The magic of Y-3 is the perfect fusion of Yohji Yamamoto’s avant-garde vision and adidas’ sportswear innovation. It’s for the person who wants forward-thinking, architectural silhouettes that feel both artistic and ready for the street. The brand's signature mix of stealthy monochrome palettes, sculptural sneakers, and futuristic designs has created a lane all its own.
If you're drawn to that high-concept blend of technical sportswear and cutting-edge fashion, you're in the right place. There are plenty of other brands pushing boundaries with similar aesthetics. Here are 19 brands like Y-3 to check out for your next avant-garde streetwear find.
Often called the Lord of Darkness, Rick Owens is essential for anyone who loves dramatic, avant-garde fashion. He’s the master of the oversized silhouette, draped fabrics, and a moody, monochrome palette. Expect high-concept pieces like hoodies that cascade to the floor, uniquely structured leather jackets, and the iconic Geobasket sneakers.
While Y-3 blends its edge with athletic functionality, Rick Owens leans further into a gothic, minimalist aesthetic. It’s less "futuristic sportswear" and more "wearable sculpture," making it the perfect brand when you want to make a truly bold, artful statement. Both brands share a premium price point and a passion for unconventional forms.
Shop now at www.rickowens.eu
Created by the late Virgil Abloh, Off-White defined a generation of luxury streetwear with its industrial motifs, bold diagonal stripes, and signature quotation marks. The brand offers deconstructed hoodies, graphic tees, and wildly popular sneakers that sit squarely at the intersection of high fashion and street culture.
Like Y-3, Off-White brings a conceptual approach to everyday wear. However, while Y-3 is more about futuristic and dark minimalism, Off-White is much more graphic, referential, and instantly recognizable. If you love Y-3's high-fashion credibility but want something louder and more rooted in hype culture, Off-White is the answer.
Shop now at www.off---white.com
Acronym is the final boss of technical apparel. Known for its utilitarian, almost militaristic designs, the brand creates hyper-functional jackets, pants, and accessories packed with innovative features like quick-release zippers and modular systems. Think "techwear ninja" brought to life with impeccable German engineering.
Acronym shares Y-3’s futuristic vibe, but its obsession with function takes precedence over fashion. Where Y-3 provides an artistic take on sportswear, Acronym delivers battlefield-ready gear for the city. If the performance and technical aspects of Y-3 are what draw you in, Acronym turns that dial all the way up.
Shop now at acrnm.com
Vetements burst onto the scene with a rebellious, anti-fashion stance, celebrated for its comically oversized fits, deconstructed elements, and ironic, logo-driven pieces. The brand takes familiar items like bomber jackets and hoodies and completely contorts their proportions into something new and challenging.
Similar to Y-3, Vetements is for the fashion-forward person who isn't afraid to push boundaries. However, Vetements finds its inspiration in grunge and meme culture, preferring an aesthetic that is loud, referential, and a bit jarring. It’s less about a clean, futuristic vision and more about a chaotic, in-your-face dissection of modern fashion.
Shop now at www.vetementswebsite.com
British designer Craig Green is celebrated for his conceptual, sculptural approach to menswear that blurs the line between clothing and art. His collections are famous for their signature strapped and padded workwear jackets, layered constructions, and thoughtful, often emotional design language.
Like Y-3, Green creates innovative, future-facing pieces with a unique point of view. However, his work often leans more into conceptual art and uniform-inspired utility rather than Y-3’s sleek, sportswear-driven modernity. If you admire Y-3's architectural qualities but want something more experimental and texture-focused, Craig Green is a must-see.
Shop now at craig-green.com
Heron Preston’s brand lives at the intersection of luxury, streetwear, and workwear. Known for a utilitarian aesthetic featuring cargo pants, bold graphic tees, and the signature bright orange label, Preston's designs feel grounded and functional. He also incorporates sustainability into his work, often using recycled materials and conscious production methods.
