Bode is an American luxury fashion brand known for transforming antique and traditional textiles into contemporary clothing.
Last updated August 24, 2026
AI crawler reads
2requests
1companies- Anthropic2
- Profile
- 2
- Controversies
- 0
- JSON · MD
- 0
- First read
- Nov 4, 2026
- Latest read
- Nov 4, 2026
From this site's server log
Overview
Bode is an American luxury fashion company founded in 2016 by designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla. The brand was established around the idea that clothing can function as a form of cultural memory: its garments often incorporate antique quilts, household textiles, embroidered fabrics, blankets, and other historically meaningful materials. Rather than treating vintage textiles simply as decorative inputs, Bode uses them as the basis for garments that preserve traces of their previous lives while giving them a new role in modern dress. The company initially focused on menswear and became associated with a highly distinctive approach to construction. Its collections combine tailoring and relaxed sportswear shapes with techniques such as quilting, patchwork, appliqué, mending, sashiko, and boro. These methods can leave irregularities, visible repairs, faded colors, and evidence of handwork intact. The result is clothing that sits between fashion, craft, textile conservation, and storytelling. Some pieces are made from antique materials, while others use newly produced textiles made according to traditional techniques. Bode formally launched in 2016 with a collection composed entirely of antique textiles. Its early work helped establish a new vocabulary for luxury menswear, emphasizing provenance, material history, and craftsmanship instead of conventional notions of pristine finish or seasonal novelty. The brand also became notable through its relationship with New York’s menswear fashion calendar. Emily Adams Bode Aujla was the first female designer to present at New York Fashion Week: Men’s, an event dedicated to menswear shows. The brand opened its first retail store in 2019, moving beyond a primarily fashion-week and wholesale presence into a direct retail environment. Its New York office and retail operations are associated with 161 Water Street. Bode’s recognition grew through industry awards and inclusion in fashion-industry rankings, including finalist status for the 2019 LVMH Prize, the CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year award, inclusion in the Business of Fashion 500 and Forbes 30 Under 30, and GQ’s Breakthrough Designer of the Year recognition. In 2020, Bode received the Woolmark Prize Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation. The brand subsequently received the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year award in both 2021 and 2022, as well as the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Emerging Designer in 2022. In 2023, Bode expanded into womenswear for the first time. This broadened the company’s product scope while retaining its core interest in historical textiles, artisanal construction, and narrative design. Bode’s positioning is consequently built around limited-feeling, craft-intensive luxury: garments are differentiated by material history and technique as much as by silhouette. The company remains best known for menswear, but its womenswear expansion indicates an effort to develop the brand into a broader fashion house without abandoning its textile-centered identity.
History
Bode was founded in 2016 by Emily Adams Bode Aujla as an American fashion brand centered on the reuse and preservation of historically significant textiles. Its first collection consisted entirely of antique textiles, establishing the principle that garments could carry stories through their materials as well as through their design. This approach distinguished Bode from conventional luxury labels that typically rely on newly manufactured fabrics and highly standardized finishes. The brand’s early identity developed through menswear. Bode translated domestic and artisanal textile traditions into contemporary clothing, including jackets, shirts, trousers, tailoring, and outerwear. Antique quilts, blankets, embroidered fabrics, and other household materials were incorporated into new garments. In some cases, the age, wear, fading, and irregularity of the source textile remain visible, making each piece a record of both its original use and its transformation into fashion. Bode’s construction language draws on several historical and craft practices. Quilting, patchwork, appliqué, mending, sashiko, and boro are used to create texture and reinforce the relationship between repair and design. The brand also works with newly produced textiles made through traditional methods, allowing it to extend its aesthetic beyond the finite supply of antique materials. This combination of reuse and new craft production has enabled Bode to build a recognizable design system around material history rather than a single silhouette. The company gained visibility through fashion-week presentations and industry recognition. Emily Adams Bode Aujla became the first female designer to show at New York Fashion Week: Men’s, a milestone that underscored both her role in shaping the brand and Bode’s place within the development of contemporary American menswear. In 2019, the company opened its first retail store, creating a physical setting for its textile-focused collections and giving customers a more direct relationship with the brand. Bode received substantial recognition between 2019 and 2022. In 2019, it was a finalist for the LVMH Prize and was associated with the CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year award, Business of Fashion 500, Forbes 30 Under 30, and GQ’s Breakthrough Designer of the Year recognition. In 2020, the brand received the Woolmark Prize Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation. The CFDA named Bode Menswear Designer of the Year in both 2021 and 2022, and Cooper Hewitt recognized it with the 2022 National Design Award for Emerging Designer. In 2023, Bode introduced its first womenswear line. The move expanded the brand’s commercial and creative scope while preserving its core interest in historical textiles, handwork, and narrative construction. Bode’s development therefore traces a progression from an experimental antique-textile menswear label to a broader luxury fashion company. Its central proposition remains consistent: clothing can preserve memory, make craft visible, and connect contemporary fashion with earlier domestic and cultural traditions.
