Harvey Nichols Exclusively Debuts Bossi Sportswear in the UK

The Boston-based label puts modern twists on everyday staples.

Luxury retailer Harvey Nichols is exclusively launching Bossi Sportswear in the UK, available online and in the Knightsbridge location starting September 21.

 

The Boston-based label is the brainchild of Alex Bossi, who imbued the luxury streetwear brand with ’90s and early 2000s nostalgia. Like timeless vintage pieces, Bossi is made to last for generations.

“Nostalgia is completely my biggest thing,” brand designer and founder Alex Bossi told V MAN. “It’s like, how can this shirt transcend from the 1980s until 2020, every year in between and 20 years into the future? That’s the way I’m looking at it. So the way we describe a lot of the brand and kind of got a quick punchline is: ‘classic American silhouettes with a twist.’”

 

The silhouettes Bossi speaks of are contemporary, everyday staples—leather jackets, hoodies, sweatshirts, and even band tees—but with Bossi’s own distinctive twists, whether they be the incorporation of Swarovski crystals or pieces of iridescent hardware inspired by Bossi’s own family business.

 

“My family owns an autobody shop,” said Bossi. “My cousin is the manager of the shop, my uncle was the owner, my mother was the accountant for 25 years, or even longer, I think. Basically half of the shop I’ve known since I was a little kid, and I worked there through our school vacations.”

 

When he was visiting his hometown and drunkenly tie-dyeing on the sidewalk, in his underwear, an oil slick on the ground caught his eye—and what would come to be the signature identifier of Bossi apparel, the iridescent metalwork on the pieces, was born. 

 

The first season collection includes standout pieces of an airbrushed leather jacket with pink lacing on the sides and a sunflower on the shoulder, a brocaded firework varsity jacket with suede sleeves and glitter cuffs, and a hot pink Loro Piana cashmere bomber jacket in a hot pink Persian melon shade.

“[Persian melon] is a discontinued Revlon lipstick color that my mother wears,” said Bossi. “It buys for three times the price on eBay. I don’t know if you know this, but [my business partner] Taryn and I are partners. We’re engaged, and Taryn’s first time meeting my mother, she bought her the Persian melon lipstick.” 

 

Bossi Sportswear is the combination of Alex Bossi’s own Boston hometown, family sentiment, and nods to his past—but it also looks to the future. Everything is meant to be worn and lived in, outlasting a simple “hype” trend and entering the realm of the evergreen, quality-constructed staple pieces.

 

“You come across Bossi, and we feel like a brand from Boston,” said Bossi. “It’s great quality, but it also feels sort of sturdy, if that makes sense, it’s not rough. The quality also comes from the fact that my factory is in my hometown. [The factory] has been a military contractor for 80 years, so they made all military garments, so I use military sewing standards on this luxury clothing brand.”

The durability of Bossi’s collection doesn’t come by sacrificing comfort, either; Polartec provides fabric for some pieces, including the winter puffer jacket, to make it as warm and technical as a down jacket, but with Bossi’s stamp of luxury. 

The dichotomy of the brand’s nostalgic nods to the past and hype-wear stance in the present is epitomized in the distinctive alterations Bossi adds to everyday garments, including sustainable pieces like vintage Hawaiian shirts that have been spiral bleached, and an entire collection of vintage rock-n-roll band tees that are fully Swarovski crystals, weighing in at roughly ten pounds each.

“We’re not just making cool shit,” said Bossi. “We’re making cool shit that works.”

Shop Bossi Sportswear online and in select Harvey Nichols retail stores now. 

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