Fred Perry and Raf Simons are gifting garments from their archive to youth culture around the world

Celebrating ten years of collaborations, Fred Perry and Raf Simons will gift “100 garments from [their] archives to the subcultures of the future”, to thank those that have inspired them. Over the course of six weeks, hand folded, see-through, vacuum-sealed garments will be placed across the globe in areas where youth culture is thriving. The project takes place in the lead up to their autumn 2018 collection release on 20 August.

Documenting this journey are photographers Olya Oleinic and Kyle Weeks, who have “been commissioned to embark on a visual survey of subcultural currents”. Kyle was born in Namibia and is currently based in Cape Town, whilst Olya grew up in Eastern Europe before moving to Amsterdam. The duo’s style is a natural, harmonic blend, with their well-curated images featuring contrasting light, shadow and vibrant colours. Over the course of the next few weeks, they will explore “far horizons”, documenting the birthplaces of future creativity and leaving behind traces of the designers’ works, whilst building up a new body of photography.

Fred Perry has long been associated with British subculture, and the brand’s laurel wreath an instantly recognisable logo. It is a “signature of both individuality and belonging”, from elite sportsmen to the Mods of the 1950’s and the skinheads of the mid-80’s. It makes complete sense that both Fred Perry and Raf Simons have come together, in collaboration with Random Studio, to create this project.

We have been told that “the drops, including coordinates, photo documentation and live videos, will be announced through stories on Fred Perry’s Instagram”. The first drops have been in Athens; the vacuum-packed polo shirt pictured here was dropped in Greece’s capital on 6 July at 18:51, where it was then photographed taped to a faded, crumbling brick wall – the blue and oranges contrasting with the startling black of the top.