AXEL ARIGATO AND ALVIN ARMSTRONG CELEBRATE COLOR, COMMUNITY AND CREATIVE ENERGY IN NEW COLLABORATION

Marking a continued commitment to connecting contemporary art and fashion, the Axel Arigato x Alvin Armstrong collection bridges the brand’s Scandinavian minimalism with Armstrong’s expressive visual language. Each piece explores color, texture, and motion, translating the artist’s signature brushwork and tonal contrasts into a series of elevated ready-to-wear silhouettes, sneakers and accessories.

The collection marks Armstrong’s first collaboration of this kind, an exploration of how his painting practice can translate into dimensional footwear and ready-to-wear design. Through close, ongoing collaboration with the design teams in London, he applied his artistic language in entirely new ways, embracing the challenges of working beyond his traditional medium of paint and canvas.

COLOR AT ITS HEART

The collection reflects Armstrong’s ongoing dialogue between art and emotion – a conversation that often plays out through his use of color. Ochre, yellow, black, and blue serve as central shades, tones taken directly from his celebrated painting The Listening Skies, which inspired both the collection and its accompanying campaign. Across the collection, Armstrong’s language of movement and expressive mark-making is distilled into sculptural shapes, textural interactions and confident palettes.

“To me, this is really about the color story of the collaboration. That should be our main thread — bold, simple color blocking that enhances the whole experience,” Alvin Armstrong.

Each piece is designed to exist between studio and street, between gesture and garment, a wearable expression of Armstrong’s world. Amongst them are a bold oversized brushback inside-out fleece sweater with vibrant yellow stripes and accentuated frayed sleeves, a reversible chocolate brown fleece with a signature logo-lock up zipper; a 100% silk dress shirt featuring an expressive custom reprographic of The Listening Skies; a white denim workwear co-ord featuring colour-pop button details – and a knitted balaclava that echoes the colours and lines found throughout the collection.

ONE OF ONE

Armstrong celebrates his love of music - and its power to bring communities together - through 100 individual hand-drawn artworks capturing jazz musicians mid-performance. Expressive, painterly and entirely unique, each piece is lovingly hand-stitched onto blank “white canvas” t-shirts, offering the opportunity to own a wearable, one-of-a-kind artwork lovingly and painstakingly created by the artist himself.

INTRODUCING SQUISH

The collaboration also introduces a new Axel Arigato sneaker, the Squish. A sculptural and playful sneaker that reimagines familiar Axel Arigato codes of footwear, it features exaggerated curves and a ‘squished’ gum sole into a tactile upper. Handcrafted in Portugal from premium nubuck and suede, Squish blends craftsmanship with irreverent design, drawing inspiration from skate culture, modern sculpture, and the organic lines to create a distinctive, oversized silhouette that’s equal parts fun and artful. Iterated for this collaboration in black/gum and blue/gum, this sneaker echoes the bold, expressive and gestural lines found throughout Armstrong’s works.

“What struck me most about Alvin’s work is his instinctive use of color, textural depth and his ability to express emotion through simplified forms. We started from one of his archival paintings, but the collaboration quickly became something much deeper, an open exchange that pushed both of us outside our usual ways of creating. Alvin approached every stage with real curiosity, embracing the process of learning about garment-making and design. That shared sense of exploration and honesty is what gives this collection its energy.” Jens Werner - Creative Director, Axel Arigato.

The Axel Arigato x Alvin Armstrong collection launches globally on November 13, 2025. Available at axelarigato.com and select flagship stores. Early sign up is accessible here.

ABOUT ALVIN ARMSTRONG

Alvin Armstrong (b. 1982, San Diego, CA) creates energetic paintings full of movement and bold color. His figurative work often portrays Black subjects in motion, celebrating their grace, strength, and presence.

Growing up in California as well as Japan and Hawaii, where his father was deployed with the Navy, gave Armstrong a wide perspective on identity and culture. This shaped his practice, which draws from historical archives, local communities, and his own lived experiences.

He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.