Karl-Anthony Towns Wears Pelle Pelle for W Magazine

Some photos just make sense the second you see them. Karl-Anthony Towns, fresh off helping bring a championship back to New York, sitting in black and white with his fitted pulled low and a Pelle Pelle leather on his back. That's a New York story told in one frame.
KAT opens his W Magazine feature in Pelle Pelle, and the jacket does exactly what it was made to do. Black leather loaded with New York embroidery, the Empire State Building stitched across the chest, and the kind of detail work Marc Buchanan has been putting into our pieces for decades. For a championship moment, it's the jacket that already speaks the city's language.

And the timing couldn't be better. KAT helped bring an NBA championship back to New York for the first time in 53 years, and he talks about it like a guy who still can't believe it happened. He told W that his favorite memories from the run weren't about holding the trophy, but about hanging in hotels after wins and pulling the team together after losses to figure out how to get better. The trophy gets the headlines, but the real story was a locker room that actually liked each other.

He grew up in the area, so going back to New Jersey and seeing how excited everyone was during the run meant a lot to him. That's a kid from Jersey who now sits on the pages of one of fashion's biggest magazines as a champion, wearing a brand that's been part of New York's story through every era of its culture. Seeing Pelle Pelle carried into a season like this feels earned.

My favorite line comes at the very end, when he's asked if he feels more relaxed after winning a championship and answers with a string of "no's," saying he actually feels more stressed now. That's a champion who wants another one. We'll be right here when he gets it.
Read the full feature in W Magazine.