Parajumpers turns 20 and gives its Gobi jacket to 20 artists
Parajumpers, the Italian outerwear label operated by Ape SpA, has turned 20 and handed its first jacket to artists to pull apart and rebuild.
The anniversary project centres on the Gobi, the debut jacket of the brand established in 2006. Parajumpers takes its name from the U.S. Army's 210th Rescue Squadron, a unit trained in parachute rescue, and it put the Gobi at the heart of its appearance at Milan Fashion Week, the twice-yearly showcase in Italy's fashion capital WWD.
The brief was simple. About 20 creatives were asked to reinterpret the Gobi in their own materials and methods. The results were shown in Milan as an exhibition that is planned to travel next to Germany, South Korea and France.
It is not the brand's first art outing in Milan. Parajumpers joined the official Milan Fashion Week calendar in 2020 to unveil a collaboration with Felice Limosani, the Italian digital artist.
This time the range is wide. Italian artist Giacomo Bevanati built an armour-like version of the Gobi by hand-curling metal wires. American artist Helena Elston worked with mycelium, the root-like network of fungi, applied to a cotton version of the jacket.
British music producer Leigh Davies made a Gobi from cardboard that produces sound when touched. In Peru, the collective Trapos Finos, led by Yulissa Aranibar, developed an upcycled version using textile waste sourced in Peru. Alessandro Gomiero, the Italian artist, is also among the 20 names enlisted FashionNetwork.
What makes this stand out is how little the jackets have in common. Some cannot be worn. Some are about waste or sound rather than warmth. For fans, that is the point: the same cut returns as sculpture, experiment and craft object.
The business is moving alongside the celebration. Parajumpers is expanding its headquarters and is considering brand extensions, meaning new product categories beyond its core outerwear. For shoppers, there is a wearable version too: a Gobi 20th anniversary edition, a black down bomber — a short, insulated jacket filled with down — offered in men's and women's versions.
The anniversary edition sits in the brand's Masterpiece series and is made in compact nylon twill, a tightly woven synthetic fabric, with goat leather accents. The anniversary also includes Yellow Signal, a project with C41 Magazine, the Milan-based arts publication, focused on the Gobi, and a dedicated 20th-anniversary page telling the brand's history through people, places and stories.
