sacai x Carhartt WIP

Carhartt Work In Progress (WIP) is a clothing brand that adapts and modifies the core products of the pioneering American workwear brand Carhartt to create its own collections. Established in 1994 by Edwin Faeh, the brand’s audience is just as likely to associate its iconic yellow C motif with late 90s hip hop videos or skate clips, as they are with factories or manual labor. This distinction is key in defining what Carhartt WIP does. Carhartt WIP engages with different cultural spheres: from Detroit and Berlin’s symbiotic techno scenes, to skateboarding and its communities that span Paris, New York, and Seoul, to the contemporary art world. The brand channels these influences, representing the culture which has formed around it. This can be seen and felt in its collections, its imagery, and its choice of partners and collaborators. Today, Carhartt WIP operates over 100 brick and mortar retail stores across Europe, Asia, and the US, as well as working with select wholesale clients.

Sacai was established by Chitose Abe in 1999 in Tokyo, Japan.

Sacai incorporates the idea of hybridization through juxtapositions of contrasting textures of fabrics, such as knits with super fine wovens and the usage of techniques based on reinterpretations of patterns of the garment, transforming the pieces into unexpected shapes and silhouettes. While her collections may appear to be about femininity, Abe’s interest is in creating clothes that are entirely unique and timeless, innovative and experimental. To Abe, who is influenced by observing her surroundings and functions of daily life, the Sacai collection has a distinctive elegance that is based on renderings and transformations of basic and classical items. The result is a collection of items that can transition easily between various occasions and is not only reserved for special opportunities.