Both Heron Preston and Y-3 deliver a modern, urban look, but Preston’s vibe is more indebted to industrial uniforms and functionality. It has a rugged, street-ready cool that’s a bit less abstract than Y-3's artful expression of sportswear.
Shop now at www.heronpreston.com
Founded by Samuel Ross, A-COLD-WALL* is an "intellectual" streetwear brand inspired by architecture, industrial design, and the British class system. The brand’s aesthetic is clean yet unconventional, featuring asymmetric details, unique fabrications, and a mostly muted color palette. Think hoodies with unusual seam placements and technical outerwear with subtle hardware.
A-COLD-WALL* shares Y-3’s penchant for minimalism and an architectural aesthetic, but with a sharper focus on tactile materials and conceptually dense design. If you appreciate the subtle innovation in Y-3’s pieces, you'll love the thought-provoking details found in every A-C-W* garment.
Shop now at a-cold-wall.com
Nike ACG is the Swoosh's dedicated in-house line for technical, outdoor-inspired streetwear. ACG blends performance-ready fabrics like GORE-TEX with fun, '90s-inspired color palettes and practical designs. It’s function-first clothing built for hiking mountains or navigating rainy city streets in style.
If you're drawn to Y-3 because it merges real athletic performance with fashion, Nike ACG is a fantastic, more accessible alternative. It swaps Y-3's severe monochrome look for brighter colors and a more playful, "gorpcore" sensibility, all while delivering serious technical functionality.
Shop now at www.nike.com/launch/t/acg
Under Demna's direction, Balenciaga has become a leading force in avant-garde luxury streetwear. The brand is famous for pioneering extreme oversized silhouettes, chunky sneakers like the Triple S and Track, and a high-concept, often ironic approach that resonates with hypebeasts and fashion editors alike.
Balenciaga and Y-3 both champion futuristic, oversized aesthetics and premium price points. However, Balenciaga leans far more into mainstream luxury and meme-worthy statement pieces, while Y-3 maintains a tighter focus on the creative synthesis of sport and style.
Shop now at www.balenciaga.com
Maison Margiela is a legendary fashion house built on deconstruction, anonymity, and conceptual art. From its iconic Tabi boots to garments with exposed seams and reworked materials, the brand challenges our ideas of what clothing should be. Its aesthetic is avant-garde, intellectual, and effortlessly cool.
While Y-3 innovation comes from merging two distinct worlds (fashion and sport), Margiela's innovation comes from dissecting fashion itself. Both appeal to a customer who wants more from their clothes than just aesthetics, making Margiela a perfect high-fashion complement to a Y-3 wardrobe.
Shop now at www.maisonmargiela.com
Paco Rabanne built its name on a foundation of space-age futurism, using unconventional materials like metal, plastic, and chainmail to create truly visionary fashion. Today, the brand continues that legacy with bold metallic pieces, sharp tailoring, and a glamorous, high-shine aesthetic.
Paco Rabanne shares Y-3’s forward-thinking vision, but translates it into something much more ostentatious and glamorous. Where Y-3 is subtle, dark, and sporty, Paco Rabanne is bright, metallic, and ready for a futuristic party. It’s perfect for when you want avant-garde with a dose of sparkle.
Shop now at www.pacorabanne.com
Fear of God Essentials, the diffusion line from Jerry Lorenzo, delivers elevated streetwear basics. The focus is on clean silhouettes, oversized fits, high-quality fleece, and a restrained palette of neutral earth tones. It’s all about creating a versatile, luxury-adjacent wardrobe without extravagant logos or complex designs.
Essentials captures the minimalist color palette and relaxed, oversized silhouettes often seen in Y-3’s collections, but strips away the avant-garde experimentation. For a much more accessible price, it’s a brilliant way to get a similar modern shape and high-end feel in a more wearable, everyday format.
Shop now at fearofgod.com
Led by Glenn Martens, Y/Project is known for its highly experimental and often convertible designs. The brand takes streetwear and classic tailoring and twists them into complex, layered creations with extra-long sleeves, intricate ruching, or detachable elements that allow the wearer to customize the look.
