New York Fashion Week is officially in swing, and everyone from style fiends to star basketball players are celebrating for the sake of new style this season. One person from the latter category who we know is doing it up this week is Cleveland Cavaliers baller J.R. Smith, who we caught up with last night as he kicked off NYFW to debut a collab with NY-based streetwear label Colorxblind.
Taking over the Fancy Store on Bond Street in SoHo, Smith entertained a packed house of friends, fans and press who came through to check out the capsule pieces created in collaboration with his Team Swish store in New Jersey. The capsule features sportswear essentials like tees, hoodies and mesh shorts designed with graphics and typeface prints that relate to J.R.’s grind and dedication to his sport.
For Colorxblind owner Chris Brickley — a guy with impeccable style in addition to being a renowned NBA trainer — the decision to link with J.R. Smith was a no-brainer, telling us exclusively, “J.R was the one who gave me a start with training, and since we’re from the basketball [world] I wanted to keep [the inspiration] in streetwear but still include some basketball shorts.” He continued by breaking down the brand’s origins and key inspiration. See what he had to say below:
“During the police brutality stuff, right before Trump got hired, I just said to myself: ‘What if the whole world was colorblind?’ I went and made [the first] ColorxBlind tee, and within 24 hours Chris Brown, Juelz Santana and Carmelo Anthony were hitting me like, ‘Yo, what is that?!’ After telling them it was a brand I wanted to start, they encouraged me to run with it. My first year in I had Justin Bieber and the Kardashians wearing my stuff.”
— Chris Brickley, Colorxblind
J.R. carries the same sentiments as well, as we chopped it up with the NBA Champion to get his insight into the collab. For him, the style change happened when the NBA started enforcing its strict dress code. “After that, guys really started getting into the higher end of fashion,” he told us during our brief sit-down. He added on, “The change happened in like ’06, so from then to now player style has gone so far. Athletes can now hold events like this with respectable designers showing support and feeling comfortable with us coming in their lane. It’s dope.”
When it comes to the collab itself, we’ll let him explain things in his own words below:
“We always had the street look and street apparel [on lock], but fashion recycles itself in a way so now we’re back. We’re talking the street look that we always had and paying attention to knowing the fabrics, knowing what you’re feeling, and just the different materials in general.”
— J.R. Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers / Team Swish
So, what fall fashion tips can J.R. give us as we approach the most stylish season of the year? “Im a big hoodie guy, so I’ll be rocking those and baggy cargo pants. I can’t wait to layer more than anything — that’s my favorite thing about fall. Anybody can go out there and wear basketball shorts and a T-shirt with some jeans, but in the winter time you really find out who knows what they’re doing.”
The J.R. Smith x Colorxblind collab is available right now online. Take a look at more pics from the event below, which saw D’Angelo Russell, Tim Hardaway Jr, Nigel Sylvester and more familiar faces pop in for the NYFW turn-up:
Images: Jonathan Carmelli
