Hot on the heels of its recent collaboration with Brooks Brothers, Levi's is teaming up with another longstanding menswear brand, Filson, for a co-branded range of menswear and bags, WWD reports.
The lineup includes iconic staples from each of the brand's regular collections, remade in the fabric from the other. For example, a Filson-style jacket in classic Levi's denim, or a Levi's jacket in traditional Filson oil-cloth. Everything in the collection, including tote and duffel-style bags, range from $50 to $228, and will be rolled out in stores as well as the brands' online e-commerce sites next week.
Collaborations with time-tested, aka "heritage," brands have been a popular trend of late, specifically in the menswear market. Take J. Crew's recent partnership with Belstaff, Bass, and Timex, for example, or Opening Ceremony's co-branding with Pendleton. Other joint ventures include Band of Outsiders for Sperry Top-Sider, as well as Nom de Guerre for Red Wing and Junya Watanabe for Carhartt. Such alliances have typcially proven to be win-win scenarios in terms of a heritage brand lending authenticity to a newer, up-and-coming label, while at the same time shuffling that particualr heritage brand into a more contemporary marketplace.
In the case of Levis and Filson, both of which have been around since the late-1800s—and both of which have teamed up with younger labels in past collections—the resulting partnership takes the current trend one step further by creating a double-heritage model. It's hard to say, however, if one will cancel out the other, or if the outcome will be doubly-effective.
