SLAM x AUTHMADE ‘So I Can Dream’ Collection is OUT NOW!

Jason Vu based the streetwear model Authmade in 2017, and on the time, Vu was not solely occupied with how gamers across the League had been turning the tunnel into the runway, however the trend recreation solely as a complete. Rising up in Sacramento, California, he idolized legends like Michael Jordan and magnificence icons like Allen Iverson, and as a designer, he aspired to create clothes you could possibly truly put on, on daily basis. Not solely that, however clothes that instructed a narrative. 

In any case, AI wasn’t simply rocking daring suits within the tunnel, however in every single place and wherever he went. 

“The factor that impressed me most about him was the best way he had that swag,” says Vu. “What he wore, he launched that trend. When everybody was sporting fits to video games, he was coming in along with his road garments and the armband and all that swag. He was in all probability my first basketball inspiration within the trend realm and he was a killer on the court docket too. I all the time cherished watching him play and the flashy [style]— large inspo, watching him play impressed every part I’m doing in the present day too.”

Whereas Iverson introduced that vitality to his unwavering dedication to the sport, Vu additionally noticed his personal Vietnamese mother and father embody that very same stage of dedication and sacrifice all through his life. It’s one of many many inspirations behind Authmade’s newest collab with SLAM, the ‘So I Can Dream’ Assortment.

The SLAM x AUTHMADE Collection is out now.

“Our assortment with SLAM carries a number of weight for me not solely as a designer, however as a Vietnamese immigrant,” Vu says. “The gathering engages with the ‘immigrant story’ and the way our mother and father and grandparents, those that got here earlier than us, got here to America for us to have the ability to dream. The tagline of the gathering is ‘So I Can Dream.’ From the roles they needed to work, to the various sacrifices they gave to us so we will have a greater life and to have the ability to do what we do in the present day—whether or not you’re employed within the artistic trade or in the event you’re working as a journalist, no matter it’s.”

The ‘So I Can Dream’ assortment captures the essence of the sport with a premium, luxurious really feel and streetwear vibe. Each piece is made with genuine beliefs in thoughts and is all about self-expression: from the basketball paint splatter on the Paint lengthy sleeve to the art work printed on the Classic Pale sweatpants, and the military-inspired patches and insignias featured on the Flight Work jacket.

The gathering could be worn wherever, too—whether or not that’s within the tunnel, courtside on the Golden 1 Heart in Sacramento or throughout the streets of New York and past. 

Vu is a real storyteller and visionary at coronary heart: he obtained into trend in center faculty and highschool and nonetheless attracts a number of inspiration from a number of the streetwear manufacturers and sneakers he wore again then. Along with his model Authmade, it’s all about being “genuine” to your roots and true to who you might be. “I can’t create a model and never be genuine to myself,” Vu says. “Our identify is Authmade, [and] in my very own private model, I attempt to incorporate the streetwear I grew up on with modern-day luxurious touches and kinda merge the aesthetics of redefining the trendy silhouette and kinda simply having that mix into what we’re doing.”

Again in 2017, throughout a time when excessive trend and streetwear had been starting to merge and develop extra fashionable and accessible, licensed trend NBA merchandise had been nonetheless restricted. That’s when Vu and his group noticed a chance at hand with the model. 

“Coming from a smaller metropolis like Sacramento, the place there aren’t a number of assets, alternatives, and platforms for trend, I needed to get actually artistic and strategic. With the NBA being the largest platform in my hometown, the Sacramento Kings, I knew that I needed to enterprise via sportswear as a gateway to the style trade,” Vu defined. “Numerous these different manufacturers got here they usually had the platform. They’d the alternatives to do their mainline and inform their story via that method. We needed to be a bit bit unconventional, being from a smaller metropolis. I believe creating sportswear for a group and going via the NBA to make my mark within the trend trade was the a technique I knew I may do it.”   

As Authmade continues to achieve traction and work straight with the NBA, the ultimate touchdown level is to proceed constructing out their catalog right into a core luxurious mainline. The model’s newest collaboration with SLAM is only the start.

“I’m extremely grateful to SLAM for permitting me to share this story and have the ability to design a set that speaks to everybody, not simply immigrants,” Jason Vu stated. “It doesn’t matter what race you might be, or the place you come from, all of us join via the values of household and everybody who got here earlier than us to assist lay out our basis.” 

The SLAM x Authmade ‘So I Can Dream’ Collection is available now. Shop here.