They don’t call him the ‘King of Collaborations’ for nothing. At Louis Vuitton, Jacobs’ collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Yayoi Kusama, Pharrell and others transcended fashion into art and music, while having knock-on effects even decades after. Case in point: The 2023 “Dior Tears” collaboration between Dior and Denim Tears. Both Kim Jones, creative director at Dior, and Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director at Supreme, are former proteges of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
It goes to show how finding the right partners to complement your vision can take your brand to levels it can never reach on its own, impacting audiences far beyond of your immediate reach.
Yes, Michael Michalsky. The guy that, as creative director of Adidas, took Yohji Yamamoto’s request to ‘borrow’ the three stripes for his FW ‘00 collection, turned it into Y-3 and went on to team up Adidas with Stella McCartney, birthing two of the most successful long-term collaborations in the whole textile industry. His approach? Find people willing to take risks with you. By doing just that, the German built nothing less than the fundament for Adidas’ recent success as a lifestyle brand that attracted collaborators like Kanye West, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott.
At a time where collaborations were few and far in between, Michalsky realised that challenging your status quo as a brand can yield great results if you only know how to read cultural markers.
In 2006, Supreme was a well-known streetwear brand. Fast forward 11 years and Supreme had become the most relevant brand in the business. What happened in between? Angelo Baque happened in between. By the time he bowed out with his magnum opus, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration with Kim Jones, Baque had sparked the box logo craze of the 2010s, launched a huge series of partnerships with Nike, Commes des Garcon, The North Face, Stone Island and others, all while kickstarting the fashion meets streetwear trend of today.
His key to success? Avoid overexposure and stay true to what you are, be omni present, but exclusive. The big collaborations didn’t come because Supreme wanted to be like everyone else. They came because everyone else wanted to be like them.
Twenty years ago, the Italian bought a flailing Moncler and turned it into a booming fashion house. He did so by identifying the USP of the brand, it’s quilted down puffer, and building around it through seasonal collaborations with top designers. With Moncler Genius, Ruffini doubled down on that concept in 2018. Releasing small collections in periodic ‘drops’ instead of large biannual outings, the new brand speaks to a contemporary audience susceptible to big name collaborations and dynamic brands.
What Ruffini has done is reduce the brand to its essence, identifying its niche, and staying there. In an oversaturated market, identifying your cultural corner can be a key differentiator and Moncler achieved just that.
‘The Godfather of Streetwear’ is nothing less than the epitome of the interdisciplinary creator - a creative mind that connects fashion, music, and culture in one entity. From being the heart and soul of Tokyo’s Uru-Harajuku movement, over creating the HTM team with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker at Nike, to founding Fragment, the project encapsulating his life’s work as a fashion designing musician turned consultant and curator, Fujiwara has his fingerprints all over the last 30 years of fashion and product design.
He is not only a living testament to the value of branching out your talents and finding the best people to amplify them, he also shows how countless influences can be curated into one creative vision that enables interdisciplinary work in a true signature style.
They don’t call him the ‘King of Collaborations’ for nothing. At Louis Vuitton, Jacobs’ collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Yayoi Kusama, Pharrell and others transcended fashion into art and music, while having knock-on effects even decades after. Case in point: The 2023 “Dior Tears” collaboration between Dior and Denim Tears. Both Kim Jones, creative director at Dior, and Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director at Supreme, are former proteges of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
It goes to show how finding the right partners to complement your vision can take your brand to levels it can never reach on its own, impacting audiences far beyond of your immediate reach.
Yes, Michael Michalsky. The guy that, as creative director of Adidas, took Yohji Yamamoto’s request to ‘borrow’ the three stripes for his FW ‘00 collection, turned it into Y-3 and went on to team up Adidas with Stella McCartney, birthing two of the most successful long-term collaborations in the whole textile industry. His approach? Find people willing to take risks with you. By doing just that, the German built nothing less than the fundament for Adidas’ recent success as a lifestyle brand that attracted collaborators like Kanye West, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott.
At a time where collaborations were few and far in between, Michalsky realised that challenging your status quo as a brand can yield great results if you only know how to read cultural markers.
In 2006, Supreme was a well-known streetwear brand. Fast forward 11 years and Supreme had become the most relevant brand in the business. What happened in between? Angelo Baque happened in between. By the time he bowed out with his magnum opus, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration with Kim Jones, Baque had sparked the box logo craze of the 2010s, launched a huge series of partnerships with Nike, Commes des Garcon, The North Face, Stone Island and others, all while kickstarting the fashion meets streetwear trend of today.
His key to success? Avoid overexposure and stay true to what you are, be omni present, but exclusive. The big collaborations didn’t come because Supreme wanted to be like everyone else. They came because everyone else wanted to be like them.
Twenty years ago, the Italian bought a flailing Moncler and turned it into a booming fashion house. He did so by identifying the USP of the brand, it’s quilted down puffer, and building around it through seasonal collaborations with top designers. With Moncler Genius, Ruffini doubled down on that concept in 2018. Releasing small collections in periodic ‘drops’ instead of large biannual outings, the new brand speaks to a contemporary audience susceptible to big name collaborations and dynamic brands.
