Today marks the official launch of Edition01’s design collaboration between the NY Mets and the CFDA!

We asked designers Billy Reid, Yigal Azrouel, Loomstate and Shipley & Halmos to tell us about the process of designing the special limited edition pieces for the collection, and to share some of their inspiration images and sketches with us.

(SHOP THE COLLECTION HERE)

~ BILLY REID ~

- What drew you to this project? -
I’m a huge baseball fan, and I help coach my son’s little league team. It is an honor to be working with the Mets and The CFDA.

Billy with his son

- Do you have any fun baseball memories? -
Oh yes. Going to see Pete Rose and Johnny Bench play in the Houston Astrodome during the days of the Big Red Machine. We stayed in the same hotel as the teams and got to meet several of them.

- How was your approach to this project different compared to other menswear collections you’ve worked on? -
I wanted to think of it from a fan’s perspective and I like a more simple design when using logos and graphics. We wanted to use the the early Mets logos as our starting point - Big fan of the high socks!

- What influenced your design? -
My son’s little league team was named the Met’s this year, and in spring it’s chilly on the field. I wanted to have a light jacket to wear, so I started from that point of view.

- What role, if any, do you think fashion plays in sports? -
I think the two influence each other quite well. Almost every American has at least one piece of clothing from their favorite team, so it’s a part of our culture today. Personal tastes widely vary, so that to me is where fashion is being expressed with sports and vice versa.

~ YIGAL AZROUEL ~

- You’ve created some beautiful women’s collections for Edition01 before, and this project is quite different. How did you approach this project? -
I approached this project with the same design process that I do my men’s and women’s collections. I didn’t want to be confined to designing for only sports fans so I really had to think about what my customers would also want to see as well. The piece really combines my signature techniques with the iconic Mets uniform.

- What images and ideas served as your inspiration on this project? -
I wanted to reinterpret an old school baseball jersey to give it a more fresh and modern feel. I infused a lot of my namesake design techniques into the sport’s top.

- What role, if any, do you think fashion plays in sports? -
People sometimes forget that fashion is an integral part in designing a uniform. A lot of thought really goes into all creative components of the design. Fashion is an industry that works to create a community based on a shared aesthetic or interest, and I think that fashion can be translated to sports in this way. A support system of fans is really created by all the people wearing a similar garment.

~ SCOTT HAHN & ROGAN GREGORY for LOOMSTATE ~

- What drew you to this project? -
The opportunity to design for NY Mets fans, in honor of the NY Mets anniversary and on behalf of the CFDA, and certainly the cultural relevance of baseball and the opportunity to express community and recreation through our brand aesthetic.

- How was your approach to this project different compared to other collaborations you’ve worked on? -
The design approach was similar to how we approach our collections, with the added excitement of working with the Mets and CFDA. Who are we designing for? How do we help them to look and feel better? What materials are most appropriate to achieve the highest quality? Would both fans and players wear these items?

- What images and ideas served as your inspiration on this project? -
The Mets colors and logos were the most relevant inspiration to us. We really enjoyed working within the framework of the Mets identity and culture.

- How did the Loomstate design aesthetic come into play in this particular project? -
Always committed to our sustainable design process and materials/organic cotton/recycled fiber, we stayed focused on our use of color through blocks and stripes. We needed to be sure that the end product looked both thoughtful and casual, appealing to design critics and fans alike.

- Any fun baseball memories you can share? -
Without a doubt, game six of the 1986 World Series, when all was lost and then euphoria erupted!

~ SHIPLEY & HALMOS ~

- What drew you to this project? -
Jeff Halmos: Unfortunately, neither of us [Jeff and co-founder of Shipley & Halmos, Sam Shipley] are huge baseball fans. More basketball and football kinda guys. Putting our personal sporting preferences aside, a great charity-based initiative involving the CFDA (an organization we’re both active in) is hard to pass up. Not to mention the fact that Mr. Met is a badass!

- What would your dream sports/fashion project be? -
JH: Team USA basketball wardrobe and uniforms.

- Your design of a Mets product shapes the team’s image with its fans. Is this something that you considered in the design process or is it something that follows? -
JH: Absolutely. We got really excited when we were presented with all the official Mets logos and graphics. In many ways, these are what the fans relate to. Players change, but the Mets brand stays true to its roots. We wanted to design a product in line with that idea.

- Was your approach to this project different compared to other collaborations you’ve worked on? -
JH: Not really. Like any collaboration, we try to find synergies between the brands and design along those lines. And as always, try to have some fun with it!

Shop the CFDA x NY Mets for Edition01 collection here.