Marvel Enterprises has inked a deal with AST
Sportswear and will produce an urban streetwear line of clothing that features
several characters from the Marvel Universe.
AST, which makes the Source Clothing and World
Wrestling Entertainment lines, will be released to specialty clothing boutiques
this month.
"Marvel is quite simply one of the premiere
entertainment brands available in the market today," Tim Rothwell, Marvel
President Worldwide Consumer Products Group said. "Our characters have
a 21st Century edge and hipness to them and nothing speaks louder to these same
values than hip-hop. This will also function on a truly symbiotic level where
we will work with AST in developing specifically tailored designs for the line
and crossovers in our comic books and various forms of music can be expected."
The collection will include denim, fleece, wovens,
varsity and full leather jackets and will feature a wide array of Marvel’s proprietary
characters such as Iron Man, The Punisher, Spider Man, The X-Men, Dr. Doom and
others.
"There is an evident connection between
the Hip-Hop community and the Marvel brand," said Larry Zimmer, AST President.
"We began to realize the immense connection through our conversations with
top creators in the Hip-Hop industry and many of our consumers who referenced
the Marvel mythos time and time again. By combining our popular urban apparel
line with the many Marvel characters we will bring these two cultures together
through a line of affordable, high-quality clothing."
A broad advertising and marketing campaign will
support the release of the clothing line this summer.
