K-Way Plans Exhibit Marking 60th Anniversary
BIRTHDAY EXHIBIT: K-Way is planning a series of initiatives this year to mark its 60th anniversary, starting with the “In Y/Our Life — The Hidden Side of Everyday Things” exhibition, opening on Feb. 25 at the Museo della Permanente in Milan, during the city’s fashion week.
The brand’s name has become a synonym for the windbreaker, and for this milestone, K-Way has involved other iconic brands whose trademarked monikers have long been associated with the products they offer, ranging from Bic pens and Borsalino hats to Moleskin notebooks and Post-it Notes, to name a few.
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K-Way has also involved a select group of artists in the project, spanning from Francesca Casale, Serafin Gerber and Koo Jeong-A to Eva Jospin, Patricia Urquiola and Olimpia Zagnoli.
The brand will unveil its new collection at the Milan museum with a dedicated runway show.
In the following months, the exhibition will travel and open during Photo London in May, Frieze Seoul in September and Art Basel Paris in October.
“This is a way to celebrate K-Way’s 60th anniversary without talking only of K-Way. It’s a way to promote culture, creativity and art, to celebrate those products that like K-Way have changed the daily life of people of various generations around the world,” said chief executive officer Lorenzo Boglione. “The exhibition is also a research and cultural in-depth study of what it means to realize products, dresses and objects that improve daily life.”
The reason behind the choice of Milan and the Permanente was “very simple: It’s a storied institution loved from the Milanese and this is a global project that, however, has solid roots where the brand is born, in France, and where it is managed today, in Italy.”
K-Way was founded in 1965 by Léon-Claude Duhamel in Paris and is known for its packable, category-defining waterproof jacket, the “Claude,” with its distinctive colorful zip and logo inspired by the French flag. It has established itself as an outdoor-inspired lifestyle brand.
The exhibition will be divided into three sections. The first will be titled “Happy when it rains,” and will be dedicated to K-Way’s 60 years; the second section, “Everyday Icons,” will explore the archives of the partner brands, displaying prototypes, advertisements, historical objects and videos, while in the third section, titled “In Y/Our Life,” the 13 artists will reinterpret the partner brands’ symbolic objects.
In October, Permira Growth Opportunities II reached an agreement to buy a 40 percent stake in the French premium outerwear brand from BasicNet, led by the Boglione family.
BasicNet holds the remaining 60 percent stake. As per this agreement, K-Way’s enterprise value, including the IFRS 16 standard, is pegged at 505 million euros.
Permira is expected to support K-Way’s growth across its channels, with a particular emphasis on direct-to-consumer avenues, opening new stores, expanding its product range, reinforcing the brand’s leadership in France and Italy, but also to grow internationally.
K-Way was acquired by BasicNet in 2004 and since then it has forged links with designer brands including Saint Laurent, Fendi and Comme des Gar?ons, to name a few, and introduced runway collections presented at its Milan BasicVillage, unveiled in 2022. It has also kicked off art partnerships and activations at Art Basel in Miami and Artissima in Turin, Italy.
The sons of BasicNet founder Marco Boglione, Alessandro and Lorenzo, hold the role of executive vice presidents of BasicNet and CEOs of K-Way.
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