Represent will launch a collaboration with Metallica on 24 April with TikTok star Huddy starring in the campaign. The British luxury streetwear label said it “marks a full circle moment” for the brand with its “iconic oversized T-shirt construction being inspired by a 30 year-old vintage Metallica T-shirt discovered by Represent’s co-founder, Mike Heaton over seven years ago”.

That T-shirt became the “muse of the brand’s DNA over the years, from the fit to the artwork style”. And now the new collab “offers the opportunity to showcase Represent’s attention to detail for authentic execution and bring back to life grails from the past”.

But the collab is about more than just a T-shirt and comprises 16 pieces “pushing not only artwork execution, but application, garment washing and construction”. 

The capsule collection showcases “new fabric developments with the incorporation of slub T-shirts with single stitch detailing – an evolution of prior styles with a focus on vintage-inspired drape, texture and fabric weight”.

Key pieces include the Metallica Leather Battle Jacket, with a classic biker silhouette and featuring signature patchwork from albums such as Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Garage Inc. Further references are made with Initialised Local Crew and Represent logos “evocative of the classic Metallica logo style”.

The jacket has a patina emulating the natural sun fade and ageing of garments and is finished with distressed And Justice for All album artwork and the Metallica logo at the back.

Other hero pieces are the Masters of Puppets T-Shirt and Hoodie. They’re “reiterations of the graphic T-shirt that started the brand’s pivot into graphic collections seven years ago”. A total of 26 screens were layered to complete the accumulated graphic of five referenced albums: Masters of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Metallica (The Black Album), And Justice for All and Kill ‘Em All.

Overall, we’re told the collection “centres around celebrating 40 years of Ride the Lightning which sees ‘jumbo’ print application on vintage grey and flat white T-shirts, as well as a vintage grey hoodie and long sleeve T-shirt with a full body front and back print. The back print features a hand painted Represent logo paying homage to the analogue techniques of the ‘80s”.

And the company said the “addition of a hand rising from the grave acts as a point of remembrance to deceased band member, Cliff Burton”.

The pieces will be available globally next week via the retailers’s webstore, representclo.com.