Camiel Fortgens didn’t go to fashion school. He studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, a Dutch industrial design school where you’re just as likely to make a ceramic bowl as a jacket. He only started designing clothes because it felt natural. When his professor told him not to make a clothing collection, he did it anyway.
That refusal to play by fashion’s rules still defines the Amsterdam-based brand he launched in 2014. “I never learned how to make garments properly,” Fortgens says. “But every time something went wrong, I started to like it more. It’s more interesting that way.”
For Spring 2026, shown during the height of a Paris heatwave, Fortgens brought that sense of chaos and clarity into sharp focus. The presentation felt less like a runway show and more like a relaxed backyard hang. There were beers. There was heat. There were friends, stylists, models, and press all mingling like it wasn’t Fashion Week at all. There were treadmills. There were wigs.
The clothes? A raw, off-kilter take on vintage Americana. Picture classic Carhartt-style work jackets, zip hoodies, and denim two-pieces—the kind of stuff you’d find in a Texas thrift store—only subtly reworked until it all felt a little wrong (yet so right). “This season I wanted to go back to basics,” Fortgens says. “Really iconic pieces, but touched. Twisted just enough to feel strange.”
There’s something playful in his approach. You recognize the garments instantly, but the scale might be off, the fit skewed, the stitching visibly human. One hoodie looks like it was sewn en route to the runway. A pair of jeans twist in just a strange way. The colors are bleached out, like they’ve spent a few too many summers in the sun. “We were thinking about heat,” he explains. “The sun fading logos, denim worn thin, old clothes with stories already built into them.”
Everything is made in small, family-run ateliers in Portugal, Ukraine, and Bulgaria using traditional machines. That means nothing comes out perfect—and that’s the point. “We don’t want a polished, fake story,” Fortgens says. “The human part is what makes it interesting. We don’t hide it.”
There’s no overdone concept, no high-minded theatrics. Just good clothing that feels real. He doesn’t talk much about sustainability, though the brand is deeply responsible. High-quality fabrics are sourced from Japan, Italy, and the UK. Garments are built to last. “We’re not trying to make a perfect image,” he says. “We’re trying to make something honest.”
And in the height of a glossy, over-curated fashion week, that honesty stood out. Fortgens doesn’t dress the cool kids. He dresses the people who just are.