- Words Isabelle Cassidy
Palace and Kappa mark their first collaboration by releasing a capsule collection full of 90's nostalgia.
As 90’s nostalgia continues its resurgence, it seems fitting that streetwear favourites Palace would choose Kappa for their latest collaboration. Inspired by the instantly recognisable Kappa designs that were a Britpop and football fan staple, this drop combines the classic Palace branding with vintage fits.
Masters of a big brand collaboration, this year, London-based label Palace’s Spring 2021 collection saw link-ups ranging from Adidas to Alice Cooper. In August, they took over a pub in both Soho, New York, and Soho, London to launch their Palace x Stella Artois collection. November saw them reunite with Evisu for a second collaboration with 00’s inspiration, as they continue to demonstrate the capacity for reworks alongside brands making Gen-Z revivals.
The choice for their latest collaboration is Italian sportswear brand Kappa. Originally a sports-outfitters, the brand has more recently gained a quintessentially retro-feel that can be attributed to appropriation of the iconic sports jacket by 90’s stars such as Damon Albarn and the Spice Girls. To mark the latest release, Palace’s team were invited to Turin to dig through Kappa’s archive. Choosing pieces with immediate recognisable value, the old favourites and striped-sleeve “Maxi Kappa” logos appear throughout the Palace x Kappa collection.
Stand out pieces are the spell-out Palace knit in a blue and black colour-way, and the reinvented Kappa 222 tracksuit with Kappa x Palace co-branded logo piping details. The collection also includes football jerseys and raglan-sleeve tees.
The Kappa x Palace collaboration is set to drop across the UK and US on December 3 at 11am GMT and 11am EDT respectively via the Palace webstore, with a release across Japan and China slated for December 4, as well as via the Palace WeChat channel.
