NEW YORK — Scion, the Toyota division whose models appeal to youthful trendsetters, is capitalizing on its following by launching a sportswear line.
The collection, called Release, rolled out last week. It is a unisex urban golf/street line from New York-based designers Blue Davis and Jupiter Desphy 3rd.
“It’s designed to cater to a particular mind-set, the Lower East Side skate/urban person,” said Jeri Yoshizu, Scion’s sales and promotions manager. “It’s not for the person who is a thrift store shopper, but for someone who wants everything new, clean and pressed.”
Davis and Desphy, who won a competition for the chance to design the collection, used their respective backgrounds — creating graphics for publications and packaging — to create the line. Neither had any experience in fashion design.
“From the start, it was a collaboration that allowed it to be more than just promotional merchandise for a car company,” Davis said. “We wanted to put a lot of heart and soul into it.”
Inspirations were derived from the traditional, as in Scottish argyle patterns, to the esoteric, as with the idea of Japanese rock gardens.
“It’s a hip approach to golf gear,” Davis said. “It’s a combination of conservative and street, like the idea of Jay-Z wearing a button-down shirt.”
The collection comprises sweater vests, golf jackets, polo shirts, hoodies, crewneck sweatshirts and pants. Fabrics range from the functional — brushed cotton twill — to high-end cashmere and lambswool. Retail prices run from $65 for a polo shirt to $175 for golf jackets. The color palette was based on car colors, and includes burgundy, powder blue, metallic gray and yellow.
“We used interior construction and piping on pants that you would find on a high-end pant line,” said Davis, adding that the piping was intended to symbolize the interior of a car.
Although the collection initially only is available online at scion.com/releaseline, Yoshizu said distribution might be expanded to include some high-end specialty boutiques.
“Our goal is that Scion continues to represent a certain lifestyle,” she said. “We need to keep doing things that are centered more around the lifestyle aspects of the brand, versus just a shirt with a car or logo on it. The idea is to recognize designers and give them a platform to design their own line.”