In 2020, Louis Vuitton’s creative director Virgil Abloh linked up with the NBA for an uber-luxe set of accessories to mark the beginning of the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and the National Basketball Association (NBA). The two brands have now come together again for a third and final collection inspired by travel.
The collection is dedicated to luggage and celebrates the values in the sport that Virgil so dearly cherished, an appetite for challenge, team spirit, universality, and messages of camaraderie. In this final collection, the Maison has reinvented the key travel pieces, The Christopher backpack; Keepall 55, a Dapp Kit, a Pocket Organizer, an eight-watch storage case, and the signature Malle Courrier. The two exceptional pieces are dressed in NBA colours for the very time. All the pieces in the collection are crafted from electric-blue Taurillon leather, which has been monogram-embossed. The oversized LV signature comes in the shape of a basketball, clad in NBA logo colours.
Throughout the collection, the Maison revamped iconic motifs to fit the theme of the sport. The side of the keepall features a basketball net, gold chains and metal details, and an ode to the famous trophy.
In keeping with Maison’s long history of creating bespoke travel cases for the world’s most iconic trophies, this collection features a new Official Travel Trunk for the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy. Hand-crafted by the expert artisans at Louis Vuitton’s legendary Asnieres atelier, the trunk’s exterior is covered in emblematic Monogram canvas and features heavyweight brass closures and fittings. The inside is lined with soft microfiber and features the NBA’s 75th-anniversary logo. The trunk’s folding doors are an ode to victory and feature a hand-painted V in the red, white, and blue of the NBA and the symbol that marks Louis Vuitton’s association with basketball.
The Maison has previously cased some of the most coveted trophies in the world of sport – the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup 2023, Davis Cup, and the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco.
