his partner Gard Hollinger have a brand called Arch Motorcycles, and they had me on the show telling my story about FCTRY Lab and about my background, and they interviewed my family and my teachers. It was awesome.

Then I have a book coming out, actually, in January, a biography about my entire journey, starting with my father, who grew up in Jamaica, and he was a shoemaker as a teenager. I also speak of my parents, and then me growing up, and sort of all the challenges and things that I went through as a young man trying to sort of break into this industry and living in India and spending time in China and traveling all over the world in this shoe business. And then, obviously, my time went easy, and then I started FCTRY Lab.

So, I’m really excited about that project, but most importantly, the youth, who I think would really appreciate a story like mine and just kind of showing that success doesn’t happen overnight and that you have to put

the time in in order to get there.

I think it’s okay to take, you know, 10, 15 or 20 years to build your career, which is exactly, you know, the timeline for me.

What is the title of the book?

It’s called Heart & Sole.

What about the future of SPORTSWEAR and sneakers?

I think running shoes will continue to be cool. Among future trends, I recognize a style that was cool many years ago by a brand called MBT carrying thick soles, and I think they were way ahead of their time. Though above all what’s most important to people is comfort— whether it’s running shoes or training footwear—and great design. I think that creating larger silhouettes will continue to be strong, but speaking about my design, I try to keep things as simple as possible. Even the shoe that I am wearing right now is my signature shoe—the Obi-Wan with a big chunky sole.

But it’s a very clean style both in terms of sole and upper. I think that complicated outsoles and designs could stop being around—they’re also very expensive to make right with all the different molded parts and components. I think that the leaders and trends are the ones who are not following the rules and who are doing things differently. When I was at Yeezy, Kanye wanted to go against what everybody else was doing. We were a seasonless brand, and we were making things that we felt like. I think the brands that set the trends are the ones that break the rules, and that’s exactly what we are.

We’re rule breakers, and we’re going to do what we feel like we think is cool.

Credits:

courtesy FCTRY Lab

RAXXY-WHEN ALGORITHMS MEET FASHION

Can fashion and mathematical models meet and define a new direction in SPORTSWEAR? The answer is ‘yes’, and Raxxy is a perfect example.

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Raxxy is a SPORTSWEAR brand that aims to reinvent the idea of the down jacket, as it is based upon unique design and product criteria. It was founded in 2020 by William Shen, a young Chinese designer who introduced mathematical algorithms to the fashion industry, creating 3D design couture down jackets and coats.

Born in Pinghu City, a globally recognized hub for down jacket production, Raxxy originates from its founder’s passion to create a project that could challenge traditional outerwear design by combining cutting-edge technology, mathematical algorithms and the heritage of Chinese craftsmanship.

“Despite studying mathematics, I’ve always had a deep passion for fashion and creativity. A few years ago, I opened an atelier where I designed upcycled pieces, transforming vintage garments into something entirely new,” Shen says.

“Still, I always carried the dream of creating a true brand. I also had a childhood memory keep coming back—my mother’s down jacket. That nostalgic image became my starting point, and I began focusing on the world of down and nylon, blending it with my love for color— and for mathematics, a field in which I won a medal at the Math Olympiad in China,” adds the designer and founder.

He personally developed the algorithms and their applications. Through the use of algorithms, he creates three-dimensional modules that, when multiplied, form the building blocks of Raxxy’s garments.

Each piece is the result of both artistic intuition and mathematical precision, according to a combination that makes the brand unique in the global fashion landscape.

Shen’s mathematical models are then applied directly to the materials, which are carefully selected first and foremost for their quality and durability.

“Ours is a true blend of innovation and tradition—a new way of approaching the creative process, starting from a mathematical idea that transforms into something tangible and tactile,” he notes. Despite math and fashion seeming to be far apart from each other, Raxxy’s own creative process is entirely opposite to traditional fashion design criteria as it’s less about the materials themselves and more about the challenge of creating shapes.

There is a strong conceptual and artistic dimension in the brand’s design, but the real goal is to translate a geometric pattern into pieces that are wearable and desirable at the same time and where design and functionality coexist in harmony.

The brand uses only certified, premium-quality natural down, carefully selected to ensure maximum performance. In particular, it chooses goose neck feathers, known for providing the highest level of warmth.

Despite all the brand’s padded pieces offering the same degree of insulation, it can work with different thicknesses, as its items’ three-dimensional structure doesn’t always require padding in every part.

For example, for summer collections, it uses unpadded nylon shells that still feature geometric detailing created through a unique technology— maintaining the signature look without the need for down.

The brand’s garments come complete with removable elements, like hoods or modular details, but it is exploring the possibility of offering transformable fashion as part of a long-term vision, blending functionality with innovation in new and exciting ways.

Colors and their combinations are another fundamental part of Raxxy’s pieces, that Shen personally selects upon the inspiration behind each collection.

For f/w 2025, for instance, he was inspired by the British countryside landscapes by using rich greens and earthy tones. At the same time, he incorporated a more playful, pop element like checks, though all reinterpreted through the unique Raxxy’s lens.

“While the algorithm supports our design process, the final choices always come from a blend of personal creativity and the story we want to tell with each collection,” he points out.

Raxxy is positioned in the luxury segment, with €1,600 as an entry price, and average prices typically ranging between €1,800 and €2,200. “Each item reflects high-quality materials, innovative design, and the unique blend of craftsmanship and mathematical precision,” Shen specifies, underscoring that each piece is carefully crafted to offer both exclusivity and durability.

The brand is sold globally through Marcona3, an international showroom based in Milan, owned and managed by Paolo Ciarlariello, an insider who is keen about scouting outstanding emerging brands. “When we met Raxxy for the first time, we had no doubt. The product is a breath of fresh air in the fashion industry and the founder is a real genius,” says Ciarlariello, expressing an opinion shared by top-level retailers selling it, such as 10 Corso Como, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Lorenz Bach, Boo The Shop and Franz Kraler.

Raxxy exemplifies how SPORTSWEAR could evolve, according to Shen. “I believe that today technology can be the most important driver of innovation in a sector like fashion, which urgently needs to renew itself to become increasingly attractive. This also has to do with how consumers are evolving as they are becoming increasingly attentive and curious, and always more interested in technological issues and their applications,” he says.

Credits: courtesy Raxxy

FEDERICO BARENGO, GARMENT WORKSHOP: Unveiling Production Behind The Scenes

By Maria Cristina Pavarini

Today, more and more consumers want to know where and how a garment is made and whether the workers involved were treated fairly. Furthermore, it is not always possible to ascertain whether it was produced in Italy and how the workers involved were treated.

