Adriano Goldschmied Rewrites the Rules of Denim, Again…
It is widely believed in fashion that a designer must learn the rules before he or she can break them. Adriano Goldschmied, founder of Diesel, Replay, Gap 1969 and AG Adriano Goldschmied, can be credited with creating the rules in denim and setting the standard for premium denim. Now, with the launch of Acynetic this spring, he’s breaking the very decorum he established.
Acynetic is Goldschmied’s answer to the athleisure revolution, a movement he says is driven by major lifestyle changes among premium denim consumers. The collection offers jeanswear-inspired garments like indigo culottes, capris and bomber jackets with the comfort and performance of activewear, thanks in part to a blend of indigo yarn and spandex fabrications.
Goldschmied said Acynetic lands somewhere between denim and sport. He can achieve the same finishes as indigo denim, however, garments are made with circular knitting machines as opposed to traditional denim looms. “This gives the fabric stretch-ability in all the directions and a performance that is totally unknown in the regular denim,” he explained.
Add to the fact that the line uses TENCEL® and Lenzing Modal®, and the result is an incredible soft and comfortable hand feel. “I was surprised of the freedom that this material is giving to design,” Goldschmied said. “I am able to do pants with no waistbands, zippers and any kind of fit from skinny to a very wide body. It is like white canvas for a painter.”
“Our industry is very conservative and has a hard time thinking out of the box,” Goldschmied said. The industry has been diffident about Acynetic, but the “godfather of denim” has changed its mind once before, including its perception of non-cotton fibers in jeanswear.
Goldschmied’s love affair with TENCEL® dates back to the early ’90s when he successfully introduced the fiber to the denim market in his line, A Gold E. Goldschmied’s collection validated the fiber as a true alternative to cotton and the rest of the industry latched on. Two decades later, he describes his affinity for TENCEL® as “true love still growing.”
“For me, the good news is that the consumers are loving the new direction and that Acynetic is very successful,” he added. Goldschmied jokes that the future of denim may involve drones dropping pairs of jeans onto front door stoops, but he’s quick to point out that strong innovation and substantial changes like Acynetic need to be made in order for the category to stay relevant, including in the way denim brands communicate to hyper-connected consumers.
“We live in a world today where communication is the most relevant thing and is giving an opportunity to create new emotions and desire in customers,” Goldschmied said. “This is accelerating the process and the need of new products. So from one side the innovation is a kind of natural process, but in addition to this there is a change in the demand of consumers that is pushing for more functional and comfortable products without being out of fashion.”
Millennial and Gen Y consumers are already having a strong impact on the denim market, mainly by demanding more than just a product from a brand, he said. Traditional gimmicks and shock ads that the denim market employs time from time might get attention, but it is fleeting. Goldschmied said, “The awareness of a brand is not enough to make business. [The next generations] need a story about the product that they buy and they are much more direct. They don`t want to have people in the middle. They like to talk directly to who create the product. They are open to any kind of price, but they need to recognize the value. The time of lies is totally over.”