The brand prioritizes minimizing environmental impact while ensuring quality by partnering with European suppliers who align with their values. By 2025, they aim to provide products made entirely from recycled, recyclable, or organic materials.
Transparency is crucial, as they inform consumers about the sustainable journey of each garment. Max concludes that OPEN ERA is not merely a clothing brand; it embodies a movement toward responsible fashion that encourages community participation.
A word of warning: anyone who claims to be 100% sustainable is probably greenwashing.
During PITTI Uomo we had the opportunity to interview Max who shared with us the company philosophy and the brand’s Vision.
Let’s start with the interview
1.What are the main inspirations that influenced your col- lection this season? How would you describe your brand’s identity in the contemporary fashion landscape?
We have continued the path we began for our 2024 and SS25 collections: instead of confining ourselves to the realm of tennis, we have expanded our offerings under the concept of “country club styles,” showcasing new-heritage designs.
This includes influences from rugby, cricket, golf, various varsity styles, and of course, tennis. Beginning with the FW25 collection, we will divide each of our collections into two distinct sub-collections:
One sub-collection, the elegant “off-court part,” will primarily emphasize knitwear, wovens, and coats. This collection features styles perfect for an upscale dinner at the country club restaurant.
While it maintains a sporty essence, you’ll feel perfectly at ease amid wood paneling and crystal chandeliers.
The other sub-collection focuses on “on-court fashion” or premium leisurewear. It will feature high-quality circular knits such as jerseys, piqués, terry cloth, and more.
Creating these two worlds will not only allow us to unleash even more of our creativity, our partners and the OPEN ERA brand will also be- nefit from reaching bigger target groups, without losing relevance by being too broad.
2.Have you used innovative materials or production tech- niques in this collection?
In the last season, we initiated the development of an innovative KPI system aimed at better understanding the environmental impact of our garments. However, I prefer not to delve into too much detail at this moment.
From a product perspective, we have introduced a streamlined adjustment for the waist opening, allowing us to reduce the size range while ensuring a good fit for a diverse group of individuals. This approach also aims to decrease waste and leftover inventory.
We continually strive for uniqueness, such as utilizing 100% organic cotton interlocks that mimic the texture and sheen of polyester fabrics. For FW25, our focus has once again been on blending knit patterns and various fabric qualities.
3.How does your brand address sustainability challenges in the fashion industry?
Although all our products are manufactured in Europe, we have established a thorough testing process with thresholds that are even more stringent than those required by regulations in most of our active markets.
Sustainability is one of several topics that turned out to be more complex than I initially anticipated when launching the OPEN ERA brand.
I envisioned it as a more straightforward issue. To be honest, I still have uncertainties about whether our thinking is heading in the right direction. Allow me to provide you with deeper insights into the thoughts and conclusions we have reached:
Synthetic fibers are generally viewed as harmful in all respects. However, we have determined that there comes a point in a garment’s lifecycle when its durability outweighs the negative effects.
We are contemplating whether the use of synthetic fibers could be more beneficial in certain situations, particularly due to the enhanced longevity when working with jacquards.
Also, in order to assess the impact of recycled fibers, one would need to know: where was it recycled, which energy mix / chemi- cals were used?
Which filters were in place to minimize pollution of the recycling process? What was it before, was it upcycling or downcycling? Which emissions were caused during the trans- port?
When we do not know this, we have to assess a recycled fiber as having a “neutral” impact – or like Schroedinger would say it can be anything in-between very good and very bad.
The decisive point for us to not work with recycled fibers for now is it’s lower durability: because in the process, the fibers are shredded and will never achieve the same stability in the spinning process, that can be achieved with “new” fibers.
As you can see, one thing that is very centered in our efforts to be as sustainable as possible is quality – because we believe: the most sustainable garment is the one that lasts an eternity.
The system I mentioned in question 2 will help us to assess and validate or discard the assumptions made.
4.Which emerging markets do you intend to explore more in the coming years?
As a relatively young start-up, we want to focus on growing in our existing markets first.
What started as a hobby grew very quickly: in the meanwhile, we are active in 27 markets and our main priority is to grow our team and use synergies from existing partnerships that allow us to grow quicker than we would if we’d start all-over in a new market.
The brand is commercially managed by the company Fashion 62, with Mattia D’Arcangelo taking care of product placement.
With a dedicated team that works tirelessly to ensure that each collection reflects the latest trends, Fashion 62 strives to maintain a balance between innovation and tradition.
Thanks to the creative vision of Mattia D’Arcangelo, product placement is transformed into an art, integrating garments in contexts that enhance their elegance and versatility.
This strategic approach not only increases the brand’s visibility, but also strengthens its emotional connection with customers, creating a unique narrative that accompanies each collection.
