Last fall, Swedish fashion label H&M announced an exciting partnership with San Francisco’s own, Heron Preston. The multi-talented renaissance man – skateboarder, DJ, filmmaker, Virgil Abloh confidant – said, in our interview at the time, that he “became bored with what collaborations were becoming.” And this new collection is anything but another name X name collab, but bears the distinct markings of Heron and H&M in every thread, as H2 signifies a fresh approach to sustainability, inclusivity, and creativity.
Interwoven in Preston’s design DNA, the debut collection is a fusion of utility, durability, versatility, and cultural archetypes, offering a uniform cut tailored for contemporary street flair that is equally chic as it is skate-punk, just the way we like it.
The reversible bomber jacket, neon racing-style jerseys, hoodies, and denim jeans transport you to the concrete garden of a late ’90s Manhattan drag race, to a Limp Bizkit mosh-pit where the guy next to you looks an awful lot like any of the bad guys from Blade. And with Christopher Nolan sweeping the Oscar’s last night, as is now known across the internet, one of his favourite films is Tokyo Drift, and we can’t help but see the sartorial parallels in the latest collection.
Rooted in themes of duality and human connection, the campaign showcases the dynamic spirit of H2. Fashion as a force for unity, sparking conversation and envisioning a better future.
“I think the first step at moving away from a typical collaboration is to not call it a collaboration. We are building an ecosystem through a marriage of our brains, not brands. It was bigger than the product even though there is a product element,” Heron Preston said in our interview last fall. “We wanted to go bigger to reveal a new relationship in layers, or several parts. Talent curation, an opportunity created for young designers to receive mentorship and access to creative resources that only H2 can provide, a circular innovation project where we explore a big idea around closing the loop of fashion utilizing new technology and a design advisory role with the H&M men’s design team. Now was the time.”
The collection will be available on April 2, 2024, across UAE, KWT, KSA, and QTR in-store, with online availability in UAE, KWT, and KSA.
