Diesel and Lee collaborate for sustainable fashion

Italian fashion brand Diesel has introduced a collaboration with denim competitor Lee as a part of its Diesel Loves initiative. This program, conceptualized by creative director Glenn Martens, aims to bring brands together to share creative and manufacturing resources, addressing the issue of overproduction in the fashion industry.

Diesel Loves challenges the norm of brand collaborations by making them purposeful. The initiative encourages brands to share existing materials, manufacturing facilities, and creative resources. Diesel invites its competitors to join this open call-to-action, putting unsold stock at the disposal of a joint creative team. The outcome will be a limited-edition capsule collection made entirely from existing materials, with a 50/50 collaboration between the two brands.

For each Diesel Loves collection, all profits—100 percent—will be donated to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, through the OTB Foundation. The OTB Foundation is Diesel’s parent company’s philanthropic arm, collaborating with UNHCR on various projects worldwide.

The first partner in this collaborative program is the American denim company Lee. Together, they present a limited-edition capsule collection featuring unique jeans. These Diesel Loves Lee jeans, numbering 3,000 pairs, are distinct, with Diesel denim on the front and Lee on the back or vice versa.

Diesel provides a preview of the Diesel Loves Lee capsule on Diesel.com for Europe and Japan, with the full collection set to launch in March 2024 on both brands’ websites. This innovative approach not only promotes sustainable fashion but also contributes to charitable efforts supporting refugees through UNHCR.