BC Lions & Renowned Designer Jason Dussault Collaborate On Special Merchandise Line

The BC Lions and international designer Jason Dussault have announced a merchandise collaboration to be available for purchase HERE. A limited supply is also available during this Saturday’s home game against the Toronto Argonauts.

This special limited-edition collection showcases the Lions brand with Dussault’s unique blend of artistic skills, with a focus on our city and province’s growing skateboard culture, along with an emphasis on a specific genre of music. Dussault maintains that this project has been a long time coming.

“I’ve been really excited about the opportunity of collaborating with a local sports team in Vancouver,” says Dussault on how the project came to light.

“It’s a trend that’s been going on in the U.S. quite a bit. If you take a look at the Brooklyn Nets, they have collaborated with KAWS to do one night where he does a limited drop of shirts that are inspired by the team. Another one will be the (Cleveland) Cavaliers. Another big artist named Daniel Arsham. And then the New York Knicks have partnered with Kith, which is a big fashion line in New York. And they’ll have a Kith night where they make limited edition clothing and souvenirs for the team as the artists imagine them. So, it’s something that I’ve wanted to do.”

Dussault’s first artistic collaboration with the Lions came when he was approached by business associates of Amar Doman to design a ceramic jersey sporting the owner’s last name. That unique piece currently sits in Doman’s game room. From there, Dussault proceeded to talk to the Lions’ owner about some of the bigger brands in professional sports are doing with art collaborations. Dussault admits he was pleasantly surprised to have Doman agree to branch out with this new project that mirrors how a lot of younger folks are picking their clothes these days.

“What’s currently happening in fashion right now is sort of a rock’n’roll, grungier look with oversized t-shirts that I wear,” adds Dussault.

“I’m into fashion. I’ve been designing fashion lines for a long time. I’m getting old, it’s been since 2005, over 20 years since I’ve had my first fashion brand. Kudos to Amar for doing this. He’s done so much for this team, so much for this city. Sports are a really important part of any city and they really bring people together. So yeah, it’s all come together.”

When you look at the designs, you can certainly see where he’s coming from with the rock and grunge angles. The shredding of the Lion’s flesh, showing the skull and using BC out of bones also pays tribute to our skateboarding culture. Dussault grew up in Kamloops, where skateboarding was a big part of his life in the summer and snowboarding took over in the winter. A lot of the skateboarding brands he followed used skulls and bones.

“I wanted to do kind of a skateboard style because of how much it meant to me as a child, but also how important it is to the history of Vancouver,” he explains.

“There’s a really large connection to skateboarding in Vancouver. It really sort of aligns what’s happening in fashion with connecting to the skateboarding roots in this city, as well as connecting with the BC Lions brand through the icon that I created.”

Dussault’s long and successful career has had many noteworthy highlights, including a long-time business partnership with KISS frontman and mega-entrepreneur Gene Simmons. The two forged a connection through famous comic book artist Todd McFarlane. Dassault himself has dabbled in writing and illustrating comics.

Dussault had a fashion line back in 2005 that originated out of his shop in Gastown. That’s where the connection with Simmons first began. Dussault later appeared with him on multiple episodes of his famous reality TV show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Those appearances spawned the creation of Simmons’ Money Bag logo, which he had trademarked. Dussault then had his own reality show, Dussault Inc., which ran for two seasons in 2011 and 2012.

He can now add the BC Lions merchandise collaboration to his long list of accomplishments. And one thing is clear when talking to him about the passion for this project: Doman and the Lions have allowed him to live a long-standing dream.

“The BC Lions were absolutely my first choice. I thought it would be really cool to re-imagine the Lions logo,” adds Dussault.

Any Lions fan looking to add to their collection should not hesitate to jump on this limited-edition line.

“I’m really excited to get this into the fans’ hands. I’m a bit concerned that it’s a very limited-edition line, so people will definitely have to move quickly,” explains Dussault.

“If successful, we plan to hopefully do more drops. Hopefully this year or at Grey Cup. I’m hoping that BC is in the Grey Cup and I’m able to design some cool Grey Cup merchandise in this sort of flavour. But, yeah, it’ll be available on game day!”