Projects by students on IED Torino’s Undergraduate Programme in Fashion Design, developed using materials supplied by the company, are heading to Tranoï Tokyo and Denim Première Vision as part of the collaboration with Pioneer Denim, bringing together research, experimentation and product culture.
Events
From Turin to Tokyo: IED and Pioneer Denim bring new visions of denim to the international runway
Date
07 September 2026
Understanding a material also means discovering how far it can be transformed. This idea shaped the collaboration between IED Torino and Pioneer Denim, which invited second-year students on the Undergraduate Programme in Fashion Design to approach denim not simply as a fabric, but as a starting point for design experimentation.
Working with materials supplied by the company, the students explored shapes, volumes, surfaces and construction techniques, developing original garments through a process supported by faculty and industry experts. An exercise in research and experimentation where hands-on product knowledge met creative freedom, giving rise to different interpretations of denim.
Despite the diversity of the outcomes, several common threads run through the students’ research. Transformation moves across both material and body: denim is constructed, altered, eroded and reassembled, creating unexpected volumes and new expressive possibilities. The relationship between body and space shapes silhouettes that expand and contract, shifting between rigidity and fluidity, protection and openness.
Alongside this physical dimension is the more intimate question of identity. Metamorphosis, memory, journey and change become ways of exploring who we are and what we might become. Time leaves its traces on surfaces, while rupture and reconstruction suggest the idea of a form that continues to evolve.
From a material to be shaped, denim becomes a design language: a tool for translating ideas, tensions and imaginaries into individual creative visions. At the same time, working directly with the product and engaging with the industry brought students closer to professional practice, challenging them to develop their research within real-world opportunities and constraints.
Now, that experience is preparing to move beyond the classroom and onto the international stage. A selection of the work developed through the collaboration will accompany Pioneer Denim at its upcoming international events, bringing the students’ research before audiences and professionals from across the global fashion industry.
The first stop will be Tranoï Tokyo, which on 9–10 September 2026 will host Denim Première Vision in Japan for the first time. Pioneer Denim x IED Torino will have its own dedicated exhibition space, where the garments created by the students will be presented alongside a selection from the Transnomadica archive, creating a dialogue between experimentation, heritage and new creative perspectives.
IED projects will also take to the runway as part of the TRANOÏ RUNWAY featuring Pioneer Denim. The students’ garments will be shown alongside Pioneer Denim’s latest collection, a selection of pieces from Transnomadica and a special collaboration with designer Michiko Koshino.
Following Tokyo, Pioneer Denim’s international calendar will continue in Amsterdam from 12 to 18 October and in Milan on 25–26 November 2026.
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