SSENSE, a global fashion and culture platform, marks its 20th anniversary with SSENSE XX, a series celebrating its journey and connections. Rather than just reflecting on the past, they’re focusing on the future by collaborating with creatives who have influenced their brand. SSENSE XX includes:
- Exclusive Drops: 20 limited-edition collaborations with emerging and established creatives available on an interactive microsite from October 11 to November 7. Each drop features unique digital content enhancing the shopping experience.
- Retail Activation: Physical manifestations at SSENSE MONTRÉAL, coinciding with in-store installations showcasing the exclusive drops and interactive displays projecting content onto the store’s facade from October 11 to 25.
- Limited-Edition Merchandise: Special SSENSE XX merchandise in limited quantities will be available from October 23 on ssense.com and the SSENSE mobile app.
This initiative aims to push boundaries in fashion, community, and culture, emphasizing collaboration, unique content, and exclusive product releases. More details and updates can be found on xx.ssense.com and SSENSE’s Instagram.
JIL SANDER
Blue Sleeping Bag
Jil Sander makes a case for reconnecting with the great outdoors in its exclusive sleeping bag for SSENSE XX. Having grown up hiking and camping, creative directors Luke and Lucie Meier often turn to the natural world as a source of inspiration. Embodying the brand’s ability to evoke unforeseen luxury in essential items, the sleeping bag is camping ready and contemporary.
THE STORY
Founded in 1968 by its namesake designer, Jil Sander built a legacy on its refined minimalism. Today, the Milan-based brand presents a refreshed iteration of its famed aesthetic, adopting sensual and playful undertones that coalesce with its current era. Luke Meier spoke to SSENSE in 2018 about achieving that very fine balance between too much and too little: “There is a cliché tied to minimalism that it’s cold, gray, kind of boring, and too nonhuman, too industrialized. I think that at the core of the Jil Sander brand, there’s this element of emotion of being very simple and stripped down to the bare essentials. . . . And so you arrive at a purity. But it’s also very emotional. Achieving that balance is difficult. But when it’s done well, it can be incredible.”
HASSAN RAHIM
2‑Meter Dome Tent
The North Face’s motto is “Never Stop Exploring,” and for SSENSE XX, the American brand presents a way to do just that, with an exclusive 3D dome tent customized by artist Hassan Rahim. The tent brings together the label’s innovative technical expertise with Rahim’s slow and considered approach to design: “I think about things so much. Like 20% of my work is actually me physically doing it and making it. And 80% is just me thinking about it for weeks, days, months, nights, and weekends.”
THE STORY
Founded in 1966 as a small shop in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, The North Face sold hiking and climbing equipment. The mountaineering brand has since expanded, providing a full array of innovative technical outdoor gear and apparel designed to ensure peak performance in the most extreme environments. With a name inspired by the more challenging side of the mountain, The North Face is about maximum efficiency with minimal obstacles.
GREEN & BROWN
1906R Sneakers
For SSENSE XX, New Balance presents an ode to its century-spanning history with the 1906R—a sneaker set to become the brand’s leading running silhouette of its premium 2024 lineup. The 1906R combines sport and style influences: Bold hues work in tandem with functional aspects like the integrated lacing system and N-ergy sole unit.
THE STORY
An all-American mainstay in footwear, New Balance is known worldwide for its no-nonsense sneakers. Founded in 1906, the Boston-born label has consistently delivered comfortable, reliable sneakers in styles that evolve in step with current trends—without losing sight of their essential New Balance look. The brand’s iconic “N” logo has marked running shoes for the jocks, “dad” shoes for the normcore kids, and everyday sneakers for the city-bound graphic designers.
Red & White TVHKB Edition Flag Scarf
As one of SSENSE’s most long-standing brand partners, Rick Owens marks the SSENSE XX project by delivering an exclusive capsule collection, RICK OWENS\KEMBRA PFAHLER, in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist and longtime friend Kembra Pfahler. The pièce de résistance is a striped flag inspired by the one that served as the backdrop to Pfahler’s performances with the glam-punk band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. SSENSE hosted a three-way Zoom interview with Rick Owens and Kembra Pfahler, offering a comprehensive exploration of their collaborative vision.
THE STORY
American-born, Paris-based designer Rick Owens established his eponymous label in 1994—beginning a legacy of groundbreaking collections with a dark, theatrical style. Nicknamed “the lord of darkness,” Owens has garnered a cult-like following for his reductivist, gothic aesthetic that weds his interests in history and symbolism with his affinity to inventiveness and futurity.
“This darkness that Rick Owens transcends every season with his collections is a hybrid of sinister grunge and black glamour,” Robert Grunenberg writes in 2017 for SSENSE. “His loose, bias cuts and draped fabrics please and free the human anatomy. No repression to the body, no rules to the mind.”
