PRIDE X REEBOK SS’21
FIERCENESS ISN’T BORN. IT’S MADE.
Reflecting where we’ve come from and celebrating the progress. Reebok’s 2021 collection of Pride shoes and clothes is inspired by inclusion, protest signs and the legacy of ballroom. One of the first forms of LGBTQ+ resistance, ballroom’s a haven where those who had been shut out for their race, sexuality or gender are welcomed for their true selves.
Sharing below, our apparel design and development process that the Reebok team and I worked on together for this collection.
Pride didn’t just happen overnight. It was—and still is—a fierce fight for acceptance and recognition. This year, we’re featuring the Progress Pride Flag on our Pride shoes and Pride clothing because it champions inclusion, particularly of groups who are responsible for the underground NYC drag ball culture of the 80s and 90s. Bold graphics on our Pride t-shirts, Pride tank tops and other Pride clothes call back protest signs from marches decades ago and present.
While some say you can’t choose your family, Houses within the ballroom community, like the House of Ninja, serve as symbols of what it means to create your own family. They’re made up of chosen members (House mother and father and the children they take care of) and were born out of a necessity for the LGBTQ+ community to survive.
In the campaign film, House of Ninja’s Archie Burnett, Javier Madrid, Aisha Murray, and Elizabeth Rivera illustrate the craft of movement that makes up ballroom culture which continues to be a safe haven for many of the LGBTQIA+ community. “It is easy to walk on the dark side, you have to fight for the light. And that takes work. Fierceness isn’t born, it’s made,” said Archie Burnett.
CAMPAIGN DONATION
Reebok shares in the mission of amplifying marginalized voices championing for change and the freedom to move and express yourself. That’s why Reebok’s 2021 Pride campaign is centered around the pioneers of ballroom, those who protested and marched for their right to exist. We celebrate all types of love, self-love included. This year, Reebok is donating to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, an organization working to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. SRLP & Reebok will be working together to foster, uplift and affirm our most marginalized and impacted communities.
The following are additional projects featuring the Reebok Pride 2021 collection of apparel and footwear.
Press releases snippets from Hypebeast, LGBTQ Nation, Footwear News, and 360 Magazine.
