A penknife and a chair decorated with fig leaves are included in a collection designed by Off-White in collaboration with Post Archive Faction, Victorinox and Helinox to reference human evolution.
Off-White, the clothing brand created by the late designer Virgil Abloh, teamed up with Korean fashion collective Post Archive Fashion (PAF), furniture brand Helinox and knife manufacturer Victorinox for the Equipment collection.
The Equipment line was designed as "a performancewear collection at the intersection of design and utility made to navigate 'our terrain today'", said the brand.
The line aims to reinterpret symbolic motifs and evolutionary designs spanning from "the birth of Western history" through to the Renaissance, modernism and postmodernism.
Among the symbols used for the collection is a fig leaf symbolising those worn by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, as described in the Bible.
"The archetypical foliage evokes memories of our origins while its innovative adaptations underscore the role of creativity in human survival," Off-White said.
Abloh was involved in the project from the start and it was one of the last he worked on before his death from an aggressive form of cancer last year.
The collection comprises 12 pieces, with the clothes ranging from simple black and white hoodies to the fig-leaf-covered items – a bomber jacket, trousers, long-sleeve tee, bucket hat, and backpack covered in leaf-shaped appliques.
"Employed as a tonal, three-dimensional applique, the fig leaf offers adaptive camouflage in urban environments dominated by concrete, asphalt, metal, and plastic," Off-White said.
PAF aimed for the collection to create "multidimensional safe zones for human survival" that would include tools as well as garments.
As well as the clothes, the collaboration includes a chair and a table designed with Helinox as well as the Swiss Army knife, which was made with Victorinox.
The Swiss Army knife marks the first time that Victorinox has redesigned the iconic knife's blades and features references to how humanity evolved, with one side having images of the evolution of stone tools.
The shape of the knife's stainless-steel blades and tools – a large blade, three-millimeter screwdriver, can opener, reamer, corkscrew, wine stripper, bottle opener, six-millimeter screwdriver, small blade, wood saw, and key ring – appear to form the shape of a mountain when folded into the case.
"The Equipment knife transforms humankind's earliest tool (stone) into a contemporary and compact multitool," Off-White said.
The two furniture pieces included in the collection, the collapsible Sunset chair and Table One Hard Top Large, also feature black fig leaves. These have been attached to a tonal black fabric, which is stretched over metal frames.
In another nod to early tools, the Equipment collection also includes a 3D-printed grey stone that says "Equipment."
This "cements the collection's philosophical impetus by manifesting a new, postmodern version of nature in which innovation and organic environment deliberately entwine," the brand said.
A number of collaborations that Abloh worked on have been released since he passed away, including a collection of Mattel Universe action figures and a limited-edition Mercedes-Benz designed with the German car brand.