An Orange Race Car Downtown, Heron Preston Brings Formula E to ComplexCon
The designer previews recycled-cotton clothes and a race car in his signature orange when ComplexCon lands downtown this weekend.
Heron Preston has spent a decade making clothes out of things other people throw away. This weekend he parks a race car inside the Los Angeles Convention Center to show where that habit is heading next.
The designer and Formula E, the all-electric racing championship, have signed a long-term creative partnership, and its first public outing is at ComplexCon on Saturday, October 3, and Sunday, October 4. Preston will show a preview capsule of T-shirts, long-sleeves and hoodies alongside a GEN4 Formula E car wearing a livery he designed, his signature orange with chrome and matte details and text graphics reading “Zero Rare Earth Minerals” and “600kW Max Power,” according to WWD.
The clothes come out of eX-Ray, Preston’s concept for his label’s most advanced “less environmentally destructive” products. For this preview that means recycled cotton made from pre-consumer factory offcuts and production scraps, which Formula E says are sorted, shredded and re-spun into new yarn, then developed into a heavyweight, tightly woven fabric, plus deadstock from past collections. “Formula E is re-engineering what a race car can be. EX-Ray does the same for clothing,” Preston told WWD.
It is a familiar move for him. Formula E points to his 2016 UNIFORM project, which upcycled decommissioned New York City Department of Sanitation uniforms, and to garments he made from Mercedes-Benz crash-test airbags. The partners say the program could grow into fan merchandise, accessories and products made from materials recovered from the sport. “Looking further ahead, the longer-term vision is to explore materials recovered from the sport itself, like carbon fiber, metals and other components from the cars,” Preston said. Pricing, production scale and distribution are still being worked out.
ComplexCon is celebrating its 10th anniversary in its first year at the Los Angeles Convention Center, after stints in Long Beach and Las Vegas, with Playboi Carti and Hiroshi Fujiwara as co-artistic directors. For the full lineup see Lightning Bolts Downtown, Playboi Carti and Hiroshi Fujiwara Direct ComplexCon.
