Danish fashion brand Ganni is taking upcycled denim to new heights in its second collaboration with Priya Ahluwalia, founder and designer of London fashion label Ahluwalia. The brands first collaborated on pieces last April.
The new collection is made exclusively of deadstock denim, with 16 styles ranging from a trench coat, to a denim suit, a cut-out dress, bucket hat and more. Featuring heaps of patchwork denim and laser-printed patterns, the range pulls influences from Ahluwalia’s Indian-Nigerian heritage and London roots, ’90s denim and Ganni’s Scandi style defined by puffed sleeves and dramatic silhouettes.
With this collection, the brands announced Ahluwalia will join Ganni’s creative collective, a forum that invites creatives to collaborate on projects. The collective will announce collaborators later this year.
“Priya and I are creatively completely in sync so it was a dream for me to work on this collection with her, and I loved the dogma of designing an entire collection out of my favorite fabric, denim,” said Ditte Reffstrup, Ganni creative director. “We both try to see possibilities in everything, so giving new life to deadstock material is the perfect way for us to show our community the value of upcycled items. This collection is all about celebrating the things we missed during lockdown, feeling new energy and getting euphoric about life again.”
For Ahluwalia, the collection marked many firsts—including her foray into denim.
“Working with an all-denim collection has been a great challenge, really amplifying the power of using one universal material—which was a first for me,” she said. “Denim is so interesting, as people from all walks of life wear it. We wanted to underline that versatility throughout the campaign and collection.”
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The collection is available now on Ganni.com and in select Ganni stores, as well as at British luxury retailer Matches Fashion, which will also offer six exclusive styles from the collection. Prices range from 95 euro to 445 euro ($135-$595).
The denim range comes on the heels of Ganni’s footwear debut. Earlier this month, it worked with footwear label New Balance on an updated 2002R sneaker with environmentally preferred materials in two color ways. The shoe incorporates partially and fully recycled fabrics and components, with an upper made of 80 percent recycled synthetic overlays and fully recycled mesh paneling, and laces made from 30 percent recycled fiber. The outsoles contain 5 percent reground rubber.
Using recycled materials is a top priority for Ganni, which in November partnered with Infinited Fiber Company, the Finnish circular fashion technology group behind Infinna, a regenerated textile fiber that looks and feels like virgin cotton. Products from the partnership are expected to launch this year.
The company is ahead of its sustainability goals, and recently published a report stating that it has already achieved 30 of its 44 “Gameplan” goals originally slated for 2023 and is confident it can achieve the remaining 14 in 2022 through additional partnerships.