Hudson Jeans celebrates its 20-year anniversary this year with three collaboration collections led by Miami Heat point guard Tyler Herro.
Herro, who was the youngest player to start in a NBA Finals game in 2020, teamed with Hudson to design three new jeans fits in seven washes, including a straight-leg fit and stacked skinny style, which he regards as his favorite.
“I’ve collaborated with smaller brands and did some photo shoots but never had the opportunity Hudson gave me to create my own fits and washes and have creative control of the jeans design,” Herro said. The collection is slated to launch in March on the Hudson Jeans website and at Neiman Marcus in Miami and will be supported by digital, outdoor and social media marketing and gifting.
Herro has a bit of a history with the brand as well. “My dad always wore Hudson Jeans,” Herro said. ”I’ve always had an interest and sense in fashion and it always interested me to have my own capsule where I had creative control and Hudson Jeans made the most sense.”
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The Los Angeles-based denim brand connected with Herro to work on a capsule in 2021, and with stylists Brandon Williams and Zoe Costello for two additional collections launching this February and in the fall, respectively.
Suzy Biszantz, Centric Brands’ group president, men’s and women’s, said the collaborations with Herro is a “really important moment for us,” and this collaboration, as well as with Williams, help strengthen the brand’s position in sports, while the capsule with Costello “bring us into focus on music and women’s,” she said.
“We were strategizing about having sports-oriented marketing,” Biszantz added. “We’ve noticed in the last few years there has been a shift in how important that [tunnel] walk in is on men’s style.”
While Herro showcases his style in the tunnel and in post-game interviews, Williams showcases his work via his athlete clients, including New York Knicks star Julius Randle, NBA Champion Marc Gasol and others.
“Brandon thought about those players when he created his styles and named styles after them,” Biszantz said. “I think our brand is aligned already with that shift and influence in men’s fashion being in sport. While we haven’t done a formal collaboration, we’ve been out there and the athletes have been wearing the product.”
Hudson’s parent company, Centric Brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 and exited the proceedings in October 2020 as a private company, effectively reducing its debt by $700 million. Biszantz said her brand focused on management and operations during that year before moving into growth mode last year. In 2021, she said sales were back to 2019 levels, a number she believes could have been even higher.
“We worked with Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom and did solid business for all of our partners,” she said. “Had we been able to get one of these collaborations in 2021 like we wanted it would’ve been great. We pushed the releases out due to the supply chain challenge but it works well with the 20th anniversary.”