These considerations, like many others, are making the need to inform consumers increasingly urgent. Federico Barengo, a young entrepreneur, a jeanswear and SPORTSWEAR insider, and an influencer, has chosen a different path from many of his colleagues and industry insiders. In 2021, he launched Garment Workshop, his SPORTSWEAR and jeanswear brand. Through video reports available on social media and online, he transparently shows how the garments he sells were made. In addition, as far as possible, he provides information describing how each component of the individual garment and production step affects the final price.

He started working in fashion almost ten years ago at Degli Effetti, a well-known boutique in Rome, where he became an assistant buyer. He was then hired by a consulting firm part of Tomorrow Ltd and after three years, he resigned and opened his own consultancy to support various activities for brands in the sector, dealing with production and communication. Then he founded his own brand.

“I have quite a broad background. I’m not just an expert in denim and jeans, I know the industry inside out,” he says, explaining that Degli Effetti was one of the first boutiques in the 1980s to bring brands such as Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons and other avant-garde labels from Japan to Italy.

“I have built up a fairly broad background of culture and information. This has allowed me to learn about the production process of many brands. I also realized that in most cases, consumers are completely unaware of a product’s background.

“I created Garment Workshop to sell garments where consumers can know what materials they are made of, what production steps are required, and how much each component affects the final price,” explains Barengo.

He does this through his e-commerce site, providing detailed information on each model he offers, but also through videos and photos on his social media channels, which are quite influential, as he has 219,000 followers on Instagram, 100,000 on TikTok, and 270,000 on YouTube.

Eighty percent of what it sells is made in Italy, relying on manufacturers in Pesaro and Urbino and in the Avellino area. He has also recently started a partnership with ACM, a historic company in Grumello del Monte, near Bergamo. Thanks to their division specializing in high-resolution printing, it can create garments with trompe-l’oeil effects on denim and canvas, as well as leather accessories such as bags and belts. Using this technique, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact and waste of water and chemicals.

“Unfortunately, there are few Italian companies that allow us to film and show how their garments are produced and how they make their prints. However, we are able to provide this information on some of our regular items, such as basic or raw jeans, T-shirts and plain sweatshirts,” he explains.

Jeans play a central role in his brand. “We are focusing heavily on pure, hard denim, offering selvedge jeans in partnership with Candiani in Italy or with Japanese weavers to obtain denim made in Japan, such as Kuroki, Japan Blue and Denim Collect,” he adds

He has some dreams he would like to fulfill. “I would like to sell in Asia, for example in Japan and Korea, to promote the quality of Made in Italy and what can be achieved in our country. My brand was created to showcase this. But I would also like to create a program on Netflix that talks about Made in Italy. Italy is known for the high quality of its cuisine, and there are many programs dedicated to the art of gastronomy, but how many series are there on clothing production? None. There are only reports on the negative aspects of this sector.

That’s why I founded my brand.”

FRANÇOIS & MARITHÉ GIRBAUD,

THE ACCIDENTAL

TRENDSETTERS

François & Marithé Girbaud, a couple in life and in work, are among the two most revolutionary personalities that have been working in fashion and jeans.

She wanted to become an actress. He planned to be a rock star. Instead they became a renowned, though very unconventional, fashion couple working with some of the most prestigious jeans brands. They continue to look at the overall fashion, SPORTSWEAR and jeanswear market with always new eyes, while offering an unconventional fashion brand that carries their name—M+F Girbaud.

When they met in 1960, before their creative output came into full swing, they imported Western and cowboy looks to Paris. Later they began to experiment with denim.

They were not interested in chasing trends but have become trendsetters themselves, as they have always been mostly interested in comfort, protection, innovation and multi-functionality and have been constantly experimenting, studying new materials, new cuts and fits, along with uniquely creative names. “We have never done or touched a five-pocket jean, never, in our entire lives,” they say. “Everything we have done over the last decades is exactly another story, it is another jean. ‘L’altro Jeans’ (The Other Jeans), in fact, was the title of an exhibition organized at Pitti Uomo about us many years ago, dedicated to everything we have done. What we have created is another jean, certainly parallel to denim jeans, but we have never made jeans like the traditional American ones by Lee or Wrangler.

They have also been constantly engaged in testing new finishing, washing and softening techniques to further evolve classic blue jeans.

Furthermore, they consider themselves the inventors of stonewashing, a discovery that marked a unique change in jeans manufacturing. But, as they discovered later, it was also a high-impact and polluting practice so they also tried to be part of the solution to the problem they had contributed to causing. That’s how they collaborated with various industry partners and laundries and discovered other new softening and aging techniques, like, for instance, laser, ozone and air aging techniques, to name a few.

While they collaborated for various brands, they developed alternative new fits, like the Pedal Pusher, designed for bicycle riders. They also studied new looks like baggy styles along with innovative processes like laser cuts or thermofusion and discovered new extraordinary materials they also used for their sportier brand, Sporcity, their denim line Le Jean de M.F.G., and Metamorphojeans and many others that made them achieve worldwide recognition.

Among their longest, most productive, and forward-thinking collaborations there are, among others, the ones with The Lycra Company stretch fiber technology and Sensitive Fabrics by Eurojersey, a triple partnership that continues as the recently launched Fit+Form+Function, a new project disclosed during Milan Design Week’s Fuorisalone.

They have allied and presented a new capsule collection meant to tie innovation, durability and sustainability using some innovative and long-lasting Sensitive Fabrics by Eurojersey powered by Lycra fibers, while they celebrated an over 30-year legacy that ties them to both the fabric and the fiber manufacturers.

Their capsule is a unisex manifesto collection inspired by the symbolic messages and icons of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but it also wants to send out a clear statement about what fashion of tomorrow should be like.

Each piece of the collection can be worn by both men and women; it is highly functional, easy-care, and multipurpose—as most of the couple’s creations have been. Moreover, while each item is designed according to timeless styles and made with high-quality materials, these pieces can be worn for a long time and therefore express the idea that fashion and sustainability can walk hand in hand.

Every item is completed by small labels carrying short messages on topics related to climate change, clean and affordable energy, and gender equality, along with the UN’s 2030 sustainable goal symbols redesigned by the Girbauds. And, as choosing what to wear is a form of expression, these labels can be hidden in small pockets, or shown, or even cut, according to each wearer’s desire to express their opinion—marking another strong element that is never missing from their creations.

“We have been working with Lycra for over 30 years, and it has been a great story,” said Marithé and François Girbaud, remembering how it all started. “Once, we visited Lycra’s booth during a fabric trade show in Paris and asked them for the worldwide exclusive to use the Lycra fiber for jeans. When they heard that, they laughed and gave us that exclusive, as they were not aware how radically that fiber would have changed the jeans fashion industry,” they continued.

“When we met Giorgio Crespi, father of Andrea Crespi, the general manager of Eurojersey, he was wearing a blazer, a shirt, and a pochette in his pocket. We realized the pochette was a tanga in Sensitive, a hypermodern material that could be cut with a laser and thermosealed. It was versatile and as adaptable as a second skin, much more than beachwear or underwear, like highly functional and cool clothes,” continued the designer couple, marking how that collaboration continues until today for the brand that carries their name and offers garments made in Sensitive Fabrics of different weights, often also in the same garment to guarantee the right freedom of movement and comfort for every part of the body.

