Stefano Pilati is rebooting his Random Identities brand, and has lined up a powerful — and like-minded — distribution partner in Dover Street Market Paris.
“We speak the same language,” Pilati said in a telephone interview on Thursday, revealing the collaboration exclusively to WWD. “They have a lot of taste, and this translates into a profound understanding of what fashion is, what clothes are, how they’re made and what’s behind it all.…I found myself immediately understood.”
Dover Street Market previously stocked Random Identities in all of its emporiums and Adrian Joffe, chief executive officer of Dover Street Market and president of Comme des Garçons International, can often be seen sporting a black Random Identities cap.
Pilati said he hopes to double the wholesale distribution of the brand, which previously was sold in about 40 doors worldwide. “I do believe we can scale it in a good way,” he remarked.
Random Identities was boundary-breaking when he paraded his first collection in 2018, initially as a joint venture with Canadian online retailer Ssense.
Genderless, seasonless and luxurious, but at a contemporary price point, it drew on gay and club culture in Berlin, where Pilati based himself after leaving Ermenegildo Zegna in 2016 following a three-year stint.
The Italian designer is best known for succeeding Tom Ford at Yves Saint Laurent, where he served as creative director from 2004 to 2012. Earlier in his career, he worked in senior design and fabric development positions for a number of Italian design houses, including Miu Miu, Prada and Giorgio Armani.
Pilati said Random Identities would remain “menswear oriented” in terms of clothing archetypes, maintain its minimalist bent, and express his personal point of view on fashion.
The brand will continue to elaborate on his formative experiences in the German capital, even though its famous clubs were silenced during the pandemic, and caution lingers amid a topsy-turvy geo-political climate in Europe.
“There’s still a youth culture here. There’s still a lot of freedom,” he commented.
Established in 2020, Dover Street Market Paris, wholly owned by Comme des Garçons, assembled a clutch of mostly young, often quirky labels operating under various business arrangements.
It doesn’t own the brands under its umbrella, but helps nurture original products, and can take care of brand development, production and distribution.
Pilati hinted that DSMP’s involvement in Random Identities could expand in future to include some production.
“I have high hopes for this collaboration, for this partnership,” he said. “They are open-minded and they are challenging the market, so I feel where I should be.”
The other brands in the DSMP stable are Airei, Dream Baby!, ERL, Honey F–king Dijon, Liberal Youth Ministry, Phileo, Rassvet, Sky High Farm Workwear, Vaquera, Weinsanto and Youths in Balaclava.
Writes /wwd/
Reports /TrainViral/
