How did an activity traditionally associated with ageing men waking up at 4:00 am to stand in the middle of a river, only to get pelted by torrential rain while attempting to catch an animal that most people wouldn’t look twice at, come to be the most desirable aesthetic in fashion? We’re not quite sure, but here we are.
Fishing has slowly been gaining a foothold in the world of fashion for some time now, with a growing abundance of brands referencing angling in collections and capsule releases. The two latest brands to join this fishing-fascinated crowd are Purple Mountain Observatory & Db, as they’ve just launched a new collaboration capsule titled Gone Fishing.
Where other angling-influenced brands have produced simple garments like trout-motif tees, Db & PMO have waded much, much deeper. Gone Fishing presents us with a slew of serious tackle, ranging from caps and sling bags to the collection’s pièce de résistance – a super lightweight fishing vest.
Central to the entire partnership is Db’s wonder fabric – ALUULA Graflyte, an incredibly lightweight material with a ridiculously impressive tensile strength. At first glance, the crinkly, textured material might look like it’s made out of paper, but once you’ve felt ALUULA in the flesh, you’ll understand it’s the last thing you’d want to shove in your printer.
The fabric and its impressive attributes are a large reason why we absolutely love this collab. While other fishing-inspired fashion releases have fallen foul of simply imitating an aesthetic, Gone Fishing has produced genuine, river-ready gear. Anyone who has waded before knows that keeping things lightweight is essential, and having a fishing vest that can withstand being run over by a double-decker bus, never mind a couple of snags from low-hanging branches, is an obvious plus.
The campaign imagery (and accompanying video) truly reinforces just how capable this gear is. The PMO & Db team travelled 800km north of Stockholm not only in the hopes of capturing trout, but also to capture some of the finest outdoor imagery we’ve seen in a long time. If watching an angler fish in the dead of night, kitted out in an outfit that looks like it was developed by NASA, doesn’t make you want to take up the hobby, nothing will.
All in all, this is one of the best fishing-inspired collabs that we’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing. Gone Fishing pays homage to an activity that fashion brands all too often pump and dump, instead producing genuinely functional gear that wouldn’t look out of place in any tackle shop worth its salt.
Find out more about Db & Purple Mountain Observatory’s Gone Fishing collection at purplemountainobservatory.co.uk
