Through this, Preston was able to explore his life-long love for all things utilitarian, workwear, and military-inspired - he even drives an old Mercedes-Benz G-Class that’s currently being converted to Swiss military spec. “It’s about pushing boundaries, creating new relationships that can tell new stories.” With this off-shoot label, everything from banners used for showroom events to decommissioned parachutes have been repurposed into garments and accessories, all serving to Preston’s point: “What’s happening to that banner? That’s a perfectly great material… We’re actually not doing anything with that and it’s going to stay in storage and collect dust until the end of time, we should bring that back out and cut it up, it’s perfectly good.” I use that as my vehicle to upcycle,” says Preston. “I kicked off a platform at my brand called HP RE-DESIGN, so that’s the arm that recovers materials that would otherwise be in a landfill. “Working with co-creators that reflect the same values enables us to push sustainable luxury design into the future.”Īll of the sustainable efforts made by the designer in the past were picked up on by Mercedes-Benz. “Heron’s unique take on sustainability, the way he approaches the topic through the lens of culture, is what made him an outstanding partner to work with on this outstanding project for Mercedes-Benz,” says Bettina Fetzer, Vice-President of Communications and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz. So when they reached out to me I was like, ‘Dude, hell yeah! Mercedes-Benz wants to do something core to my brand’.”įrom there, the stars began to align, as he started to learn more about the airbag’s history, sustainability in the automotive industry, and even that “the color orange relates to crash tests, so there was so much synergy.” “I drive a Mercedes, the brand is so iconic within culture, I do upcycling. “It felt right from the start,” says Preston. The two have come together to not only celebrate the airbag, but to utilize deployed airbags to create an upcycled one-off collection while positioning it alongside Mercedes-Benz’s new eco-friendly electric and hybrid cars. Likewise, while Heron Preston was lumped in with a wave of elevated streetwear brands, today the focus is on sustainability more than ever, taking what he learned from his collaboration with the New York Department of Sanitation and his “JUMP” capsule to form a new era of fashion. “When I was getting introduced to this space, it wasn’t that cool, it wasn’t that sexy, it wasn’t speaking to us.” I drive one myself,” explains Preston, speaking exclusively to HYPEBEAST about this collaboration with Mercedes-Benz.īut while Mercedes-Benz’s vast history has catered to everyone from Sophia Loren (who owned a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing no less) and Elvis Presley (who drove a 600 Pullman), to newer names such as Travis Scott (who owns rare Brabus and Maybach pieces from Mercedes-Benz’s family), it’s no longer status symbols that drive the brand, but eco-consciousness, as per its new range of EQ models. You may have to select a menu option or click a button.“As a fan of culture, I think Mercedes-Benz has always been relevant within culture, sports, music, entertainment, Hollywood my favorite rappers were driving them when I was young and they still drive them today.
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