Palace Races Into Motorsport, Partnering With Mercedes-AMG
LONDON — Palace is upgrading its wheels from skateboards to race cars in a new collaboration with Mercedes-AMG, the sporty, performance division of the German automobile maker.
The collaboration marks Palace’s debut in the motorsport — and automobile — arena. The street and skate brand has designed its first race car livery, which will premiere at the A.D.A.C Total 24 HRS Race on the Nürburgring track on June 4.
More from WWD
The capsule includes Palace staples such as a technical Gore-Tex jacket and trousers, a leather driving jacket, sweatshirts, hoodies, polos and T-shirts. All feature the new AMG and Palace logos, a white sabre-toothed tiger and AMG GT3 car graphics.
Palace has also done accessories such as caps, knit beanies, driving gloves, leather totes, skateboards and wheels as part of the collection. The consumer merchandise will be sold through Palace stores and online starting on June 4 in Europe and the U.S., and on June 5 in China.
Price points have not been confirmed but are expected to range from 40 pounds for a T-shirt, to 118 pounds for a hoodie and up to 385 pounds for a leather tote.
Palace has created an accompanying campaign inspired by what it describes as the “raw animal power” of the AMG GT3 race car. It has made a film that spotlights the professional drivers — and a live sabre-toothed white tiger — on the Nurburgring racetrack.
An image of the tiger also appears across the hood of the car.
Palace said: “We love working with the best in their field and AMG are exactly that. We are so proud to be racing a car in such a truly great motorsport institution as The A.D.A.C. Total 24hrs Race.“
The brand is no stranger to high-profile collaborations, and in the past has partnered with Ralph Lauren, Adidas and the Italian soccer team Juventus.
“The partnership with Palace underlines the transformation of our Mercedes-AMG brand toward more lifestyle,” said Philipp Schiemer, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
“We are opening up to new target groups and sending out strong signals with spectacular and surprising campaigns that further sharpen the brand orientation of Mercedes-AMG.”
Of late, Mercedes has been keen to speak to a younger generation of consumers who have become used to Uber and who don’t necessarily aspire to owning luxury cars in the way their parents may have done.
Last September, Mercedes-Benz and Virgil Abloh, a skateboarder and the creative mind behind Louis Vuitton men’s wear and Off-White, presented the concept car that is the first outcome of their collaboration.
The designer teamed with Gorden Wagener, chief design officer at the German automobile-maker, to reimagine the box-shaped G-Class luxury SUV as a monolithic plaster-colored art piece, dubbed Project Gel?ndewagen — a replica of which will be auctioned online by Sotheby’s from Sept. 14.
Tommy Hilfiger has been working with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team since 2018. Last fall, the designer released his latest Tommy x Mercedes-Benz men’s capsule, which focuses on more renewable production methods and materials.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.