Ahmet Mercan says AlphaTauri, the fashion brand of Red Bull, has grown as a company since Scuderia Toro Rosso became Scuderia AlphaTauri ahead of the 2020 season.
Speaking at the launch of AlphaTauri’s 2022 Formula 1 challenger, the AT03, Mercan, the CEO of AlphaTauri, says the synergy between fashion and Formula 1 has been fantastic and is continuing to grow as the relationship starts into its third year.
“This season, we will continue adding a certain fashion and design aspect to the world of premium motorsports,” said Mercan. “We see a fantastic synergy between both – fashion and Formula 1 – especially when you start collaborating with each other long-term.
“F1 is a playground for us as fashion-pioneers to get inspired, and test new technologies and innovations under extreme conditions. The experiences from F1 may also flow into our regular fashion collections.
“We are happy about the growth of our relationship and are very much looking forward to the new season.”
Talking about AlphaTauri’s mission for 2022, Mercan says there are plenty of new beginnings for both the fashion team and the Formula 1 team, with the new era of Formula 1 being complimented by a new clothing range.
“We are excited about new beginnings this season and have explored a lot of interesting opportunities to add style aspects to F1,” he said. “AlphaTauri’s fashion season kicked off in Italy in Florence at Pitti Uomo.
“For Scuderia AlphaTauri, it is a new era in Formula 1, and for AlphaTauri it is a new era in style. As a premium fashion brand it’s the perfect partnership to engage with a strong community of fans and hopefully our contribution to the world of F1 inspires a new generation of fans to share our passion.”
Mercan says that like in Formula 1, the fashion industry is driven by innovation, and for AlphaTauri this is no different as they strife for perfection, and they will be bringing some of their range to various Grands Prix across 2022 to show to the Formula 1 fans of the world.
“Like in F1, we are driven by innovation and are continuously working on optimising our performance on an international level across the season,” Mercan added. “Having said this, we further explore opportunities to bring our brand vision alive for the F1 community: the Mobile Innovation Lab (MIL), for example, will continue to appear across the upcoming season, including at certain races across Europe to allow visitors to explore our brand world.
“From a collection perspective, we continue to invest in our core categories such as 3D knit as well as further develop our textile technologies such as Taurobran® technology, making our outerwear waterproof and simultaneously super breathable and soft to wear.
“At the same time, Pierre [Gasly] and Yuki [Tsunoda], as well as Franz [Tost], continue to play a significant role as our fashion partners, ‘racing in style’ both on and off the track.”