Humanity has produced enough clothing to last for decades, driven by fast trends and an abundance of choices. A few brands are challenging the fashion industry’s norm by remaking, reimagining, and repurposing old garments into fresh, innovative forms. Meet Rkive City, the brand that focuses on garment-to-garment remapping with a special spotlight on denim. Ritwik Khanna, the founder of Rkive City, talks about his journey, vision behind the brand and its transformative approach to fashion.
WHY DENIM?
I mean, largely the longevity of it—denim is a material that is meant to last. Anything that is meant to last is what we stand by. The essence of denim is that it’s integrally strong and made to last. Denim is a very democratic material—it upholds the value of its strength. Being able to use that as a core material at Rkive City was something that came naturally. You can convert denim into many things—from fabric furnishings to wall coverings, to jeans and jackets. But our new collection now moves away from it a bit because our goal is not to remain just a denim upcycling brand but to focus on garment-to-garment remapping and scaling up the process. You will see a lot of new white shirts deconstructed from old office shirts, denim shirts and post-consumer leather jackets that were deconstructed and reconstructed. We also worked with old twills and parachute fabric, which was inspired by the flying flea. There’s been a lot of new material innovation in the past four months, and we were very lucky to be able to showcase it now. Denim remains at our core, but the larger goal is not to be known solely as a denim brand.
ARKIVUM AT MILAN FASHION WEEK MEN 2025
Arkivum is largely the artisan line of Rkive City. Arkivum is the purest idea of garment-to-garment manufacturing with artisanal reconstruction. It borrows a lot from our past with natural patina, which is the ageing of post-consumer textiles. We like to believe that these materials get better with age, like leather and denim. Whereas Rkive City is an array of different personalities, Arkivum is concentrated on a singular personality.
CHANGING NOTIONS AROUND OLD CLOTHES
Fashion is about how you perceive something and how you feel about yourself when you wear something. In India, there’s a stigma around the idea of old clothes, so we aim to remove that stigma. In the foreground, we want to focus on craftsmanship, marrying global textile waste with Indian artisanal craft. This is largely what we’re looking at for the future. If you have four to five pairs of old jeans sitting in your closet, you could turn them into two new pairs. I believe India is going to see its evolution in fashion. I have full faith in all the designers around the country to carry the narrative forward and to be able to raise the flag for remaking. At Rkive City, we don’t make anything out of fabric—everything is made from garments, which might be confusing to some. But after putting out a collection that reclaims existing garments, I believe people will be inspired to continue the conversation.
Words Paridhi Badgotri
28.06.2025
