CALVIN KLEIN — SPRING/SUMMER 2023

CLIENT
Calvin Klein

PROJECT
Spring/Summer 2023 — Fashion Design & Collection Development

SERVICES
Fashion Design / Seasonal Research / Collection Development / Colour & Fabric / Print / Knitwear / Product Development / Fit

THE BRIEF

Spring/Summer 2023 marked the third season of 18.01CREATIVE's ongoing work with Calvin Klein.

By this point, the relationship had developed beyond understanding the brief of an individual collection.

Working across consecutive seasons had created a deeper understanding of the brand, the market, the consumer and the product itself.

The opportunity for SS23 was to use that accumulated knowledge to continue moving the collection forward.

OUR ROLE

18.01CREATIVE contributed across the creative and product development process, from seasonal research and initial concept through to collection design, fabrication, colour, print, knitwear and fit.

With the underlying product direction established, we could look more closely at how the collection might evolve.

What could be pushed?

What should remain consistent?

Where was there an opportunity for something new?

And how could individual products contribute to a coherent collection rather than simply existing as standalone designs?

BUILDING A COLLECTION

We don't approach collection design as the creation of a series of individual garments.

A successful range is a system.

Hero product needs to sit alongside everyday product. New ideas need familiar counterparts. Silhouettes need relationships. Colour needs rhythm. Fabric needs purpose.

For SS23, our role involved continually moving between those two scales:

THE INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT

and

THE COLLECTION AS A WHOLE.

That process of designing, editing and balancing is central to the way 18.01CREATIVE approaches collection development.

KNOWLEDGE BUILDS OVER TIME

One of the advantages of an ongoing consultancy relationship is accumulated understanding.

By the third season, decisions no longer begin at zero.

Knowledge of previous collections, fit, development, the consumer and the wider product proposition becomes part of the next design process.

This creates greater continuity while also allowing new ideas to be evaluated against a much clearer understanding of the brand.

For a consultancy, this is where an external relationship begins to behave like an internal design department.

THE RESULT

Spring/Summer 2023 continued the development of the Calvin Klein proposition through a collection informed by two previous seasons of creative and product work.

The project reflects one of the key strengths of long-term design consultancy: combining an external creative perspective with an increasingly detailed internal understanding of the brand and its product.

EXPERTISE
Fashion Design / Collection Development / Range Building / Fashion Research / Product Development / Colour & Fabric / Knitwear / Print / Fit