Michael B. Jordan and Coach just dropped an anime-inspired fashion line, and it’s great

By Lauren Steele

Coach just dropped its inaugural collaboration with actor, producer, and newly minted fashion designer Michael B. Jordan. The actor was named the fashion company’s first-ever brand ambassador last month, a partnership that includes Jordan’s involvement in ad campaigns, philanthropic projects with the Coach Foundation, and exclusive fashion collections and design projects alongside Coach creative director Stuart Vevers. The first of those collabs, the Coach x MBJ collection, went live today—and it’s not what you’d expect.

 

Michael B. Jordan and Coach just dropped an anime-inspired fashion line, and it’s great | DeviceDaily.com

[Photos: courtesy of Coach]

The collection pays homage to the company’s accessory and leather roots with boots and backpacks constructed in a traditional Coach aesthetic (and complete with vintage logos). But the line’s biggest design nod is toward amine—specifically, the popular manga-series-turned-television-show Naruto, which is now available on Netflix. The Japanese manga series, first published in 1997 when Jordan was 10, was the actor’s favorite anime franchise throughout his childhood. Fast forward more than 20 years and we now have an 18-piece Coach collection full of tees and hoodies sporting anime prints, a steampunk-tinged leather belt bag (aka fanny pack) with Naruto-inspired symbols, and denim jackets with dazzlingly bright graphics. In a statement, Jordan said he wanted the collection to reflect both “my cultural influences and my community,” and to bring new perspectives and voices into fashion.

The exclusive collection (available for a limited run) also includes a 3-in-1 jacket that can be worn as a lined parka, a lightweight shell, or a puffer jacket; a tote bag; and modern utility pants. All designs are unisex and the website has a sizing chart that converts traditional women’s and men’s sizes. The showstopper is a shearling-lined jacket in distressed denim that’s straight out of Killmonger’s museum-visitor wardrobe. The only difference: This version features Naruto protagonist Naruto Uzumaki on the back.

Coach is diving further into comic and manga culture alongside Jordan. The company will have a dedicated Coach experience booth at New York Comic Con later this week—from October 3-6—where it will have special-edition T-shirts available from the collection.

 

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