- 2023
First womenswear line launches
[1]Bode expands into womenswear while continuing to use historical techniques and textile-centered design.
- 2022
Receives further major design recognition
[1]Bode receives the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year award for a second consecutive listed year and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Emerging Designer.
- 2021
Wins CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year
[1]The Council of Fashion Designers of America recognizes Bode with its Menswear Designer of the Year award.
- 2020
Receives the Woolmark Prize Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation
[1]Bode is recognized by the Woolmark Prize with the Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation.
- 2019
First retail store opens
[1]Bode opens its first retail store, marking an expansion from fashion presentations and wholesale activity into a direct retail model.
- 2016
Bode is founded and formally launched
[1]Emily Adams Bode Aujla establishes Bode with a debut collection made entirely from antique textiles, positioning the company around preservation, storytelling, and contemporary American menswear.
Products and positioning
A craft-led American luxury fashion brand combining archival and newly made traditional textiles with contemporary menswear and womenswear. Bode emphasizes textile provenance, visible handwork, repair, preservation, and personal or cultural storytelling.
Luxury apparel · 2016
Antique-textile garments
Bode’s signature garments repurpose antique quilts, blankets, embroidered fabrics, and other historical textiles into contemporary clothing. The source materials are treated as carriers of memory and provenance rather than anonymous fabric. Wear, fading, irregular pattern placement, and evidence of previous use may remain visible, making the finished garments materially distinct and closely tied to the histories of the textiles from which they are made.
Luxury menswear · 2016
Menswear
Menswear is Bode’s foundational category. Collections combine relaxed and tailored shapes with quilting, patchwork, appliqué, visible mending, sashiko, and boro-influenced construction. The offering has included jackets, overshirts, shirts, trousers, outerwear, and other pieces that translate domestic and traditional textile practices into modern dress. The emphasis is on craft, narrative material, and individuality rather than uniform industrial finish.
Luxury womenswear · 2023
Womenswear
Bode introduced its first womenswear line in 2023. The category extends the brand’s textile-led approach to women’s clothing, applying its interest in antique materials, traditional techniques, patchwork, quilting, and repair to a broader range of contemporary fashion silhouettes.
Textile-based apparel
Newly made traditional textiles
Alongside antique materials, Bode uses newly made textiles produced through traditional techniques. This allows the brand to work with craft practices and visual languages associated with historical textiles without relying exclusively on an inherently limited supply of vintage source material.
Brand decisions
2023
Expand into womenswearProduct launchBackground
Bode had been primarily identified with menswear since its 2016 launch.
Action taken
The brand launched its first womenswear line while retaining its focus on historical and traditionally made textiles.
Aftermath
The launch expanded Bode’s product scope beyond its established menswear foundation.
2019
Move into direct retailStrategyBackground
After establishing the brand through its collections and fashion-industry presence, Bode opened its first retail store.
Action taken
The company added a physical retail channel, giving customers direct access to its textile-centered collections.
Aftermath
The move broadened Bode’s consumer-facing presence and supported the development of the brand as a retail fashion business.
Recent events
Reported
Bode partners with Microsoft on digital quilt archive[2]
Bode and Microsoft partnered on the Bode Vault, a custom AI-powered platform for cataloguing quilts, patterns and related historical information. The designer celebrated the partnership the night before the article was published.
Reported
Bode opens New York store[3]
Bode opened its new store on Hester Street in New York; guests gathered there on Monday evening.
Weekdays and relative dates follow the original report; their exact calendar dates have not been verified.
Sources4 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/bode · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled