Marvel has remained a dominate force in the superhero film landscape with big hits like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War making waves this year. The impact of their films was felt in the fashion world through multiple collaborations with the comic book company such as Vans, Her Universe, and even a New York Fashion Week event. The releases show no signs of slowing down and Marvel continues to forge new partnerships to provide apparel and accessory options for fans, with one of their newest collections coming from a first-time collaboration with fashion company Hero Within.

Hero Within’s Marvel collection was announced in March and became available for preorder at San Diego Comic-Con in July. The collaboration with Marvel started when they reached out to Hero Within late last year. According to Hero Within founder Tony Kim, Marvel saw them at a show and were impressed with their DC Comics line.

Since this is Hero Within’s first collection with the company, Kim told GeekFold they decided to make the Avengers and Infinity War the foundation of the line. He explained that their aesthetic is subtle while also letting you know in certain ways that it is Marvel inspired. They created some general Avengers pieces for the line since Kim believes there are a lot of character-inspired pieces available already. With the general pieces, he wanted to create at least one “out there” item which led to the Avengers Assembled jacket featuring different character logos.

“It’s probably our most obvious piece. We knew there was going to be a group of fans that really want to make more of a statement so that piece is perfect for them,” he said. “Honestly that one is probably one of my favorites and the one I worked longest on because of the complexity of the design. Then the Avengers bomber jacket is probably my other favorite one because besides the fact it’s a cool looking piece, it’s got interchangeable name patches. It comes with five patches for various characters in the Avengers so you can customize it.”

The rest of the collection is character focused with items for much of the core Avengers cast like Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow with the other key players in Infinity War included like Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy. For Hero Within, the mix was about working with character designs “to create something that celebrates the spirit of Marvel.”

“Besides it being a superhero story, they’re fun and inspirational. We were super excited to be able to design some pieces that really brought that sense of adventure that the Marvel movies bring,” he said.

Deciding on these pieces for the first release was staying true to the company’s vision that Kim described as “timeless fashion for timeless fandom."

“We wanted to take pieces that people will want to wear year after year. We design pieces that are not faddish. We only create pieces that can be a part of someone’s wardrobe for a long time. That’s why we went with the classic looks, like we’ve done in a past collection the denim jacket and the traditional blazer," Kim said. "This collection we wanted to build it off of a military aesthetic so that’s why we did a couple of bomber jackets, the military Captain America jacket with that look and feel. Even the Black Panther car coat has this military look to it.”

The line is a departure from their first DC Comics collection in that right off the bat there are pieces for women as well as men. When the company started they only had the men’s DC license at first, but they then expanded into women’s apparel and worked with Elhoffer Design on items for their Justice League collection. Kim said their vision is to provide apparel options for both men and women and much of their jacket collection is unisex. The pieces designed specifically for women here include the Black Widow cropped hoodie and Black Panther dress. Kim teased that in addition to these, there’s another piece for women coming in the future that fans can keep an eye out for.

“It’s always a challenge because we still are a relatively small company so we don’t have at this point the ability to launch a giant breathe of a collection that covers and spans both men and women and I would love to be able to do that. We’re getting there and we’re building into that as well,” he explained. “Our goal is to have many more dress options and sweater options and fashion tops and all kinds of things for ladies. It’s taken us time to sort of get our legs underneath us with Marvel and there are many more things to come.”

Working with Disney and Marvel has been an amazing experience for Hero Within. Kim described the companies as “very enthusiastic and excited about creating clothes of this kind.”

There’s more to come from this collaboration as well. Kim has his sights set on the movie Captain Marvel and providing apparel for both women and men inspired by the character. The next untitled Avengers film will also be a focus. As Marvel’s cinematic universe continues to expand, so will the opportunities for Hero Within to create interesting Marvel fashion for fans.

You can see the Marvel pieces currently available for preorder on Hero Within’s website.

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