Published
Jun 2, 2021
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Plan C launches e-commerce deadstock collection; opens pop-ups in East and West

Published
Jun 2, 2021

One happening house being sustainably busy is Plan C, the Milanese fashion label that launches its first -e-commerce only collection this Thursday, all the garments composed of deadstock.



Plan C


 
The eco-departure comes in a busy year for Plan C and its founder Carolina Castiglioni, which has seen Plan C develop its first shoe collection; and prepare the opening of several new shop-in-shops in the United States and Asia.
 
Plan C already boasts over 100 sales points worldwide. Not bad going for a brand that was just launched in 2018. Fashionable ladies clearly connect with its individualistic DNA of naïve sophistication.

“We launched e-commerce during lockdown, as a new project in February. Now we can communicate directly with our customers and it’s very important to express more of our ideas. It’s like having a flagship we control directly, even if we don’t have our own physical store,” enthuses Carolina in a Zoom from Milan with Communications Director Celeste Morozzi.


Photo: Plan C - Plan C


 
Throughout the pandemic, the pair never stopped coming to their Milan headquarters on Via Visconti di Modrone in the central San Babila neighborhood, located inside Castiglioni’s grandmother’s one-time fur atelier. As any well-informed fashionista can tell you, Carolina is very much fashion aristocracy, seeing as her mother Consuelo founded and guided Marni for over two decades.
 
This summer, Plan C will open spaces in Bergdorf Goodman in New York; and in Neiman Marcus in LA, offering the upcoming fall/winter collection.
 
“Business has been trickier in Europe, but sales in North America and Asia have compensated. Now we want to invest in the US,” adds Morozzi.
 
This year, Castiglioni has also been commuting to the Veneto, designing a debut shoe collection with Him Co, a top-notch manufacturer that also produces Proenza Schouler and Victoria Beckham footwear.


The capsule collection by Plan C - Photo: Courtesy of the brand


 
“The shoes are all made in Italy in their own beautiful factory in Veneto. You can develop the collection immediately with them. If you want a heel size changed, or a shape altered they do it immediately. That very direct response makes it a pleasure to create,” smiles Castiglioni, whose debut footwear launches this summer.
 
During the lockdown, Plan C develop insouciant show videos, shot in the Swiss Alps and Tuscan sea resort Forte dei Marmi. Their next video lookbook will be photographed in the iconic Milanese skyscraper Torre Velasca, famed for its mock medieval brutalism. Standing nearly 100 meters high, its massive mushroom shape looks ready to bludgeon the nearby Duomo.
 
“Tore Velasca, which is being completely renovated, was once the tallest building in Italy, and it feels just right for our shoot,” smiles Carolina.
 
On Thursday, the designer debuts her latest ideas online with the summer see-now-buy-now capsule; 19 pieces exclusively on e-commerce. Besides its own website, Plan C’s main international e-tailer is MyTheresa.


Another look from the capsule - Photo: Plan C


 
“We thought it a good idea to recycle the fabrics that we already had. I do a lot of fabric research and we have very specific materials, which we believe can continue in new fashion styles,” added Castiglioni.

Using technical cottons, first used in her debut collection; viscose polka dot; and feather light striped cottons. Highlights included crisp white T-shirts, finishing with mini rubber-patch childlike drawings, done by Carolina’s daughter Bianca. A series of cool looks in green polka-dot, whether overalls or dresses; and some stylish black cotton shirt dresses with fully detachable shoulders.
 
Her most summery ideas were light grey striped cotton dresses; bulky Bermudas and several wonderfully layered shirts. Plus Castiglioni played with a tougher white cotton with a denim-like hard hand, dreaming up huge-pocket Eisenhowers and some mannish shirts.


Photo: Plan C - Plan C


 
Out East, Plan C has two long-term exclusive deals in Korea and Japan.
 
“In Korea, we work with Samsung, which controls 10 Corso Como there. And we’re about to open a pop-up inside Galleria, Seoul’s most important department store. While in Japan we have had a flagship in Tokyo since two years (ago) and shop-in-shops, like in Mitsukoshi in Ginza. We have been busy,” enthused Morozzi.
 
Plan C’s next live event in Milan Fashion Week will be in September, when it will team up with Perimetro, the indie mag noted for its  photographic storytelling.
 
Inspired by the mag, Castiglioni is creating a line of tops, using images of Tokyo by Perimetro photographers, printed onto poplin that is then sewn on top of t-shirts.
 
“It’ll be our first unisex project,” giggled Castiglioni, who plans to stage the event in a Castiglioni family hangar. Located – where else? - on the way to Linate, the city’s airport. A good spot for this rapidly growing, free-thinking fashion house with global ambitions.
 
 

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