Bentley’s Picante Collaboration Mixes British Heritage with Streetwear Cool

LONDON — The gears are shifting for the London-based menswear brand Picante as it prepares to expand into new categories, builds out a team and unveils a collaboration with Bentley Motors.

The opportunity to team up with the British manufacturer of luxury cars and SUVs came by chance to the brand’s cofounders, Jude Taylor and Saam Zonoozi.

“It was a passing comment. We said, ‘We should do a collaboration,’ and then it materialized,” Taylor said.

The two men quickly came up with a concise seven-piece collection that includes hoodies, T-shirts, a knit sweater, a cap, a beanie and a leather jacket, which is the crème de la crème of the collaboration. 

The collection starts at 55 pounds for a cap or beanie and goes up to 990 pounds for the leather jackets. Only 20 leather jackets have been produced and they’re made to replicate the luxurious interiors of a Bentley car. A plaque similar to those found in Bentley cars that identify which edition it is has also been placed on the lining of the jacket, which is made up of a diamond pattern that takes its cues from the leather seats and door panels of the cars.

“The pattern has 230,000 stitches and it takes four hours to do one lining. Bentley told us we could only do it if we could get the sizing right, where the diamonds go from small to big,” Taylor said.

To get the leather jacket right wasn’t an easy feat, but a rewarding one.

“Outerwear is something we’re trying to expand and it’s a really hard one from a manufacturing point of view — it takes time to design and execute, but it’s something we want to push,” said Zonoozi, explaining that the leather jackets were made in Turkey in a factory that manufactures for Acne Studios.

A lot of thought went into the leather jackets. They used a heavy cowhide to imitate the feeling of a handbag and the boxy silhouette is reminiscent of old driving merchandise.

“We were guided by the strong British heritage that Bentley has,” Zonoozi said.

The collection uses a handful of colors: a rich ivory, a racing green, navy, black and brown.

Taylor and Zonoozi wanted to pay respect to Bentley’s exclusivity so they limited the boxy T-shirts and hoodies to 300 units and the knit sweaters to 50. 

“We don’t want to overproduce or flood the market with a product that might not sell. We could have easily done more,” Taylor said.

The collection will be available for purchase beginning Friday on picante.shop and Bentley customers will get exclusive early access on Thursday.