From Milan to New York: Plās Collective

We sat down with the Founder and Creative Director, Nathalie Danten, to discuss building an ecosystem of creatives, their first New York pop-up and mushroom-inspired collection, Mycelia

Mushrooms are a central source in our ecosystems. Their decomposition, communication through chemical cycles, and web of symbiotic patterns shared with plants and animals keep themselves and other life forms alive. Founded in 2021 by 30-year-old Nathalie Danten, the Milan-based collaborative project, Plās Collective (Plās for short), believes we can learn an abundance from our fungi friends.

Weaving together fashion, art and design practices, Plās has assembled an ecosystem of creatives who endeavour to concoct a more holistic and sustainable scene. Danten’s foundational concept for the fashion-focused project was to offer limited-edition garments and design collectables. Since its inception, Plās has already presented two of its capsule collections, Mycelia and Spring Decadence, at Milan Fashion Week SS24 and FW25.

Although Plās’s team and production are rooted in Italy’s fashion capital, Founder and Creative Director Danten considers the world their oyster. On 29 March, they hosted their first New York pop-up at Café Forgot and are working on activations in Tokyo and São Paulo.

Danten’s vision for Plās mirrors her peripatetic nature. Born in Uruguay, she relocated to New York to study Fashion Design at Parsons School of Design. Shortly after, she made her way to Europe. After receiving her MA in Fashion, Experience and Design Management at SDA Bocconi, she decided to stay and set up base in Milan. For now…

Danten told us: “After working between cities, I landed in Milan for a short-term opportunity. I quickly realised it offered a strong infrastructure for design and production, as well as a slower pace that aligned with how I wanted to build my own project. It also makes for an excellent base to travel from — whether for sourcing, collaboration, or activating projects internationally.”

Following Plās’s first pop-up across the pond, we caught up with the founder and creative director to learn more about the collective, their latest campaign and mushroom-inspired collection, Mycelia.

To get started, how exactly did the collective come into existence?

Plās functions as a collaborative platform, where each collection is developed through partnerships with different artists, designers, and studios. The project began as a means to create clothing and objects through a more collective, open-ended process, rather than the traditional fashion brand structure.

What are the core values of Plās?

Plās is built around collective creation, material experimentation, and a drive for innovation. Each collection is a result of ongoing conversations and shared research with a wider community of artists, designers, and collaborators. At the same time, we’re committed to working with what already exists – whether repurposing fabrics, using leftover materials, or reinterpreting unused elements like buttons and textiles. The idea is to build a flexible, responsive system rather than a fixed brand, one that can grow and shift depending on who’s involved and what we’re exploring.

Congratulations on hosting your first pop-up in New York! How did your latest venture go?

The trip was really special! We presented our Mycelia collection and launched a promotional campaign with an amazing photographer and friend of the collective, Lula Hyers. We have been selling at Café Forgot in Lower Manhattan for over a year, but it was the first time we’ve done a pop-up there. The collaboration had been amazing, so it only made sense to properly connect with and celebrate the community we’ve been building in New York.

For this occasion, we displayed printed images throughout the store, as well as Vinyls, specially created for the campaign. A designer called Natalie Tischler used metal base structures and Plās silk pieces – previously presented during Design and Matter in Paris – and inoculated them with mushrooms to create lamps, which were featured in the store.

Together with the Time Again Bar, we designed drinks inspired by mushrooms for visitors to order. We also designed a window display with 40 metres of tulle (see image below) that we will also use for our next collection. That’s how we do things – in a cyclical way – what is used for set design, is then repurposed into a collection and vice versa.

It was amazing to do something from beginning to end. To see it evolve from a presentation into a final collaboration with a store, as well-known and cool as Café Forgot. It felt super exciting to see how willing everyone was to collaborate and exchange.

ABOVE
Photography – Plās Collective

Besides launching your campaign, you presented limited edition Mycelia garments. Could you tell us more about this fungi-focused collection?

All the knitwear was developed by hand, inspired by the colours and textures of different mushrooms. The set design at the Milan Fashion Week SS24 presentation was fused with real garments. Our prototypes were mostly knitwear pieces, which had been inoculated by Aléa Works, an experimental materiality in Paris, where they grow real mushrooms from garments.

Another part of the collection focused on silk pieces, which are both beautiful and feminine. I like to think of them as the ‘sexiness of the plastic girl’. We also made a selection of 12 pieces to present at Café Forgot, each had a special colour wave in collaboration with the store. The T-shirt we made as part of the collaboration has a baby tee fit and silk tulle finishes, adding a twist and something unique. We also developed accessories, especially for the occasion, all made from deadstock yarn.

Plās prides itself on producing sustainably. How did you ensure this whilst creating Mycelia?

We usually develop our stitches with hand-knitting machines and then translate these into small labs in Italy to create small limited-edition pieces, which work out as one stitch per piece. So there is a lot of work that goes into each item. All materials are sourced locally – deadstock fabrics from luxury companies in Italy. The silks are from Brunello Cucinelli deadstock pieces and the cottons are from Loro Piana.

We envisioned that every garment could be worn four ways. You can dress them up or down, depending on the occasion. I think that reflects the life of the creative community we represent. Creatives might have an office job and a freelance job on the side. They’re travelling through the city on their bikes. When they finish work, they might have to head to a cultural event or even a date. The garments we create can be worn for all of these occasions. The adaptability of the clothing offers buyers the chance to shop less, which helps with living more sustainably.

Is that how you always approach production?

We work in capsules, with all garments made in Italy using locally sourced or repurposed materials. For knitwear, we develop all stitches by hand in-house, which gives us more freedom to experiment. These are then translated into production, either through small-batch manufacturing in local labs or as fully handmade pieces, depending on the design. Our collections are available through select concept stores, pop-ups and our online store.

When mapping out these ‘capsules’, where do you draw inspiration from most?

Inspiration often comes from exchanging ideas within the collective – conversations, shared references, or unexpected materials. I’m also interested in processes that don’t start from fashion – like a piece of writing, a material test, or even something logistical that becomes aesthetic through repetition. Much of the brand’s visual direction evolves from these kinds of intersections.

Are you currently working on any new capsule collections?

At the moment, we’re working on our SS26 collection, which will be presented in Milan this June. The starting point for this capsule is the idea of a romance set in a sci-fi universe, and we’re exploring how that narrative can shape both the clothing and the environment it’s shown. Alongside the collection, we’re developing activations in Tokyo and São Paulo, continuing to build out our presence through formats that allow for local collaborations and immersive experiences around the work.

Where do you picture Plās in the next five years?

In five years, I hope Plās continues to operate as a flexible and independent platform. I don’t necessarily see it scaling in a traditional way, but growing through consistent collaborations, well-crafted capsules, and a strong network of retail and cultural partners. I’d like to establish a physical base — part studio, part archive, and part public space where we can host installations, conversations, and launch new work. The aim is to continue building a project that adapts over time, stays small-scale, and remains rooted in thoughtful production.