Palm Angels swaps Milan for New York

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Dec 21, 2018

Palm Angels is leaving Europe and has the US in its sights. Having spent four seasons hosting runway shows during Milan Fashion Week Men's, where the label made its catwalk debut in January 2017, the chic Italian streetwear brand is looking for a change of scenery and an opportunity to speak to a wider audience. The label is therefore leaving Milan behind and heading to New York's womenswear Fashion Week, where it will present its latest collection on 8 February, as confirmed to FashionNetwork.com by the brand. 
 

It seems like a logical step for the young fashion house launched in 2015 by Francesco Ragazzi and the shareholders of New Guards Group, the Italian holding company founded in Milan by Claudio Antonioli, Davide de Giglio and Marcelo Burlon, which operates a portfolio of brands including Off-White and Heron Preston. Indeed, the designer, who has served as creative director at Moncler for over a decade, splits his time between Milan and the US, in particular Los Angeles, where he searches out inspiration for his cool, carefree ready-to-wear label.

The adventure began with a photo project focusing on the California skate scene and the publication of the book Palm Angels in 2014. Over the space of four years, the concept has transformed into a standalone apparel brand which is currently distributed by more than 300 multibrand retailers, including Barneys New York, Maxfield, The Webster Miami, Selfridges, Saks Fifth Avenue and Harvey Nichols London. 

No doubt Milan wasn't bringing Palm Angels the level of visibility that it wanted, especially as the brand brings in most of its revenue from overseas: after Italy, its largest markets are the US, Hong Kong, China, the UK and Japan. 

The label is clearly on the rise and has just opened its first store in Hong Kong, with plans to launch for three more retail locations in 2019.