Avel and Alden join forces for online athleisure line

AFTER last year’s successful collaboration with actor Matteo Guidicelli, fashion designer Avel Bacudio is back with another collaboration, this time an “affordable athleisure” line done with actor Alden Richards which is available online.

“We’ve been working on this collection longer than the Avel x Matteo collection. We launched this later because Alden has been so busy,” Mr. Bacudio told BusinessWorld during the launch on Aug. 22 at the Xylo club in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

He said that Alden Richards (whose real name is Richard Faulkerson, Jr.) has been incredibly involved in the process of making the collection.

“From the fabric, the style, everything, he gave his opinions and his approval,” Mr. Bacudio said before adding that due to the actor’s busy schedule — he recently came out in the film Hello, Love, Goodbye, directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina — it took them months of back and forth discussions before completing the collection.

“I’ve always been a fan of Avel Bacudio’s designs. He’s been a good friend of mine for the longest time. As such, I am really psyched to have my very first fashion collaboration with Avel Bacudio,” Mr. Richards was quoted as saying in a release.

AFFORDABLE PRICES
There was also an emphasis on making the clothes “affordable,” with the lowest-priced item, the Bowery shirt, going for P759. The most expensive item is the P1,399 Surrey Men’s Jogging Pants.

Unlike his previous collection with Mr. Guidicelli which focused on jeans, Mr. Bacudio said they decided on creating an athleisure line because it’s Mr. Richard’s style of choice.

“He wants something comfortable yet stylish,” he explained.

The collection will have “40 styles for men and 40 styles for women” and will include pullovers, hoodies, and track pants, among others.

The items come in shades of maroon, gray, navy blue, black, and off-white. The colors are of a special significance to Mr. Bacudio as he said that when he underwent eye surgery a few years back, the first colors he saw were the colors he eventually used in this collection.

“The doctor told me that I was seeing these colors because my eyesight is coming back,” he said.

And in order not to overwhelm the market, Mr. Bacudio said that they will schedule “monthly drops” where a selection from the line will be available online exclusively on the Southeast Asian e-commerce site, Zilingo.

The first items from the line, which dropped the same night as the launch, sold out “in the first 10 minutes of it being live,” said Edryan Lorenzo, PR and influencer marketing manager at Zilingo Philippines, in a statement.

“Zilingo is going to restock in the days to come,” he added.

Mr. Bacudio said that he will have pop-up stores in several Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, as he did for his jeans collection.

Part of the proceeds of this collection will be given to the Northern Luzon Association for the Blind.

“I don’t have a concrete goal of how much I want to go to our beneficiary but my main goal is to provide the children shelter and food,” Mr. Bacudio said.

The Avel x Alden collection is currently available on zilingo.com/en-ph/. — Zsarlene B. Chua