“The whole idea of sustainability is bringing people together,” says Andrea Rosso, Diesel Sustainability Ambassador and Upcycling Artistic Director, Creative director of Diesel Licenses and of MYAR, who enlisted the help of Livia Firth’s environmental consultancy Eco-Age prior to the project to guide and advise. Together, they “went on a long journey, asking questions of every department of the company”. It resulted in new processes being implemented across the board and the initiation of its Responsible Living strategy, from which this project sprang. “When you are in a team – even [with people] from different companies – we can work together in the same field. It has opened our eyes a lot,” he tells Vogue.
Diesel is keeping it in the family with its inaugural project: its first brand collaborator is 55DSL, the offshoot brand founded by the group in 1994, which was formerly headed up by Andrea Rosso and a collective of artists. While it shuttered in 2015, Rosso felt the time was right to bring it back to life, believing its eclectic colour palette and mixed-method aesthetic would work perfectly with Diesel’s archive of materials.
“55DSL was always an ironic brand – we took classic pieces and gave them a twist with pops of colour and a lot of influence from activewear,” says Rosso. “Diesel Upcycling For 55DSL” – as the project will be called – “will have the 55DSL approach in design but made with stock from previous seasons of Diesel, so to start with we will be focusing majorly on denim.” Future collaborations will use the platform to “benefit up-and-coming talent”, he says.
For transparency, every item in the collection will have a QR code that can be scanned, providing customers with a photographic timeline of all the processes used. “It’s a matter of education – once we have that we can make the right choices,” says Rosso, referring to himself, his team and the people who buy their designs. He wants the collections to have an all-encompassing approach. As such, today’s event will have seamstresses making live pieces for the collection in front of the audience, while music will be provided by percussionists using discarded items they found on the street. “Upcycling is not only product, it is also music and art,” he says, highlighting the importance of wider cultural involvement.
With an estimated 50 million tons of clothing discarded every year (which can end up in landfill or polluting the environment if incinerated), the re-purpose model is gaining momentum. Duran Lantink, Bethany Williams, Ahluwalia Studio and Christopher Raeburn are just a few of the designers who have based their entire businesses around the concept, sparking a new era of responsible luxury. Diesel’s collaboration won’t be Rosso’s first re-purposed rodeo either. The designer’s other label, MYAR, sources old military gear to make new high-end clothing. Once the deadstock dries up for the Diesel project, he’s intent on scouring vintage markets and second-hand shops in the same way he does for MYAR.
“Upcycling is a very creative approach,” he enthuses. “[Items] become more precious – instead of throwing something away, you find a way to [reinvent] it more innovatively than before. Something that might have been destined for trash or to be incinerated can be brought back with a present and modern approach.” Plus, the designer points out, re-using beautifully made second-hand pieces ultimately results in a higher quality product anyway.
As far as Diesel’s new initiative goes – well, they’re dreaming big. Rosso reveals that the second designer collaboration is already in development for spring/summer 2021 and that the team is in talks about the third and fourth installments. “We want to make this investment and hope that in time a certain percentage will be profitable,” says Rosso. “We need the process – it takes time to be loyal to the customer and to convince them that we are serious [about having] the mentality for a sustainable approach.”
He uses the analogy of a football team working together to achieve success. “One game I score a goal, another game you score a goal, it doesn’t matter how we win, it’s important to work together,” he says. “We might not be the best team at the moment or immediately, but now we have a good team and it’s being reinforced because of the knowledge and the guidance of a new coach.”
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