“We have dreamt about doing this in-house. And we always wanted to build a brand house that could host multiple things. So to be finally doing things our way—it’s a big milestone.” So said Rains co-founder Philip Lotko minutes after the brand’s fall 2025 show. For their 10th anniversary, Lotko and his fellow founder Daniel Brix Hesselager skipped Paris Men’s Week, where they had been on the calendar since fall 2022, opting instead to present their latest collection in their newly-built headquarters on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark (where they grew up) to a crowd of about 40 guests.
The choice of location was original, but the intimate show format is very much on trend: In Paris, several houses, including Givenchy and Tom Ford who held the season’s most anticipated debuts, also reduced their capacity significantly. “I think in uncertain times you seek some kind of intimacy and comfort. And it’s easier to address a smaller crowd—your message can be clearer,” said Lotko.
Our uncertain times were the inspiration behind not just the location but also the collection, which was titled Forever and built on a theme of resilience. “How do we stay true to ourselves in difficult moments?” asked the show notes. The answer came in a series of just-about humorous takes on the label’s functional staples, like their signature PU raincoats and fleece fabrics. There were zippers at the backs of raincoats, crop top puffers, and fuzzy trousers in a material that head of design Johanne Dindler called “a very fluffy fleece.”
“We wanted it to work with different kinds of textures this season. We are so strongly tied to the PU fabric conceptually, and I wanted to break that up by introducing different kinds of textures,” continued Dindler. “So the trousers were a fun way to see how far we could push that fleece fabric. And the zippers on the back of the jackets or on the trousers felt like an easy way of giving our staples a twist.”
Dindler has been with Rains for about three years, having previously worked for Moncler, among other labels, and one of the things she has brought to the brand is a particularly sensitive color palette that builds on of-the-moment shades like maroon or buttery yellow, by adding a shade of dust. It’s smart; it places the clothes firmly into today but keeps them in a way safe from the churn of each trend cycle. “It works for us to play with the colors, much in the same way that we play with the textures. It’s not a green, it’s not a red, it’s not a yellow—they’re all muted and a bit undefinable,” she said.
Is the Aarhus HQ going to double as the new Rains show space in perpetuity? “Not necessarily,” replied Lotko. “Being a little unpredictable is within our DNA. For today, showing here felt like the right move. Tomorrow is about whatever helps us own our destiny.”
