WHO IS DIRK BIKKEMBERGS

Dirk Bikkembergs: the breakthrough

With his fashion show in Milan in June 2001, Dirk made a clear statement, which would change his life forever. He invited his guests to the San Siro stadium, where for the first time ever, a fashion show was held inside a football stadium.

At the show, on their chairs, the guests found a T-shirt with a striking logo: the footballer figure inside a circle of spelling out Bikkembergs. It instantly became a phenomenon, which everybody was talking about. After the overwhelming success of the San Siro T-shirt, Dirk began experimenting with the footballer figure. In 2003, the Bikkembergs Sport label was launched officially. Dirk introduced a new type of sportswear to express his vision and to convey his message. Whilst the popularity of the brand surpassed all expectations, Dirk felt that to fully realise the potential of his sporting muse, he needed to get involved in football. During the seasons 2003/2004 and 2004/2005, he created the sleek off-duty uniforms for the players of F.C. Internazionale 1908 (Milan), thus merging the exclusivity of haute couture with the universe of football. Dirk tried to immerse himself more and more in the reality of football life, and realised that the answer lay literally next door to his manufacturing site: the home ground of the local football team F.C. Fossombrone. 

Dirk Bikkembergs: team play put to the test

The ball started rolling properly when the brand bought the F.C. Fossombrone team and re-launched it in the Italian amateur championship in 2005. Dirk started to use the team as a testing ground for styling and fabric technology. From couture jackets to high-performance underwear, all his designs are now tested and promoted by football players. The Dirk Bikkembergs Group’s sponsorship of the team, which was consequently re-named F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone, does not just involve investment to bring in fresh talent, but also a revamp of its entire image. The Bikkembergs Sport football gear was launched, which introduced Dirk's unique fashion approach to high-performance sports apparel.

Right at the start, the club’s crest was re-designed and repositioned on the player’s heart with striking concentric circles covering the entire shirt. The graphical element of the concentric circles became determining for every aspect of the club’s look, from its new team bus to the interiors of its new headquarters.
The new gear combined the team’s crest and the “pupino” – the footballer logo of the Bikkembergs Sport label – to symbolise the most traditional and purest values of sports in general and football in particular. As a result, the gear has managed to attract the attention of a lot of young people with serious professional aspirations in football, who are inspired by Dirk’s key values: simplicity, courage and self-improvement.

Bix: the first generation designer football boot by Dirk Bikkembergs

The radiating circles would also provide the graphic key element for the most exciting new piece of equipment for the club: the official football boots. The idea behind this project was to pay tribute to the basic requirements of the football boot, starting directly from its original purpose, namely a boot that would give the player proper grip on the pitch under all weather conditions. Dirk then looked at the latest insight into the morphology of the human foot and the actual experiences of the players themselves. In 2006, the Bix, the first-generation designer football boot, was officially launched at the San Siro stadium in Milan.

The Bix was handcrafted, with hand-sewn portions, and was entirely made by a small family business in Italy. It was made of kangaroo leather, which is the most traditional all-weather resistant material used for making football boots. The concentric circles from the jerseys were used for a simple sock design, which was tailored according to the players’ feedback. The Bix proved a bold fusion of traditional and contemporary materials with a comfortable glove-style cut and great details – and obviously, the required fashion flair.

After twelve months of work, the Bix was officially launched at Italy’s leading football theatre: the San Siro stadium in Milan, before being introduced as the official boot of F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone. Soon, the Bix found new fans beyond the team, including Giorgio Chiellini, the young defender of Juventus and Italy’s national team, and the Ludovic Giuly, then F.C. Barcelona midfielder and part of the French national team. Being the designer’s first generation football boot, it was deliberately made available only through the official Bikkembergs website and not in the shops. The Bix enjoyed exclusive status and was meant for the true Bikkembergs fans, which gladly seized the opportunity to buy the first Bikkembergs football boot ever.

 Tirosegno: the next generation designer football boot by Dirk Bikkembergs

The Bix definitely set the tone for more. Dirk had gained the self-confidence he needed and gather a highly experienced team for the creation of a more advanced football boot. The concentric circles remained but the rest of the boot underwent a range of totally different construction processes. The result was a more tailored, lighter, faster and more streamlined football boot that met the contemporary demands of professional football players, called the Tirosegno. The Tirosegno was launched in 2008 at the Pitti Uomo Trade Fair in Florence, Italy. Since then, this technically advanced, next-generation designer football boot has acquired its position as a number one professional football boot with fashion upbringing.

Tirosegno: reflective power

The Tirosegno football boot is destined to become the leading light in the leading football stadiums worldwide. The upper is made of a single piece of micro fibre, which is graphically blended with reflective material from 3M. The result is a combined play of alternating reflective and non-reflective concentric circles. The reflective material makes the boots very visible, even when very soft indirect light hits the boots. At the very heart of the circles, the characteristic pupino dribbles its way out to attract attention to the Bikkembergs Sport line.

The radiating circles illuminate the powerful footwork of those wearing the boots, and reflect the inspiring eagerness on the pitch and set light to the action. After all, Dirk believes that true football results from a heartfelt inner spark, which expresses itself in an ever-growing passion in those who play.

Tirosegno sneakers: serving off-pitch purposes

Building on the success of the Tirosegno football boot, Dirk Bikkembergs created a new range of Tirosegno sneakers as a perfect means of expression for those who take football and designer fashion at heart. The Tirosegno sneakers were conceived in parallel with the football boots but for off-pitch use. The Tirosegno sneakers, which are available in an indoor version and a turf version, are the number one representatives of football in the high street of sneaker design, ready to travel to any destination with those who have football and sports on their minds.

From Antwerp to London with the right shoes

Dirk Bikkembergs is a Belgian world-class designer with German roots, who founded his success in Antwerp at the age of eighteen when he joined the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1986, it was Dirk who put Antwerp on the fashion map with a shoe collection – produced by the Belgian shoe manufacturer Monarca – which he took to the British Designer Show in London. Finding his name difficult to pronounce, the press started referring to him as ‘one of the  Antwerp Six',as five other designers from Antwerp were simultaneously emerging onto the fashion scene. With his shoe collection, Dirk immediately took an important step towards success..

Totally dressed to go to Paris

The shoes immediately defined Dirk’s vision and became his signature. They were revolutionary and masculine, based on a specific kind of man Dirk had in mind. The intense, strong, solid image was established there and then. But Dirk wanted to be more than a shoe designer. The shoes didn’t provide the identity or image he felt he needed for his career in fashion. So, he added clothes to the wardrobe of the Dirk Bikkembergs man. In January 1987, the first knitwear collection was introduced. One year later, he was approached by an Italian agent, who was most impressed by his work. This encounter led to the presentation of his first full collection in Paris that same year. Spring/Summer 1989 was also the first collection for which Dirk collaborated solely with Italian manufacturers.

 A brand that speaks true Italian

As Dirk became more established, he preferred to take direct control over the production of his designs. This allowed him to fully manage his image and the route he was mapping out. In the early nineties, he went looking for a small-size company in Italy to collaborate with. Today, the Dirk Bikkembergs Group still works with the same production partner. This has helped him create a brand where identity, quality and reliable delivery are paramount. 

In 1992, Dirk successfully launched his women’s line, in which he wanted to illustrate that masculine strength also exists with women. Stripping away the macho elements from the men’s collection, Dirk translated male strength into an image of sexiness, power and confidence for strong women. For the first shows, women and men walked the stage together, wearing essentially the same garments but with a diversified fit. Both men and women exuded a sexy power, while maintaining their identity. Dirk’s first label was out of the starting blocks and proved a solid endeavour from the very start.

Expanding borders

For the next five years, the fashion shows in Paris grew and market widened enough to warrant introducing an alternative line. In 1996, the Bikkembergs label was introduced targeting a wider market. The label inherited the very essence of the first label, showing the same strength, character and performance. Since the beginning, the new Bikkembergs label has had a distinctive personality on its own, mixing glamour and casual cool in the right proportions.

Dirk had made his message clear. He had proven that he could make innovative clothes in a uniquely structured shape and that he had a very clear idea about the man he wished to dress. His collections had become strong, vivid and liberal, almost elaborate, and precisely the way he wanted them to be. It was time for Dirk to move ahead, and in 1999, he decided to have one foot in Milan as well.

Dirk Bikkembergs: solid as a rock

Dirk adheres to solidity rather than celebrity. He believes in wearable and versatile fashion, which articulates masculinity in a pure and unique way. His designs are synonymous for timeless class and based on creative precision. Comfort moulded onto the body, creations that generate a powerful yet easygoing style, designs that only leave the atelier once perfect. Dirk has his priorities right, he knows how to translate them into appealing designs whilst keeping his feet on the ground, and he receives the benefits for this with each and every move he makes. Dirk Bikkembergs is a trademark, a brand and above all a man who knows how to sublime his innate passion for rugged beauty.

Dirk Bikkembergs milestones

1982 Graduated from the “Royal Academy of Fine Arts”, Antwerp Belgium
1985 Winner of the “Golden Spindle” award for “Best Young Designer in Fashion”
1986 First collection Dirk Bikkembergs Shoes
1988 First collection Dirk Bikkembergs Men
1993 First collection Dirk Bikkembergs Women
1995 Opening of the Dirk Bikkembergs showroom in Paris
1996 Presentation of Bikkembergs Men (White Label)
1998 Opening of the Dirk Bikkembergs showroom in Milan
2000 Presentation of Bikkembergs Shoes under a licence with Zeis Excelsa Spa
2000 Presentation of Bikkembergs Jeans Collection (Red Label) for Men and Women
2000 Winner of the Moet & Chandon “Esprit du Siecle”         
2003/2004 – 2004/2005 Official designer for F.C. Internazionale 1908 (Milan)
2004 Winner of la Kore Oscar della Moda as best foreign fashion designer
2005 Guest of honour at Barcelona fashion week with show in the Camp Nou stadium
2005 Acquisition of the F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone football team and birth of the Bikkembergs Sport football team wear
2005 Licensing agreement with Allison Spa for Bikkembergs Eyewear
2006 Launch of the first professional football boot designed by a fashion designer
2007 Winner of 2 awards for best e-commerce website: www.bikkembergsfootball.com
2007 Launch of first Bikkembergs Underwear collection at Pitti Uomo June 20th 2007
2007 Winner of Men’s Health Award for Best Leisure Brand (Bikkembergs) and Businessman of the Year 2007.
2008 Launch of the Tirosegno, the advanced professional football boot with fashion upbringing, at Pitti Uomo 18 June 2008
2008 Opening of the Dirk Bikkembergs Iberia showroom in Barcelona

The ‘Antwerp Six’ refers to a group of influential avant-garde fashion designers who graduated from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the early eighties: Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee. Each of the designers presented a distinct radical vision on fashion during the 1980's, which established Antwerp as a notable location for fashion design. The breakthrough occurred in 1987 as the Six rented a truck and set out for the British Designer Show in London with their respective collections.