The Marithé + François Girbaud relaunch has just gone up a gear. The pioneering denim label, fresh from enjoying its first full year back in business, is collaborating with Supreme.
Founded by designers François Girbaud and Marithé Bachellerie in 1972, Marithé + François Girbaud was once the pinnacle of designer denim.
The Parisian brand was the first to pre-wash denim prior to sale, making Girbaud the precursor to all artificially pre-aged denim currently on the market. And its experimental jeans, with space-suit-inspired straps and X-shaped paneling, soon became big in markets worldwide.
In America, the likes of Michael Jordan and Tupac were noted Girbaud fans, while lingering fandom in Korea inspired a domestically licensed Girbaud spinoff.
But Girbaud filed for bankruptcy in 2012 following a mix of mismanagement, overexpansion, and design irrelevance.
This Supreme collaboration is something of a Girbaud greatest hits collection. Honoring its specialist leather line and baggy styles of denim, Supreme x MF+G digs into the venerated archives of Marithé + François Girbaud.
These full denim sets are a reference to the Marithé + François Girbaud X-pocket model that debuted in 1981 and is still sold by sibling line Closed. The pockets, placed lower down the body than in traditional American 5-pocket jeans, cut across an angled seam on the front of the trousers to create an X shape.
While the X-pocket jeans are almost a direct reproduction of a classic M+FG style, its other famous jeans model, the Shuttle Jean, is recreated as a hoodie and sweatpants, revamped with suitably Supreme-flavored branding.
The full Marithé + François Girbaud x Supreme collaboration, which extends to leather outerwear, graphic layering pieces, and even bags, will be released on April 3 (although it will arrive in Asia on April 5).
With Marithé + François Girbaud’s extant popularity among vintage shoppers, a major Supreme cosign is merely the next big step towards reclaiming its former glory.
