The German designer Dirk Bikkembergs studied at the Royal Acadamy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in Belgium after finishing his A levels. After passing his final exams in 1982, he joined the group “Antwerp Six” together with other Belgian designers. His success story started in 1986 when he introduced his first shoe collection at a British Designer Show in London. The unmistakable style of the shoes rapidly became his trademark. Shortly afterwards he designed a matching fashion line for men, which also included knitwear. Already in 1988 he displayed the complete collection in Paris. In 1993 he expanded his product line with an extensive women's collection and the first jeans collections finally followed in 2000. Dirk Bikkembergs was the first fashion designer to organize fashion shows in soccer stadiums. His sports collection was especially designed to meet the needs of soccer players and has been distributed by their own sports brand since 2003. Between 2003 and 2005 Dirk Bikkembergs was the official supplier of the players from Inter Milan which increased his popularity and reputation. He purchased his own amateur soccer club F.C. Fossombrone, which was later renamed to F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone, in order to test all his products on his players and introduce them on fashion shows later on.