They are not only innovators in product design and material development, but also in business management as they are now producing and selling their own brand upon request and made-to-order criteria.

“We produce only what we sell, after we present our collection through trunk shows worldwide. We don’t need to produce large sample collections, nor blind-numbers of exemplars. We don’t waste resources and produce a limited number of apparel pieces—just what the market is asking for. And we are successful all over the world,” they explain disclosing a new direction the market will have to follow soon.

Credits:

p. 138: ph. Karl Lagerfeld; p. 139: courtesy Closed; p. 140: M+F Girbaud, p. 141: M+F Girbaud / Sensitive Fabrics by Eurojersey

EVER GREEN COMEBACK KIDS

CRISTINA CALORI, WP WORK IN PROGRESS:

‘OUR STRENGTH?

WE ARE HERITAGE, THEREFORE ANTI-FASHION.’

Since 1982 heritage fashion has been a driving force for WP Lavori In Corso. The untiring entrepreneur Cristina Calori explains how authentic brands and products never grow old. Instead, they become better every day and lend themselves to endless new interpretations.

By Tobias Bayer/Maria Cristina Pavarini

W.P. Lavori in Corso/Work in Progress is an Italian company that, as its name suggests, never stops.

“We are a company that never sleeps nor stays in the same place for too long, but, instead, it always remains alert and evolving,” explains Cristina Calori, owner and co-founder of the company.

This Italian entrepreneur is visionary and tireless, with a keen sense of aesthetics, but she is always practical and has a great head for business. She has a regular face framed by straight, medium-length blonde hair. Her gaze is proud, yet welcoming and sunny, like her laugh, which is loud and cheerful in a way that only someone from Bologna, a land of creative people, musicians and skilled entrepreneurs, can have.

She has inherited at least this quality from her father, Giuseppe, an eclectic businessman involved in many fields such as oil, health and other sectors, with whom she founded the company.

Together with him, after her studies at an art school, at 23, Cristina started travelling mostly to the US, looking for casual shoes, T-shirts, SPORTSWEAR and interesting products to import to Italy.

Since the first moment, the Caloris came across brands like Vans and many others, but the real success came when they discovered brands such as Barbour, Woolrich and Filson that built WP’s success.

And they succeeded in their endeavor because since then the company has grown and evolved enormously. Today WP owns brands including Baracuta, B.D. Baggies, Spiewak and Avon Celli. In addition, it distributes Barbour, Blundstone and Filson, and, since a few months ago, Universal Overall, a US authentic casual and workwear-inspired brand.

Woolrich’s discovery was also prodigious. WP began distributing it in Italy, then worldwide, before purchasing it and transforming it into a sporty-chic brand. It sold it to the L-Gam fund in 2018.

“Our main interest was to explore new ways of understanding the relationship between fashion and functionality, both through the products we were presenting and through the distribution system we started setting up in those years,” she explains. They did it by opening their first concept store in Bologna in 1985. They were selling different product categories—and not traditional fashion.

“Our aim was to show the consumer they could free themselves from consumption stereotypes —so common in those years–and we offered them greater freedom to create their own style,” she says.

“Similarly, our stores also mirrored our vision as they hosted works of art, photographs and books standing side by side with our apparel.

Also, the choice of furniture was somehow atypical…and continues to be so,” she explains, as she is constantly buying unique objects and pieces of furniture she sells through her own WP stores in Florence and Bologna and uses to decorate her WP Relais, another business division that counts 35 cool holiday houses in beautiful resort locations between Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the US, in keeping with Calori’s ability to sniff business opportunities.

Those who entered WP Stores felt that same sense of constant movement and ongoing research as it constantly mixes heritage with innovation and fashion with functionality.

Today she continues to follow the same approach to work and research, and the results pay off. “We have a lot of confidence in these kinds of brands because they have such a history. This is important for their products, but also for us because we know these great companies won’t be going out of business or changing drastically,” she continues.

But this is not enough. Obsessed with searching for unique and special, but somehow timeless pieces, Calori has also started buying a vast amount of vintage apparel items.

She owns 100,000 of them, which are stored in two warehouses at the company’s headquarters in Bologna. They include Barbour wax jackets, Baracuta Harrington jackets, BD Baggies button-down shirts, Spiewak peacoats and Filson field jackets.

The garments are from different decades. They are carefully hung on metal hangers that extend along the walls to the right and left of the central corridor. As in a library, each row is numbered so that visitors do not get lost in the enormous quantity.

The archive not only tells the story of WP Lavori in Corso’s past but also looks to the future. It is not a point of arrival, but a starting point, because they are not only used for internal research and inspiration, but are also rented out to industry insiders for style research, collaborations with schools, events and various internal and external initiatives.

This project is one of many that sees Calori’s passion for beautiful garments with a great history and high functionality flourish. It is as if, after selling Woolrich, the company received a real boost of energy and started a new phase. “We started again as if we were a start-up,” she says. “It was fun.” The analogy with a start-up is no exaggeration. Due to the sale of Woolrich, the turnover of the company WP Holding Srl plummeted from €205 million to €33 million in 2019.

Thanks to the heritage boom, from which WP benefits primarily through Barbour, revenues are rising steadily year on year. “We are growing again this year despite these tragic times,” says Calori. “The heritage product is ‘anti-fashion’; it’s not scary, it’s timeless, and the more you wear it, the better it looks,” she points out.

In 2023, turnover was €60 million. By the end of 2025, she expects to reach €80 million. The number of employees, including store staff, has also risen from 50 to around 200 in five years.

One of the drivers of growth is women’s clothing. “I really believe in women’s fashion. It’s more imaginative and fun than men’s fashion. I miss it a little, because it accounted for 70% of Woolrich’s turnover,” says Calori. “I’d like to buy a nice women’s clothing brand.”

And women also play an important part in WP’s management as Calori is now also helped by her daughters–Gaia (38) and Carlotta (30)—who have been working with her since in 2020.

Officially, Gaia is creative director of the two WP stores in Bologna and Florence, which still exist today, while Carlotta, who previously worked in retail and trade marketing at Woolrich, is in Corporate Social Responsibility & Wellbeing.

The sisters have reorganized the archive, introduced vintage and secondhand lines such as WP Archivio and Reparo, a line of garments made by giving new life to garments with minor defects, and given the WP stores a more welcoming atmosphere. They also run WP Relais. The sisters have furnished the houses and apartments with great attention to detail. Some household items, such as ceramics, notebooks and pens, are sold in WP Lavori in Corso’s physical and online stores, and a special capsule collection of items has recently been sold by Biffi in Milan.

