2_DiscoverBenelux_Issue21_Sep_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 28/08/2015 20:46 Page 58
Discover Benelux | Top Boutiques in the Nine Streets | Replay
A focus on quality and ambiguity between tradition and contemporary design in everything they do, has led premium denim brand Replay to creating revolutions in the jeans wear market.
Future denim classics Inventing the world’s most flexible jeans using a new revolutionary technique, premium fashion brand Replay has changed the fashion world once again with yet another future classic. TEXT: JANINE STERENBORG | PHOTOS: REPLAY
Having introduced the now famous double ring-spun denim and the stone wash technique in the eighties, Replay recently claimed the revolutionary Hyperflex technique. “We now create the world’s most flexible jeans,” says international sales manager Quintin Donders. “They’re 100 per cent elastic and twice as stretchy as other jeans, due to the uniquely structured materials.” Yet, Hyperflex jeans are shape consistent. “The fibers recover perfectly, so the fabric always adjusts to the original and comfortable fit.” Hailing from Italy, Replay stormed the market in 1981. “Founder Claudio Buziol’s vision was clear from the beginning,” tells Donders. “It was to create tomorrow’s classics by reinterpreting authentic vintage styles and traditional and handmade Italian standards, while adding a contemporary twist.”
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Over 30 years later, this vision is unchanged. Replay is one of the largest premium jeans brands in the world and is the proud sponsor of FC Barcelona, one of the world’s leading soccer teams, whose famous players happily take environmentally friendly washed jeans blasted with lasers into the streets. Replay has over 200 monobrand stores on premium locations and over 5,000 points of sale across all continents. Donders: “Earlier this year we opened a monobrand store in the Nine Streets. The atmosphere is boutique-ish and it’s in a place where the history and traditions of 17th century buildings perfectly blend with trendy designer boutiques and stylish vintage stores. The same ambiguity is reflected in the brand DNA of Replay.”
Something totally different is Replay The Stage, the flagship store in Milan that won the EuroShop Retail Design Award 2015 for most innovative fashion retail concept in the world. Donders: “It’s a multi-experience store, exciting all senses. The decor is inspired by a movie setting, and was designed by Hollywood top décor designers Roman & Williams: the whole project revolves around cinema and theatre. The structure is developed as a real stage, but as in a cinema plot, everything changes and evolves. On the 3,000 square metres, covering the store as well as a bar and a restaurant, you’ll feel like you’re the main character in your own movie!” shop.replay.it/en