The latest edition of Denim Première Vision took place as The Digital Denim Week, which held digitally on the show’s website on July 5-9 (also see here).
It presented its exhibitors’ new collections and latest product developments for fall/winter 2022-23. Along with them, a series of talks with designers and experts were broadcasted.
We selected some of the most interesting quotes featured during the digital show edition.
Earl Pickens, collection director, Von Dutch, Paris, France:
“Denim is part of you, part of our life. It can differ, transform and evolve. There’s water in it because the body needs it and there’s denim because fashion needs it.”
“Denim takes its codes from the streets. It’s the language of the streets, the emoji of the street. It’s a rapid way of feeling. I work by capsules to be released in the next three months, not for the next year.”
“Vintage is more retrospective. It is something I see that has changed from black and white to color. Vintage is the old to the new, the past to the present. Secondhand has not just one life, it has plenty of lives. It could be a shirt or a jacket, something you just feel you’re the only one person that has it.”
“Personally, I don’t need anything. Personally I don’t own anything: I don’t own a house, a car or lots of pairs of shoes, but that’s me, and how I work with clothing.”
“We don’t do collections. When I do a denim collection, I don’t do more than ten pieces for that collection. We just do that, then stop and do another one. Furthermore, we don’t buy fabrics, we use what is existing. That’s how Von Dutch and I can fit together. I don’t force anyone.”
Johnathan Christopher, creative design director and chef d’atelier, St. Ape, Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
“Exploring other countries, seeing how people work, especially in other countries, how people create and where their creativity comes from. As a designer, the best thing is to be open to every inspiration and travel there.”
“The core concept of our brand is that we produce everything in-house and we source everything locally. Everything is stocked from dead stock materials and we produce everything–all the patterns and samples–in-house. It’s all about having control on every process.”
“Quality is the most important aspect for our brand that we call ‘couture appliqué,’ or it should have the same feeling of a couture garment. Everyone should have the feeling that is custom-made to their needs and specific body types."
“Eco sustainability means that you start your business and create a garment that is exclusive but also inclusive. Exclusivity because you use dead stock material and you can create a limited number of pieces for that garment. Inclusivity because everyone that enters the store can have that piece.”
“Creating something with denim is starting to create something you would need. As a designer, it’s all about your handwriting. It’s about how you work with the material, such a versatile material that has a thousand faces.”
“We have to be the ones who have to think how to be more sustainable. Responsibility doesn’t only have to do with sustainability but also with exclusivity, inclusivity and stopping overproduction.”
Andrea Bonfini, art director, Fade Out Label, Berlin, Germany:
“Travel is a state of mind. You can travel more in your studio than anywhere else… I am traveling also when I create my own collection. I can have a trip when I go from my atelier from studio by bike. Everything can be interesting, even if I saw it several times.”
“I start from an emotion to give my customer some emotion and take my emotion, especially from the street by mixing tradition with contemporary.”
“Fashion designers are like alchemists because they transform elements from the streets to clothes.”
Andrea Grossi, designer, Florence, Italy:
“One of the most important trends for the future will be the interaction between consumer and brand.”
“One of the main values for luxury will be transparency, knowing where the garment is produced, what was the cost of its production and similar aspects…also the art to communicate how you make a garment will be and is also now very important.”
“The soul of a garment is given by those who wear it–which makes the true story of a garment.”
Daniel Gayle, founder and director, Denzil Patrick, London, UK:
“The fundamental point of this brand is to create meaning for pieces that people can covet and share.”
“We are really a hub of experimentation and ideas where I can try different ways to use already existing and stock materials and new ones.”
“I have always wanted to remove myself from this model of f/w and s/s collections. I don’t believe in seasons, of course we want to offer products that are relevant for a certain time of the year, but I am not intending to deliver a specific f/w drop… Plus, part of the collection is also made of lots of things that are handmade and slow to be done for the definition of a timeline. We are also experimenting a lot with upcycling and recycling like, for instance, taking secondhand knitwear pieces, cutting and repurposing them. In general, I don’t want to create high collections, but meaningful pieces.”
“Sustainability is about sustaining ourselves, in addition to the resources, of course. This means taking things slowly and not searching for a quick win, but it’s about building a community and understanding how to build transparency.”
“We also have offered some upcycled denim. In the market there are many second choice items and also vintage pieces, all stuff that is still in great shape, is great quality and has a wonderful color year after year. With these pieces we do some repair and add onto them unwashed denim patches, jackron elements and prints to give them a sense of ownership. We want to make them look like special pieces that make you want to collect them. But that takes a lot of time, as spending weekends inside containers and selecting pieces is not that easy. It would be much more easy for us to make them from scratch using new materials. And that’s the point.”
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