Anything officially affiliated with Arthur Ashe is going to be classy. Afterpay DROPSHOP has teamed with the Arthur Ashe lifestyle brand to honor the namesake tennis legend’s legacy with an exclusive collection tied to the US Open.

As a pioneering Black professional tennis player, Ashe became an icon of sports and culture, always pushing for social change and a classy, sophisticated manner. The Arthur Ashe brand is a distinct offshoot of the coveted Rowing Blazers brand.

While previewing the collection, Rowing Blazers’ creative director, and founder, Jack Carlson, told CASSIUS that it was Donald Dell, a veteran sports agent credited with crafting endorsement deals for Stan Smith and Michael Jordan with adidas and Nike respectively, who connected the dots with late tennis legends estate to create the brand.

Not a bad co-sign. And the Arthur Ashe brand has lofty goals — besides advocating for Ashe’s stories legacy — to match.

“France has Lacoste and England has Fred Perry, and whose better to be the standard bearer for the US in that tennis lifestyle world than Arthur Ashe?” Carlson shared. “As well as being a tennis legend, [an] American hero, he was also a very stylish guy as well.”

The Afterpay Dropshop X Arthur Ashe collection itself consists of a t-shirt, cap, and hoodie as well as accessories that include a tennis ball and water bottle. The gear features collegiate-style lettering on the back of the tee and the hoodie includes graphic homages to Ashe’s Grand Slam title wins at Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and the US Open.

“The Arthur Ashe collegiate arch is something that we’ve had in our inline brand,” explains Rowing Blazers art director Karl-Raphael Blanchard. “We initially introduced it when he had a US Open exclusive capsule a couple of years ago. The colorway is where we differentiate from what we’ve [had]. The blue you see ongoing throughout the collection is inspired by the US Open courts…kind of like sun-faded court—you’ll see this paler blue throughout the whole collection.”

The pale blue is also a nod to Ashe’s alma mater, UCLA. The succinct but potently fresh capsule answers the assignment when it comes to the small brand’s ambitions. “Any opportunity to get the story of Arthur Ashe to new audiences, especially to younger people, is cool,” says Carlson.

The new Afterpay Dropshop X Arthur Ashe collection will be available exclusively through HBX.com when checking out via the Afterpay app starting this Friday, September 6.

If you’re in New York, you can preview the collection at the HBX Store at 41 Division Street in Manhattan. Quantities are limited, so don’t half-step if you see something you like.

Check out detailed photos of the collection below.

The post Arthur Ashe Brand Capsule Launching Via Afterpay DROPSHOP For US Open appeared first on Cassius Life.

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