What Ruffini has done is reduce the brand to its essence, identifying its niche, and staying there. In an oversaturated market, identifying your cultural corner can be a key differentiator and Moncler achieved just that.
‘The Godfather of Streetwear’ is nothing less than the epitome of the interdisciplinary creator - a creative mind that connects fashion, music, and culture in one entity. From being the heart and soul of Tokyo’s Uru-Harajuku movement, over creating the HTM team with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker at Nike, to founding Fragment, the project encapsulating his life’s work as a fashion designing musician turned consultant and curator, Fujiwara has his fingerprints all over the last 30 years of fashion and product design.
He is not only a living testament to the value of branching out your talents and finding the best people to amplify them, he also shows how countless influences can be curated into one creative vision that enables interdisciplinary work in a true signature style.
They don’t call him the ‘King of Collaborations’ for nothing. At Louis Vuitton, Jacobs’ collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Yayoi Kusama, Pharrell and others transcended fashion into art and music, while having knock-on effects even decades after. Case in point: The 2023 “Dior Tears” collaboration between Dior and Denim Tears. Both Kim Jones, creative director at Dior, and Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director at Supreme, are former proteges of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
It goes to show how finding the right partners to complement your vision can take your brand to levels it can never reach on its own, impacting audiences far beyond of your immediate reach.
Yes, Michael Michalsky. The guy that, as creative director of Adidas, took Yohji Yamamoto’s request to ‘borrow’ the three stripes for his FW ‘00 collection, turned it into Y-3 and went on to team up Adidas with Stella McCartney, birthing two of the most successful long-term collaborations in the whole textile industry. His approach? Find people willing to take risks with you. By doing just that, the German built nothing less than the fundament for Adidas’ recent success as a lifestyle brand that attracted collaborators like Kanye West, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott.
At a time where collaborations were few and far in between, Michalsky realised that challenging your status quo as a brand can yield great results if you only know how to read cultural markers.
In 2006, Supreme was a well-known streetwear brand. Fast forward 11 years and Supreme had become the most relevant brand in the business. What happened in between? Angelo Baque happened in between. By the time he bowed out with his magnum opus, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration with Kim Jones, Baque had sparked the box logo craze of the 2010s, launched a huge series of partnerships with Nike, Commes des Garcon, The North Face, Stone Island and others, all while kickstarting the fashion meets streetwear trend of today.
His key to success? Avoid overexposure and stay true to what you are, be omni present, but exclusive. The big collaborations didn’t come because Supreme wanted to be like everyone else. They came because everyone else wanted to be like them.
Twenty years ago, the Italian bought a flailing Moncler and turned it into a booming fashion house. He did so by identifying the USP of the brand, it’s quilted down puffer, and building around it through seasonal collaborations with top designers. With Moncler Genius, Ruffini doubled down on that concept in 2018. Releasing small collections in periodic ‘drops’ instead of large biannual outings, the new brand speaks to a contemporary audience susceptible to big name collaborations and dynamic brands.
What Ruffini has done is reduce the brand to its essence, identifying its niche, and staying there. In an oversaturated market, identifying your cultural corner can be a key differentiator and Moncler achieved just that.
‘The Godfather of Streetwear’ is nothing less than the epitome of the interdisciplinary creator - a creative mind that connects fashion, music, and culture in one entity. From being the heart and soul of Tokyo’s Uru-Harajuku movement, over creating the HTM team with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker at Nike, to founding Fragment, the project encapsulating his life’s work as a fashion designing musician turned consultant and curator, Fujiwara has his fingerprints all over the last 30 years of fashion and product design.
He is not only a living testament to the value of branching out your talents and finding the best people to amplify them, he also shows how countless influences can be curated into one creative vision that enables interdisciplinary work in a true signature style.
They don’t call him the ‘King of Collaborations’ for nothing. At Louis Vuitton, Jacobs’ collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Yayoi Kusama, Pharrell and others transcended fashion into art and music, while having knock-on effects even decades after. Case in point: The 2023 “Dior Tears” collaboration between Dior and Denim Tears. Both Kim Jones, creative director at Dior, and Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director at Supreme, are former proteges of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
It goes to show how finding the right partners to complement your vision can take your brand to levels it can never reach on its own, impacting audiences far beyond of your immediate reach.
Yes, Michael Michalsky. The guy that, as creative director of Adidas, took Yohji Yamamoto’s request to ‘borrow’ the three stripes for his FW ‘00 collection, turned it into Y-3 and went on to team up Adidas with Stella McCartney, birthing two of the most successful long-term collaborations in the whole textile industry. His approach? Find people willing to take risks with you. By doing just that, the German built nothing less than the fundament for Adidas’ recent success as a lifestyle brand that attracted collaborators like Kanye West, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott.
