Gucci x MLB SS23 Ain't Your Average Ballpark Merch
Is there any season better suited to Gucci's typically sumptuous aesthetic than summer? When the temps rise, wardrobes turn toward funky prints and unabashedly OTT garments that do a lot with a little. Y'know, the sort of stuff that Gucci does better than perhaps any other luxury label.
Gucci and Major League Baseball's Summer 2023 collection is arriving just in time for the hot, hot, hot weather, though it's oddly several months behind the beginning of MLB's 2023 season.
Like previous Gucci and MLB collaborations — including the Yankees "merch," Gucci is on maybe its fifth MLB collab or so since the partnership began in Fall/Winter 2018 — this capsule leans more Gucci than MLB.
That is to say, you ain't just getting Gucci-monogrammed baseball caps — though there are indeed Guccified MLB hats, courtesy of official on-field capmaker New Era.
With prices starting around $690 for the New Era caps, spike to $1,200 for T-shirts and fringed sneakers, then spike to $5,200 for a cardigan, $8,200 for a denim vest, and $13,500 for the all-over printed denim jeans.
This is clearly not your average ballpark merch.
No, Gucci and MLB are delivering a slew of elevated apparel toys with classic Gucci fare, granting familiar fare patches, prints, and patterns derived from MLB teams' recognizable motifs.
Head to Gucci's website and brand-new storefront in New York's Meatpacking District to experience the new MLB capsule when it drops on June 8 and prepare to toss out all of your old Yankees/Athletics/Twins/Red Sox/Pirates merch, should you have the deep pocket necessary to indulge.
Varsity jackets are a staple of the Gucci x MLB team-up and they return for Summer 2023 in each team's requisite palette.
Washed denim sets, sweatsuits, anoraks, cozy cardigans of Mr. Rogers' speed: the better question is what Gucci item didn't get the MLB touch?
There are even Gucci x MLB horsebit loafers, a transformation of the traditional Gucci shoe that now allows deep-pocketed fans to properly rock their team colors from head to toe.
Gucci has gotten quite sporty as of late and one has to wonder if this inclination can be traced back to that original FW18 Yankees team-up.
Certainly, Alessandro Michele's Gucci never skimped on the athletic angle — Gucci's adidas collaboration was entirely steeped in playful '80s workout cues — but, even if it didn't all begin with Gucci x MLB, there was certainly a playfully sporty precedent set.
