NEW BALANCE X J.CREW
Finally jumping into the activewear market — and with a sports performance partner to add some credibility — is J.Crew in collaboration with New Balance. Designed for running, spinning, yoga, boxing and more, and styled with that quintessential J.Crew chic preppy style, the New Balance x J. Crew women’s active collection seeks to be activewear you can actually be active in, besides running errands and wearing to lunch with friends.
Many have wondered what took J.Crew so long to get in the game. J.Crew CEO, Millard “Mickey” Drexler, had been quoted saying they planned to sit out the athletic trend, realizing they did not have the expertise to create sports apparel. Partnering with one of the pre-eminent sport brands, New Balance, whose sneakers J.Crew has been selling since 2005, has solved that problem. As Drexler explained in WWD, “We did not have the expertise to do this alone. We have style sense and quality sense. But we didn’t have the technical sense in getting it done. It’s really important for us to do it — and to do it right.”
To show this is performance activewear, the collection is being modeled on real athletes and fitness personalities that include Gracie Cavalho, Muay Thai Boxer; Taryn Toomey, founder of “The Class”; Taye Johnson, a SoulCycle instructor; and Rachael Wang, an editor and runner. The New Balance x J. Crew collection goes on sale Tuesday, October 11 with 20 styles that include women’s sneakers, leggings, shorts, sports bras, tanks, short and long sleeved tops, jackets and pullovers, with plans to expand into men’s this spring. The collection will be sold both online and in 35 J.Crew stores in the U.S., as well as London and Toronto.
