Colmar Taps White Mountaineering’s Yosuke Aizawa for Revolution Line – WWD

MILAN — Over its 100-year history Colmar has changed its makeup frequently, debuting in 1923 as a felt gaiter manufacturer in Monza, a few miles north of Milan, and introducing workwear in the 1930s, before moving into activewear and developing expertise in ski suits after World War II.

Now, in the year marking its centennial, the company has tapped White Mountaineering’s Yosuke Aizawa as the creative director of its newly introduced Revolution line.

“In the post-pandemic context, we aimed to expand our horizon and offer an upscale line working in tandem with a designer that we already knew and boasts an aesthetic that’s complementary to ours, blending his style and culture with our DNA, experience and heritage,” said Colmar chief executive officer Giulio Colombo.

The lineup for men and women builds on Colmar’s outerwear expertise combining performance fabrics with Aizawa’s penchant for bold color combinations. It is complemented by knitwear and sweats intended for layering.

Aizawa discovered Colmar as a kid, watching Italian alpine ski champion Alberto Tomba do his magic clad in one of the brand’s ski suits, looking “very cool,” the Japanese designer explained.

“I would like to build a new genre of design for Colmar. I believe that the brand values designs, which people can easily use….My task here should be to elevate that by adding a bit of a ‘revolution’ to the utilitarian designs,” Aizawa said, touting Colmar’s high quality and wearable styles.

Colmar has joined the official Milan fashion schedule for the first time to unveil Revolution, signaling its ambition to embrace a new, fashion-savvy positioning for the line and, overall, for the label’s urban division Colmar Originals.

“We’re making our debut with a designer [chosen because] he can marry our ethos and not only for his marquee name per se,” noted Stefano Colombo, sales and marketing manager. “Being on the official [Milan Fashion Week] schedule represents a challenge that is integral to the new [Revolution] adventure. Part of our ambition was to push our boundaries and aim for new heights,” he added.

Colmar’s collaboration with Aizawa was described by Giulio Colombo as a “long-term commitment,” with no predetermined expiry date, unlike previous tie-ups.

To be sure, this is not the first time the brand has toyed with designer fashion. In the past it teamed with creatives including Aizawa himself — on a one-shot collection — and Shayne Oliver for its A.G.E. project, which stands for Advanced Garment Exploration, the brand’s hotbed for collaborations.

Stefano Colombo described the latest step as an example of the company’s resilience and ambition to expand in new markets, including the U.S., where the company has inked a new distribution partnership for North America that will bear fruit in three to five years, he said.

Similarly, Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, the latter being Aizawa’s native country, are seen as pivotal markets in the medium-term. The brand has managed to cement its footprint in Europe over the past few years, its prime market.

The Revolution line — to be distributed across a selection of Colmar’s key wholesale accounts; new, high-end players, and the brand’s flagship stores — falls into the Colmar Originals division, the brand’s lifestyle offering that currently accounts for 75 percent of the business.

Giulio Colombo said it was no easy feat to combine Colmar’s heritage in performance-ready puffers with Aizawa’s sense of style, but the result turned out to be “impressive,” he said, surprising both parties. The collection for men and women retails at 25 to 30 percent more than average Colmar Originals pieces.

The entire Originals range, hence Revolution as well, is often an evolution and reinterpretation of sportswear tropes tried and tested in the skiwear lineup, which is increasingly designed to easily transition from the slopes to the cityscape.

The bulk of Colmar’s centennial celebration will happen around Oct. 31, the day the company was established, according to recently uncovered archive documents.

In 2022, the company had revenues north of 100 million euros, returning to pre-pandemic levels, and it expects a slight increase in 2023. There are 16 Colmar flagship stores in Italy and France, with two openings lined up in Innsbruck, Austria, and at the Merlata Bloom shopping mall in Milan, which is under construction.