Leah McSweeney, who champions the cause of women’s streetwear through her Married to the Mob label, has said “I do” to a collaboration with K-Swiss headlined by pink camo.
The limited-edition capsule is to debut at ComplexCon in Long Beach, Calif., on Nov. 4. It includes the Aero Trainer, which McSweeney has updated with a pink camo print and a soft pink nylon upper. The shoe, which will also feature McSweeney’s well-known “B*itchisms,” will retail for $65. The assortment will also include apparel covered in Married to the Mob’s bold graphics. After the convention, the line will be available exclusively at Zumiez.
“I chose pink camo to represent my own little personal and professional battle in dealing with the politics and patriarchy of streetwear,” said McSweeney, who has been designing Married to the Mob since 2004. “I felt a responsibility to do this as I know conventions such as ComplexCon are so male-driven and dominated. I felt like I had to rep and give these women a platform to be heard.”
Related Galleries
The campaign for the collection features Leikeli47, a musician from New York who is known for wearing a mask.
“Married to the Mob has always been a voice for young girls like me that didn’t follow the trends and enjoyed the unconventional,” she said. “It’s surreal to have their support, along with K-Swiss.”
McSweeney and Hot 97 radio personality Laura Stylez are to host their popular podcast, Improper Etiquette, at the convention from the K-Swiss x Married to the Mob booth.
“We will be interviewing and highlighting women live from ComplexCon to show how many awesome females are in this community who get overlooked,” McSweeney said.
For the past couple years, K-Swiss has focused on targeting Millennial and Generation Z customers with marketing based on young entrepreneurs such as McSweeney herself, who has recently collaborated with Fila and Penthouse on collections.
“We are involving ourselves in current, culturally significant conversations female entrepreneurs have been having among themselves for some time. We are championing tomorrow’s game-changers,” said Patrick Buchanan, the global marketing director at K-Swiss.