BANANA REPUBLIC DEBUTS MENSWEAR COLLECTION WITH PRO BASKETBALL PLAYER KEVIN LOVE
Banana Republic and pro basketball player Kevin Love have introduced the BR/K.LOVE-18 collection – a limited-edition men’s capsule inspired by Banana Republic’s heritage of utility and reflective of Love’s personal style. The capsule is grounded in performance, tailoring and classic American sportswear and marks the first time Love and Banana Republic have designed collaboratively.
To introduce the collection, Love stars in a unique advertising campaign, “Who is Kevin Love?,” where his exceptionally talented friends – including the creative tour de force and drummer for The Roots, Questlove; Olympic athlete and gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn; and award-winning chef and restaurateur, Marcus Samuelsson – recount larger-than-life adventures shared together on voicemails left for Love. This tongue-in-cheek digital campaign, developed in partnership with R/GA Portland, debuts today, coinciding with the collection’s in-store drop.
“I’m proud of the BR/K.LOVE-18 collection Banana Republic and I created together,” said Love. “I was inspired by Banana Republic’s utility heritage, premium quality and tailored performance sportswear staples, and we combined those with nods to my Portland roots, which make this capsule my own and truly reflect my personal style. I’m excited for our fans to experience it all.”
“To launch BR/K.LOVE-18, we wanted to showcase Kevin’s off-court talents through a series of exaggerated, entertaining stories that reveal all the dimensions of Kevin Love, including co-designing a collection for Banana Republic,” added Banana Republic chief marketing officer Mary Alderete. “This digitally disruptive campaign takes Kevin’s persona to the next level through larger-than-life adventures where Love out-chefs James Beard award winner Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster, leaves gold medal winning Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn in his snow-covered dust, and mixes beats that perplex even master producer and drummer of The Roots, Questlove. Kevin’s exceptional achievements are all, of course, executed with impeccable style in the clothing from his design collaboration.”
The BR/K.LOVE-18 collection retails from $14.50 (accessories) – $548.00 (leather biker jacket) and includes timeless pieces infused with tailored performance, including a varsity jacket, motion-stretch suit separates, fitted corduroy trousers, refined topcoats, cozy sweaters, classic accessories and camo detailing. The collection is now available in select U.S. stores and on bananarepublic.com.
