The sporting life of Wang and H&M

Chinese singer Li Yuchun attends a launch party for Alexander Wang's collaboration with H&M in Shanghai. Photo provided to China Daily

After putting on a catwalk show, designer Alexander Wang always runs out from backstage and returns quickly. His latest collaboration with H&M is sportswear.

So does he love sports?

Unexpectedly, Wang's answer is a laughing "no".

"I don't do any sports," admits the sprightly designer. Wearing his own black T-shirt and jeans, he spoke to reporters earlier this month in Shanghai before his H&M collection hit stores here. "I run onstage mainly because I get nervous in front of the big crowd. I cannot see anybody, just run and come back."

But when H&M approached him two years ago, he was eager to create performance wear and activewear because it's relevant for everyone in today's society.

"When you look out in the streets in New York," he says, "people are running around in gym clothes. They go to the gym, go to work and meet friends in sports clothes. That's the norm. I'm not athletic but I always feel comfortable and confident in a T-shirt and jeans."

Wang's sportswear, of course, is not only for wearing at the gym. It's a kind of new nightlife uniform, with versatility.

"If you're going out, going dancing, you sweat as well, you need to be active. Those clothes can be translated to things you can use in other events or situations, say, going to the club or out to dinner," the designer explains.

Swedish street-fashion brand H&M has collaborated with famous designers, such as Versace, Lanvin and Margiela, to launch special collections for 10 years. Wang is the first American designer in this project.

Margareta van den Bosch, H&M's creative adviser and formerly head of design for H&M for 30 years, says the company has followed Wang for a while. "With the sports influence that is in fashion today, I think it was a brilliant moment to bring him in."

Previous H&M designer collections have been mostly redos of the best of the labels' archives. But Wang wanted to do something brand new.

"I don't want to just reintroduce the kind of things I've done in the past. I want to do something that really excites not only my customers and H&M customers, but new customers. It does not matter if you are a luxury customer or a mass customer, if you are active or not. Anyone can really find something in this collection."

Wang says the point isn't to take luxury and make it cheaper: "When you spend $60 on a sports top or running shorts, you want to buy something of quality, made properly."

He used fabrics and techniques that suit sports; most of the line was made in Italy.

He enjoyed the collaboration and says he learned a lot from it.

"We designed everything together－from the string on the hand tag, to the pin, to the finish of the label."