Gosha Rubchinskiy Is Done, Unless It's Not

This morning, Gosha Rubchinskiy, the Russian designer of the brand—inspired by skate, soccer (err, football), and Russian culture—that shares his name, posted a bare-bones, but definitive, statement to Instagram: “We will stop Gosha Rubchinskiy brand as you’ve known it.” It’s surprising news, considering Gosha remains a much-loved, still youngish brand with a ton of hype—one of the shining examples of what a successful “elevated streetwear” brand looks like. And for a couple years now, Rubchinskiy has been putting together runway shows that bely the his status as a “streetwear” designer—for staters, his fall 2017 show riffed on knit ties and pinstripe double-breasted suits. Rubchinskiy’s Instagram statement says he’ll stop doing “seasonal collections,” and only offers up, “Something new is coming.” Rubchinskiy's statement seems a bleak one—a popular brand with plenty of fans is taking a step back. Unless, of course, it's not.

There are crumbs scattered around the internet that might tell us a little about what Rubchinskiy has in mind. Before making the news Instagram Official, he hinted that a change like this might be coming in an interview with Hypebeast yesterday. He told the site he’s “a bit tired of doing season to season collections,” and expressed a desire to switch to one-off projects through his eponymous brand. “Maybe that means a womenswear line sometime,” he said, or possibly more work in the same vein as Rubchinskiy’s high-profile collaboration with Burberry. In the short-term, though, Rubchinskiy says he wants to spend more time working on the skatewear-focused line Paccbet he runs with his buddy (and pro skater) Tolia Titaev.

And while Rubchinskiy will stop presenting formal runway shows, a spokesperson for Rubchinskiy’s business partner Comme des Garçons told Business of Fashion they’re working with Rubchinskiy to create new ways to produce and sell clothes. Which makes sense, since Comme des Garçons itself is testing out different ways to sell clothing—just this week the label announced it’s launching a direct-to-consumer brand.

Rubchinskiy just seems to be moving with the general rhythms of the fashion industry. In addition to Comme des Garçons’ experiment, last year red-hot brand Vetements announced it would move off the fashion calendar, Alexander Wang dropped out of fashion week, and Public School is in the process of changing to a direct-to-consumer model. Because of all the change that’s come before him, Rubchinskiy’s announcement doesn’t seem so earth-shattering.

For an established name like Rubchinskiy, pivoting to a drop-style system that allows him to release gear whenever he’s feeling inspired doesn't feel like a risk. Weekly or monthly drops have long been the preferred business model of more traditional streetwear brands like Kith and Supreme—but what does it mean if a brand like Gosha can release double-breasted suits or stuffy trench coats made in collaboration with Burberry through the same system? If Gosha’s successful, he could shine a light toward a new business model where brands aren’t beholden to the fashion calendar, runway shows, or department stores to create a profitable business. "Something new," indeed.