With Levi’s® collaborations, the common approach is to take a Levi’s® icon and give it a fresh new twist. In the case of Japanese brand FACETASM, designer Hiromichi Ochiai decided to take that phrase literally. With “MUTATION” being the concept of this collaboration, the focus lies on Levi’s® most iconic items – jeans, trucker jackets, western shirts, and graphic tees. In combination with FACETASM’s playfulness and innovative techniques, this has resulted in a special Levi’s® x FACETASM capsule collection.
FACETASM is well known in the fashion world for their philosophical and deconstructive approach to design, creating clothes that are both conceptual and wearable, masculine and feminine. Often it’s about taking something apart, re-engineering it, and putting it back together in a strange and fascinating new way. For Levi’s® x FACETASM, that conceptual approach mainly involved mutilating and twisting a range of Levi’s Truckers—like adding FACETASM’s signature silhouette to the Type I and Type III trucker, transforming a classic biker jacket into a new ‘Biker’s Trucker’. The collection also includes the shredded, deconstructed, and tied-together (with deerskin leather) Linked Trucker, and the Wide & Slim Trucker, that incorporates two unique patterns, creating different trucker sizes on the left and the right. Jeans, too, get the twisted treatment, with a deconstructed/reconstructed Linked 501® to match the Linked Trucker, a Wide & Slim 501® to match the Wide & Slim Trucker, and a Twisted Denim jean with ultra-twisted seams, the Wide & Slim pants and the Twisted Denim being two of FACETASM’s iconic original designs.
The collection also includes FACETASM’s mutilated take on two Levi’s® Western shirts—the Sawtooth Western and the Distressed Western—and a truly unique Type I vest that was derived from the Levi’s® Type I Trucker. There’s also a graphic tee and a patchwork hoodie in the mix, and, as is common among Japanese brands, a veritable treasure trove of small and eye-catching details—elements like already-torn Levi’s® Jacron patches, hang tags cut in half and tied together by cords, and creative approaches to packaging.
FACETASM designer Hiromichi Ochiai: “As a designer, I’m very happy to do this collaboration with Levi’s®. At FACETASM, we are always fascinated by the history of design. Of course, Levi’s® has a long history with denim and it has been very inspiring to visit the headquarters’ archives in San Francisco. For me, it’s very valuable to start with something that has such a long tradition and try to innovate it in order to give it new value. Working together with the Levi’s® staff in San Francisco has been a great experience, they have a lot of knowledge and are super innovative when it comes to denim. Please enjoy this collaboration, a “mutation” of both history and innovation.”
The Levi’s® x FACETASM capsule collection of 15 unisex items, all in indigo, will be released globally in March 2020.
BRAND NAME
LEVI’S® × FACETASM
HASHTAGS
LEVI’S®: @levis/ @levis_japan
FACETASM: @facetasmtokyo / #facetasmtokyo, #facetasm