GUESS Jeans' Denim Renaissance

It's one thing to have a history like that of the American lifestyle brand GUESS, it's another to carve out a future that makes a new mark on culture. Over the past 10 years, Nicolai Marciano, the son of one of GUESS' four co-founding brothers, has been doing just that. Following on from the global success of GUESS Originals which he launched in 2016, capturing the zeitgeist via cultural collaborations with the likes of A$AP Rocky and Guillermo Andrade, Marciano is relaunching GUESS Jeans with a new core line which innovates the very fabric GUESS was founded on.

Denim manufacturing is notoriously bad for the planet, from the harmful, synthetic chemicals to water usage. Having spearheaded the denim stone washing technique with the Marilyn jean in 1981, now GUESS are looking to their next 40 years in the business with a technology which promises 'sustainable futurism'. Under the core line of GUESS JEANS, GUESS AIRWASH™ creates the effects of stone washing without the mammoth water consumption, replacing pumice stones with light and air. This innovative technology, introduced to revolutionise the culture of denim at GUESS, was developed by Jeanologia.

All this and more is currently being showcased in Florence as part of an exhibition which opened at the start of the Pitti Uomo 105 men's trade show fair. It's a full circle moment for the American brand's founding family, who originated from the South of France and moved to LA in 1978. Bringing a European point of view to American denim, it was in Florence where they opened their first European store in 1994.

Nicolai Marciano also came to live in the Tuscan city for an intense period of time during which he was travelling around the world to work with GUESS production factories. Starting work at the company aged 17, he had become fascinated by sustainable denim product development, beginning with the GUESS LA production factories. Now, at just 27 years old, Marciano is the company's Chief of New Business Development Officer.

Held inside the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, visitors to the GUESS JEANS experience will be able to learn about the history of the brand through the archives, including the iconic GUESS black and white advertising campaigns featuring Claudia Schiffer and Drew Barrymore, to Hollywood moments such as Marty McFly's denim GUESS jacket in Back to the Future. Also on display is the GUESS AIRWASH™ technology in action, plus a Denim Lab where visitors can customise their GUESS pieces.

Open to the public until Friday 12 January.

GUESS JEANS launches in June 2024.