Time does indeed fly as New Era celebrates 11 iconic years as the country’s go-to headwear names. For this celebration, they’ve pulled out all the stops by collaborating with four local visual artists that have each made their names with their craft and unique characters using their respective artworks.
Its history as a cap brand acts beyond just a platform to cop your favorite sports teams or brands, but each cap serves as extensions of personalities for however its wearers would like to express themselves. You can also see this as a one-to-one reflection with how artists view their own craft. That’s why this NEW ERA CO11ECTION is a perfect platform to act as a canvas for these artists’ works.
The artists in question: Raco Ruiz, Jethro Olba, Lei Melendres, and Nicolo Nimor. Each embodies a certain value of New Era as a brand, which they’ve then interpreted with its current collection. There’s a certain mix and match feel with their styles, but also feels cohesive enough to make it make sense.
Jethro Olba and Nicolo Nimor may be better known for their works as Antibiotic Smile and Nick Automatic respectively, yet this collection feels more of a celebration of them as individuals and how their authenticity bleeds through no matter which work or canvas their art touches.
Raco Ruiz interprets a playful take on pride, being proud of his vibrant work and the confidence to charge head on with whatever creative endeavor an artist may find themselves at. Lastly, Lei Melendres champions collaboration which speaks to his personal growth as an artist, as working with fellow creatives allowed for him to figure out the best ways to express himself through his intergalactic-coded works.
Having launched last week on July 14th at Uptown BGC, the collection consists of three signature New Era headgear pieces and a special graphic tee with all of their illustrations interplaying with one another on top of a blind pack of an illustration card from one of the four featured artists. The red 59FIFTY features the artists’ embroidered work with interchangeable enamel pins which acts as a statement piece that’s akin to what New Era usually puts out, while the navy blue 9TWENTY baseball cap offers mall subtle way to wear the pieces of art on a daily stroll. Our favorite though would have to be the green Camper that features velcro patches which you could interchange depending on which artists’ work you’d like displayed on top of your head at any given moment.
It’s always a big deal when local artists get to work with international brands for a collaborative drop. And New Era continues to be one of those brands that entrusts the creative community in the PH to set the standard for how far these artists may go. How far that is, we may never know the limit.
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