Last month we saw the Rick Owens tour bus roll into Milan as part of the designer’s collaboration with Moncler. And now we are gearing up for another Owens collaboration, this time coming in the form of a Champion partnership. 

First debuted as part of his SS20 showing in Paris last June, today marks the official launch of the collection, which comprises “stripped-down togas, loincloths and robes,” as Owens explains.

Subtly merging the two brands distinctive aesthetics together, the line-up embraces Owens’ renowned love of modern monochrome pieces with Champion’s classic sportswear style. With other pieces including mesh shorts, bodysuits, trench coats, and hoodies, the campaign imagery shows models wearing the collection along with Owens’ signature boots, captured in a stripped-down black and white shoot.

With items finished off with a reimagined Champion logo, the overall collection comes in a colourway of black and pearl. 

“I remember my older, cooler cousins wearing Champion sweatshirts and shorts in the seventies, cementing that logo in my brain,” Owens says. “When I started my label in the nineties, I hand drew my logo as a cross between the Champion logo and a Jean Patou perfume label... They both had a similar vintage calligraphic flair... I wasn’t conscious of it then, but I see now how that balance has defined my ongoing aesthetic.” 

Going on to explain that it is by ‘serendipity’ that Champion has a factory in Italy close to his own, the designer revealed: “This allows us to produce a fully made in Italy collection in the same region under increasingly environmentally responsible conditions.”

The full collection will be available to purchase online and at Champion and Rick Owens stores from March 12.