With the rise of Lululemon, Kate Hudson’s Fabletics and Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, the athleisure trend is here to stay.
Now H&M is claiming their stake in the athleisure game with the launch of a brand new campaign, For Every Victory. The new collection was inspired, developed and tested in collaboration with the Swedish Olympic team in order to achieve the right mixture of edginess and and design chic. The theme, For Every Victory, is a celebration of the “power of personal victories,’’ according to the H&M website.
“This is a collection about performance with great style and the input of the Swedish Olympic team has been invaluable in the creation process,” said Pernilla Wohlfahrt, Design and Creative Director at H&M.
The many faces of the campaign feature the likes of decathlon winner Caitlyn Jenner in her recently revealed true identity, along with her fellow Olympic gold medal winner, gymnast Chelsea Werner, who has never let Down Syndrome define her performance path. It also showcases surfer Mike Coots, who has demonstrated that the ocean waters are still his stomping ground, despite losing his leg in a shark attack and Cuban female boxer Namibia Flores.
A photo posted by Mike Coots (@mikecoots) on
The “For Every Victory’’ collection closely resembles the outfits H&M designed exclusively for the Rio 2016 Swedish Olympic and Paralympic teams.
It primarily features performance T-shirts, running shorts and leggings, as well as sports bras for women. And in order to improve the wearer’s performance by being both breathable and quick drying, the pieces were constructed with technical fabrics from recycled polyesters using colors of sleek black, grey, pale pink and gold.
This season, H&M is proving that everybody can obtain their own personal gold whenever and wherever they want to. Whether you’re a winner to some or a loser to many, the choice to shine like gold is only yours to make.
Written by Tyler Drinnen, MA, Fashion Journalism student at Academy of Art University School of Fashion
