One look at Andagain’s collaboration with denim artist Deniz Sagdic, which features jean jackets with intricate portraits made completely of denim scraps, and it’s clear the brand is in the business of something greater than fashion.
Co-founders Morgan Young and Greg Harder, who met as students at the University of Delaware, name fine art as the muse for most of their collections.
“We love to see how a piece of 2D art can evoke an emotion and how this can be translated into a wearable form,” Young told Rivet.
Priced at $3,000, the jackets were crafted across two cities: New York City for the base and Istanbul for the portrait, which alone took artist Sagdic as much as 24 hours to design. The collaboration produced just three jackets, each of which differs in size and artwork. All three outerwear items come with a framed 8 in. x 10 in. photograph of the piece autographed by the artist herself.
But not all of Andagain’s designs move at the same pace or carry the same price tag. The brand’s collection spans $80 rib tank tops and $100 organic cotton sateen tops with zipper details, to deconstructed jeans and patchwork denim jackets.
“We often start by creating a fabric manipulation or a texture, which helps to guide the design and becomes the focal point for the piece,” said Young. “Then we work on balancing these unique details into wearable silhouettes that blend perfectly into our customer’s lifestyle.”
Andagain’s unique design process is a direct reflection of the co-founders’ varied backgrounds. Young, the brand’s designer, grew up making friendship bracelets and immersing herself in other creative projects. By contrast Harder, who leads Andagain’s marketing, took an interest in web design and photography. Much like their brand, the co-founders’ complementary dynamic is what bolsters their success.
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The pair found a common interest in sustainability and engrained that into the brand’s core: All of the pieces in Andagain’s collections are created in New York City from deadstock and recycled fashion. The brand works with sourcing platform Queen of Raw to procure leftover materials from mills—essentially creating treasure from what would otherwise become trash.
The brand’s dedication to sustainability also extends to its processes post-production. All scraps left over from construction are either used for patchwork in future pieces or donated to local craftspeople.
“Andagain began very organically with both of us starting as the only people involved on a mission to create upcycled denim apparel,” said Harder.
And others are taking note. Though the brand was founded in 2017, its clean production initiatives have been profiled in Nylon, Who What Wear and other publications.
If there were such thing as “slow” as opposed to “fast” fashion, Andagain would be it. The brand doesn’t release designs on a traditional retail calendar—instead, it continuously launches standalone pieces and listens to what customers are asking for.
And it turns out, they’re asking for effortless staples.
In the coming months as the weather gets colder, the brand will release styles like a denim jogger and more variations of its bestselling bomber jacket. It will also introduce fresh styles with deadstock shearling and new denim washes.
But customer feedback isn’t everything. While it’s essential to making sales, it can cause a brand to stray from what makes it unique. Harder recommends other designers remain faithful to their original vision.
“You can spend all your time trying to please tons of different people but the most important thing we have learned is to stay true to your mission and goals,” he said.