Kris Van Assche is returning to fashion at a moment when his point of view feels current. After closing KRISVANASSCHE in 2015, the Belgian designer completed tenures at Dior Homme and Berluti before reviving his namesake label with both menswear and womenswear. The relaunch reconnects him, in part, with the discipline he originally studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy.
The comeback follows several years spent outside the conventional collection cycle, including design objects for Serax, bronze sculptures with Laffanour | Galerie Downtown, and collaborations with ANTA and Fred Perry.
Van Assche is changing how the label operates instead of simply restarting the old machine. The collections will be sold exclusively through a revamped direct-to-consumer website launching in mid-September, which will also serve as an archive of his post-2021 interdisciplinary work. Production will center on high-quality deadstock fabrics and limited runs. Each drop will be kept to a tight edit of roughly 40 styles, spanning tailoring, trousers, shirts, knitwear, dresses, and skirts.
That smaller model feels especially suited to Van Assche, whose strength has always been the specificity of his wardrobe over its scale. During the original KRISVANASSCHE years, he was already collapsing the distance between tailoring and sportswear, pairing suits with sneakers and folding formal clothes into everyday life instead of a separate category. At the time, that language could feel caught between the shadow of Hedi Slimane’s Dior Homme and the coming dominance of luxury streetwear. In 2026, it looks far closer to how men dress.
There is also a personal quality to Van Assche’s clothes that has never disappeared. His own taste feels embedded in the proportions, the tailoring, and the way athletic references are worked into a more sophisticated wardrobe. The limited production model may give that instinct more room to breathe, free from the pressure to fill stores with endless product. Van Assche is returning with fewer clothes, more control, and a menswear landscape that has finally drawn closer to him.
