For their debut in Milan, KNWLS partnered with Nike on a collection that carried both technological ambition and a desire for renewal. After more than seven years showing in London, the decision to present elsewhere came from a sense of repetition and the urge to engage with fresh audiences. Milan offered both context and momentum, opening the brand to new eyes while keeping strong ties to its British community.

The collaboration with Nike gave access to resources that extended the language of KNWLS into new territory. A Flyknit corset, engineered from the same material as Nike’s trainers, marked an experiment that was entirely new for the sportswear giant. The process also introduced advanced 3D knitting and molding, methods designed for customization with minimal waste. For a young label, these tools were transformative, pushing construction into seamless garments, cotton-based neoprenes, and treatments usually reserved for denim. For their debut in Milan, KNWLS partnered with Nike on a collection that carried both technological ambition and a desire for renewal.

After more than seven years showing in London, the decision to present elsewhere came from a sense of repetition and the urge to engage with fresh audiences. Milan offered both context and momentum, opening the brand to new eyes while keeping strong ties to its British community. The collaboration with Nike gave access to resources that extended the language of KNWLS into new territory. A Flyknit corset, engineered from the same material as Nike’s trainers, marked an experiment that was entirely new for the sportswear giant. The process also introduced advanced 3D knitting and molding, methods designed for customization with minimal waste. For a young label, these tools were transformative, pushing construction into seamless garments, cotton-based neoprenes, and treatments usually reserved for denim.

This is your first show in Milan. What led you to bring it here?

We had the opportunity through working with Nike. This collaboration has been in the works for the past two years, and we were discussing how we wanted to release it. We thought it would be great to present it as part of one of our shows. Then they said they wanted to support us and asked if we would like to show somewhere else. After showing in London for seven and a half years, it felt like the right moment to shake things up. We wanted a change, to reach new eyes and connect with a different market.

After so many seasons in London, what made you feel it was time to step outside that cycle and connect with new communities?

It was also about connecting with our community here. That felt like the main thing. After seven years, you can start to feel a bit stuck, almost on a hamster wheel. In London, we kept speaking to the same people, over and over. We are always proud of our British community and will keep that connection, but they have known us for eight years. It felt important to reach out in new directions. Showing in other places allows us to connect with different audiences. Maybe next season it will be Paris, or New York, LA, even Japan. I think that kind of movement might be the future for us, more direct contact and community involvement rather than the traditional runway format.

Something else I noticed is the fabrics and techniques, you seem to have developed a very advanced approach. How did you bring that into your work with Nike?

With Nike, we really wanted to take advantage of the resources and technology they have at their disposal. One of the pieces we created was the Flyknit corset, made from the same material they use for their Flyknit trainers. It was something completely new for them, they had never tried making a parallel Flyknit piece before. That made it a really interesting process.

What kind of technologies did you gain access to through Nike, and how did they shape the collection?

The technology is quite amazing because it is fully 3D-knitted and molded, which means there is essentially no waste, it is all made to be customized. The other pieces also relied on technologies that, as a young brand, we probably would not normally have access to.

That process was very interesting. From there, we carried the ideas into our collection, working with seamless garments that were glued together, and even creating neoprene out of cotton so it became a natural fiber with a technical quality, then treating it in the same way you would denim. Continuing that ideology throughout the collection is what excites us. You can still see our style in the shapes, but approached in a more technical way, more integrated. We wanted to do things differently, not just repeat the same layering people already associate with us, but connect it to the Nike collection in a way that felt natural rather than disjointed. Product placement on its own never feels right.