Smit & Zoon goes to White Milano

WHITE MILANO

Hommy Diaz is given an international platform in the heart of the fashion industry: Italy. His capture collection will be exhibited at WHITE MILANO during the September Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, September 23 – 26, 2021.

WHITE MILANO is the main trade show for collections and the leader for international brands scouting. It represents the launching pad for the success of brands and companies, as well as a reference point for most of the key multi-brand and Department Stores in the world.  The omnichannel platform, leader in international network and communication, connects niche brands and contemporary fashion to business. The place full of projects with an accurate selection of cutting-edge brands, consolidated fashion houses, experimental designers and innovative start-ups.

A crossover of arts, design, culture, and technology, where the new venues of fashion are explored and special installations are created by WHITE’s founder, Massimiliano Bizzi.

Come to visit us to our stand at our booth (number 57)!

Design Challenge

Five designers, alumni from the Arsutoria Design School, were selected and started in October 2020 with this challenge. Their assignment was to create shoes for the high-end of the fashion industry, with an emphasis on the sustainability of their products. Leather has held on for so long, it is durable, and in potential circular material and it can be a way of mitigating waste.

They had to design a capture collection that can be timeless.

With 200 years and seven generations of experience, we are proud of Smit & Zoon’s history.

We also know that tradition is without value if not connected with ambition. That’s why we like to show our respect for the past by a clear path to an appealing and sustainable leather future. This Design Challenge is exactly on that path; supported by the expertise of the Arsutoria Design School.

Visit the Design Challenge website

The core values of this assignment

The changing world has consequences for the fashion and designing industry. With that in mind, their capture collection had to be as sustainable as possible, with a focus on setting a new standard, being timeless, and the shoe must age to perfection over time.

The grand finale took place in May 2021, on our 200th anniversary.

Hommy Diaz from the USA was announced as the winner by the professional jury.

Hommy is a son of immigrant parents and grow up in Queens, New York (in the 80s and 90s). In a world where counterfeit clothing and footwear was available on every other corner in all 5 boroughs. The deception of shopping at retail fuelled him as a young teenager to be creative and one day produce authentic and honest products. The past 12 years in the footwear industry having worked for DC Shoes, Palladium Boots and K-SWISS has provided him with the experience of visiting over 40 major cities around the world for footwear market research and over 20 mass production factories related to footwear in 5 different countries. He came full circle from my early desires as a teenager to find the resources to design and produce unique products of his own vs knocking off an established brand to turn a profit. To shine a positive light on the luxury of being a “Product Of An Immigrant”, he kept his promise and leveraged his knowledge and network to design, develop and launch ahead to toe brand called MAGNUS ALPHA.