POST ARCHIVE FACTION & the Quest for Post-Athleisure Fashion (EXCLUSIVE)
POST ARCHIVE FASHION does not please crowds. The young Korean imprint has aggressively pursued a singular path for the better part of seven years, each new fan a hard-won convert to the cause of fearlessly innovative fashion.
Which makes POST ARCHIVE FACTION's On collaborations all the better.
On is the sportswear brand perhaps best known as the favorite of dads the world-'round, its slip-on walking shoes as ubiquitous as any of its elder dad shoes.
But On has readjusted itself to become a serious player in the sport-meets-style space, bringing in chic ambassadors to zhuzh up its wearables as it pushes ever more stylish sneakers (can't deny that the Cloudmonster was a strong step towards crossover appeal).
Its daddish inclinations make it an appealing outré outsider of sorts, lending off-beat intrigue to its surprising endeavors like On x LOEWE, though POST ARCHIVE FACTION x On crystalizes it all.
Here, you have a meeting of two atypically stylish minds. You can see the throughline between On's awkwardly sleek sneakers and POST ARCHIVE FACTION's slanted seams but the best part is in how POST ARCHIVE FACTION revamps the oft-staid world of athleisure, transforming plain sportswear into thoughtful garments demanding of purpose and poise..
POST ARCHIVE FACTION x On CURRENT FORM 2.0+, available March 20 on On's website, is both more stylish than your average On offering and more grounded than POST ARCHIVE FACTION's artful flights of fancy.
Consider the half-zip training jackets, cut from utilitarian On textiles and quietly informed by archetypal POST ARCHIVE FACTION details, like a hood that covers the face like a balaclava. Zippered hems are a unifying element, part sportswear and part street flair.
Accompanying the wearables are the collaborative sneakers, the stars of the show.
The Cloudmonster 2 PAF has been a collaborative staple since POST ARCHIVE FACTION and On's debut partnership in 2024 and the sleek Cloudventure Peak PAF is a new style released as part of their second collection later that year. These new colorways don't transform the shoes as much as highlight their dramatic, delicious revisions to ordinary On sneakers: Warped lacing, streamlined uppers, all the rest.
This the beauty of POST ARCHIVE FACTION.
Its silhouettes are recognizable grounded but ingeniously warped by rearranged garment patterns and unexpected accoutrement. It doesn't play the hits but instead tunes them to its liking.
As such, POST ARCHIVE FACTION's On collaborations are like a series of experiments in pushing post athleisure, turning a potentially thought-free form of fashion into something with clear, stylish intent. Post-athleisure fashion, if you will.
