Division Is Teaming up With G-Star on a Limited Edition Denim and Upcycling Collection That Will Bring Your Y2K Dreams to Life

Who says you can’t get up to new tricks with old duds? Not Nana and Simon Wick, the Copenhagen-based sister and brother act behind upcycling brand (di)vision, which in a short time has gathered a big following for its half-and-half pants, two-way zippered bombers, and vintage Carhartt mashups. Now, the up-and-comers are releasing a one-off collaboration with jeans giant G-Star Raw, and the pairing is a good fit. Simon remembers envying older kids at his school who wore G-Star Raw’s full-legged Elwoods, first introduced in ’96. He built half of this capsule collection around the ergonomic denim style. “I did a custom version of the Elwoods with 96 embroidered—like the ones I remembered from back in the days—then we added the (di)vision logo as well to do our own touch.”

That’s not all there is to this match-up, though. The designer was invited to Amsterrdam to visit G-Star Raw’s archives, where he pulled 96 of the Dutch brand’s pieces, mostly dating from the ’00s, to customize. The siblings have taken a crafty approach to this upcycling project, patching a khaki cargo pocket onto a pair of Elwoods or slicing the bottom of the legs open to add inserts. Material cut from a work shirt is used to create a double hem on a denim skirt, making an easy set, and fabric strips are woven into bags and used as open-work detailing on a miniskirt.

If (di)vision’s last runway collection leaned into grunge, this offering seems to play on the mythology and aesthetics often associated with Copenhagen’s freetown of Christiania. That’s not the only Danish connection; the Wicks gathered 26 of their friends and associates to model these new-old one-of-a-kind creations. “It’s local heroes from Copenhagen that I feel represent me and the brand and Copenhagen very well,” Wick noted.