Levi’s® has a long history of collaborations, but some of the brand’s best customizations come from the people who wear our clothes.
For our annual Levi’s® x ARTS THREAD Design Competition this year, we challenged fashion students around the world to imagine the future of customization for Levi’s®. The winner: 22-year-old Brooklyn native Roderick Reyes.
Roderick, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, beat out 300 applicants from 26 countries to win an internship with Levi Strauss & Co. this summer.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Roderick says he manages to find creativity even in its most simplistic form. He attended the High School of Fashion Industries in Chelsea, where his construction and technical skills were honed, propelling him to excel at F.I.T.
Roderick’s winning entry pitched next-level Levi’s® customizations for levi.com in which customers can design their own denim by choosing preferred fabrics, threads, colorways and trims. “I see the future of customization as an inclusive place where the ideas are endless,” Roderick wrote in his project pitch.
Being of both Dominican and Mexican descent, Roderick’s concepts incorporate his diverse, multiethnic background. He hit the thrift shop to source Levi’s® trucker jackets used to create two different looks with a high-fashion aesthetic, titled “Distortion” and “Frida’s Consciousness,” inspired by and featuring famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Roderick will be mentored at LS&Co. headquarters in San Francisco, working closely with top designers in our Levi’s® Men’s Bottoms and Women’s Tops divisions.
