Billabong’s first ever global, dual gender collection debuts today, a collaboration between the brand and the art of Andy Warhol.
The collection hits retail floors in key core accounts, aspirational national retailers such as Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters, and at Billabong stores and on its website.
Billabong had already decided to do the collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation, when the design team discovered that Warhol had a fascination with surfing while digging through his archives in New York.
Warhol had a compound in Montauk, NY, where artists and surfers hung out and where he became enthralled with surf culture. He also spent time in San Diego, and made an underground movie about surfing in 1968.
Billabong has incorporated his photographs, drawings and prints into boardshorts, swimwear, tops, tees, accessories and more. In some cases it has combined Warhol’s art with Billabong founder Gordon Merchant’s original designs and silhouettes.
In women’s, Warhol’s vivid sunset prints that blended corals and pink with a turquoise sun caught the eye of Billabong Women’s Creative Director Allison Roberts, who incorporated it into several pieces, including layering it into a floral photo to create a unique yardage print.
Billabong is making a major push for the collection around the world with a coordinated social media and digital push, visual merchandising support for retailers, and a big party tonight in Venice.
We have photos of how the collection will appear in some retail stores and of other imagery in our slide show above.
Plus, here’s a link to the video where Billabong design executives talk about how the project came together.
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