At a time where collaborations were few and far in between, Michalsky realised that challenging your status quo as a brand can yield great results if you only know how to read cultural markers.
In 2006, Supreme was a well-known streetwear brand. Fast forward 11 years and Supreme had become the most relevant brand in the business. What happened in between? Angelo Baque happened in between. By the time he bowed out with his magnum opus, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration with Kim Jones, Baque had sparked the box logo craze of the 2010s, launched a huge series of partnerships with Nike, Commes des Garcon, The North Face, Stone Island and others, all while kickstarting the fashion meets streetwear trend of today.
His key to success? Avoid overexposure and stay true to what you are, be omni present, but exclusive. The big collaborations didn’t come because Supreme wanted to be like everyone else. They came because everyone else wanted to be like them.
Twenty years ago, the Italian bought a flailing Moncler and turned it into a booming fashion house. He did so by identifying the USP of the brand, it’s quilted down puffer, and building around it through seasonal collaborations with top designers. With Moncler Genius, Ruffini doubled down on that concept in 2018. Releasing small collections in periodic ‘drops’ instead of large biannual outings, the new brand speaks to a contemporary audience susceptible to big name collaborations and dynamic brands.
What Ruffini has done is reduce the brand to its essence, identifying its niche, and staying there. In an oversaturated market, identifying your cultural corner can be a key differentiator and Moncler achieved just that.
‘The Godfather of Streetwear’ is nothing less than the epitome of the interdisciplinary creator - a creative mind that connects fashion, music, and culture in one entity. From being the heart and soul of Tokyo’s Uru-Harajuku movement, over creating the HTM team with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker at Nike, to founding Fragment, the project encapsulating his life’s work as a fashion designing musician turned consultant and curator, Fujiwara has his fingerprints all over the last 30 years of fashion and product design.
He is not only a living testament to the value of branching out your talents and finding the best people to amplify them, he also shows how countless influences can be curated into one creative vision that enables interdisciplinary work in a true signature style.
They don’t call him the ‘King of Collaborations’ for nothing. At Louis Vuitton, Jacobs’ collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Yayoi Kusama, Pharrell and others transcended fashion into art and music, while having knock-on effects even decades after. Case in point: The 2023 “Dior Tears” collaboration between Dior and Denim Tears. Both Kim Jones, creative director at Dior, and Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director at Supreme, are former proteges of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
It goes to show how finding the right partners to complement your vision can take your brand to levels it can never reach on its own, impacting audiences far beyond of your immediate reach.
Yes, Michael Michalsky. The guy that, as creative director of Adidas, took Yohji Yamamoto’s request to ‘borrow’ the three stripes for his FW ‘00 collection, turned it into Y-3 and went on to team up Adidas with Stella McCartney, birthing two of the most successful long-term collaborations in the whole textile industry. His approach? Find people willing to take risks with you. By doing just that, the German built nothing less than the fundament for Adidas’ recent success as a lifestyle brand that attracted collaborators like Kanye West, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott.
At a time where collaborations were few and far in between, Michalsky realised that challenging your status quo as a brand can yield great results if you only know how to read cultural markers.
In 2006, Supreme was a well-known streetwear brand. Fast forward 11 years and Supreme had become the most relevant brand in the business. What happened in between? Angelo Baque happened in between. By the time he bowed out with his magnum opus, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration with Kim Jones, Baque had sparked the box logo craze of the 2010s, launched a huge series of partnerships with Nike, Commes des Garcon, The North Face, Stone Island and others, all while kickstarting the fashion meets streetwear trend of today.
His key to success? Avoid overexposure and stay true to what you are, be omni present, but exclusive. The big collaborations didn’t come because Supreme wanted to be like everyone else. They came because everyone else wanted to be like them.
Twenty years ago, the Italian bought a flailing Moncler and turned it into a booming fashion house. He did so by identifying the USP of the brand, it’s quilted down puffer, and building around it through seasonal collaborations with top designers. With Moncler Genius, Ruffini doubled down on that concept in 2018. Releasing small collections in periodic ‘drops’ instead of large biannual outings, the new brand speaks to a contemporary audience susceptible to big name collaborations and dynamic brands.
What Ruffini has done is reduce the brand to its essence, identifying its niche, and staying there. In an oversaturated market, identifying your cultural corner can be a key differentiator and Moncler achieved just that.
‘The Godfather of Streetwear’ is nothing less than the epitome of the interdisciplinary creator - a creative mind that connects fashion, music, and culture in one entity. From being the heart and soul of Tokyo’s Uru-Harajuku movement, over creating the HTM team with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker at Nike, to founding Fragment, the project encapsulating his life’s work as a fashion designing musician turned consultant and curator, Fujiwara has his fingerprints all over the last 30 years of fashion and product design.
He is not only a living testament to the value of branching out your talents and finding the best people to amplify them, he also shows how countless influences can be curated into one creative vision that enables interdisciplinary work in a true signature style.
