An online charitable auction and retail merchandise will be used to choose the final designs.
At the age of 41, the designer died of cardiac angiosarcoma after founding the Off-White label and serving as men's artistic director at Louis Vuitton. Abloh was a multi-talented artist who excelled in a variety of genres outside of fashion, including automotive design with Mercedes-Benz, home decor with Ikea, and water bottles with Evian, to name a few.
Burton was another brand with which he had worked at various times throughout his career. Abloh, who grew up snowboarding in Illinois, was well-versed in the sport's dynamics and culture. He initially went to Burton's headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, in 2017 to collect ideas for collaborative performance-oriented women's clothing with Burton and his Off-White label. Abloh and Burton executives reconnected at the end of 2020 about the prospect of working together again on collaborative products.
The Virgil Abloh "Post-Modern" Scholarship Fund will digitally auction 10 rare snowboards from the upcoming Burton c/o Virgil Abloh collection on March 15. Burton wants to give back to the community and generate money for the scholarship fund after Abloh's death in November.
To guarantee that the cooperation added value and stood for something, Abloh created a manifesto. "PRODUCT THAT BY ITS EXISTENCE NOT ONLY STANDS AS EVIDENCE FOR THE EVOLUTION OF A SUBCULTURE AND SPORT BUT BECOMES AN ARTIFACT THAT PROVES THAT DIVERSITY WITHIN SNOWBOARDING IS NOT ONLY AN IDEA, IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING, CARE OF BURTON and VIRGIL ABLOH.”
As a mark of respect for Abloh's life and legacy, Burton will donate more than $300,000 from its philanthropic program over the next three years to causes that increase representation for people of color in the snowboarding community.
Burton's e-commerce site will launch a limited-edition collection of snowboards, boots, and bindings designed by Abloh on March 22. Prices will range from $490 to $1,000 at retail.A new collection of Virgil Abloh's designs was just unveiled. Off-White debuted the final collection made by Abloh before his death with the help of Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber, Bella Hadid, and other well-known designers at the commencement of Paris Fashion Week last week.
Burton's chief creative officer Adrien Josef Margelist, who has worked with Abloh for 18 months, said Monday that both sides wanted to build something much bigger from the start, and the manifesto "proves that diversity in snowboarding is not only a theory, but it is actually happening.
Margelist noted that Abloh was instrumental in altering the board sports community to be more diverse and inclusive, which is something Burton as a business appreciates and intends to continue. The company seeks to celebrate Abloh and his spirit with the full backing of Abloh's family and close circle, he added.
Margelist described Abloh as "wonderful" to work with and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity. The two had similar ideas, having grown up in creative circumstances, and had snowboarded during the sport's early days of popularity. "He was nothing short of a creative genius." It was incredible to spend the weekend with him and work with him, including physically working with him in Paris.
"He was open to everything and anything," Margelist said of Abloh's ability to complete so many projects across several disciplines. He was so humble. He was one of the most modest people I'd ever met. His passions, ideologies, and inquisitive nature provided him with an unending supply of energy. He was moving at a breakneck pace. He was truly inspiring and stunning. Margelist described him as "pure positive energy." "This was his natural state. That was his personality."
