When we started this company, licensing wasn't even a thought. We set out to make fun shirts, shirts that pop, shirts that start conversations. As we started to dive deeper into collaborations, we still never thought of ourselves as anything other than what we’ve always been: A brand that makes quality products and never takes itself too seriously. The rest is a bit of a happy accident.
Never in a million years did I think we’d have an opportunity to sit down in a conference room at Disney Studios and hash out ideas with their creative team. Even now, months into our collaboration, I can’t help but think: how the f— did we get here? Working with Disney has always been the pinnacle, that unattainable benchmark we could only imagine from a distance and think, “Ok, when we make it there, we can take a breath.”
Welp, we were wrong. As luck would have it, upon signing the deal, we had an opportunity to not just be a part of the Disney family, but to be a part of something that’s never really happened before.
2020 is the 25th anniversary of Disney and Pixar's Toy Story and to celebrate this quarter century of animated adventures, a giant initiative would be put together for the month of September. When the Pixar team pitched us on what’s now known as "Pixar Fest," we had no choice but to hop on the opportunity. Kicking off our Disney collab by bringing together the entire Pixar Universe with a collection of shirts has been one of the most eye-opening experiences I think we’ve ever had. This was our true “welcome to the big leagues, kid” moment.
Throwing elements from different movies onto a single shirt might seem easy enough, but it came with a whole set of challenges and learning curves. Of course, we had not done this before, but neither have they. Pixar characters from different movies don't normally live together in this fashion, not to mention we were crafting designs made predominantly for adults. In the end, we landed on two designs that are similar but contrasted, and ultimately bring home the true identity of Pixar and RSVLTS.
The most exciting part about the collab is that this is only the beginning. The well-oiled machine at Disney & Pixar yanked off our training wheels and sent us on our way to infinity (and beyond). Watching their team work has been an undeniably aspirational whirlwind. It’s like we're watching a symphony and are just happy they invited us over to play the cowbell. I guess this is the way.
