Away announces designer collaboration

Lifestyle brand Away has announced its first designer collaboration.

The collection will be focused on Away’s best selling travel products, with emerging designers Sandy Liang, Tia Adeola and Ji Won Choi reimagining three of the brand’s core silhouettes.

The collaboration is set to be released on October 14, in a limited capsule. The brand plans on making it a multi-year occurrence, bringing artists with a diverse range of backgrounds and aesthetics together.

Jen Rubio, CEO and co-founder of Away, said in a press release that she is “thrilled” to introduce the products to the global community and that “it has been an honor to see how these three astonishingly talented designers infused their personal ethos of style into Away’s streamlined design sensibility.”

The three silhouettes that were redesigned were the Large Everywhere Bag, Front Pocket Backpack and Travel Pouch Set. The designers put their own modern take on the products in order to reflect their own personal point of view. The inspiration behind the products was taken from each designer’s unique experiences with places and people - ultimately anything that helped to form their aesthetic identity.

Designer Sandy Liang said that her floral pattern was inspired by “the playful wanderlust people are feeling towards travel right now” whereas Adeola reflected on “restructuring the representation of female bodies in the 21st century.” Adeola’s piece features multiple colours, tweed accents and pink ruffle and intends to challenge constructs with “statement pieces that are meant for the everyday.”

Choi’s designs are also linked to travel. “I wanted to create something uplifting, bright and sporty - something that could be spotted from far away,” Choi said of her chosen piece. While “mainly inspired by travel” the piece also was prompted by “different cultures, places and people.” Her design is a reimagined Away silhouette in three different shades of bright blue, colour blocked with Choi’s signature white piping.

“This is an exciting start to our annual collaboration,” said Rubio.