Reebok is looking to cash in on a wave of demand for nostalgia-fueled fashion with a new ’80s-themed activewear line.
In collaboration with Polish streetwear label MISBHV, the Boston-based brand created an apparel capsule collection comprising a bra top, cropped T-shirt and bike shorts, a surging style beloved by fashion It girls. Items feature a blend of 72 percent polyamide and 28 percent elastane and are priced between $80-$110.
The bra top and bike shorts come in three colorways—black, cool shadow and puzzled purple—while the tee is offered in black and white. The collection will be available in women’s sizes on Reebok.com and misbhv.com starting Friday.
Reebok and MISBHV have paired the retro-inspired collection with a three-minute-long music and video documentary film that they say doubles as a “celebration of body, modern femininity and empowerment and as a commentary on the current Eastern European socio-political climate.”
The ’80s-meets-modernity collab caps off a busy few months for Reebok, whose pairing with Sequential Brands Group’s Heelys label launched late last week. The “original shoes with wheels” stealth-skates brand added its Heelys wheel technology to 10 “signature” Reebok styles, available in kids’ and men’s sizing ahead of the holiday season.
Reebok, which named rising designer Kerby Jean-Raymond to its creative team, also cozied up to Amazon’s influencer-led platform, The Drop, to leverage social-media style mavens showing consumers how to dress its footwear up and down for day and night. The pairing marked the first time The Drop has worked with a brand in lieu of co-creating limited-time fashion with Instagram influencers.
Meanwhile, fashion has seen a flurry of new nostalgic offerings. New York City-based brand Rowing Blazers recently payed homage to the “early ’80s and a young Princess Diana” in its first-ever women’s collection, recreating several of her most iconic looks, from a “black sheep” sweater to a knitwear jumper proclaiming, “I’m a luxury.”
September saw two activewear labels—Champion Athleticwear and Adidas—introduce their own launches riffing on millennial memories of classic childhood moments. Partnering with cereal king General Mills, Champion introduced a limited-edition capsule collection featuring breakfast favorites Lucky Charms, Wheaties, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios on classic Champion apparel, and also dropped a capsule of slippers and slides with M&Ms earlier this month. Adidas’ contribution to the wave of retro apparel took the shape of a limited-edition Lego sneaker as part of its A-ZX series.
News of the MISBHV collaboration follows reports that Adidas is considering selling Reebok, which it acquired in 2006 for approximately 3.1 billion euros ($3.8 billion).
