Fashion Stipend winner Camiel Fortgens: ‘We're going to conquer the world’

The thirteenth Fashion Stipend Netherlands winner has been announced: Designer Camiel Fortgens took home the Culture Fund Fashion Stipend earlier this week. Fortgens joins a list of designers (collectives) who have previously received the incentive award.

Fortgens is a Dutch designer who mainly operates abroad. In the Netherlands, he continues to work under the radar - until now - as he receives the incentive prize for exceptionally talented and advanced Dutch fashion designers. He is known for his raw street-style-like designs, experimental skills and deliberately imperfect finishes. His designs have already conquered many a territory in Japan, where Fortgens is praised for his originality, but he also gained popularity in America, Asia and Korea. In the Netherlands, the eponymous label has two outlets and its own shop adjacent to the studio in Broedplaats LTS (Amsterdam).

Camiel Fortgens wins thirteenth Culture Fund Fashion Stipend Netherlands

The designer has known for some time that he is the thirteenth recipient of the Mode Stipendium, but after Tuesday night, October 15, he can finally shout it from the rooftops. Fortgens will then receive the Dutch fashion award at cultural house De Nieuwe Liefde in Amsterdam.

“We were totally surprised,” Fortgens told FashionUnited in his studio a few weeks before the announcement. He speaks in plural, as he does not receive the award alone. “I won the Fashion Stipend not alone, but with my team,” he says.

The designer looks proudly at his partner and co-owner of the brand, Tanja Bindels. “I met Tanja via-via when I was looking for someone who could make patterns,” he laughs, “because I couldn't and don't. Everyone has their talents and without my team I am nowhere.”

Fortgens continued: “We didn't necessarily expect it from the Netherlands, we were totally unaware of it. That our work is being seen is very special. But for it to be recognised is even more crazy.”

From the start, Fortgens felt he had to go abroad with his creations. So he went to the beating heart of the fashion world - Paris. He did not seek out the press, did not want to push too much and worked with a small club of retailers who were allowed to sell his work. His strategy: slow growth.

“We wanted to spread the brand across the market through wholesale, so people got to know the brand in shops and not through a celebrity wearing the brand for a while. We don't want to be hype. People should buy the brand thinking they have something unique in their hands,” the designer said.

His approach seems to be working. “It ensures that we don't have customers, but fans instead. We get a lot of messages on social media from fans saying that our clothes make them happy. That's what you want to achieve.” Fortgens sells its clothes in shops that strive for high quality. In Japan, the brand can be found in small, exclusive shops; in Europe, the brand is often found in shops where trainers play a leading role.

Where Fortgens and his team are now? ‘At the beginning,’ Fortgens and Bindels laugh. ‘We started in 2014, but we have really been a BV for a year now. Everything is starting to fall into place now. We understand better how it works.’ Fortgens started his fashion career with no knowledge of the fashion profession or entrepreneurship whatsoever. So, he put together a team of people who are good at their own craft.

Thus, he now has a ‘business master’, ‘fabric master’ and ‘fashion master’. “We learn everything by just doing it and by now we work like a well-oiled machine,” he said. Moreover, collaboration with factories in Portugal, Ukraine, Bulgaria and China is going smoother and they know how to build a collection that maintains the DNA.

“We want to work towards one base line and one research line,” he continued. In the research line, Fortgens plays with garments from his archive to arrive at a quick result. He picks up a red jumper from his archive. The sleeves have a different shade of red than the torso. Attached to the jumper is a beige knitted balaclava. ‘A typical example: I wanted a red hoodie. I grabbed a jumper I had bought at the market. We still had red fabric lying around. I attached the two together, but I wanted a hoodie. I didn't have a hat lying around, but I did have a balaclava. Then I thought, Actually, it's quite nice like this.’ A matter of doing it and seeing what happens.

Besides focusing on the basic and research line, Fortgens will come up with more feminine silhouettes. He started with clothing. ‘Not a unisex one, because clothes are for everyone and everyone can wear my clothes,’ he says. His clothes can be seen a lot at Paris men's fashion weeks, but are still missing on the female variety. That is about to change, as Fortgens elaborates some existing garments in female forms. He will debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2025 with womenswear.

‘Not a unisex one, because clothes are for everyone and everyone can wear my clothes.’ His clothes have been seen a lot at Paris men's fashion weeks, but are still missing on the female variety. That is about to change, as Fortgens elaborates some existing garments in female forms. He will debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2025 with womenswear.

Camiel Fortgens wins Fashion Stipend 2024: "I will it to create further awareness"

Fortgens and his team not only take the title Mode Stipendium, the award also comes with a cash prize. Thus, they will receive 50,000 euros to help grow and continue the business. Fortgens has no shortage of plans; investing in a new website, a press office and an expansion into the footwear segment.

“This ‘bonus’ helps us take a step forward. We are starting a collaboration with a press agency in Paris. We want to create more awareness and this is the way to do it. Paris is the beating heart of the fashion world.” Collaborating with a press agency in Paris is a dream come true. “We really wanted this from the beginning and now we can start making it come true. It will boost the European market.”

Furthermore, the cash prize will be used for a new website to optimise online sales and part of the amount will go towards the Paris show in January 2025. Should any money remain by then, Fortgens is looking at producing his first pair of shoes.

What Fortgens sees when he looks into a crystal ball? By then, he and his team will have conquered the world. He is thinking about a large, in-house multi-brand shop that gives small, unique brands a stage. It should also be a place where designers, from interiors to fashion, can support each other. The place for this shop? ‘Maybe in Amsterdam and then one in Japan or Korea. And then in America.’ He also envisages his own factory. ‘In a very nice building in Italy.’ But before that happens, Fortgens wants to move to a new studio, design a basic line and research line and forge collaborations with renowned brands such as Carhartt and Dickies.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.NL, translated from Dutch into English with the help of an AI-tool and edited by Veerle Versteeg.