Balenciaga Partners With Fortnite On In-Game and IRL Outfits
A limited-run apparel collection will land in stores this week.
Balenciaga has joined forces with Fortnite on a series of in-game outfits and a limited-run physical apparel collection.
Fortnite’s Balenciaga Fit Set amps up the wardrobes of the game’s most popular characters: Ramirez, Knight, Doggo and Banshee. Modeled as digital takes on the brand’s recent runway designs, each outfit is complete with Balenciaga backblings, pickaxes, gliders, wraps and several other accessories for unique styling options.
“We took four fan-favorite Fortnite characters and reached into the Balenciaga archive to create four meticulously detailed outfits and a variety of accessories,” Emily Levy, Senior Manager of Partnerships at Epic Games, told HYPEBEAST. “The looks were inspired by pieces from several Balenciaga collections.” Specifically, Ramirez and Knight draw inspiration from the label’s Fall 2021 collection, Doggo cites the House’s Spring 2021 line and Banshee takes cues from Spring 2020.
“In close collaboration with Balenciaga’s design team, our artists at Epic used new techniques in Unreal Engine to accurately represent the look and feel of Balenciaga’s iconic fabrics, and designs when creating the new set of Outfits in Unreal,” she added.
In tandem with the launch of the digital clothing, Fortnite also launched a community-driven living lookbook campaign inside the game with the Strange Times Featured Hub. Set in a “strange” city, the Hub hosts a Balenciaga retail store inspired by the label’s brick-and-mortar locations. There, billboards boasting sartorial imagery promoting the collaboration will showcase the Fortnite community’s commitment to style.
Taking the partnership one step further, Fortnite and Balenciaga have also crafted a limited-run physical apparel collection, featuring a slew of hats, T-shirts, hoodies and jackets fronting dual branding in white, red and black colorways. The real-life clothing will hit shelves on September 20 and September 21, depending on the region.
“Our partnership with Epic didn’t start with Fortnite, actually,” said Demna Gvasalia, artistic director at Balenciaga, in a statement. “It started with our own first video game, Afterworld, which we built using Unreal Engine to debut our Fall 2021 collection. From there, we have continued to be inspired by the creativity of Unreal and Fortnite communities. It made total sense, to me, that we collaborate further by creating these authentic Balenciaga looks for Fortnite and a new physical Fortnite clothing series for our stores.”
Take a look at the in-game outfits and physical clothing collaborations above.
Elsewhere, take a closer look at Palace’s latest collaboration with EVISU.
