SUGA’S NEXT MOVE: BTS’ Suga is furthering his partnership with the NBA with a recent collaboration.

The K-pop star is teaming with Mitchell & Ness for an apparel collection that celebrates the NBA. Suga was named an NBA ambassador last April and appeared within the NBA Finals campaign. 

Suga’s Mitchell & Ness apparel collection offers T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, shorts and hats highlighting six NBA teams from cities where the musician performed on his recent solo tour. The teams include the Brooklyn Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Recent York Knicks. 

The K-pop star worked closely with the Mitchell & Ness team to design the gathering. He incorporated his Agust D moniker into most of the styles and in addition utilized several motifs inspired by his album, “D-Day,” for the clothing. 

“I’m so excited for the following phase of my relationship with the league with the launch of my very own capsule collection,” Suga said. “As a longtime fan of the NBA and its teams, this collection is incredibly special to me. I look ahead to sharing this with all of you.” 

A release date for the gathering has not been revealed; nonetheless, fans can enroll for early access to the gathering through the NBA’s website.

Suga has long had a presence in the style world due to his eye-catching style each individually and as a part of BTS. Along with his ambassadorship with the NBA, Suga was tapped by Valentino in January as a brand ambassador. In 2021, Suga had his first high-fashion role with Louis Vuitton, which named BTS house ambassadors to work with the late Virgil Abloh. — LAYLA ILCHI

DROP KICK: As France gets able to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Ami is dropping a limited-edition collaboration with French rugby player Antoine Dupont on Monday.

At 26, Dupont, who plays within the scrum-half position, is taken into account certainly one of the world’s top rugby players. As captain of the French national team, he led France’s squad to quite a lot of victories, including winning the Grand Slam on the 2022 Six Nations championship.

For Ami founder and artistic director Alexandre Mattiussi, teaming up with the athlete was a technique to have a good time the sport’s friendly values and spirit. “Rugby is a sport that wholeheartedly mirrors the values of Ami: it advocates friendship and inclusion, respect and solidarity,” he said.

Mattiussi identified that the variety of items within the capsule — nine in total — matched his lucky number and Dupont’s shirt number on the sphere. The tournament is slated to run between Sept. 8 and 28 in various French cities.

Dupont said Mattiussi and the brand had “integrated [him] at the guts of the project, giving the word collaboration its full meaning.

“Rugby brings people together, it unites them, it teaches and encourages solidarity, integrity and loyalty,” said the sportsman, who also stars in a campaign shot by South African photographer Darren Gwynn, a daily collaborator of the French fashion label.

Available in ivory and navy, the Ami Paris x Antoine Dupont capsule will priced between 130 euros for a cap as much as 480 euros for a coach jacket. It is going to be available from Monday on Ami Paris’ e-commerce platform in addition to select points of sale in France, the U.K. and Japan. — LILY TEMPLETON

COX AND KITH: Kith is debuting its fall 2023 collection with the assistance of a famous face.

The style and lifestyle brand has tapped “Succession” actor Brian Cox to be the face of the gathering’s campaign. Cox appears within the campaign in several images, modeling outerwear and tailored pieces from Kith’s fall collection, which is able to hit stores and its website on Friday.

Cox is seen within the campaign modeling at a rustic home wearing pieces like a wool, two-toned varsity jacket, a navy corduroy jacket and a gray pullover designed with the Kith logo and a floral motif, amongst other styles. 

Kith’s fall 2023 collection offers some recent styles, including the Wyona Full-Zip Varsity Sweater that Cox models within the campaign. The gathering also offers recent versions of a few of Kith’s classics, like its Gorman Jacket, Double Weave Boxy Collared Overshirt and Nelson Crewneck.

For accessories, Kith reprised its partnership with Recent Era to bring back the 59fifty and 9fifty caps. The gathering also offers recent styles as a part of Kith’s collaboration with Converse, including an update of the Chuck Taylor All Star 1970.

That is Cox’s first campaign with Kith. The actor is best known for his role in HBO’s hit show “Succession,” which aired its final season earlier this yr. The show was known for popularizing the “quiet luxury” fashion trend that the “Succession” characters, including Cox’s Logan Roy, became known for.  

Kith has worked with several male celebrities for its collection campaigns lately. Last fall, the brand tapped Jerry Seinfeld to front the campaign for its City University of Recent York collection. In February, Kith worked with actor Bryan Cranston to look in its spring 2023 campaign. — L.I.

FOR SALE OR NO?: Rumors are circulating that body care brand Tree Hut is exploring sale options.

Sources told WWD that Tree Hut, the Naterra-owned body and bath care brand that launched in 2002, had reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale, but most recently had halted the method.

