Los Angeles is a town of many fashion weeks, and now another is joining the action.
After launching in Tel Aviv in March 2020, Kornit Fashion Week is coming to downtown L.A. from Tuesday through Friday with 22 shows, including Ungaro, ThreeAsFour, Asher Levine, Oliver Tolentino, Julia Clancey and more.
The invitation-only shows at the Pacific Stock Exchange building are focused on inclusivity and sustainability; in addition to their collections, each designer will show original pieces created with Kornit’s digital printing technologies.
Founded in 2002, Kornit Digital is a publicly traded, Israeli-American manufacturing company that produces and markets industrial and commercial printers for the apparel and textile industries that minimize water use and toxic materials in dyes.
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“L.A. may not be a capital, but it is a major hub of genuine fashion industry,” said Omer Kulka, chief marketing officer of Kornit Digital. “We wanted to create an alternative that will show additional aspects and forms of fashion. We are leading a real transformation at the heart of the fashion industry, redefining how it comes to life and is being made. This is why choosing a place which is a genuine fashion industry hub, like L.A., was the obvious choice for us.
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“On the social aspect we see L.A. as a melting pot of different communities, people, opinions and ways of life supporting our message of inclusion which will come across every show we have during the week,” he said, noting the casting will be size, gender and age inclusive.
“After Kornit Tel Aviv, I got hundreds of texts and emails thanking us for showing. Success is to show beauty of all shapes,” said Kornit Fashion Week producer Motty Reif, a fashion industry veteran of 36 years who intends to take the concept on to London, Paris, New York, Milan, Abu Dhabi and Berlin.
In L.A., Reif chose designers based on his connections, and people he met on Instagram. “Most are based in L.A., some in New York, and Ungaro is from Paris doing its first ready-to-wear show in L.A.,” he said.
Tuesday morning, Kobi Halperin, who was creative director of Elie Tahari for 15 years, will present his namesake line. Thursday night, he will present his collection for Ungaro, now a contemporary label. It will be an encore of spring 2022, first shown in Paris, along with some new pieces geared to the red carpet.
On Wednesday night, Clancey, known for her Old Hollywood-meets-Studio 54 brand of kaftans and turbans, will show a print-based collection with Pat Cleveland walking the runway.
Friday morning, L.A.-based tech-fashion specialist Levine, a 2018 FGI Rising Star Award winner who has dressed Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X and Nicki Minaj, among others, is showing a collection called “Time and Light” featuring his signature aesthetic illumination, and a clutch bag made of “an exotic skin of the future.” “I believe in rapid iteration leading to quicker innovation, and using their machines you can rapidly innovate,” the designer said of using Kornit’s technology.
The full schedule is available at kornit.com.
While most of the machines the designers used are already in the market commercially, at the event, Kornit will unveil technology that will enable 3D printing on rolls of fabric to create decorative effects.
The city was an obvious choice for Kornit’s messaging because of its progressive stance on the environment, Kulka explained. “This is one of the most advanced places when it comes to the strictest regulation and constraints. So when we show how fashion can be manufactured here locally, including textile finishing and printing, which when being done in current conventional methods is the key contributor to the fact that the textile industry is responsible for over 20 percent of water pollution globally, this is the strongest way we can deliver our message that we truly have the most advanced technology to enable true sustainable fashion manufacturing,” he said.
“The innovative model we are showcasing live is a true alternative to the way fashion is manufactured today: When collections are made locally in a couple of weeks instead of many months and can be offered to consumers immediately after being shown, while adhering to the fundamental on-demand concept that only what is desired will be actually manufactured — no unsold inventories, no unnecessary markdowns and never running out of bestsellers. This is a true sustainable way of making fashion,” Kulka said.