Warriors and Rakuten turn old jerseys into luxury

After ending a nine-year run as the Golden State Warriors’ official badge partner, Rakuten is turning leftover jerseys into limited, luxury fan pieces. The Warriors Golden Legacy Collection will be offered to Rakuten members via a sweepstakes from June 18 to J

The NBA may be in off-season mode, but the Golden State Warriors aren’t standing still. In a move that starts with something most fans would normally toss or forget—old jerseys—the team and Rakuten are reshaping their partnership’s legacy into a limited fashion drop.

For the past nine years. the Bay Area franchise has partnered with Japanese online retail marketplace Rakuten as its official badge partner. Now, Rakuten will no longer serve as the Warriors badge partner, leaving behind a stockpile of old jerseys. Their plan is to mix those jerseys with premium materials like genuine leather and release upcycled pieces to fans as part of a limited collection called the Warriors Golden Legacy Collection.

The collection will be accessible to fans who are Rakuten members from June 18 to June 25 via a sweepstakes. The lineup includes one leather jacket, two duffle bags, 10 denim jackets, 10 clear purses, and 35 bucket hats.

Wendy Bergh, Rakuten’s chief marketing officer, frames the decision in practical and emotional terms: “This has been a very long nine-year successful partnership and because there’s such rich history in the jersey, it made perfect sense to upcycle.”

Design work for the collection was handled by premium merchandise and experiential product studio theheymann. led by creative product developer Gustavo Servin. Servin is Mexican born, grew up in the Bay Area, and is described as a passionate Warriors fan. Amanda Chin. the Warriors SVP of Marketing. said: “Gustavo is an incredible human. and I think he has a real modern but timeless sense of style.” She added that what fans are getting is more than a recycled look. “What’s so special about Gustavo and what he is able to bring to fans is this really custom feel to the product. There’s a real uniqueness to how he crafts the pieces and is just very thoughtful about the details and storytelling.”.

Storytelling is the through-line of the collection. Servin said the work focused on two missions at once: “For us it was [about] how do we honor the legacy by making this really amazing product. ” while also “how do we honor the legacy by staying true to ourselves in terms of the quality of the craftsmanship that we expect from ourselves.”.

The team identified 15 products they believed they could bring together within a couple of months. Servin said they already knew they wanted to incorporate leathers and a denim jacket. “The outer piece[s] [were] pretty simple [because] we knew where we wanted to go in terms of luxury. ” he said. with the harder part landing in the hidden layers. “But, the inner components … took a little bit more time.”.

Turning “outdated” jerseys into new luxury pieces didn’t come without obstacles. Servin described four versions of these jerseys as “uniquely challenging” because the materials were “so strange to work with.” He pointed to the existing build—logos printed on the fabric. ribbing. and other elements—saying it “posed its own challenge to manipulate and work with it [for] brand new pieces.” He singled out the jacket linings as one example. “The lining in jackets is usually a textile. ” he said. explaining how his team cut up jerseys and reinforced them to create “essentially a collage of jerseys that we could use in the lining.”.

Even the way each item needs to be structured varies. Servin said. “The structure that a duffel bag requires is not the structure that a lining of a jacket requires. ” which meant every product demanded its own set of tests—“testing different materials and testing how we approach the cutting of the jersey. where we cut the jersey. and what seams can be on top of each other.”.

Looking ahead, the Warriors and Rakuten plan to broaden their collaboration beyond upcycling. They intend to expand their work with local artists to design more widely available merchandise for the Warriors’ fan base.

Chin said the audience is asking for more than team gear. “We know our fans are interested in having access to the fashion and feeling connected to the lifestyle [and] culture that the players are embodying,” she said.

The partnership’s future also includes a focus on live connection. Bergh pointed to changing technology as a reason to double down on in-person moments. “As our world evolves with AI and automation. live events are going to become more important than ever because that is where community and connection happens. ” she said. Bergh added that it’s part of the strategy behind “this evolution of this partnership. the legacy that we are building on. and the importance of continuing to show up for fans in those live moments where there’s connection. there’s emotion. and ultimately a desire to feel part of the community at a larger scale.”.

Golden State Warriors Rakuten upcycling jersey collection Warriors Golden Legacy Collection sweepstakes luxury merchandise theheymann Gustavo Servin Wendy Bergh Amanda Chin