Limited Artist Collab for a Dutch Streetwear Brand
A Dutch streetwear brand collaborated with a visual artist to produce 100 limited-edition units — ice-dyed hoodies with flat embroidery and sublimated all-over-print tees — combining multiple decoration techniques in a single small-batch production run at White Cotton's Barcelos facility.
Type
Streetwear Brand
Location
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Size
Growing Brand
The Challenge
The Challenge
The brand was releasing a limited collaboration with a Dutch visual artist and needed a manufacturer willing to produce just 100 units using multiple complex techniques — ice dyeing (which produces unique, one-of-a-kind patterns on every piece), all-over sublimation printing, and embroidery — all in a single production run. Most factories they contacted either refused the small quantity, couldn't handle ice dyeing, or quoted a 16-week timeline that would miss the planned drop date.
Our Approach
Our Solution
White Cotton embraced the creative challenge. We proposed ice-dyeing 50 hoodies in our 440 GSM organic brushed fleece — each one genuinely unique — with the artist's signature embroidered in chain stitch on the back yoke. For the 50 tees, we used full all-over sublimation on a 220 GSM polycotton jersey to reproduce the artist's digital paintings edge-to-edge. Both pieces carried a numbered limited-edition label sewn inside, making each garment collectible.
Step by Step
The Process
Artist Collaboration Setup
Joint briefing call with the brand and artist. The artist provided 4 original digital paintings for the sublimated tees and a hand-lettered signature for the embroidered hoodies. We prepared colour separations and embroidery digitisation.
Ice Dye Development
Developed ice dye recipes in 2 colourways — 'Arctic Blue' (indigo + teal) and 'Volcanic' (rust + black). Produced 10 test pieces to dial in the ice application technique, dye concentration, and wash-off timing. Each piece is unique by nature — no two are alike.
Sublimation Print Preparation
Converted the artist's digital paintings into sublimation-ready files at 300 DPI. Printed transfer paper on wide-format sublimation printers with matched colour profiles. Test-pressed 5 tees to verify colour saturation and registration across seams.
Production & Decoration
Ice-dyed 50 hoodies in small batches of 10 to maintain control. Sublimated 50 tees with edge-to-edge all-over print. Applied chain-stitch embroidery (artist's signature) to the hoodies and woven 'Limited Edition XX/50' labels for both styles.
Collector Packaging
Each piece was individually numbered, photographed (for the NFT/digital twin), wrapped in black tissue paper, and placed in a custom rigid box with the artist's illustration printed on the lid. Included a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Technical Details
Project Specs
Garments
Ice-Dyed Hoodie (440 GSM organic brushed fleece), All-Over Sublimated Tee (220 GSM polycotton)
Fabrics
Organic Brushed Fleece 440 GSM, Polycotton Jersey 220 GSM (50/50)
Techniques
Ice Dyeing (2 colourways), All-Over Sublimation Printing, Chain-Stitch Embroidery, Numbered Limited-Edition Labels
Quantity
100 units (50 hoodies + 50 tees)
Timeline
6 weeks from briefing to delivery
MOQ
25 per style per colourway
Outcomes
Results
- •The entire 100-unit drop sold out in 4 hours at an average price point of €185, generating €18,500 in revenue from a single collaboration
- •Secondary market resale prices reached 2.4x retail within two weeks — the ice-dyed hoodies were especially sought after due to each piece being one-of-a-kind
- •The collaboration generated 340,000 impressions on Instagram and was featured in Highsnobiety's weekly drop roundup
- •The brand committed to a quarterly collab series with White Cotton, with the next drop expanding to 200 units with three additional styles
Client Testimonial
“We pitched this insane idea — one-of-a-kind ice-dyed hoodies with hand-embroidered signatures and sublimated art tees, all in 100 units — and most factories laughed us off the phone. White Cotton said 'let's figure it out' and delivered pieces that looked like gallery art you can wear. The ice dye process is pure magic — every hoodie is literally unique and our customers went mental for it.”
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