METALLICA Partners With BILLABONG LAB For Special Collection Featuring Artwork Of Five Of Band's Albums

Billabong LAB has announced its latest collection featuring iconic album artwork from the legendary METALLICA. The Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 Collection will release in five product deliveries — each designed according to a different album/theme — between October 2019 to March 2020.

This premium design collaboration with METALLICA comes through Billabong LAB, a platform that supports artists, musicians, designers and photographers. The collection's October 22 launch date starts with METALLICA's classic self-titled 1991 album, a.k.a. "The Black Album," which has sold more than 16 million copies to date in the United States alone, making it the biggest selling album of that decade.

"For myself, the exhilaration of heavy metal and the exhilaration of riding a wave are one and the same. The new collaboration reflects this incredible feeling," said METALLICA lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.

Pieces in the Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 Collection will feature artwork from five of METALLICA's most iconic albums — including original concept art by legendary artist Pushead — supplemented by premium design touches such as washes, pigment dyes, as well as applique and embroidery details. Look forward to T-shirts and long sleeves crafted from 100% combed ring-spun cotton, boardshorts made from recycled plastics, hooded fleece, cotton corduroy jackets, and full graphic-print neoprene wetsuits.

It's not the first time Billabong joined forces with METALLICA. In 2007, the surf brand enlisted James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo to create a collection featuring Andy Irons as the hero athlete.

The special relationship between METALLICA and three-time surfing world champion Andy Irons, remembered by the international boardsports community since his untimely passing in 2010, will also be celebrated in one of the new Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 releases. A portion of the proceeds from this collection will help support the Andy Irons Foundation in its youth outreach efforts.

"We're so excited to draw on Billabong's longtime relationship with METALLICA to celebrate their tremendous impact on surf culture through this premium collection," said Evan Slater, VP of global marketing at Billabong. "Combining METALLICA's genre-defining album artwork and Billabong LAB's forward-thinking apparel and wetsuit designs adds up to something far greater than the sum of all parts. We're blown away with the results."

"There's a lot of rage in metal, but it's a good rage," said METALLICA bassist and avid surfer Robert Trujillo about the collaboration with Billabong LAB. "It's a great release, almost like surfing, out in the rhythm of the ocean."

The five product deliveries in the Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 Collection are poised to hit e-commerce and international retail over a six-month period.

Each product release in the Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 Collection will be accompanied by digital content and events. Billabong LAB will send media alerts in preparation of each product drop.

Billabong is a boardshort and bikini brand committed to the leading edge of surf culture. Founded in 1973 in Australia by visionary surfboard shaper and designer Gordon Merchant, Billabong is laser-focused on sharing the magic feeling of waveriding with the world. That feeling comes to life in many forms, from award-winning boardshorts and swimwear to an eclectic bunch of culture-defining ambassadors to a legacy of game-changing experiences from the ocean to the mountains and beyond. Merchant originally envisioned a world where surfers and the surf-inspired feel special — like they're the luckiest people on the planet. Now distributed in more than 100 countries across the globe, Billabong remains dedicated to his original vision — and making that feeling even more special tomorrow.