One full calendar year before any collection comes out, Ardith (Co-Founder & Chief Designer) meticulously hangs a beautiful board of curated imagery in the middle of Bandit HQ for all to soak in. Over the course of the months to follow, Ardith and team sketch and color into their ideas for new product silhouettes inspired by the imagery on the wall. In the mood board below, you'll get a sense for some of the palette, shapes, patterns, fonts, and constructions that will appear in our upcoming Fall 2025 "Loyal to the Soil" Collection.
Every patented Ardith mood board is accompanied by a poetic expression of what inspired her thinking for a given collection, always inspired by where the runner may metaphysically be as they exit one season and enter into another.
Without further adieu...
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Born from exploring the starting point, Primary Source celebrates the act of preparation as a ritual of transformation and movement.
Inspired by the building blocks of creation:
A Josef Albers color study, Anni Albers textile sketchbook, Richard Serra’s “Verb List”
Influenced by dynamic, process oriented design.
Through the lens of a runner
To assemble // To train // To Arrange // To Balance // To Recover
The work is the story.
Applying this as a multidimensional way to think about how garments both perform and express themselves aesthetically.
Merging the tactile and active energy of innovative fabric and unique construction with deliberate color compositions.
Representing how athletes prepare and prime themselves for performance and movement.
Each piece is a preparatory element, building toward peak performance.
Color representing psychological piece of preparation, using a range of hues to express parts of the process.
Grounding tonal neutrals that reflect mental readiness.
Rich fig and berry tones reflect a mastery of motion and a fine tuning of performance & discipline.
Punctuated with vibrant, energized, & nuanced versions of primary colors, hues of punchy vintage blue, flame reds, and acidic yellows.
Visually communicating readiness and power.
... And now to the mood board with some casual context straight from Ardith.
I interpret this as a type of “growing grid”, a system that is ever evolving/ growing /changing - Enzo Mari, Disegno per la struttura 773, 1963
This gradient speaks to duality, the idea that things are always more than what is on the surface. The positive/negative space and color tension absolutely send me.
The neckline and proportions of this Fendi ‘93-an all time fave.
Loved the interplay of color here, along with the dynamic nature of the blur
Also, The GOAT.
Loved how Denzel is wearing a classic tailored blazer and a quintessential menswear pattern, but he looks undeniably cool and like himself. Not at all stuffy or traditional. This inspired us to take on something that could seem traditional and view it through a new lens through technique and application.
This Ikat floral reflects something on one hand that can be soft and beautiful, but can also become more interesting with natural disruption.
This Fendi 95 show had tons of this strap detail. I loved exploring a version of this as a fresh take on our pocketing/storage system.
Ever inspired by Queen Miuccia, I love how the idea of taking something quite linear and rigid, like a plaid and distorting it into something undulating and almost surreal.
And if you've ever looked at one of my mood boards... you know it's not complete without a shot of baby Kate.
