Esprit Embraces American Sportswear Tradition
Esprit has dug deep into its archives for its spring 2024 collection by recreating eight iconic pieces from the 1980s: the multisystem parka, the soft suit, the tracksuit, the tubular skirt, the chunky logo knit, the button down, the Esprit jean and the drawstring backpack.
“[Overall] our spring 2024 collection celebrates the tradition of American sportswear — comfort, casual, movement, functionality and, most importantly, modularity and layered,” Esprit’s global chief brand officer Ana Andjelic told WWD, speaking from Copenhagen Fashion Week, which centers on progressive fashion, emerging designers and sustainability, and which started Monday.
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Esprit is a sponsor of Copenhagen Fashion Week, where the brand is spotlighting two emerging Danish designers, Louise Cehofski and Nadia Wire, through its ongoing “Fundom” event program. The designers have reimagined Esprit’s signature logo chunky knit, and their works will be featured by Esprit this spring at a New York City gallery downtown. “They’re deconstructing selected Esprit products and creating pieces of art,” Andjelic said.
Wire’s eponymous brand offers responsibly made knitwear in playful shapes and silhouettes. Wire graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2017 and is on a mission to bring textile production back to Denmark. Cehofski is a jewelry design student at the Copenhagen School of Design and Technology. Her pieces hold morphic forms that mold to the body and utilize gem stones for vivid color.
Esprit’s spring 2024 collection officially launches mid-February, but has begun to trickle into Esprit stores. It’s based on “functional maximalism” and exudes optimism, fun and creative expression, as well as bold colors and prints, oversize silhouettes, utilitarian details and layers. “There’s an air of greater confidence,” Andjelic observed.
For its spring campaign, Esprit continues its interpretation of the “Night at the Museum.” As the company indicated in a statement, the storyline “shatters traditions of ‘Don’t touch!’ and ‘Be quiet, please!’ with irreverent and arresting imagery and the feeling of wide-eyed wonder connected to being in a place that’s off limits.”
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