The future of WP is literally pink, because the company’s greatest potential lies in women’s fashion. Barbour is proof of this. WP has had a partnership with the British cult brand for over four decades.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary, Margaret Barbour and her daughter Helen invited the Calori family to South Shields, near Newcastle, in the northeast of England. “They threw us a big party,” recalls Calori.

Barbour has had its ups and downs. The brand was very popular in Italy in the early 1980s and 1990s. Today, the brand is back in vogue, mainly thanks to women’s fashion, which according to Calori accounts for around 40% of sales revenue. Whereas Barbour once had only two models, Beaufort and Bedale, in two colors, today the brand has expanded its range thanks in part to WP Lavori in Corso. An important role in this regard was played by it girl and designer Alexa Chung, who designed several capsule collections from 2018 to 2025.

The other WP brands are still making their debut in the women’s fashion sector. Calori entrusted Spiewak to the Itochu group. The Japanese have managed to reproduce the Titan fabric. In collaboration with the design brand Sacai, they have launched a women’s collection. “We had been trying to do this for ages and never succeeded. They did,” she says. “It’s wonderful to work with them.”

Filson, in which she held a stake but now only handles distribution, has a new CEO, Tim Bantle, who has experience at Patagonia, The North Face and Eddie Bauer. The product manager is Alex Carleton, who has been with the company for over a decade. “Filson’s women’s line is doing very well in the United States,” says Calori. Blundstone has women’s boots in its range and will soon offer sandals as well.

After an attempt at a relaunch, she has temporarily shelved the project to revive the Avon Celli knitwear brand, founded in 1922. Avon Celli must be synonymous with “Made in Italy luxury.” But that’s another story. We know that she will soon take some initiative for this brand as well, because, as we know, at WP, no one stands still. Ever.

Credits: ph: Francesca Turrin assistant ph: Giorgia Pettinari Make-up & hair stylist: Chiara Fedi, Etoile Management

FIORUCCI: ELIO LIVES ON

Designer, entrepreneur, coolhunter, the Andy Warhol of fashion: Elio Fiorucci was a jack of all trades who stood for optimism and positivity. Now a new team tries to relaunch the brand as a creative platform for Italian eccentricity.

By Tobias Bayer

Imagine you’ve had a very bad day. Where would you go to cheer yourself up? For a long time, the Milanese had a perfect answer. They would visit the Fiorucci store in Galleria Passarella. It was a modern utopia, a little joyful island in a sea of heaviness that put a smile on your face.

The store was completely transparent. It had large windows. Through cracks in the floor, you could catch a glimpse of the basement underneath. The walls were white and stripped down to bare concrete. The only large interior element was an iron staircase painted in a shade of blue that journalist and writer Camilla Cederna described poetically as the “blue of a cornflower.”

Accompanied by the music of the day, beautiful sales assistants floated up and down the stairs. They greeted the customers and invited them to immerse themselves in a world of T-shirts with two angels, denims that were extremely tight, posters, stickers and countless gadgets.

It was the world of the Wizard of Oz of his time, Elio Fiorucci. Born in 1935, he suffered as a kid through the horrors of WWII and aimed to create a brighter future for the next generations. His recipe was “sugarcoating.” Like a pastry chef who glazes a cake to make it even more tasty, Fiorucci put a joyful spin to every product he created–with colors and little details.

Among the girls and boys who were mesmerized by Fiorucci were Francesca Murri, a fashion designer, and Alessandro Pisani, a fashion executive who worked for Diesel. Together they want to bring the Fiorucci spirit back. As creative director and CEO of Fiorucci respectively, the Italian couple is at the helm of the relaunch of the brand whose founder died in 2015.

The comeback is financed by billionaire Dona Bertarelli. Her family owned the biotech company Serono in Switzerland, which she sold to the German company Merck. Bertarelli acquired Fiorucci from Janie and Stephen Schaffer who had transferred its headquarters to the UK in 2015.

The Fiorucci archive is still in Rugby, a town southeast of Birmingham. Fortunately, it’s digitalized, which allowed Murri to take a deep dive from Italy. In her first collections she worked with the graphics and prints Fiorucci is famous for. She played with the silhouettes. “I love contrasts,” she says. Her strong focus is denim, “Fiorucci somewhat invented stretch denim which is sexier” but also accessories that complement the look. “A little like sugar in coffee, right?” she says. She has designed the Lips Bag that, as the name suggests, is shaped like cupid-bowed lips.

Their personal memories of the Fiorucci store, which closed in 2003, are a big asset for Murri and Pisani. Even though decades have passed, she still remembers the smell: “The scent was very particular. The store enveloped you completely from a sensory point of view.” Pisani discovered the store through his mother. Once she slipped on the stairs and sprained her ankle.

“The staff was very kind to her. They let her sit down and brought her a glass of water,” he says.

In a challenging market, pulling off the comeback of a fashion brand isn’t easy. However, Fiorucci has a big advantage: It has never been dusty or outdated. On the contrary. “Fiorucci has always been at the cutting edge,” Murri says. “It wasn’t just about fashion, but about a 360-degree lifestyle. That is something that everybody is doing now.”

For Pisani, Fiorucci is not a fashion brand, but a “creative platform.” Through collaborations with people who bring fresh perspectives, he is convinced that it can express an “eccentric Italian point of view that is very international.” “I believe we will regain a uniqueness that is somewhat lacking in the market today,” he says.

In our rather dull and depressing present, a bit of Fiorucci fun is desperately needed, indeed. Today quiet luxury reigns. There’s a lot of beige in shops. “Fifty shades of beige,” as Michael Kliger, CEO of LuxExperience, owner of Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter put it. The fashion conversation sounds stiff and overtly technical. The talk is about garments, textures and structures.

Brands and designers take themselves very seriously. “Fiorucci didn’t,” says Murri. With Fiorucci you could have a laugh. He was lighthearted, but not a lightweight. He was a jack of all trades, a designer, an entrepreneur, a coolhunter. He was always a step ahead. In the mid-’70s, Jeans Intern, the predecessor of SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL, called him the “man with the golden nose” since he spotted trends before everyone else did.

It’s fair to say that he was an artist, too. “He was like a sponge. He absorbed different art forms,” says Murri. He resembled Andy Warhol whom he was friends with. Warhol explored the relationship between artistic expression, advertising and celebrity culture. His work spans a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and filmmaking.

“Andy invited me often to his Factory. He started the recording device and let it run for hours,” claimed Fiorucci in an article that appeared in SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL in 1989 when he was in financial distress and was forced to sell his brand to the Tacchella family, the owners of Carrera Jeans. “Elio was pop. He made fashion with kitsch,” wrote the magazine.

“He was one of fashion’s first influencers,” says Murri. Fiorucci shaped people’s taste and perceptions. He did it physically rather than digitally. The store in Galleria Passarella was his Instagram or TikTok account. He opened it in 1967, amid the Vietnam War and a year before the student revolution swept the Western hemisphere.

