Tokyo-based Comme des Garçons as led by designer Rei Kawakubo has announced plans for a new label called CDG. Offerings are very much streetwear-flavored and include coach’s jacket, t-shirt and sneaker featuring the CDG logo.
According to label CEO and spouse of Kawakubo, Adrian Joffe, the first capsule will be a capsule called “breaking news,” which will be sold at Dover Street Market in Japan and on a Kawakubo-designed website launching on July 20, 2018. Offerings will be made available globally in October.
In an interview with Vogue, Joffe explained that Kawakubo has resisted launching an e-commerce site. “[She] wasn’t a fan as such, it’s true,” said Joffe. “But she is a fan of doing something she’s never done before, so she finally became intrigued with designing an online shop and the perennial, iconic design concept of the brand lends itself rather well to e-commerce.”
The launch of a diffusion brand is hardly a new concept for Comme des Garçons. The label does about $300 million annual through sales from its popular Filip Pagowski-designed Play logo as well as multiple additional sub-labels and brand collaborations.