In the world of dark avant-garde fashion, where cult names often come with prohibitive price tags, Thom Krom occupies a special place: that of the gateway. Stylised as thom/krom, over fifteen years the German brand has built a minimalist, brutalist vocabulary that speaks the same language as Rick Owens and Boris Bidjan Saberi, yet remains accessible. The result is a total-black wardrobe designed to move from day to night without a change of clothes.

Born in 2009, raised in Berlin

Thom Krom was born in Germany in 2009, founded by designer Thomas Kromik with his partner Ramona Ramsel. Kromik left school at sixteen, worked as a shop assistant and then for years as a buyer and trend scout for a fast-fashion group, travelling between Tokyo, Sydney, New York, London and Paris. At the height of the 2009 crisis he launched the brand at a trade fair, with no distributors and no capital, just the clothes. The first collection, monochrome and oversized, built on technical fabrics with raw edges, found its audience immediately: by 2012 the brand already had more than 200 points of sale. The identity, developed in Germany, is shaped by the nightlife culture and brutalist architecture of Berlin, as the brand's own bio puts it.

The signature: monochrome, raw hems and garment dyeing

The colour universe is monochrome: black, grey, taupe, with a new blue introduced for the cold season. Strip away colour and everything comes down to fabric, cut and construction. The distinctive elements are treated technical fabrics, raw-hem jersey, garment dyeing that makes a piece look lived-in from the first wear, elongated silhouettes with drop-crotch trousers and modular layering, with long tops overlapping the trousers. Precise seams, subtle asymmetries, functional details and one iron rule: no logo. A relaxed fit, designed for layering rather than tightness, inspired by the simple strength of concrete structures.

The mark: dark minimalism made wearable

Thom Krom inhabits the same universe as Rick Owens, Boris Bidjan Saberi and Lost & Found, but at a noticeably lower price, becoming for many the first gateway into dark minimalism. Its achievement is making brutalist minimalism everyday and wearable: clothes that move seamlessly between the club and the office. A steadily growing reference point in the niche, with more than two hundred stockists worldwide.

The Drumcode collaboration

The most curious chapter is the 2019 capsule with Drumcode, Adam Beyer's techno label. Beyer and Kromik met in Ibiza and discovered a shared sensibility for fashion, style and architecture. The result was a unisex, limited-edition line of five pieces in black and grey cotton, presented with a DJ set by Adam Beyer and Ida Engberg at the reVOLVER concept store in Ibiza. Techno music and brutalist minimalism: two worlds that share the same aesthetic of repetition and rigour.

The latest collection: Fall-Winter 2026-27

The Fall-Winter 2026-27 collection, already available online and in stores, carries the brand's identity into the cold months with heavier fabric weights and denser layering. In come knitwear and heavily constructed tech knit, cashmere pieces, weather-resistant waxed denim trousers and the signature balaclavas for total-cold-weather styling. The muted palette of black and grey lights up with a new blue, adding seasonal contrast without betraying its dark soul. Thom Krom does not name its collections: the fabrics do the talking.

A glimpse from the brand's official account:

Where to find it

With over two hundred retailers, Thom Krom can be found in the major fashion capitals: in Berlin at Orimono and mientus, in London at Closet Case (Soho), in Milan and Turin at Antonioli, in Rome at Officine Ferri, in Vienna at Wolfensson, in Tokyo at Gullam and boutiqueW, in Osaka at Loom, in Barcelona at Aleluya, in Oslo at HEVN, in Dubai at Closet Case and in Tel Aviv at INN7. Online, besides the official site, the avant-garde references are SSENSE, Antonioli, Serie Noire and Orimono. A good starting point for anyone who wants to step into dark minimalism without spending a fortune.