It was designed by Amalia Del Ponte. She wasn’t an architect, but a sculptor. She had been the mastermind behind the boutique Gulp! in Via Santo Spirito. Fiorucci fell in love with the store and asked her to create something unique for him as well.

Her philosophy revolved around the principle of transformation. She conceived the store as a somewhat unfinished space that could be modified and broken up. She sought emptiness rather than fullness, the discontinuous rather than the symmetrical and turned the inside out. The shop became a screen through which passersby could see everything that went on internally.

Fiorucci was for everyone; it was very democratic, also in its pricing. The uplifting message had its downside, though. From a fashion standpoint, Fiorucci wasn’t considered to be in the same league as Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace and others. Later in the ’90s, the brand risked becoming banal and being perceived as a peddler of corny merchandise which it wasn’t.

The new Fiorucci, from a pricing standpoint, is less democratic. It’s positioned in the accessible luxury segment next to brands like Acne. “That gives us the opportunity to invest in creativity,” says Pisani. For the first time in its history, Fiorucci staged a catwalk show (the s/s ’25 collection) during Milan Fashion Week. As a location for her debut in September 2024, Murri chose the design museum Triennale that also hosted a Fiorucci exhibition curated by Judith Clark and designed by Fabio Cherstich.

Despite moving up, the brand keeps talking to everyone “through its cultural relevance,” as Pisani frames it. After the fashion show in March 2025 that was attended by press, customers and influencers, Fiorucci reached out to the public and organized a party with Gatto Verde.

On its Instagram profile, Gatto Verde describes itself as a “nightclub that appears and disappears between the factories of south Milan.” “They play high-quality electronic music,” says Murri. “They are very authentic in their storytelling and in their community building. I wanted to respect the authenticity of what we do.”

There’s a new space where Fiorucci gathers its fans and followers. It’s the Circolo UltraFiorucci in Via Lomazzo in the Milan’s Chinatown. It’s a complex with huge rooms that can be used for all kinds of purposes. During the design fair Salone del Mobile, the brand invited several artists. “For the future, we are thinking about initiatives that have to do with cinema,” says Murri.

The Circolo UltraFiorucci can’t be compared to the legendary store in Galleria Passarella. However, it’s already a place that lights you up. And as for Elio Fiorucci? His spirit is alive and kicking.

DISRUPTING DENIM AND RECREATING THE RAW

G-Star’s new creative directors Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter disclosed the first steps of their redesign of G-Star’s future.

G-Star, the Dutch jeans brand founded in 1989, is now facing its next phase guided by newly appointed Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter. The new creative directors for Raw Research collection, one of the brand’s premium offerings, are leading the way for G-Star’s next direction involving a wider consumer base, also heading upwards, while remaining democratic, and pushing boundaries and transforming their bold ideas into design. Their first G-Star Raw Research collection will debut during Paris Fashion Week in January 2026. Here, they disclose some aspects that will define the future of the brand led by them.

How are you?

Lisi Herrebrugh (LH) and Rushemy Botter (RB): We are doing very well. We are in Amsterdam’s G-Star headquarters working on the next collections with so many good projects happening. So, we’re excited.

Can you tell me briefly about your career?

LH: We basically started studying fashion. Rushemy was on the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and I studied at AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute). We started working together at a very early stage of our career and at a certain point we noticed we shared the same aesthetics and the same goals in fashion. And then after Rushemy’s graduation in 2017 we launched Botter, our brand, and did a lot of for a couple of seasons and we showed it in Paris.

What is Botter like?

RB: It is very much like an emotional brand focused on our Caribbean Couture concept, upbringing together everything that we learned in fashion schools in Belgium and in Amsterdam. So it’s really like a very emotional project for us. And soon after we got appointed in Paris for Nina Ricci and we worked there from 2018 to 2022. We started at G-Star almost a year ago.

You had a great background and great mentors. Walter Van Beirendonck was Rushemi’s teacher. Lisi, a cum laude graduate of AMFI, started her career at Viktor & Rolf. You won both the Hyères Grand Prix in 2018 and the ANDAM Fashion Award in 2022, and you were creative directors of Nina Ricci. How have such mentors influenced your career, aesthetics and design?

RB: Entering the academy in Antwerp was already very intriguing. You felt almost the spirits of the people that studied there before you. It’s a very, very special environment that taught us to be fearless. Also Walter van Beirendonck pushed us and pushed me a lot. He was always telling us “Dream big, and you can become anything that you want.”

But he was always emphasizing finding our own voice. And absolutely, what we learned is that it’s absolutely not about trends or pleasing others. It’s more about honesty, concept, construction and really doing our research very well.

We were also getting this lesson–it was called art philosophy, art history and fashion history. This was very important as well because you need to study history to create something new. Everything has already been created, but you need to know the history to put something from yourself inside to create something new and a new vision. This will always stay with me.

Lisi, do you want to add anything from your side?

LH: Honestly, I was there in the years at the academy, but I didn’t study there, you know? I was a little bit more in the background. Walter van Beirendonck called me his “adopted student.” I came in and out and they saw me and they knew we worked together. What I learned at the academy in Amsterdam was much more technical. It’s much more about being like an independent designer and really creating from zero.

How I learned was more that you start with an idea and how do I construct a very good pattern or a 3D garment that can be appreciated from the front, from the back, and from the sides and is well fitted? So my love for fashion grew much more in the technical and sculptural aspect of it. Like building a silhouette.

Is this still happening? Does each of you bring their own personality, expertise and competence?

LH/RB: Yes. Exactly.

And what about G-Star? What did you like about it when you accepted this work?

LH/RB: It’s like this sort of nostalgia feel that we had. We are big fans of G-Star and we grew up in a small village near Amsterdam. It’s like 30 minu-

tes away from the headquarters of G-Star—and the brand is the pride of The Netherlands.

When we were younger, we were saving money to buy the first Elwood, the brand’s iconic denim. But it was a bit too expensive for us young kids at the time.

So we were recreating it ourselves, you know? We were cutting, pasting, and doing these kind of things and making it interesting. We also cut out the G-Star logo out of another denim and put it on our new jeans. It was more that kind of experience that we had.

What did you like in particular about G-Star?

RB: What I really liked was the authenticity of the brand. I like that it’s very unapologetic and bold. They never really care and don’t really look at other brands. They have always been very true to their own DNA from the moment it was built. And that’s what we really like. And it’s about function, innovation and attitude.

LH: What sets G-Star apart from many other brands is that they don’t follow the fashion scene. And that’s the same for us.

It’s very interesting and we love that. It has a little bit of Dutch honesty. Some people say about the Dutch people “Oh, you’re so honest and direct.” And that’s really what G-Star is. And they’re a bit rebellious as well. And this is what we love as we are also that kind of people.

So it’s like what you see is what you get. And it’s like the underdog. Maybe not exactly, but they’re not participating in the fashion scene. This is what we love.

So that’s what you found in the end, because your dream has come true. As kids you redesigned their jeans and now you can actually work at them...

LH/RB: Exactly. Yes. Fantastic.

When will we see the first results of your work for the brand?

LH: We recently launched a new campaign—Anatomic Denim. That one is the first change is coming up, but it’s just the first one.

When we arrived, for the first month, we did a lot of research. Since then we have been working with the teams and creating a little bit already to set the rhythm of where we want to go with the Raw Research collection. What we are doing here is really drafting, designing and recreating the Raw Research collection, which is a sort of pinnacle collection––an aspirational and directional collection that has the aim of showing where the company will move.

The company is very large. Its teams are large. Collections are large. So, of course, the other collections will move toward the direction that we set with Raw Research, a collection that will show twice a year.

In June 2025 we disclosed the first Raw Research small capsule collection of about 30-40 pieces. It will be leading in terms of innovation and we are introducing new cuts and fits. That one will arrive in the stores in January 2026, slightly before the official launch of G-Star’s new course at Paris Fashion Week to be also shown in January 2026. So it’s like hitting the market at the same moment.

Will there be more capsules throughout the year? Will you bring more changes in the structure of the collection?

LH/RB: We are working on mainly the two collections that are launching in January and June. Besides that, we are also working on capsule collections that spark, and that will drop at a very meaningful moment, having a very like intentional thought after.

We don’t want to drop because of making a drop. It needs to make sense. And then besides that, we are working on little capsule drops that feel right at the right time with the right concept.

Did you already work with denim before in your career?

LH/RB: Yeah, it was always the most picked garment in the showroom for Botter. We have always worked with denim and it was always part of our collection. And it was always fun because it was kind of like, it’s a material that you can play with.

So whatever concept, whatever was running in the collection, it would have been like an extra that you can always amplify—pump it up or tone it down with denim. And we love the fact that denim is very democratic.

Considering you started working at G-Star’s pinnacle collection, will there be a change of target also in the main offer? What about the prices? Will they become higher?

LH/RB: If you mean for Raw Research? Probably it will be a little more expensive, but the main collection will stay the same. Still, we want that

people can afford it. But it will be in stores like Dover Street Market, and those kinds of stores. Raw Research will have another distribution channel. You will find it in totally different and more aspirational stores as we also really want to emphasize the innovation. And innovation also comes with a certain price point.

So, yeah, it’s just part of the offer that we bring. So it will be a little bit more expensive than the main line, for sure. But not unreachable. It will not be super luxury, super expensive. We don’t think that’s modern.

G-Star is a very democratic brand so it would totally not make sense to all of a sudden propose something that’s not realistic. That would not lie in the DNA of G-Star.

So, for us, it’s just about giving honest prices with the innovations that we bring.

What about the brand’s identity and image?

When will the Anatomic Denim campaign debut?

LH/RB: We shot the first campaign for Raw Research together with Peter Hugo and it will come out in January and it is mostly focused on the product. We really want to purify it, but we really captured and shared this kind of aesthetic also with Peter, focusing on this rawness, directness and having this kind of concrete vibe to it.

Three main founding elements defined G-Star’s past—raw denim, ergonomic shapes, and genderless fashion. Of course, men’s fits were different from women’s fits. How will these three aspects evolve?

LH/RB: They will stay there. These are main pillars for us too and they will remain, but what we want is a cultural aspect—the innovation. They were always innovative, but we want to bring modernity and innovation in a different way.

Can you explain more in detail?

LH/RB: Innovation is very important, but we are also very obsessed about craftsmanship, because denim is all about craftsmanship. It’s all about the right material, having the right treatment, having the right washes in the right areas in the right places. But it’s much more complex than what you would initially think, as it can go so much further. So, we are working with factories and mills and are creating innovative denim canvases.

It’s very important to us in terms of a cultural connection as we see denim as a living canvas. It breathes and lives around the human body. We think denim is one of the most changeable garments in terms of surfaces, because you wear it.

It’s not a garment that you wear once, but you wear it on a daily basis. So, it molds around the body, and this aspect is so interesting to us. We want to further investigate the human relation of the denim canvas with your body.

This is very interesting in terms of aspects like the 3D aspect, and where G-Star can move and understand how this canvas is going to go into someone’s life. How does that look, how does that wear down, how does that characterize itself and change and adapt to one’s body?

Is there anything G-Star needs to express its identity further?

LH/RB: We would like to focus more on the aspect that you cannot make fashion without adding emotion. Fashion is so tied to your emotion and to

your well-being, and I think G-Star, at a certain point, can be a little bit cold and individualistic. What we want to bring is a little bit more of emotion and poetry, but always together with a strong technicality and industriality. It’s like juxtaposing the yin and the yang, minus and plus. This creates a perfect balance. So we want to bring more storytelling, more feeling. We believe that makes a brand connected on a deeper level with people. Especially with young kids.

Is that connected to the shopping experience? Will you open a flagship store that connects G-Star with the consumer more?

LH/RB: Yeah, that’s something we’re exploring. You need to have a space where you can connect with people, have the firsthand talk with people, see what they think, how they react to the product. But there are also consumers who are nostalgic and think of what G-Star was in the ’90s and maybe even before. But we need to capture that again now. So we need to invite people and make them feel the same energy, positivity and feeling we have with G-Star—the craftsmanship, the innovation, the storytelling and the cultural influence.

How do you create this cultural influence?

LH/RB: We think it is very important to show people that G-Star is very informed. The company has one of the largest archives of a total of 48,000 pieces between G-Star archive pieces and historical utility apparel, like field jackets that come from WWI and WWII. We want to show all the research behind the brand—ideas, pockets, detailing—it doesn’t come from nothing. It’s all very grounded. And yeah, we’re just very enthusiastic about that….

How will the jeanswear and SPORTSWEAR markets evolve?

LH/RB: What we see coming is that materials get increasingly smarter. They get smarter in terms of sustainability and treatments, for instance. So people will care a lot about the meaning of garments. They are asking themselves: Where does this come from? What does it represent? How is it made? So we think it’s not only about the performance of the garments, but it’s also much more about the connection and the purpose.

You buy something with a meaning, something because you can talk about it with your friends. “Hey, you know, look, I have this thing,” many like to say. It’s like a passion for what you’re wearing, why you bought it, because it has a reason. It’s something that has a story to tell, which is different from anything else, of course.

A few seasons ago G-Star was one of the first brands to present outfits created with AI. Will that influence the evolution of G-Star?

LH/RB: Sure. You always have to embrace new technologies and you don’t have to be scared of it.

Though we see it more as a tool but an idea never starts from AI. An idea starts with a feeling and with sensibility. We like to use it but we are also always asking ourselves how it can be implemented.

So it’s a research tool, but then you have to go back to the crafts, to your hands and you have to test it in real life. It’s a ping pong, and all about curation as well, and being able to control it.

Man’s power and man’s initiative is always the real driver, because you can find an input, you can find a suggestion, but then you rework it.

HERITAGE RELOADED

Born in Boston in 1949, Pro-Keds is back. After years of silence, the legendary American brand returns with a fresh vision shaped by Patrizio di Marco and Jay Schottenstein. It’s a project that fuses sports culture with Italian craftsmanship, driven by a simple yet ambitious goal: to bring sneakers––the same ones once worn by icons such as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan––back to the feet of real people.

By Andrea Bigozzi

In an age where everyone seems to be rediscovering their “heritage,” very few brands have a story worth retelling. Pro-Keds does.

Founded in 1949, it was one of the first labels to take basketball beyond the court, transforming a technical shoe into a symbol of cultural identity. From the polished floors of the Minneapolis Lakers to the graffiti-covered streets of the Bronx during the rise of hip-hop, Pro-Keds has been more than a sneaker brand––it’s been part of a social movement, a reflection of changing times and enduring values. Across decades and subcultures, it has remained faithful to one principle: authenticity as a state of being.

Seventy-six years later, that same principle is once again driving the brand forward. At the helm is Patrizio di Marco, a seasoned figure in the fashion world, known for his transformative leadership at Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Golden Goose, alongside Jay Schottenstein, an American entrepreneur and founder of American Eagle Outfitters.

“Jay and I have been friends for 25 years,” says Di Marco. “When he told me he had acquired the brand and suggested we relaunch it together, I didn’t hesitate for a second. We started talking in August 2024, by October the distribution network was ready, and in January the first order had already shipped. Everything happened at lightning speed.”

But behind that rapidness lies a thoughtful and coherent vision. The new Pro-Keds is built around an idea of authentic positivity. The “Pro” in ProKeds—once short for “professional”––takes on a new, deeper meaning: being pro something, taking a stand, building something that feels true. “Being a Pro today doesn’t just mean excelling in sport,” explains Di Marco. “It means living with intention, showing up for what’s real. Less scrolling, more life.” This philosophy comes to life in the collections themselves. The new designs reinterpret archival icons with modern proportions, refined materials and carefully balanced construction. From the Racer 77, a faithful yet forward-looking homage to the 1977 original, to the Royal II Orbit, each piece reflects the dual heritage of the brand—American spirit, Italian soul.

The classic two-stripe logo is back, proudly displayed. Production, meanwhile, moves toward Italian ateliers and manufacturers, reestablishing a link between craftsmanship and culture.

“We didn’t want to build the brand around a single ‘hero product,’” Di Marco adds. “Our goal was to create a complete, coherent offering—sneakers that make sense together, that tell a story. We want to be in the right stores, yes, but above all we want to be on the feet of real people.”

The positioning is deliberate: premium, but never distant. “We don’t want to be mass-market, but we’re not interested in being luxury for luxury’s sake either,” Di Marco reflects. “Nobody truly needs another pair of sneakers— what makes the difference is the story, the credibility, the connection. If you build that, a price of €160 or €180 feels right. Even a €250 model doesn’t need much explaining when it has real substance.” It’s a sharp commentary on the current state of the fashion industry—one where hype often

outpaces authenticity. “The price race has become senseless,” he adds.

“I’m happy to be moving in the opposite direction.”

The brand’s relaunch is rooted in a solid distribution network across Italy—a foundation that blends prestige and proximity. Partners include Biffi in Milan, Sugar in Arezzo, Nugnes in Trani, Deliberti in Naples, Russo Capri, Eraldo in Venice, Leam in Rome, Dell’Oglio in Palermo, Tessabit in Como and several other key independent retailers.

“Italy’s retail landscape is fragmented––often made up of passionate, family-run stores in small towns,” Di Marco notes. “But when someone walks into a boutique in the provinces and proudly buys a €200 sneaker, that’s a win that really matters.”

International expansion is already in motion. Pro-Keds is strengthening its presence across Eastern Europe and the Middle East, in retailers such as Tsum (Moscow), DLT (St. Petersburg), Ounass, and Beymen (Istanbul). Collaborations with Harvey Nichols London and Paul Warmer Amsterdam are paving the way for a much-anticipated return to the U.S.––a homecoming in every sense.

At the heart of this revival stands the new Milan showroom, inaugurated in September—a physical embodiment of the brand’s new energy. Part headquarters, part gallery, part creative lab, it’s a space where ideas are exchanged, collections are presented and collaborations take shape. Here, sales campaigns meet artistic performances and design experiments—all driven by the same belief: that culture and commerce, when guided by authenticity, can coexist beautifully.

And while the ambition is global, the rhythm remains human. “Our approach is steady, organic. We don’t want to force growth,” says Di Marco. “Today we have men’s and women’s collections, complemented by ready-to-wear that expands the Pro-Keds universe. We’ve already developed kids’ prototypes, but we’ll launch them only when the time feels right— when the brand has truly matured in the market.”

Credits: courtesy Pro-Keds

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSTI(NATI)

By Andrea Bigozzi

How do you keep an icon alive without turning it into pure nostalgia? And how do you imagine the future of a SPORTSWEAR brand created for the man who basically invented SPORTSWEAR himself? We talked about all this with Lorenzo Osti and Leonardo Fasolo–respectively, the president and creative director of C.P. Company and Massimo Osti Studio, but above all the son and the big admirer of Massimo Osti, founder of C.P. Company and Stone Island. “What we’re doing is a tough challenge,” says Lorenzo. “But as my father used to say, we’re ostinati—which in Italian means stubborn people—and we never give up.”

He never liked celebrations—and he hated repeating himself. Every time he found success, Massimo Osti would change direction. Not out of strategy, but out of restlessness. Because for him, consistency didn’t mean doing the same thing over and over again—it meant staying true to his curiosity. Maybe that’s why he never wanted his name tied to a single brand. Twenty years after his passing, that same restless energy is alive again through Massimo Osti Studio, the project led by his son Lorenzo and Fasolo. It’s a bold challenge: not to celebrate an icon, but to let it evolve. “Talking about him in the past tense was easy—but not honest,” says Lorenzo. “The real challenge is to keep him alive in the future.”

Lorenzo, let’s start from here. Twenty years after your father’s passing, his influence feels more relevant than ever. Do you ever think he was just too far ahead of his time?

Lorenzo Osti: Absolutely. I don’t even need to say it—it’s obvious. My father was never satisfied, never nostalgic. When we started working on Massimo Osti Studio, that was exactly the idea: stop celebrating the past and imagine what he’d be doing today. In our Bologna archive, which my sister Agata manages, all his work is catalogued by brand and by era. When you look through it, one thing becomes clear: whenever he was successful, he’d switch direction completely. That was his creative rhythm—always taking risks, never standing still. At some point I realized the best way to honor him wasn’t by looking back, but by doing what he would’ve done—look forward.

