CALVIN KLEIN — FALL/WINTER 2023

CLIENT
Calvin Klein

PROJECT
Fall/Winter 2023 — Collection Design & Product Development

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

THE BRIEF

Fall/Winter 2023 marked the fourth season of the creative partnership between Calvin Klein and 18.01CREATIVE.

What began with a brief to help reposition the brand for the Asian market had developed into an ongoing relationship spanning brand thinking, creative research, collection design and detailed product development.

FW23 was therefore informed not only by the direction of the new season, but by everything we had learned across the previous three.

OUR ROLE

18.01CREATIVE continued to work across the collection, bringing together creative research, design and product development.

Seasonal ideas were translated into colour, material, silhouette and product, while the accumulated knowledge of previous collections allowed us to maintain continuity in the underlying brand and product language.

Our role continued through the development process, considering not simply how a garment should look but how it should work: fabrication, proportion, construction and fit.

This combination of creative and technical thinking is fundamental to our approach.

FOUR SEASONS. ONE EVOLVING IDEA.

Working with a brand across four consecutive seasons creates a very different relationship from delivering a single project.

FW21 — ESTABLISH

Understand the brand, market and consumer. Create the initial direction. Establish the product foundations.

SS22 — EVOLVE

Translate those foundations into a new season and begin developing a recognisable product language.

SS23 — EXPAND

Use accumulated knowledge to broaden, balance and refine the collection.

FW23 — CONSOLIDATE

Bring that learning together into a mature expression of the direction.

Across the four seasons, the process became cumulative.

Research informed design. Design informed development. Development created knowledge. And that knowledge informed the next season.

AN EXTERNAL DESIGN PARTNERSHIP

The Calvin Klein project is a good example of how 18.01CREATIVE can operate beyond the conventional consultant model.

We don't need to sit outside a business and periodically present ideas.

We can become an extension of its design capability.

Working across multiple seasons allows us to develop a deep understanding of the brand while retaining the objectivity and breadth of experience that comes from being external.

That combination is particularly valuable for businesses that need senior design expertise without necessarily building every capability permanently in-house.

THE RESULT

Fall/Winter 2023 completed a four-season partnership encompassing brand repositioning, creative research, fashion design, collection development, fit and detailed product development.

From the first strategic questions of FW21 to the accumulated product knowledge behind FW23, the relationship demonstrates how 18.01CREATIVE works best:

UNDERSTAND THE BRAND.
BUILD THE PRODUCT.
LEARN.
EVOLVE.

EXPERTISE
Fashion Design Consultancy / Brand Repositioning / Collection Design / Fashion Product Development / Creative Research / Fabric & Colour / Knitwear / Print / Fit Development