Kris Van Assche has relaunched his historic brand The Belgian designer's label will return after eleven years of closure

We had been hearing more and more about it in recent months, and in the end what everyone was hoping for has happened: Kris Van Assche has announced the reopening of his eponymous brand. The news was reported exclusively by WWD, which added that the new line will include both menswear and womenswear, will operate on a direct-to-consumer basis, and will work with deadstock fabrics — meaning each collection will be produced in limited edition. Following the designer's recent collaboration with Antazero, the reopening of Kris Van Assche marks the creative director's return to fashion after eleven years. The last collection had indeed come out in 2015. But what do we know about the brand's reopening?

When will the "new" Kris Van Assche debut?

According to WWD, the brand will return to operation around mid-September through a completely revamped official website. An interesting new feature is that the site will also serve to bring together all the projects Van Assche has worked on over the years since leaving Berluti in 2021. These will include the ceramics for Serax, the bronze sculptures produced with Downtown Gallery, and other collaborations with brands such as Fred Perry and Antazero.

It appears that further collaborations are also in the pipeline, as the announcement mentions additional projects that the designer and his new team are working on, which will be presented alongside the actual collection. The latter is expected to consist of around forty pieces spanning tailoring, shirts, trousers and skirts, dresses, and knitwear. Among the teaser images released to announce the brand's reopening is a women's dress with an open back — a significant detail, given that Van Assche's training was in womenswear, even though his entire career had focused on menswear. "In this sense, it is both a return and a new beginning," the designer wrote on Instagram.

Overall, the designer's venture appears closer to a niche brand than a mega-commercial comeback. But the slow fashion and small-atelier approach is what is increasingly dominating today's market. "What I'm doing now is on a much smaller scale, without imposing deadlines on myself, making everything in-house," Van Assche told WWD. The brand will remain luxury as before, but positioned in a more intermediate price range that has lately become increasingly attractive to independent designers returning to the market, away from mega investment groups whose very price points are now causing them to struggle.

A new trend?

The reopening of Kris Van Assche seems to be setting a new trend for indie fashion — that of the celebrated designer of the past returning to the industry with a more personal project, removed from the dynamics of "globalized" luxury  mega-groups and targeting an audience of connoisseurs at more reasonable prices than those that have become the market standard. The longest-running example is that of Stefano Pilati with Random Identities, launched in 2018; the most recent is that of Olivier Theyskens with Boloria, presented just ahead of the last Haute Couture season.

Another prime example of the trend is the return of Phoebe Philo, also with a small, sustainable brand model. Among the cult brands we have seen emerge in recent years is Aaron Levine, launched in 2024; there is also the evolution of Peter Do, who has stopped showing on the runway and now splits his time between a bespoke clothing service and the new, considerably more sportswear-oriented and accessible label PD-168. In December 2025, it was Heron Preston who relaunched his brand after a long hiatus; and in recent months S/Double — the "new" brand of Shawn Stussy, which had actually already launched in 2008 — has also come back to life.

All these brands share the same scale, goals, and business models: small and often sustainable production runs, direct-to-consumer sales models, a presence cultivated more online than on the ground, and an absence of overly conspicuous branding. The only exception is perhaps Phoebe Philo, whose investors include LVMH. Could this be a signal of a new direction that designer fashion is taking in these months?