What does G-STAR mean to you?
Lisi: When we started at G-STAR, we came in with a lot of nostalgia, thinking back to when you saw the G-STAR Elwood everywhere. Rushemy had one and I could not even afford it, so that image stayed with us. But then we went into the archive and found something even richer. The DNA went way deeper than articulated denim. It was fabric manipulation, coated pieces, and beautiful constructions. The more we explored, the more our idea of G-STAR evolved.
Rushemy: For me, the identity is very clear. Innovation. Raw denim. Engineered denim. 3D. Bold. Those are the keywords that always come up. From there we started building the story through the garments.
For your first collection, what did you want it to represent?
Lisi: It had to be a tribute to the DNA but pushed forward. We like working with codes, and the G-STAR Elwood was definitely the key code for us. But that is just one pant in the collection. We kept asking, how do we expand it? How do we branch it out?
Rushemy: And how do you do that without making it flat or cliché.
In what way did you approach that update?
Lisi: We wanted to keep the idea but modernize the silhouette. The point was not to redesign the G-STAR Elwood into something else. It was to reshape it, so it feels relevant to youth now. And once we had that logic, we applied it across other garments, like jackets and shirts.
How did you do that?
Lisi: The G-STAR Elwood is one of the first truly engineered, anatomic jeans in the world. That articulated construction inspired other categories. In jackets, for example, the logic of the knee patches was applied to the elbows. We wanted to create pieces that feel like they move with you, like they have grown on the body. That “built for movement” feeling is very G-STAR.
4 March 2026
Denim
Raw Research
RAW RESEARCH is our experimentation lab: a space for innovation, archive exploration, and creating a new future. For their first collection as creative directors at G-STAR, Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter went back to the source. What started as a nostalgic connection to early G-STAR quickly turned into a deeper dive through archive codes and the G-STAR Elwood as a blueprint. The result is a collection rooted in heritage, shaped for right now.
The G-STAR Elwood is clearly at the heart of the collection. What does it mean to you personally?
Rushemy: When I was 14 or 15, my best friend and I were obsessed with denim. The G-STAR Elwood was too expensive, so we cut up other jeans to make them look like it. Now, working here, we can make it a hero piece again. We actually named the G-STAR Elwood-inspired jacket after my best friend who passed away, Vinny. So for me, it is personal.
How important was the archive in building the collection?
Lisi: It was everything. We worked from the G-STAR archive, which includes historic G-STAR garments as well as decades-old utilitarian reference pieces, military, marine, workwear. In those pieces, every detail has a function. Every pocket has a reason. That is something we wanted to bring back into the collection.
Rushemy: It became a curation exercise. How do you take archive energy and translate it into pieces that feel modern on the street today? That balance was the biggest challenge: modern silhouette, but true to the heritage.
Can you tell me about green cast denim?
Lisi: While going through the archive, we noticed a very specific denim tone that comes up again and again. Industrial, concrete-like, slightly murky, greenish. And we realized we were not seeing it in the current collection, so we recreated it. This has to come from within the weave, so we went through different washes with the wash master and did research to recreate it. In raw form it is subtle, but when you wash it down, the green tone really comes out. That the identity lives in the fabric itself, from raw to washed.
What are the collection highlights?
Lisi: As mentioned earlier, the Vinny Jacket is a special piece. The articulated hem and button row come straight from an archival piece and we shaped it through the curves of the body. We also gave it G-STAR Elwood sleeves for a more anatomic, articulated arm, and a seaming structure that falls naturally around the chest.
Rushemy: We also love the Reversible Bombers. There’s no real inside or outside. You can wear them both ways, and the shirt can button in and out. We used an archival cloud camo, an old Japanese camouflage. It was printed fast while still wet, then stacked so the layers press into each other. That’s what creates the deep, built-up effect and the raw, unfinished look.
Rushemy: When I was 14 or 15, my best friend and I were obsessed with denim. The G-STAR Elwood was too expensive, so we cut up other jeans to make them look like it. Now, working here, we can make it a hero piece again. We actually named the G-STAR Elwood-inspired jacket after my best friend who passed away, Vinny. So for me, it is personal.
How important was the archive in building the collection?
Lisi: It was everything. We worked from the G-STAR archive, which includes historic G-STAR garments as well as decades-old utilitarian reference pieces, military, marine, workwear. In those pieces, every detail has a function. Every pocket has a reason. That is something we wanted to bring back into the collection.
Rushemy: It became a curation exercise. How do you take archive energy and translate it into pieces that feel modern on the street today? That balance was the biggest challenge: modern silhouette, but true to the heritage.
Can you tell me about green cast denim?
Lisi: While going through the archive, we noticed a very specific denim tone that comes up again and again. Industrial, concrete-like, slightly murky, greenish. And we realized we were not seeing it in the current collection, so we recreated it. This has to come from within the weave, so we went through different washes with the wash master and did research to recreate it. In raw form it is subtle, but when you wash it down, the green tone really comes out. That the identity lives in the fabric itself, from raw to washed.
What are the collection highlights?
Lisi: As mentioned earlier, the Vinny Jacket is a special piece. The articulated hem and button row come straight from an archival piece and we shaped it through the curves of the body. We also gave it G-STAR Elwood sleeves for a more anatomic, articulated arm, and a seaming structure that falls naturally around the chest.
Rushemy: We also love the Reversible Bombers. There’s no real inside or outside. You can wear them both ways, and the shirt can button in and out. We used an archival cloud camo, an old Japanese camouflage. It was printed fast while still wet, then stacked so the layers press into each other. That’s what creates the deep, built-up effect and the raw, unfinished look.
Does experimentation still play a big role in how you design?
Rushemy: It is in our DNA. We experiment with shape, treatments, fabrics, and silhouettes. But it has to stay practical. Playful, but wearable. We love when a garment has something to discover, something that shifts. Like pieces you can wear inside out, or garments that have a function you only notice once you own it. But it should never feel like a costume.
Lisi: That discovery creates a bond. When a garment surprises you, you get attached to it. It becomes personal.
Rushemy: It comes from our youth, but it is made for today’s generation. They are the ones driving culture now.
Tell us about the shoot. What did you want it to communicate?
Rushemy: We worked with Pieter Hugo. We were drawn to his Hyena Man series because it is romantic and fragile, but also bold. That contrast felt right for RAW RESEARCH.
Lisi: We wanted the collection to feel raw, but still emotional. The setting was brutalist buildings mixed with sand and earth. Concrete and nature. We also did not want it to feel overly styled. No decoration, not too “fashion.” Just the model, the garment, and the environment. Simple and unapologetic.
Rushemy: It is in our DNA. We experiment with shape, treatments, fabrics, and silhouettes. But it has to stay practical. Playful, but wearable. We love when a garment has something to discover, something that shifts. Like pieces you can wear inside out, or garments that have a function you only notice once you own it. But it should never feel like a costume.
Lisi: That discovery creates a bond. When a garment surprises you, you get attached to it. It becomes personal.
Rushemy: It comes from our youth, but it is made for today’s generation. They are the ones driving culture now.
Tell us about the shoot. What did you want it to communicate?
Rushemy: We worked with Pieter Hugo. We were drawn to his Hyena Man series because it is romantic and fragile, but also bold. That contrast felt right for RAW RESEARCH.
Lisi: We wanted the collection to feel raw, but still emotional. The setting was brutalist buildings mixed with sand and earth. Concrete and nature. We also did not want it to feel overly styled. No decoration, not too “fashion.” Just the model, the garment, and the environment. Simple and unapologetic.
