Equipment launches fluid collection

Gender is over, that’s cancelled. Well, it would be if French heritage
brand Equipment and genderless clothing retailer The Phluid Project had the
final say in it. The two companies have come together for the launch of
Equipment’s fluid collection featuring a debut campaign of gender
expressive, non-binary and transgender talent. Each ambassador has a unique
story and are collectively and individually representatives of a brand that
is for everyone, regardless of gender, identity or expression.

“Our company has always had androgynous roots,” said James R. Miller, CEO
of Equipment’s parent company The Collective Group, to FashionUnited. “We
have all of our archives from the ‘70s and ‘80s sitting in Los Angeles, and
looking at the pieces they seemed genderless. The company has always had a
one size fits all approach to things. If you identified as a different
gender or expression, you felt comfortable in the clothing. Fast forward to
2020, and as a guardian to this brand and its DNA, Rob Smith and The Phluid
Project really evolved the conversation around gender expression and gender
identity. It’s such an honor to play a smart part in what that could look
like in the next decade.”

Equipment collaborates with The Phluid Project founder Rob Smith

Smith, the CEO and founder of The Phluid Project, came to be a part of
bringing this project to fruition because he lives in the same building as
Miller. One day Miller reached out and talked to Smith about creating a
gender fluid collection, and thus the idea for this first collection was
born.

The talented featured in the fluid campaign include actor and activist
Josyln DeFreece, disabled transgender model and activist Nicole Sgarlato,
co-founder of BlackTransTy, Sir Knight, queer artist Vidal Francisco,
entertainer and activist Cory Wade, trans identified model and activist,
Jeremy Moineau and actor, model and influencer, Eric Rutherford. Miller
didn’t want the campaign to focus on any one type of queer person or
gender, so he assembled people of various backgrounds of the LGBT and
non-binary communities. Assembling this cast of characters was no easy
feat.

“Choosing the people involved in the campaign took a really long time,”
Miller said to FashionUnited. “That’s where The Phluid Project really came
in and asked us what we are trying to achieve. The whole culture of model
and aesthetics fell away. The ideology here became not to look someone, but
to listen to them, listen to their stories, and work out how they represent
the cultural aspects of their experiences and journeys.”

Despite this being a fashion campaign, Miller told FashionUnited that the
collection isn’t “exactly what I’d call fashion, but, rather, we have
fashion moments. We want to be timeless, and that’s the beauty of the
brand. I want everyone to feel like they are representing themselves in the
product, and treat it like a second skin. That’s the beauty of the product.”

Miller says when people wears these clothes, he wants them to feel like
themselves, and not at all like they are even wearing the brand. He wants
them to interpret the product however they want, because the product should
be open to interpretation, similar to the beauty of gender.

“The Phluid Project is going in lots of different directions, but at its
core it’s about challenging boundaries with humanity and letting people be
their authentic selves, challenging constructs that don’t work for us
anymore,” Smith said to FashionUnited. “Partnering with brands like
Equipment is important for this movement because it establishes and
validates this movement. When you’re working with established brands and
doing it with authenticity more people realize these issues are a real
thing. It starts to bring these ideas into their homes and into their
conversations that becomes empowering for all of us. When we see ourselves
in media, the news, and television in a positive way it empowers LGBT and
non-binary people.”

The new collection is now available online, in Equipment stores and in
boutiques globally. Equipment celebrated the collection launch at the Soho
store via a cocktail event with a panel discussion moderated by Smith
featuring the campaign talent and Miller.

photos: courtesy of Equipment

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