Overview
Vetements was founded in Paris in 2014 by Demna Gvasalia and Guram Gvasalia. Demna led a small design collective formed around colleagues from his fashion-house network, and Guram built the commercial organisation. The first collection was presented on rails at Galerie Bernard Jordan in March 2014; the label moved to runway presentation that September and quickly became identified with altered everyday clothing, off-calendar venues and a deliberately collective public image.
The house’s breakthrough years combined deconstructed uniforms, oversized tailoring, reconstructed denim, floral dresses, hoodies and corporate signs with a distribution strategy that treated ordinary product categories as fashion material. Spring/Summer 2017 expanded that system through eighteen specialist production collaborations spanning workwear, denim, tailoring, footwear, underwear, luggage and sportswear. In 2017 the company moved its headquarters, design studio, atelier and archive to Zürich, establishing the Swiss base that still anchors the house.
Demna left Vetements on 16 September 2019 after presenting Spring/Summer 2020. The Zürich design team continued without a named creative director, with Guram remaining chief executive and increasingly articulating the collections. Vetements appointed him creative director in December 2021, effective with Fall/Winter 2022. Under Guram, the house has continued runway and digital work around hyper-scale, autobiographical displacement, queer identity, altered office clothing and self-reference to its own archive; Vetements remains active from Zürich.
Philosophy
Vetements starts with clothing that already carries a social identity: security jackets, business suits, hoodies, floral dresses, biker leather, denim, sportswear and branded basics. Scale, cutting and placement destabilise those familiar codes, turning the ordinary wardrobe into a study of status, uniform and collective behaviour.
Construction is frequently tied to the authenticity of a product category. The Spring/Summer 2017 collaboration system placed Vetements designs inside the factories and materials of eighteen specialist companies, giving exaggerated garments the technical language of bomber jackets, Brioni tailoring, Levi’s denim, Manolo Blahnik footwear and other recognisable products. The house also uses damaged surfaces, displaced seams, extended sleeves, masks and extreme volume to make the body feel provisional inside the garment.
Under Guram Gvasalia, the established vocabulary remains visible and has acquired a more overt autobiographical register. Refugee memories, queer identity, family references and quantified experiments in scale have entered the collections alongside office hierarchies, reversed construction and deliberately blunt signs. The house’s settings continue the same interest in everyday infrastructure, from shops and garages to shopping centres, raw concrete spaces and transport-like tunnels.
Timeline
Disclaimer
Creative timeline
Button TextVetements appointed co-founder and chief executive Guram Gvasalia as creative director on 15 December 2021, effective with the Fall/Winter 2022 collection. The appointment placed the house’s business leadership and named creative direction under Guram.
Demna Gvasalia left Vetements with immediate effect on 16 September 2019 after five years as co-founder and creative lead. Spring/Summer 2020, presented in Paris on 20 June 2019, was his final collection shown for the house.
Vetements moved its headquarters, design studio, atelier, archive and staff to Zürich in phases during 2017. The move established Switzerland as the house’s operating and creative base after its early Paris period.
Kering appointed Demna Gvasalia artistic director of Balenciaga’s collections on 6 October 2015 and stated that he would continue his responsibilities at Vetements. He maintained both roles until leaving Vetements on 16 September 2019.
Paul joins Vetements under Demna and Guram Gvasalia and remains through 2017.
Demna Gvasalia initiated Vetements as a design project with unnamed colleagues and co-founded the label with Guram Gvasalia in Paris in 2014. Demna led design and Guram built the commercial organisation around the new house.
Vetements collaborations
Vetements used collaboration as a way to place its silhouettes inside established product categories and specialist factories. The most extensive example was Spring/Summer 2017, built with eighteen external companies under a shared production model led by the Vetements design team and Guram Gvasalia’s commercial organisation.
Spring/Summer 2017 production collaborations
- Alpha Industries
- MA-1 bomber jackets • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements set the exaggerated proportions; Alpha Industries supplied specialist bomber construction and manufacturing expertise.
- Brioni
- Tailored jackets • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements developed the oversized, minimally pressed jacket concept; Brioni contributed tailoring expertise, factory development and production.
- Canada Goose
- Outerwear and parkas • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements defined the silhouette and styling; Canada Goose supplied specialist outerwear production.
- Carhartt
- Workwear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements reworked the workwear category through its own proportions; Carhartt supplied established workwear materials and manufacture.
- Champion
- Sweat and sportswear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements directed the proportions and design; Champion supplied sportswear materials and specialist production.
- Church’s
- Men’s footwear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements applied its design treatment to formal shoes; Church’s supplied specialist shoemaking.
- Comme des Garçons Shirt
- Shirts • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements supplied the design treatment; Comme des Garçons Shirt handled shirt production and co-branded manufacture.
- Dr. Martens
- Boots • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements directed graphics and construction changes; Dr. Martens supplied specialist boot manufacture.
- Eastpak
- Bags and backpacks • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements altered scale and form; Eastpak supplied luggage manufacturing expertise.
- Hanes
- T-shirts and jersey basics • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements supplied graphics and proportion; Hanes supplied basic jersey manufacture.
- Juicy Couture
- Velour sportswear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements recut Juicy Couture velour into fitted and eveningwear forms; Juicy Couture supplied its signature material and production.
- Kawasaki
- Spring/Summer 2017 collaboration
- Participation in the collection is confirmed; surviving contemporary accounts do not identify the product category with enough precision for a narrower description.
- Levi’s
- Reconstructed denim • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements directed cut, proportion and reconstruction; Levi’s contributed denim materials, manufacturing knowledge and Eureka Lab development.
- Lucchese
- Western boots • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements applied its design treatment to western footwear; Lucchese supplied specialist cowboy-boot manufacture.
- Mackintosh
- Coats and rainwear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements developed elongated silhouettes; Mackintosh supplied specialist bonded-coat manufacture.
- Manolo Blahnik
- Waist-high satin boots and altered pumps • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements developed the exaggerated footwear concepts; Manolo Blahnik contributed footwear expertise and manufacture.
- Reebok
- Sports footwear and windwear • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements supplied the design treatment; Reebok contributed sportswear and footwear production.
- Schott
- Leather biker jackets • Spring/Summer 2017
- Vetements changed proportion and construction; Schott supplied specialist leather-jacket manufacture.
Later specialist collaboration
- Elie Saab
- Sequinned mermaid dresses • Spring/Summer 2024
- Elie Saab assisted Guram Gvasalia with the technical realisation of the collection’s sequinned mermaid dresses during Vetements’ extreme-scale experiment.
