Alpha Industries Taps Pintrill For The Ultimate Flight Jacket To Celebrate Apollo 11 - 5 minutes read


Alpha Industries Taps Pintrill For The Ultimate Flight Jacket To Celebrate Apollo 11

To celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Apollo 11, Alpha Industries teamed up with PINTRILL to create a flight jacket inspired by the first crewed mission to the moon in 1969 and the current space race to Mars. The PINTRILL x Alpha CWU 45/P Space Race Flight Jacket is the ultimate bomber adorned with pins and patches that took design notes from space memorabilia from the 1960s like stamps, posters and merchandise, meant to galvanize hope of a world beyond earth.

Alpha Industries originally started as a contractor for the U.S. Military in 1959 based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and thanks to the brand's unique heritage, it has continued to create authentic and fashionable product especially in the realm of outerwear, inspired by powerful and historic organizations. "An evolving goal of our brand is to continuously align ourselves with partners that pay homage to programs like NASA," Steve Sun, product development manager at Alpha Industries commented. "Alpha Industries was founded with the purpose of outfitting heroes. Like Alpha, NASA's history is intertwined with that of the U.S. Military, and many members of the Army, Air Force and Navy went on to work for NASA as pilots, engineers and technicians. This anniversary of Apollo 11 is particularly meaningful to us because as the moon landing celebrates its 50th anniversary, we celebrate our 60th anniversary this October. The same generation that we outfitted in our first decade of business watched as NASA put the first people on the moon."

The CWU 45/P Flight Jacket is a classic staple piece originally issued to the Air Force and Navy and still used by military pilots today. It's a highly durable, fire-retardant jacket made of Nomex fiber that forges a thermal, chemical and radiation-resistant material. The jacket has a thicker, over-sized fill with ribbed knit cuffs and collar, as well as front zipper closure with storm flaps to ensure the perfect insulation, finished with Alpha's iconic zipper flags that read "Remove Before Flight" and an added "We Come In Peace" flag for this specific style. PINTRILL's collection of pins and patches that embellish the coat take a modern-day approach to space exploration, including plush meteor and moon pins with cartoon-like faces, vintage Columbia and Voss Red patches, propaganda-inspired pins boasting messages like "Tell The Truth About Roswell" and "UFOs Are Real & The Government Knows It", patches that honor Star Wars' famed robot droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, some imaginative designs like Snoopy looking up into the stars and a space-walking astronaut on their race to Mars, among modest crescent moon and NASA logo pins.

Jordan Roschwalb of Pintrill explains, "For this project, it was important for us to not only remember the past, but also look ahead to the future, to continue to push boundaries and explore the unknown. For the patch designs, we drew inspiration from classic NASA poster campaigns created to inspire space travel and peak the curiosity of people. We looked at memorabilia like old children’s tin wind up toys, different concept vehicles, and jet cars of the 60s." The placement of the patches and pins are scattered but intentional, and meant to mimic the traditional placement of decorations on a pilot's flight jacket.

Alpha Industries is proud of their military heritage and recognize the undeniable influence that military and NASA programs have had on fashion and streetwear, particularly among the bomber and field jackets and the use of camouflage. They continue to reinterpret classic styles by experimenting with different fabrics, washes, colorways, patterns and fit to address the needs and wants of today’s savvy fashion and streetwear consumer.

This limited-edition jacket retails for $300 on PINTRILL and Alpha Industries.

Source: Forbes.com

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