Naterra’s chief executive officer, Jon Song, denied the speculation, saying the corporate shouldn’t be on the market. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Tree Hut counts Goal Corp., Ulta Beauty and Walmart amongst its retail partners.

The brand has benefited from virality lately around its Shea Sugar Scrub, a manual body exfoliant that has spawned a sturdy lineup of scented variations, similar to “Cinnamon Dolce” and “Moroccan Rose.”

The hashtag #TreeHut has greater than 1.2 billion views on TikTok, while #TreeHutSugarScrub has greater than 350 million.

Sources said the brand’s net sales passed $200 million last yr, and estimated the valuation to land between $400 million and $1 billion. Song said the business was growing and that those figures were inaccurate, but declined to elaborate further.

Some sources said the method had stalled over a misalignment in valuations, but that the corporate was still a beautiful choice to potential buyers.

It also comes because the deal market shows signs of life. As reported, K18 and Naturium had each also headed to market earlier this yr. In tandem with its bankruptcy proceedings, Amyris can also be exploring sale options for its stable of brands, including skincare brand Biossance and hair care brand JVN. 

On the mass market side, Yellow Wood Partners acquired the Suave brand in North America from Unilever in May. — JAMES MANSO

NEW SIGNING: J.Lindeberg has signed Czech athlete Markéta Vondroušová as its newest brand ambassador. The 24-year-old tennis player is currently ranked number nine on this planet and recently made history by becoming the primary unseeded woman to clinch the Wimbledon title within the Open era.

Vondroušová has signed a multiyear contract with the brand for an undisclosed sum. She is going to make her debut as an envoy on the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, which begins Monday and continues through Sept. 10 in Queens, Recent York.

“We’re so thrilled to welcome Markéta to the J.Lindeberg family,” said Hans-Christian Meyer, chief executive officer of J.Lindeberg, in a press release. “Her tenacity, skill, and groundbreaking achievements on the tennis court perfectly mirror our brand’s commitment to tireless innovation and pushing boundaries. Like J.Lindeberg, Markéta is a real game-changer, making waves and difficult the traditional. Together with her crafty play style and talent to upset expectations, we imagine she is the long run of tennis and fashion, and we’re very excited to embark on this journey together with her.”

“I’m very excited to partner with J.Lindeberg, because it’s a brand that aligns with my core values and we share a vision for breaking recent conventions within the tennis world,” said Vondroušová in a press release. “Their recent collection offers a singular crossover between high-end fashion and athletic performance with a design that’s trendy, stylish and athletic. I can’t wait to introduce their upcoming looks on the courts on the U.S. Open and look ahead to working closely with J.Lindeberg’s designers on upcoming collections.”

Along with signing Vondroušová, J.Lindeberg has been working on growing its retail footprint this yr. In June, the brand opened a summer pop-up shop at Harrods. In August, it arrange a flagship in Copenhagen in an area previously occupied by Burberry. — KRISTOPHER FRASER

MEN’S BOOMS: Menswear at British retailer John Lewis has change into a gentle category that’s growing at its own pace.

Sales have increased by 13 percent for the brand’s in-house labels similar to Anyday, Kin and John Lewis & Partners.

“We’ve got expert product design teams which are intensely focused on fabric, silhouette, print and quality, they usually skillfully balance style and trend to make sure our customers keep coming back for more,” Daniel Bradley, menswear design lead at John Lewis, told WWD.

“While trends hold importance, our approach to design is authentically rooted,” he added, naming London’s cultural scene as an inspiration for the upcoming fall 2023 designs.

A highlight of the season for John Lewis has been knitwear and outerwear, which use natural and ethically sourced fibers, in addition to luxurious merino cashmere blends. 

“The gathering that garners essentially the most attention and is maybe best known to the British customer is our tailoring. With expertly cut pieces featuring a soft shoulder and a higher-rise within the waist, we have now reimagined suits from the bottom as much as prioritize comfort,” Bradley said.

The 2022-23 fiscal yr results showed that John Lewis and Waitrose group sales sat at 12.25 billion kilos, a 2 percent dip from the previous yr. As an entire, the group reported a 78 million pound loss, but the boys’s category soared with a 20 percent year-on-year increase while womenswear sales rose 17 percent.

“The tailoring market is back in a giant way and over the past yr we have now been busy behind the scenes developing an all-new proposition, recent matches, modernized constructions and luxury fabrications with us being certainly one of the one high street retailers to supply Ermenegildo Zegna fabrics inside our suiting,” Kathleen Mitchell, industrial director at John Lewis, told WWD earlier this yr. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED