Here's a First Look at Union and Fragment Design's Highly Anticipated Air Jordan 1 Collab
Sure to be one of the more coveted sneaker designs of the year, the Fragment Design x Union x Air Jordan 1 High blends the best of both worlds from each brand's respective collaboration on the silhouette. The Hiroshi Fujiwara-led Fragment Design is represented through the white, black and royal blue colorway as well as its signature lightning bolt logo stamp near the heel. At the rubber midsole, Fragment Design's tooling code detailing calls out both Fujiwara and Gibbs.
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For its part, Union has contributed elements from its Air Jordan 1 collaborations including zig-zag stitching at the ankle and tongue, a deconstructed tongue design and the addition of a woven tag reading 'Union' instead of the usual 'UN/LA.' Somewhat surprisingly, the colorway does not feature mismatched portions like most of Union's other Air Jordan 1s.
'We have the Fragment Design collaboration that's coming later,' Gibbs confirmed in February.
Union's Jordan Brand partnership began in 2018 with the launch of a two-sneaker Air Jordan 1 High collection which featured the first appearance of the store's mash-up concept. The duo then issued a follow-up 'I'm Back' colorway in February. As for Fragment Design, 2014 Air Jordan 1 High collaboration was the beginning of a long-term partnership that has included coveted projects with Travis Scott.
While the Fragment Design x Union x Air Jordan 1 High is confirmed to be released soon, some of the specifics remain undetermined. While the pair has previously been rumored to release in 2025, the midsole text indicates the collaboration could be destined for a spring 2026 launch. Retail pricing has not been confirmed.
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Finding the perfect throwback item, like an old-school Houston Astros rainbow-colored jersey, meant "knowing it was unique, that nobody else had it [and] you couldn't go to the mall and there were, like, 1,000 of them," he says. While studying Spanish language and literature at Ohio University, Vesler ran a side hustle selling piles of vintage sportswear and pop-culture collectibles on eBay. His roommates were "always annoyed ... because [of the] boxes of stuff piling up," he says. Vesler made enough money from the venture — eventually bringing in up to nearly $20,000 annually, he says — to support himself after graduating in 2005, leading him to try his hand at making his own products. He launched Homage from his parents' basement in 2007, using more than $10,000 from his eBay earnings to buy blank American Apparel T-shirts and adorn them with self-designed sports graphics, he says. 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"I'd say that's the best IP in the world," says Vesler. "I knew that if you could prove yourself at Ohio State, you could go anywhere [in the U.S.]." The Ohio State deal brought an immediate surge of demand, which Homage's handful of employees could barely handle at first, Vesler says: "We never had enough inventory, we didn't have enough staff [and] stores would never send us their purchase orders in a timely fashion." With the revenue from those orders, Vesler increased the number of blank shirts in Homage's inventory at any given time, and hired more staff to handle the larger workload. The company's annual sales topped $1 million for the first time in 2009, says Vesler. Homage continued to sell mostly through college bookstores and its website until 2015, when it landed a national licensing deal with the NBA — due, Vesler says, to a years-long track record of managing Ohio State's massive fan base. Vesler sent a box of T-shirts to his local team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and insists it was a surprise when James, the NBA star, walked off a team plane wearing his brand in 2016. As more athletes wore the brand in public, more partners signed on, including the NFL and Disney's "Star Wars" and Marvel franchises. Yet Homage is still a relatively small player in a highly competitive sports apparel market, led by giants like Fanatics and Nike, that's forecasted to top $173 billion in North American retail sales in 2025, according to a McKinsey & Company report. Vesler says he's focused on gaining market share through pure creativity, in terms of Homage's apparel designs. He's also eyeing international expansion, starting with licensed merchandise for Wrexham A.F.C. — a professional soccer team based in the U.K. that's co-owned by Reynolds, the actor who's invested in Homage. Some of Vesler's other strategic ideas are purely wishful thinking for now: His company isn't large enough, and doesn't have large enough "strategic partners" yet, to create sports-themed experiences like Homage-branded bars or hotels, he says. But no idea is too far-fetched to eventually consider, he notes. "What enables this thing is people saying 'yes' to cool ideas," says Vesler. "Without that, there's no Homage."
