Printemps New York Embraces Art and Circularity in Fall Promotion

Printemps New York will sell honey from Sky High Farm Goods. — Honey from Sky High Farm Goods. Courtesy of Printemps.

Printemps New York is leaning heavily into the sustainability message for fall.

The retailer’s fall initiative is titled “Art & Circularity” and is intended to provide a platform to artists who work with upcycled materials. It’s the brainstorm of Silvano Vangi, creative and merchandising director at Printemps, who explained: “The goal of Printemps New York is to bring something different and exclusive to our clients.” Rather than just another department store, the store was designed as a “beautiful French apartment” and 30 percent of its assortment is exclusive, he said.

To illustrate this messaging, the store has been transformed into an “immersive space” filled with art and fashion centered around circularity, Vangi said. But rather than just searching out sustainable product, Printemps took a different tack, bringing artists and brands together to develop special products that speak to “the power of circularity,” he explained.

The storewide messaging includes installations, special events and lots of product. Among the most ambitious is Life on 5, a selection of niche brands curated by Victoria Grantham, a strategic circularity adviser, who brought in collections from Sky High Farm Goods, Mover, Finisterre, Clean, Bettter, Unless, Seea, Clean Waves, Rollr, Evolve Together, People of Earth, Crafting Plastics and Imagine5. These brands offers plastic-free performance apparel, lab-grown fine jewelry, home-compostable materials, toxin-free refillable beauty product, and ocean-positive designs.

Life on 5 references the fact that Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system.

Unless shoes at Printemps. — Unless shoes are made from plant-based materials. Courtesy of Printemps

Outside of Grantham’s curation, Printemps also hand-picked an exclusive capsule of handbags and accessories for the Art & Circularity initiative. They include Harpers Collective, a sustainable luggage brand founded by Jaden Smith and Sebastian Manes which collaborated with artists Yutaro Inagaki and Jim Vision; Pinel, a luxury trunk brand which worked with artist Joris Ghillini; Au Départ, a trunk and leather goods brand that partnered with Talia Levitt, and French leather goods house Camille Fournet in collaboration with artist Fabrice Hubert.

The store will also launch exclusive, upcycled collections from Who Decides War and Glass Cypress.

Maurizio Donadi, the L.A.-based godfather of upcycled vintage apparel, will create Blue de Monde, an exhibition of rare archival pieces from France, Japan and the U.S. that will explore the cultural and material legacy of denim.

In addition, The Falls, a Hudson Valley, N.Y.-based duo known for reworking antique and preloved garments and furniture, will collaborate with Alpha Industries on exclusive bomber jackets, outerwear and denim. And American artist Stefan Robert Meier created a capsule of upcycled hand-painted workwear pieces that is being offered for sale in the store.

A look from the sustainable brand Bettter. Courtesy of Printemps

Starting Sunday, Printemps New York will host a number of activations tied to the circularity message. The first will be centered around Sky High Farm Goods, a nonprofit farm and apparel brand founded by artist Dan Colen and based in Ancramdale, N.Y., which will bring beekeeper Hannah Landy to the store to allow customers to explore the world of bees, learn how honey is made, and buy some honey.

Then on Wednesday, the retailer will hold a panel discussion featuring Sky High Farm Goods, Unless, Mover, Yulex and Bettter and moderated by Imagine5, an Amsterdam-based sustainability-focused magazine. The panel will explore how circularity is driving innovation in design and materials.

Printemps’ sustainability message is not only evident inside the store. It’s also visible on the exterior thanks to textile and soft sculpture artist Elena Stonaker who was tapped to transform the store’s facade into a garden of giant dolls made from upcycled fabrics, a message that continued on the interior with her tapestries and sculptures woven from repurposed materials.

Vangi said Printemps’ decision to add artists to the mix is evident of the company’s DNA. “We want to be a platform for artists,” he said. “Sustainability is important but we want to offer our clients something unique, beautiful and elevated.”

Art & Circularity will be on view from through Oct. 31.