While the 2024 Olympics have come and gone, the fashion born from the Games is likely to endure. The location (Paris), the sponsor (LVMH), and a growing interest in what athletes wear off the field, made for an Olympics that brought style to the forefront more than ever before. Luxury and independent labels alike designed uniforms that went viral online, and celebrities from Lady Gaga to Lewis Hamilton were spotted in arenas wearing looks that could just as well be worn at Fashion Week. Athletes like Coco Gauff competing in pieces from their own collections added another layer of style. Of course, this spectacle of sport and fashion meant that pop-ups, fashion parties, and limited-edition collaborations abounded in the City of Light. Among those that have continued to stand out is the latest effort from Chicago-based designer Joe Freshgoods and New Balance – the most recent of several collaborations between the brands. (An earth tone-heavy collection currently only available in Paris from New Balance and Teddy Santis of Aimé Leon Dore is another.) The collection includes the designer’s take on the New Balance 990v6 sneaker silhouette as well as signature Joe Freshgoods tracksuits.
“I’m at this place right now, where when it comes to footwear, I’m killing it, respectfully,” Joe Robinson, founder and creative director of Joe Freshgoods told Vogue late last month in Paris. Having a team that’s “culturally tapped in,” he added of his 18 employees, helps cut through a market oversaturated with collaborations. Case in point: Robinson launched his latest collection—inspired by early 2000s prom culture—by curating an art exhibit coined “A Friend Named Cousin” in Paris’s Marais district. There, among works by Teoni Hinds, Jewel Ham, Jahlil Nzinga, and Goldie Williams—in addition to a textile work by Robinson—the designer and entrepreneur talked family, delving into art, and his thoughts on the current state of fashion collaborations.
Vogue: You formally launched the collection in Paris alongside your team, but also your family. What was that like?
Joe Robinson:
I’m trying to practice a better work-life balance. I think it’s very important to be in my daughter’s life all the time, but she’s 10-years-old, so she’s pre-puberty and thinks I’m the most un-cool person. But she’s creative, so whenever I have moments when I can show her my world, I do.Tell us about the collection. How did you land on the baby blue and red colorways?
Somebody sent me a DM, a stranger, and they were like, ‘yo, this the laziest shit ever, bro—red and blue shoes, really?’ But the reason why I chose those colors initially was because back in the day—and I’m 37—there was a point in time, like the early 2000s, where baby blue was everywhere in my hood. So I was going back and forth with this guy, which I shouldn’t have done, but I was trying to show him the importance of baby blue to my community back in the day. And then red is just sexy. I love red lipstick, I love red fast cars.
You’ve done a few shoe collaborations—what’s special about this one?
I’m at this place right now, where when it comes to footwear, I’m killing it, respectfully. Our team, we’ve mastered the art of powerful visuals and nice storytelling. And most of the New Balance shoes say Made in USA, but mine say Made For Us. I don’t think the world understands what I mean when I say that. My shoes is for everybody, but a lot of my storytelling is inside jokes between Black people. And I have to stop getting offended that certain people don’t get my jokes.
I’m curious to know your thoughts on collaborations in general, and the current state of collab culture in fashion.
Don’t get me started. Ha! I know—it’s a very polarizing subject. Sometimes I go on Twitter and I start ranting about all the deals I turned down. Not ranting, but just trying to educate my people. Let’s just say a potato chip brand reaches out to a designer and want them to design a bag of chips. You’ve got to take yourself out of that and say, “Why do I need to design a bag of chips? Is it cool for my career? Who has more leverage? Who needs this bag of chips?” You have to write out the pros and cons, that’s where I am nowadays. Obviously, I have bills to pay, but if certain brands don’t align with my beliefs, I have to say no. I think collab culture is ruining a lot of things right now. A big brand offered me a lot of money to be a creative director, and the first slide of the pitch deck was a Black fist; It wasn’t cool. So I’m proud of myself for turning that down. That money could have helped me out a lot, but turning it down made me work harder, and I was able to make that money through my own brand. At the same time, I hate to talk to people about this that aren’t in my shoes, because it is tough. You got to really be bred up or have a strong sense of morals not to say yes to every collab, because the money is good.
You’ve started to do some visual art. Tell me about this quilt you designed.
Well, this is my first art piece. I’m a little nervous, because I don’t want nobody be like, “What does Joe know about art?” But I just bought a crib, and I’m a fan of collecting Black art. The last four or five years, I’ve been wanting to make some stuff. How I’ve told stories with T-Shirts, I’m able to do that with quilts now. Back in the day, a lot of Black people in the South spoke to each other through quilts. This one is an ode to my grandparents. The stars represent Alabama being the 28th state to become a state, so that’s inspired by my grandfather—he grew up there.
What’s the name of the piece?
“Looking Ova Me.” I just came up with that an hour ago.