And how do you “imagine” what Massimo Osti would do today?

Lorenzo Osti: It’s not easy—especially since I’m not a designer myself. But I’ve been lucky to build a team around me with all kinds of skills—from design to textile research, storytelling to communication. That’s why we call it a studio. Leonardo [Fasolo] plays a key role. We’ve known each other for years. He worked alongside my father, absorbed that spirit, but he’s also deeply rooted in the present. That’s exactly what I was looking for—someone who could interpret the Osti method through a contemporary lens.

Leonardo, was there a specific project where you really felt Massimo’s presence?

Leonardo Fasolo: Definitely when we developed 3D Jacquard. It’s a technology that combines assembly and weaving into a single phase—something that didn’t exist

until recently. It was a technical challenge, but also a moment when I felt we were adding something new to the language of SPORTSWEAR—just like he used to. I can’t say for sure if he would have liked it, but I think he would. He loved innovation—and this kind of experimentation would’ve made him smile.

The Bologna archive has become almost legendary. What role does it play in your work today?

Lorenzo Osti: It serves a double purpose. First, it’s a working tool—Leonardo and his team use it just like my father did, studying garments, materials and techniques. But it’s also a space for learning—we host schools, students, young designers. We don’t just share the story of the pieces, but the method behind them. His process was always bottom-up: starting from something that already existed and transforming it. Not by theory, but by instinct—he didn’t have formal technical training, so he learned by deconstructing and rebuilding. That hands-on approach completely changed the way people made clothes—and it’s still the foundation of our work today. Leonardo Fasolo: Exactly. The archive keeps us grounded—it helps us strip things down to their essence. And it aligns the team: when you can touch, see and compare, the dialogue becomes real. For us, the material always comes before the form. That’s where creativity begins.

So the Osti method still works today?

Leonardo Fasolo: More than ever. The further we go, the more we realize how ahead of his time he was. His method was all about function, experimentation and observation. It didn’t start from abstract ideas, but from real needs. And that’s something we try to teach younger generations—it’s not just a way to design clothes, it’s a mindset.

These days, everyone talks about storytelling and communication. How would Massimo Osti see this world where everything is a “story”?

Lorenzo Osti: He was doing storytelling—just in a totally different way. He told stories through products. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, fashion was all about aspiration—models on yachts or in deserts. My father did the opposite: he shot macro product photos—close-ups of details, fabrics, construction. That was his storytelling—substance over image. I’ll give you an example: in 1989 he sponsored an electric car prototype, and soon after, a project for Sting’s Rainforest Foundation. What we’d call CSR today—but back then, they were simply genuine acts. He didn’t do it for content or visibility—he did it because he believed in it. That’s the issue today—not the storytelling itself, but the lack of substance behind it. If there’s meaning, tell the story. If not—stay quiet.

If Massimo Osti were an emerging designer today, what would he be curious about?

Leonardo Fasolo: I think he’d be fascinated by the 3D and digital world— 3D printing, new textile technologies, that whole universe of innovation.

We’re doing small experiments ourselves—still very early—with 3D materials and processes. It’s an exciting field with huge potential. Lorenzo Osti: I agree, but with one caveat: there’s a huge gap between experimentation and industrial production. Today you see incredible prototypes—fabrics made from mushrooms or biomaterials—but most aren’t scalable yet. He’d be intrigued, but also pragmatic. He’d wait until the tech was truly ready.

Do you ever wonder what he’d say about your decision to launch a brand with his name?

Lorenzo Osti: All the time. And I think he’d probably say, “Forget it, it’s too complicated.” He had a love-hate relationship with this industry—he loved his work, but it weighed heavily on him. He’d probably have tried to protect me from it. But I’d have told him, “No way—we’re Osti, and we’re osti(nati), that it means stubborn in Italian.”

The market today is all about numbers. How do you stay independent in that environment?

Lorenzo Osti: We’re lucky. Our main partner, Peter Wang (CEO of Tristate Holdings, which owns C.P. Company and Massimo Osti)—is an engineer and a true product enthusiast. He visits us twice a year, opens a garment on the table, and wants to know everything about it. Yes, it’s a structured company, but he gives us full creative freedom. He cares about quality, not just profit—and that’s a rare thing today.

Who’s working with you now? Are there people who worked with Massimo too?

Leonardo Fasolo: Yes—one key figure is Stefano Polato, who worked with Massimo and is now head of product for both C.P. Company and Massimo Osti Studio. He’s the link between past and present. Then there are many long-time suppliers who are still part of the “Osti family.” People like the late Adriano Caccia from ITS Artea, or our partners at Limonta. Without them, we couldn’t make some of our fabrics. These are relationships built on trust and passion—not business logic. We do things for love, not for profit.

Speaking of profit and margins, your pieces come at a high price. Is that inevitable?

Lorenzo Osti: Unfortunately, yes. When you work in small quantities and push innovation, costs go up. But it’s not about being elitist. My father used to say: “Making expensive things for rich people is easy. The real challenge is creating accessible quality.” We try to keep that balance. Our Chapters— the experimental capsule— often run on margins as low as 10%. It’s not sustainable long-term, but we can do it thanks to the strength of the group. We believe research should be shared—not locked away in a lab.

And what’s next for Massimo Osti Studio?

Lorenzo Osti: There’s no rigid plan—it’s a lab, so we experiment. At first we only had the Chapters, now we’re introducing more timeless, seasonless pieces. We’ll see how it evolves. The only way to honor my father is to keep moving—never stand still.

Leonardo Fasolo: On the technical side, we’re exploring new materials— washi paper dyed in garment, or nylon-cotton blends in 3D weaves. We’re even applying laser-assembly and Jacquard techniques to wool fabrics—a territory nobody had really explored. That’s the most exciting part: reinvent, don’t repeat.

Where can people find Massimo Osti Studio today?

Lorenzo Osti: We’re online and in a few selected stores—Dover Street Market in New York, LN-CC in London, and some department stores in Japan. It’s a curated, controlled distribution—we want people who sell it to truly understand what they’re sharing.

Last question: if you had to explain to a 20-year-old who Massimo Osti was, what would you say?

Leonardo Fasolo: To me, he’s simply the Godfather of SPORTSWEAR. Everything we now call “technical” or “functional” started with him. Lorenzo Osti: Any son’s words might sound biased. Luckily, his work speaks for itself. I’ll quote Franca Sozzani, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia: “Everything we wear today, in some way, Massimo Osti had already done.” I think that’s the most beautiful—and truest—definition of all.

Pioneer Denim is a vertically integrated operation, handling every step from yarn to garment in one place. We use world class technology to create premium denim that is faster, smarter, and more sustainable. MEET US ON THE GLOBAL STAGE | 2026

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