Celebrated for its unique, vaguely shambolic silhouettes and popularity with professional skaters such as Jimmy Gorecki, New York menswear label 18 East has been blazing its own trail these last few years – only stopping to do the odd collab with indie retailers in the mould of Bodega and 3Sixteen (all of whom are powerhouses of North American fashion in their own right).
To that small but stringently curated list of partners, the brand now adds Paterson – German Nieves’s eclectic lifestyle brand that brings together a cocktail of disparate ingredients including sport, street culture, and the weirdly specific joie de vivre of Paterson, New Jersey.
It’s apparent from the new (and surprisingly small) edit of 18 East x Paterson pieces that both brands were interested in exploring a vision of athleticism that reflects the community around tennis on America’s East Coast in the late 80s and early 90s. Put bluntly: lovers of chino shorts and milquetoast sweaters – both pillars of the typical WASP uniform on-court – probably ought to look elsewhere
The capsule consists of an appropriately ‘Murcan red, white, and blue warm-up suit; rugby shirts and player shorts (both screen-printed with motifs inspired by vintage ads for Roland-Garros); and a variety of accessories that should come in handy after a particularly sweaty playoff at the local rec centre.
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And as with every U.S. sportswear label that has been hitting it out of the park in 2022, Paterson and 18 East have opted to model this collab with the aid of an authentic, off-kilter persona – none other than the artist known as DJ Stretch Armstrong.
Born Adrian Bartos, the NYC-based radio host and producer is, as it turns out, an avid tennis player; and can be seen throughout the 18 East x Paterson campaign wearing the ever-lovin’ shite out of the entire capsule. Shot on location in the Bronx, Bartos rallies and serves his way through a medley of looks that celebrate tennis’s appeal beyond the Upper East Side.
The full collection drops on 22 November (EST), and is shoppable via the Paterson webstore using the link below.