Y/Project shares Y-3's love for dramatic silhouette manipulation, but its approach is far more rooted in deconstruction and historical draping than sportswear. If you love how Y-3 experiments with form, Y/Project takes that concept and injects it with a playful, high-fashion edge that invites you to interact with your clothes.
Shop now at www.y-project.com
Instantly recognizable by its compass arm patch, Stone Island is a masterclass in materials innovation. The Italian brand is legendary for its fabric research and development, creating outerwear with unique dyeing techniques, heat-reactive fabrics, and ultra-durable textiles. Its vibe is a mix of tactical utility, sportswear, and men's luxury.
Much like Y-3, Stone Island marries technology with wearable style. However, its core focus is squarely on hardcore textile science and outerwear performance, giving it a more utilitarian and slightly rugged feel compared to Y-3’s high-fashion concepts. It's the ultimate "IYKYK" brand for tech garment fans.
Shop now at www.stoneisland.com
Cav Empt is a Japanese streetwear brand that explores themes of technology and dystopia through its clothing. The designs often feature glitchy, retro-futuristic graphics, utilitarian details, and boxy, slightly oversized fits. It feels like a wardrobe for traversing a cyberpunk cityscape.
Similar to Y-3, C.E offers a strong futuristic point of view. But instead of Y-3's sleek, athletic vision, Cav Empt gives you something moodier and grittier, steeped in internet culture and sci-fi visuals. It’s the perfect brand if your aesthetic is more "cyberpunk hacker" than Y-3’s "fashion spaceship captain."
Shop now at www.cavempt.com
Matthew M. Williams' 1017 ALYX 9SM combines sleek, aggressive tailoring with industrial hardware. The brand is most famous for its signature rollercoaster buckle, which appears on everything from belts to chest rigs and bracelets. The overall aesthetic is a refined, edgy take on modern luxury that blends streetwear sensibilities with sharp design.
ALYX captures a similar dark, futuristic professionalism to Y-3, but distinguishes itself with a focus on hardware and a slightly more formal, industrial edge. It's less about the flow and movement of sportswear and more about structure, clean lines, and utilitarian-luxe details.
Shop now at www.alyxstudio.com
A true fashion visionary, Raf Simons is highly influential for his deep connection to youth subcultures, music, and art. His namesake label is known for its exacting tailoring, slim silhouettes, and powerful use of graphic prints and archival references, creating pieces that are both rebellious and thoughtfully designed.
Both Y-3 and Raf Simons operate at the highest level of conceptual fashion. While Y-3 explores the future through sport, Raf Simons explores it through the lens of youth culture and modern art. If you appreciate the "high-fashion" side of Y-3’s collaboration, Raf Simons' solo work is an essential touchstone.
Shop now at www.rafsimons.com
Boris Bidjan Saberi is an icon of dark, artisanal avant-garde fashion. The Spanish-German designer creates pieces heavily influenced by street and skate culture but filtered through a lens of meticulous tailoring and luxurious, robust materials like horse leather and object-dyed cotton. Asymmetry, long silhouettes, and a sense of rugged romance define the brand.
The aesthetic overlaps with Y-3 in its avant-garde mission and dark color palette, but BBS is raw and organic where Y-3 is technical and sleek. It feels handcrafted and primal, making it a perfect pick for those who love avant-garde forms but want something less attached to sportswear.
Shop now at www.borisbidjansaberi.com
Hailing from Japan, Julius is known for its dystopian and architectural vision. Designer Tatsuro Horikawa creates a post-apocalyptic universe with his clothing, using layered, draped textiles, exaggerated proportions, and a staunchly dark color palette. It’s a beautifully severe aesthetic blending industrial, military, and nomadic influences.
For lovers of Y-3’s darker, more conceptual output, Julius is a natural next step. It ditches the overt sportswear connection in favor of a raw, almost desolate mood, creating powerful silhouettes that feel both protective and deeply artistic.
Shop now at julius-garden.jp
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