Soulland Copenhagen Fall 2023 Collection

Skateboarding was Silas Adler’s gateway into fashion, and it’s still turning his world, even as his world expands its borders. “I want to start not in Copenhagen, but in Florence, because going to Florence to do Pitti also introduced me to production in that area,” the designer said on a walk-through. Adler ran into an old skate buddy in the Italian city who brought him into contact with factories full of deadstock materials, which he cut and pasted into his fall collection for Soulland. The most dramatic examples are the bonded half-and-half looks, paisley and red leather. Elsewhere, the tapestry fabrics are upcycled, as is the floral textile used for a long-line body suit with après-ski flair.

Overall this collection was less merch-y than predecessors, and in place of a seasonal “mascot” (it was Hello Kitty last spring), Adler paid more attention to silhouettes. Some of the bonded fabrics made for stiff A-line shapes, but this was balanced by the soft pile of corduroy, knitwear, and wonderful teddy-like outerwear. The harmony of the palette worked in his favor as well. If somehow you missed the message, the bells that trimmed some tailored pieces might wake you up to it.

Working with Italian factories gave Adler access to fabrics of a quality that was not previously available to this contemporary line, which grew out of a T-shirt business. Luxury was not part of how Adler came up in the business. His approach to his work was honed by skateboarding and hip-hop culture, “[which] was not so much about quality, but about expression, about the sort of subculture that lay behind it.” He also has the Scandinavian belief that clothing should be “very democratic, [and] needs to be in some way affordable.” The transition from designing skate/streetwear to a full men’s and women’s ready-to-wear line hasn’t been seamless, and the brand has relied heavily on seasonal collaborations. But the fall lineup looked tighter and a bit more grown-up. Going forward, Adler hopes to offer a wider range of products, from t-shirts to limited edition pieces, at a broader range of prices.

The materials he used here and the connections he made in Italy will help him reach that goal. Usually one of the bigger brands on the Copenhagen schedule, Soulland dropped off the calendar this season and hosted a dinner instead. Whether or not that feast was inspired by Italian traditions, the print Adler created for the season was based on Renaissance art.