Another week, another collab. But we were actually quite excited about the mash up between an old English heritage brand (The Editors’ note: no, not Burberry… the other one) and Swedish streetwear brand Axel Arigato. Sometimes these things really work!
Mulberry has tried to capture a younger audience over the past years, but still, it’s insanely popular with… well let’s not dive into it, but… it’s the sort of thing your mum aspires to. The Alexa bag certainly became an ‘It’ for a while but the ever changing design team has struggled to make the ready-to-wear relevant. So the idea of tapping into Axel Arigato’s youthful credibility was quite intriguing. The collaboration launched online today and, to be honest, is a little underwhelming.
The clothing for the most part seems an exercise in branding with Axel’s ‘A’ appearing next to Mulberry’s tree logo. This works well on a sweater but looks very contrived on the knees of a jean. It’s left – once again – for the bags to do the heavy lifting and in reality that’s probably where the money is. A zoomer green version of the Westbourne is grown up but funky (if hardly new) leaving the oversized tote bag in mock croc to be the real (and, for most Axel Arigato customers, unaffordable) star of the “drop”.
