Tom Bottomley
25 November 2024
Continuing its expansion into womenswear, NYC-based preppy apparel brand Rowing Blazers has launched a new collaboration collection with cult Spanish womenswear brand, La Veste. The move follows the acquisition of Rowing Blazers by Burch Creative Capital (BCC) earlier this year, and fittingly La Veste is the French word for "blazer". The collection features the brand’s signature striped ‘Jockey Blazer’ in navy and green, with matching wide leg trousers, a ‘Malmo’ orange velvet jumpsuit, ‘Kilo’ mini skirt, ‘School Shirt’, an embroidered vertical block stripe rugby shirt, a wool and cashmere blend sweater with embroidered snails, a graphic co-branded ringer t-shirt, socks, a cap, and a co-branded embroidered tote bag.
Though Rowing Blazers was acquired by BCC (an investment firm founded by Chris Burch) in February 2024, the brand’s founder, Jack Carlson, remained as Creative Director, with the goal to develop the womenswear line. At the same time of the acquisition, Rowing Blazers appointed Grant Simm as CFO after three years serving in the same role at Aimé Leon Dore, where he oversaw the fashion brand’s "explosive growth".
Then, in May 2024, Rowing Blazers named former J.Crew Executive Vice President Laura Willensky as its new CEO, with the aim to expand the brand’s distribution and grow its retail footprint. The BCC acquisition also followed a milestone year for Rowing Blazers when it launched collaborations at both ends of the fashion spectrum, with Gucci and Target. Since the beginning, Rowing Blazers has developed a reputation for its colourful take on the preppy look, along with its long list of celebrity fans and limited-edition collaborations with the likes of Barbour, Umbro, Fila, Noah and Tag Heuer. La Veste now joins that list of standout collaborations. It was founded in 2018 by Spanish stylist Blanca Miro and designer Maria de la Orden, with a vintage aesthetic – mixing colour combinations, stripes and checkered patterns, as well as textures such as wool, velvet, fake fur and cotton. It is responsibly hand made in Spain. The full Rowing Blazers x La Veste capsule collection is now available on both brands’ websites, with prices starting at £30 for the socks and going up to £530 for the ‘Jockey Blazer’.