Dive Brief:
- Athleticwear brand Champion launched a five-piece collaboration earlier this month with the MoMA Design Store, according to emails sent to Fashion Dive.
- The collection includes a hooded jacket, baseball T-shirt, cardigan, bomber jacket and sweatshirt. Items are available in sizes S to XL and are priced between $45 and $145.
- The collaboration is available in the MoMA Design Store at the museum in New York or through its e-commerce website. The products are currently available while supplies last, but may be restocked based on customer demand, said Alex Glaser, senior product manager of MoMA retail.
Dive Insight:
The MoMA Design Store previously worked with Champion in 2017 as part of the museum’s “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” exhibition. The collection showed more than 100 items of clothing and accessories that impacted the world in the 20th and 21st centuries and included a Champion hooded sweatshirt from the 1980s. The museum credits the brand with creating the modern hoodie in the 1930s.
The designs of the new collection are meant to pay homage to “Champion’s legacy of custom and collegiate apparel,” Glaser said in an email to Fashion Dive.
The MoMA Design Store drew inspiration from Champion’s New York archives as well as from the brand’s custom facilities in Kansas City to understand the label’s heritage and capabilities for future products, Glaser said.
“We were inspired by both the garments themselves — satin bomber jackets, yarn-dyed collars, university cardigans — as well as the approach to graphics that have defined generations of branded apparel,” Glaser said. “We looked to our own heritage as a nearly 100-year-old institution to put our spin on these classic designs.”
Champion was recently sold by its former holding company HanesBrands to Authentic Brands Group. Despite the brand’s deep roots in athletic wear, its financial performance had been weighing on HanesBrands’ earnings. Since acquiring Champion, Authentic named multiple new licensees for the brand earlier this month.
Other fashion brands have recently partnered with museums on gift shop items.
Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also in New York City, collaborated with bag brand Sprayground on a line that drew inspiration from the museum’s collection. The Met also has an ongoing collaboration with retailer Pacsun.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct name of the MoMA Design Store.
