Kris Van Assche Returns After 11 Years

On August 31, 2026, Kris Van Assche announced the return of the brand bearing his name. On the same day, fashion trade outlets including BoF also reported news of his brand's relaunch.

"More than a return to fashion, it feels like going back to the reason I first wanted to make clothes."

He stopped running his own brand in 2015, while serving as creative director of Dior Homme. Now, 11 years later, he is once again putting his own name, KRIS VAN ASSCHE, front and center.

Who Is Kris Van Assche?

After majoring in womenswear at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in Belgium and graduating in 1998, he began his career at Saint Laurent and Dior Homme as Hedi Slimane's first assistant.

• Dior Homme CD (2007–2018 / 11 years): Succeeding Hedi Slimane, he led Dior Homme for 11 years. While carrying on the sharp silhouettes of the Slimane era, he developed his own menswear language by combining tailoring, sportswear, and Dior's house codes.
• Berluti CD (2018–2021 / 3 years): After leaving Dior Homme, he moved to LVMH-owned Berluti, reinterpreting its established leather craftsmanship and tailoring within modern menswear.
• After his CD roles (2021–2026): After leaving Berluti, he expanded his work beyond clothing. He made ceramics with Serax, presented bronze objects with Laffanour Galerie Downtown, and unveiled "Nectar Vessels Bronzes" at Milan Design Week 2026. He also continued fashion collaborations with Fred Perry and Anta.

How He's Coming Back

This relaunch is far from restoring the brand's past scale as it was. He has chosen a smaller, more direct structure in product count, production volume, and distribution alike.

A Combined Men's and Women's Collection (About 40 Styles)
The collection consists of about 40 styles, including jackets, shirts, trousers, skirts, dresses, and knitwear. Van Assche, who majored in womenswear but spent most of his career in menswear, this time puts forward a collection that spans both men and women.

Deadstock Fabrics and Small-Batch Production
The brand uses high-quality deadstock fabrics that have already been produced and limits production quantities. It's an element that reflects not only sustainability but also this project's direction of running a collection at a small scale.

A Relatively Accessible Designer Price Range
Shirts are set to start at €400–500 and jackets at around €1,000. By setting a relatively lower price range even within the luxury designer market, he has chosen a position different from the large houses he once led.

From Expansion to Focus

The former KRISVANASSCHE (2005–2015) was distributed through about 130 points of sale in some 32 countries, with a particularly high share in Asian markets, including Japan and Hong Kong. It was a period when the brand expanded as an international wholesale brand, while also operating its own store in Paris.

By contrast, the new Kris Van Assche (2026–) has chosen a much smaller structure, centered on a tight edit of 40 styles through a dedicated website, deadstock fabrics, and limited production.

"What I'm doing now is on a much smaller scale. Rather than fitting myself to an external schedule, I'm running it directly from the inside."

If growing the scale of distribution and collections was once a key priority, this time can be read as a shift that places more weight on what to control directly than on how much to make.

💡 EDITORIAL INSIGHTS & SMALL TALK

A Choice Outside the Big System
For this relaunch, Van Assche chose deadstock fabrics, small-batch production, and a collection of about 40 styles. Compared with the way he once ran large houses and a global brand, he appears focused on making a collection within a scope he can be directly involved in, rather than growing in scale.