Old is gold! Amsterdam Fashion Academy and UNIQLO Netherlands partner to showcase upcycled student designs at the Amsterdam Store

‌Through a unique partnership with UNIQLO Netherlands, four student groups from the Amsterdam Fashion Academy took over the window display at UNIQLO Netherlands flagship store in Amsterdam.

Starting Tuesday, June 11, and running for the next month, the store’s Rokin storefront display first and shopfloor thereafter will host the winning designs created by the first years Bachelor with Honors Fashion Design students from the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. Through a highly competitive selection process four groups were selected by the team of UNIQLO Netherlands to display their creations at the store in Amsterdam. The winning designs highlight each student’s vision, creativity, and technical process.

The students used inspiration from UNIQLO’s LifeWear philosophy, Japanese DNA and Spring-Summer theme “Ease into Lightness,” into their designs. The students spent three months upcycling UNIQLO defect and damaged items into new garments. Each student group overcame material and technical limitations to create one-of-a-kind pieces that demonstrate their artistic skills while challenging traditional conceptions of fashion, very much in line with the company’s mission of challenging convention wisdom.

‘’The results showcase what’s possible when we think beyond limitations. Our students represent the future of fashion, and their designs are a glimpse into a world of possibility. This is exactly what we are teaching our students from the first year of study at the Academy’’. Said the proud Programme Leader, Adele Parker, of the BA Hons Fashion Design programme.

The winning up-cycled designs also embody key values shared by UNIQLO and the Academy. Each garment upends viewer expectations of fashion conventions and inspires them to express their individuality through fashion. They are also made with quality craft and careful attention to detail, form, and function while stretching the limits of what is possible with up-cycling fashion.

‘’UNIQLO Netherlands is proud to foster circular fashion practices together with the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. This upcycling project not only gives its preloved collected items a second chapter, but is also a great opportunity to promote the durability and reparability of LifeWear clothing among our customers, which is one of the core pillars of UNIQLO’s philosophy. We see great value in partnering with the students of the academy, leveraging their perspective to reimagine repair and upcycling through cutting-edge ideas for the benefit of our customers’’. – Carlotta Minderhout, Brand Manager of UNIQLO Benelux Adele Parker says, ‘’More than defying convention, our students use fashion to articulate new visions of living in the modern world. Their bold designs encourage viewers to contemplate upcycling in fashion and design as an art form, as well as encourage others to work responsibly whilst still asserting their individuality against convention’’.

Petra van der Molen, Marketing & Talent Acquisition Director, Amsterdam Fashion Academy, says, ‘’This contest will be the first of more collaborations between UNIQLO Netherlands and the Academy. UNIQLO’s commitment to quality, individuality, sustainability, and philosophy of “changing conventional wisdom” complement the Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s mission to foster unique, visionary talent drawn from a diverse and international community. We look forward to pushing the boundaries of (up-cycling) fashion with UNIQLO Netherlands today and in the future’’.

Through their partnership, UNIQLO Netherlands and the Amsterdam Fashion Academy can support the development of new talent while bringing up-cycling fashion to a global audience. Projects like this provide a high-visibility platform for both to promote their ideas and values while demonstrating the global fashion recycling.

About Amsterdam Fashion Academy

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy is a private international top-flight fashion university that offers university-level Bachelor’s degrees with Honours in Fashion Design and Fashion Business & Innovation both accredited by the reputable Buckinghamshire New University in England. The academy is a dedicated hub of small- scale,student-centred learning in a personal, supportive and international environment. This ensures that every single student counts and is treated as an individual. Amsterdam Fashion Academy has been acquired by Luiss Business School in 2020. Luiss Business School is part of the Luiss University, a prestigious and world-renowned private university affiliated with the biggest Italian employers’ organization, Confindustria.

About UNIQLO LifeWear

Apparel that comes from the Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. Designed to be of the time and for the time, LifeWear is made with such modern elegance that it becomes the building blocks of each individual’s style. A perfect shirt that is always being made more perfect. The simplest design hiding the most thoughtful and modern details. The best in fit and fabric made to be affordable and accessible to all. LifeWear is clothing that is constantly being innovated, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design, and better comfort to people’s lives.

About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing

UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast-Retailing Group, the others being GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang. With global sales of approximately 2.77 trillion yen for the 2023 fiscal year ending August 31, 2023 (US $18.92 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2023 rate of $1 = 146.2 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.

UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a global brand. Today the company has a total of more than 2,400 UNIQLO stores across the world, including Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. The total number of stores across Fast Retailing's brands is now close to 3,600.

With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere.