Clothing retailer PacSun released two new gender-neutral collections on Thursday, building on the company’s recent push towards androgyny.

The collections are the result of PacSun’s gender-neutral design competition, announced last year in partnership with the Fashion Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit education and workforce development organization. Contest winners Oli Carrillo and Allegra Abrams worked with PacSun’s product and development teams to bring their gender-neutral collections to market.

Carrillo, based in New York and Los Angeles, said his collection was inspired by Southern California skate culture, punk rock and graffiti.

“It was important to me to look at a juxtaposition of energy and mannerisms when designing graphics. I want to respond to a contrasting binary of emotion, so graphics and prints don’t stick to femininity or masculinity. singular. Carrillo said in a press release.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Change America to your Facebook Where Twitter stream to stay up to date with the news.

“It was important to blend both masculine and feminine in the same image(s) so that these graphics would stand on their own, so they could be styled into any type of closet or outfit,” they wrote. declared.

Abrams, who is also based in New York but hails from Minneapolis, said her genderless designs pay homage to black culture, with a retro twist.

“The collection reflects my love for fusing traditionally masculine and feminine design elements,” said Abrams. “My aesthetic as a designer focuses on aspects of 70s fashion and references black culture…Most importantly, the ‘Love to the People’ collection represents my constant goal of promoting inclusivity and diversity in the fashion industry.”

PacSun launched its “gender-neutral boutique” in 2020, featuring curated unisex apparel in response to “the shift we’ve seen in customer shopping and dressing,” PacSun Brand Director Brie Olson, said at the time. “It’s the future of clothing – styles that are made for everyone, no matter who you are.”

Later, in 2021, Pacsun launched its first entirely gender-neutral brand“Colour Range”, a collection of sustainable and genderless clothing.

Other fast fashion brands, like H&M, Zara and forever 21have also launched gender-neutral collections in recent years, blurring the line between menswear and womenswear as shoppers, especially younger ones, gravitate toward fluid styles.

“Fashion used to be very binary – it was for men or for women, and you could never transgress between the two,” Preston Souza, chief of staff and buyer at The Phluid Project, the world’s first non-fiction clothing store. kind of New York, told the Rivet site in 2019. “And what’s really beautiful is that Gen Z rejects these labels. Sixty percent of Gen Z will shop in gendered sections, proof that these binary structures are slowly disappearing.

READ MORE STORIES FROM AMERICA IN CHANGE

GOVERNMENT OF TEXAS. ABBOTT INTRODUCES NEW “BILL OF PARENTAL RIGHTS”

SCIENTISTS ARE MONITORING A NEW SUB-VARIANT OF OMICRON CALLED BA.2

FLORIDA HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

A MAN REFUSED A HEART TRANSPLANT BECAUSE HE IS NOT VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19

RESEARCHERS FIND GENETIC LINK TO COVID-19 INDUCED LOSS OF SMELL AND TASTE