Image: Heroes & Villains

The world of pop culture fashion and accessories is getting more competitive each year. One of the labels that continues to find new ways to stand out in the crowded marketplace is Heroes & Villains. The brand is owned by the licensed apparel and accessories company, Bioworld, and since it’s debut at San Diego Comic-Con in 2018, it’s developed a reputation for creating wearable lifestyle gear that helps you showcase your fandom with style.

Their collections include officially licensed products from some of your favorite franchises, including Marvel, DC, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and many more. The brand debuted it’s all-new Star Wars Racing Collection at San Diego Comic-Con recently. The collection is inspired by some of the speedsters in the franchise like Imperial TIE Fighters, Rebel X-Wings, and pod racers from the Mos Espa circuit. It includes shirts, sweaters, jackets, hats and bags that will help you feel like you’re part of the official race team. Take a look!

Images: Heroes & Villains

Fashion and Fandom stopped by the Heroes & Villains booth in the Lucasfilm Pavilion during the show to check out the new collection, and to talk to Doug Johnson, Creative Director at Bioworld/Heroes & Villains. We talked about the inspiration behind the limited-edition collection, how Heroes & Villains incorporates story-telling into their designs , and more!

Fashion and Fandom: Tell me about the new collection that Heroes & Villains is launching at San Diego Comic Con.

Johnson: It's the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. So we really wanted to focus on the Pod Racing event. You can see we feature the Mos Espa pod racing circuit on a Formula One / NASCAR vibe racing jacket where we have sponsorship patches and embroidery all over it. To accompany that, we've got a long-sleeve crewneck along with an assortment of tees that all kind of showcase the pod racing event. Our biggest exclusive for the show is our crewneck with our custom illustration celebrating the 25th anniversary of Episode 1. Beyond that, we kept rolling with that race vibe, and we applied that to both the X-Wing and the TIE Fighter. For those, it's more like a moto-inspired biker jacket, but also kind of playing off the same same idea with the all the patches and everything else.

Fashion and Fandom: For me, one of the things that’s really great about Heroes & Villains is if you’re looking to rep your fandom in a subtle way you can find that whether that’s in your apparel or accessory collections. Is that something that’s really important to the company during the development process?

Johnson: Yes. 100%. We want the fans that really know. Our fans really appreciate all the little details in our products. We also want the product to be wearable — everyday wearable — so not too crazy, and not too in your face. We also like to dig into like the backstory. So you see that with the X-Wing and the TIE Fighter collection. We call out the manufacturers of the of the starships versus just the Empire or the Rebels. So yeah, we want to tell more of the story through our products.

Fashion and Fandom: That's one of the great things, not just about Heroes & Villains, but with a lot of the partners that Bioworld works with. The way you work to incorporate the brand’s story into their products.

Johnson: That's kind of the goal of every designer — to broaden the story through product development. Our ethos is kind of like, if the character from the story would not approve of the product we don't do it.

Images: Fashion and Fandom

Fashion and Fandom: The world of fandom fashion is getting increasingly more competitive every year. What are some of the strategies that Heroes & Villains is using to stay ahead of trends or help create new ones?

Johnson: I think it's research and development. Staying in tune with what's current, and also quality of product, right? I think that's a big thing that was always missing in pop culture apparel is quality of product, because people who are real fans want something that's gonna last. Something that's functional, and that’s designed for a purpose. At a lot of the mass market retailers you'll find cheap, inexpensive, and disposable type of apparel. But we really set ourselves apart from that and focus on the quality of the goods.

Fashion and Fandom: As a as a lifelong geek myself, I really appreciate the quality you find with Heroes & Villains products rather than a lot of the fast, disposable fandom fashion out there.

Johnson: Yeah, and I see that as a sustainable play as well, because these products last you for years and years and years. ur bags are incredible. I think the backpack that I've been carrying I've had for eight years and it looks like it's brand new still — and I carry it every day.

Fashion and Fandom: You have a great mixture of styles for men and women, but you also have accessories as well including some pretty incredible bags like you just mentioned. Can you talk to me a bit about your bags and accessories?

Johnson: That's what set us apart in the beginning, and what we use to help define the brand. The bags that we're making are so different than what was in the market. We focus on an older, everyday commuter that needs to carry a laptop and all their gear. Our bags help set us apart, and coming here to San Diego we kept seeing the same fans every year coming back wearing the bag they bought the previous year and buying the new one. So we took that model in the collector culture direction. We’ve got true fans out there collecting our bags and backpacks. Beyond that, we’ve also expanded into outerwear and home accessories. We have wall decor with the new flags that we're watching this Comic-Con.

Fashion and Fandom: What was your gateway fandom?

Johnson: Star Wars. We've always showcased within the Lucas Pavilion, so that's where we started. We do have a large assortment of Marvel and DC and everything else, but Star Wars is where we started.

Fashion and Fandom: What can Heroes & Villains fans expect to see throughout the rest of the year?

Johnson: We've got some really awesome stuff coming. We're really focused on travel. So I think that's a huge play going forward. We've got some really cool luggage pieces coming in and everything kind of complements each other. So we're building the collection as we go over time, but if you begin collecting they will match each other and certain aspects of the bags will fit together so that you can complete your luggage collection. Wall decor and home goods is another big push for us, so fans can look forward to seeing more wall decor and kitchen textiles from us down the road.

You can shop the limited-edition Heroes & Villains x Star Wars Racing collection online now at heroesvillains.com.