Band of Outsiders Fires Recently Hired Creative Team and Plans a Second Reboot
Rip it up and start again.
After bringing a new team on board back in August, Band of Outsiders has disbanded the creative collective it hired and will look to another set of creatives for the upcoming 2017 fall/winter season. The first rebirth of the brand involved a trio of Belgium-based designers, Niklaus Hodel, Matthias Weber and Florian Feder, who were brought on board by CLCC, the fashion investment company who own Band of Outsiders.
The 2017 spring/summer collection made by Hodel, Weber and Feder will not be produced or made available for sale, having been criticized by the press for not embodying the brand’s original aesthetics. The managing director of CLCC, Antony Verbaeys, told WWD, “as we were still finding our way with the DNA of the brand, we preferred to wait to get the tone absolutely right, when relaunching a brand with such a strong identity, it takes some time to understand it fully. We preferred to take that time.”
The new creative team consists of brand director Daniel Hettman, designer Angelo Van Mol and, according to Verbaeys, “one of the best London-based product developers, a talented merchandiser with such a sound vision and market knowledge, and a strong production team.” Band of Outsiders‘ Fall/Winter 2017 collection will be menswear only, rather than the joint show the company showcased last season.
