A better future

The A-gain capsule collection by Gilberto Calzolari reinterprets Oltre’s contemporary fashion in an upcycling key.

“Early in 2020, Oltre chose to do its bit for the planet by launching A Green Story, a collection of eco-sustainable garments, authentic in the materials used, intelligent in production,” begins Furio Visentin, Oltre’s brand director. “The capsule aroused a lot of interest among our customers, so we decided to take another step towards cutting waste, giving a new life to unsold garments and so reducing the consumption of raw materials. This new chapter is A-gain, a capsule whose value is created from something used for a second time and so not wasted.” A-gain is a collaboration between the Miroglio group’s women’s brand and Gilberto Calzolari, winner of the Best Emerging Designer prize at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in 2018. Furio Visentin tells us about him: “We chose Gilberto and appreciate him because he is perfectly attuned to the spirit of the project.” For his part, the designer comments: “This initiative strikes me as an excellent opportunity to creatively put into practice the motto ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, which I’ve long endorsed. It was very stimulating to start from garments originally part of earlier collections and recompose them creatively, giving them a second life in a new and original capsule collection that would respect the DNA of the Oltre woman. In designing it, I let myself be carried away by the femininity and romantic minimalism of Oltre garments. I sought to infuse a contemporary spirit into the assemblage of different floral prints, patchwork and polka dots, and the contrasting weights of the fabrics combined, like tulle with jersey, polyester with cottons. In the patterns and colours, I wanted the collection to be perfectly combined with Oltre’s new green capsule, consisting of eco-sustainable garments made from natural cotton and viscose fibre, all from traceable crops with a reduced environmental impact.” The ideal muse? Gilberto Calzolari continues: “The people I have in mind when I create my collections are women who look to the future and are well informed, who love fashion and beauty and make their purchases with a great sense of responsibility and respect for the planet. Women who want to live in a fairer, more equitable world, with a concern for issues such as sustainability and inclusiveness, which I see as the truly contemporary values.” Oltre’s brand director concludes: “The one-off pieces in the capsule collection will be showcased in our flagship stores from October and sewn for our customers on request. In this way we’ll be producing only what we sell, further reducing waste and being kind to nature.”