THE BRAND

Acronym by Errolson Hugh aka “Neo Futurism sein Vater”, as we would praise this legendary active and tech wear brand in German. Over 20 years later after starting off from Munich, Acronym has become one of the most influential labels from Germany (nowadays based in both Berlin and Munich) without ever making any big marketing fuzz about itself. A rare thing in the fashion world given most brand’s approaches to be bold, loud and worldwide omnipresent through advertising. But with it’s clean, minimalistic and futuristic aesthetics Acronym became a globally wearable and hyper-functional brand loved by music icons like Drake or John Mayer, movie stars such as Jason Statham ,who also was featured his designs in his movie picture “Hobbs and Shaw” alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but also athletes like MMA fighter Max Holloway. The awareness of the brand got raised a lot by innovative collaborations with brands like Nike over the years such as the NIKELAB AF1 DOWNTOWN X ACRONYM® collab or with cult labels Stone Island and Burton. In it’s latest collection for the Spring/Summer 2020 season, Acronym teamed up with Kojima Productions. The results are techy-pioneer looking long sleeve crewnecks made of a unique Cashllama textile, a luxurious fabric made from the fibres of the hair of Bolivian Highlands’ llamas or functional yet cool looking Gore Tex jackets.

THE HISTORY

Around 1999 the Bavarian radio journalist Michaela Sachenbacher teamed up with the Canadian designer Errolson Hugh to found an independent design agency called Acronym based in Munich. Their vision was to combine style and technology in functional apparel, an “experimental lab to create design with no compromise”, as Hugh himself stated later. Hugh describes Acronym’s ethos as “no [brand] strategy as strategy”, explaining in an Hypebeast interview from 2019 that ACR’s “factory is very small, it’s the only factory in the world that can make the products,” and underlining the difficulty in finding craftspeople skilled enough to create the garments. Over the years Hugh and his team have developed a sports wear brand that is famous for highly-innovative and versatile designs that often utilize a monochromatic palette and have effected the fashion industry in an always down to earth but yet super futuristic kinda way until date.

THE LOOK

To call Errolson Hugh a fashion designer would be quite an understatement. He’s much more of an artist, engineer and inventor when it comes to creating new levels of technology floating into his designs. His Berlin and Munich based brand Acronym is strongly influenced by innovation and strives for futuristic looks and ways of production at the same time. Hugh therefore has built a team of like minded creatives around him that function more like his own tribe rather than an a bunch of classic co-workers. Probably that’s also one of the most unique and remarkable reasons for his success, the overwhelming loyalty he inspires in his team. Fun fact: his graphic designer, manager of the online shop and integral part of his crew, Ian Wang, first contacted Hugh via Twitter as a 16 years old kid, claiming how much he loves Acronym and asking for an internship.