Kris Van Assche is said to be relaunching his eponymous label with a new approach for men and women. The Belgian designer would reportedly focus on a concise selection of garments, made from deadstock fabrics and sold directly to consumers.
This comeback follows a first venture that ended in 2015, the year Van Assche shut down his label after ten years, while he was already serving as artistic director of Dior Homme. The previous version of the brand was distributed in around 130 points of sale across 32 countries, with its own boutique on rue Saint-Roch in Paris. Its activities were then concentrated mainly in Asie, with Japon and Hong Kong standing out as key markets, ahead of Europe and Amérique du Nord.
The new collection would reportedly include around forty styles, comprising jackets, shirts, trousers, skirts, dresses and knitwear. Shirts are expected to cost between 400 and 500 euros, while jackets would be priced from around 1,000 euros. The brand would thus position itself in the designer segment, choosing the lower end of that price range. The use of deadstock fabrics would also mean production in smaller quantities.
According to WWD, early previews suggest a dressed-up, very fitted style for men, and a more sensual approach for women. The collection would reportedly include, alongside new designs, reinterpretations of iconic styles from the brand's past. Van Assche had already designed womenswear collections for his own label between 2008 and 2010, after graduating from the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Anvers in 1998, with a specialisation in womenswear.
Since leaving Berluti in 2021, the designer has notably devoted himself to projects in ceramics and sculpture, as well as collaborations with Fred Perry and the Chinese sportswear brand Anta. In recent years, he is said to have worked on this new collection with a small team.
The first pieces should be available around mid-September on the brand's website, which would reportedly be reactivated for the occasion.
