Luís Carvalho partners with French Kaporal in upcycling collection

By

Estela Ataíde

Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS

Published
Jan 13, 2023

Portuguese creator Luís Carvalho has just unveiled his latest collaboration. After collaborating with brands like Tashi and Salsa, the designer has now teamed up with French label Kaporal to launch a capsule collection that gives a second life to leftover fabric and used jeans.

 
In a statement, Luís Carvalho explains that the Marseille brand entrusted him with the development of a capsule collection developed around the theme "deconstruction-reconstruction". Made up of 11 unique pieces, the collection gives a second life to leftover fabrics and old denim rolls from Kaporal's warehouses and used jeans, collected in the French brand's stores under the "Kaporal Impact Recycling" program, which, since 2014, has been collecting old jeans in order to recycle them.
 
Handmade in the atelier 13 A'TIPIK in Marseille, the capsule collection is not focused on "a standardized gender", so 80% of the pieces, which bet on straight lines and oversized styles, can be worn by anyone, regardless of gender.

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Guillaume Ruby, Kaporal's marketing and communication director, recalls that Luís Carvalho's work caught the company's attention three years ago, when the creator was praised at the OpenMyMed award in Marseille. "His experience in denim and his precision in tailoring completely seduced us. With this partnership, Luis Carvalho was able to enhance the Mediterranean heritage of denim by introducing an "eco couture" modernization bypassing the form, function and gender of jeanswear."
 

Indeed, throughout his career Luís Carvalho has worked closely with the denim universe on several occasions. His professional career began at the Portuguese brand Salsa, with which he recently reunited to develop a capsule collection to celebrate 15 years of Push Up jeans. This new project was an important experience, explains the creator: "As I had already worked with denim, it was a good challenge for me to make this recycled collection with my own DNA."