Aitor Throup has exited as executive creative director of G-Star to “focus on new challenges through his own studio,” WWD has learned.
“Both my studio and I are grateful to G-Star Raw for the opportunity to develop and implement our multidisciplinary approach to the fields of research, design and development,” said Throup. “I would like to personally thank the brand for allowing me to implement my vision of denim innovation through the Raw Research platform. The past few years have been incredibly valuable and memorable.”
Throup joined the label coowned by Pharrell Williams full-time in 2016 and oversaw the men’s and women’s mainline ranges and Raw Research, a men’s line.
At the time he was hired, Throup relocated from London to Amsterdam, where the brand is based. He had worked as a creative consultant for the Dutch denim brand since 2013. As a consultant, the Buenos Aires-born and Burnley, England-raised designer worked on a number of projects and clothing ranges for the company. These included his first collection under G-Star Raw Research — a 20-piece experimental men’s wear capsule that included outerwear and trousers.
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Throup said at the time of his hire that he didn’t feel like he was “taking over” the helm of the label, and referred to designing products as “a collaborative process.” The designer took his cue from how his own studio operates and implemented a “shared ownership of the product” concept.
The designer’s last collection for the label was for spring, which he presented during Paris Fashion Week in June.
There is no word yet if Throup will be replaced but according to a spokesman for the brand, the label has “a very talented design team in place that will be responsible for maintaining and building the creative handwriting of the brand.”
“Aitor has contributed on many levels to the success of G-Star in the past five years, but most of all he played an important role in further developing our recognizable creative handwriting and attributing to the image of our brand,” said G-Star Raw chief executive officer Rob Schilder.