Billabong has gone in for some headbanging. Through its Billabong Lab – a platform for collaborations with artists, musicians, designers and photographers – the boardsports-apparel company will be releasing five lines in its Billabong x Metallica 2019-2020 Collection from this past October to March of next year. Each line incorporates the cover art of a different album by the famous heavy-metal band, and each item is paired with digital content and events. The art, by Pushead, is adorned with washes, dyes, appliqué and embroidery. The items include T-shirts and long-sleeve pullovers, boardshorts made of recycled plastics, hooded fleeces, corduroy jackets and neoprene wetsuits. Things kicked off in October with “The Black Album,” one of the biggest releases of the 1990s. Billabong's previous collaboration with Metallica dates to 2007, when the band created a collection for the professional surfer Andy Irons. Irons' death, in 2010, is commemorated in the new collection, some of whose proceeds will go towards the Andy Irons Foundation for young people suffering from mental illness, drug addiction or learning disabilities.

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