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- Columbia Sportswear has teamed up with Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise to create three striking coats inspired by those worn by Commander Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Captain Solo while they served the Rebellion on ice-bound planet Hoth.
- Only 1,980 of each limited-edition coat is being produced in honor of the 1980 release year of "The Empire Strikes Back."
- Their rugged and durable construction make these coats ready for wear in extreme conditions.
- The jackets will be available online and in select stores on Friday, December 8.
If the words Echo Base or Planet Hoth send an excited shiver down your spine, then you should probably read on. If you know what Leia said to Han in the South Passage, or what Obi Wan told Luke out there in the snow, then definitely stay tuned. And whether or not you know the difference between a tauntaun and a wampa (and know which one smells worse, inside or out), if you love greats jacket with retro styling that just happens to be very much back in style these days, you're very much in the right place.
Columbia Sportswear has teamed up with Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise to create three striking garments inspired by those worn by Commander Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Captain Solo while they served the Rebellion on ice-bound planet Hoth. The jackets are faithful reproductions of the coats seen in the classic 1980 film"The Empire Strikes Back"— and you can trust me on that, I've seen the film. Four or five dozen times. Also my brother and I had all the action figures back in the 80s.
I also happen to have worn Columbia jackets a time or two in rather trying conditions, including while above 15,560 feet of altitude in the mountains of northern Colombia, in a blizzard dumping more than two feet of snow across the eastern seaboard of the US, and on mountains where the ambient temperate was well south of freezing even without the windchill. Long story short, it's clothing designed for performance first but that happens to usually look good, too. Or, in this case, look, well, out of this world.
Named after Echo Base, the frigid redoubt where the rebels made a fateful stand against the Empire, the jackets created through this partnership aren't cheap and are scarce.
The Leia Organa Echo Base Jacket, Han Solo Echo Base Parka, and Luke Skywalker Echo Base Jacket each retail for $400. And only 1,980 of each limited-edition coat is being produced in honor of the 1980 release year of "The Empire Strikes Back."
The Echo Base collection goes on sale Friday, December 8 and will be available online and in retail locations around the US, in Europe, and in Asia. Insert a "May the Force be with you" joke here about the luck you'll need to get your hands on one, but should you pull it off, you'll obtain a jacket that can keep you feeling warm, looking cool, and that will dazzle die-hard Star Wars fans.
Oh, and one more thing: There's actually one more jacket available, and it might be easier to get this one.
Columbia is also producing a Han Solo Archive Edition parka modeled after the dark brown coat Harrison Ford wore in some of the Hoth scenes from "Empire,"and Ford has personally signed each and every one of this extremely limited-run coat. Now, if it's an extremely limited run, why might it be easier to get than the other Echo Base jackets? Well, the signed Han Solo Archive Edition parka sells for $1,980. But every cent of the sales will be donated to Conservation International — so not only will you get an awesome coat, you'll also do some good in our world.
View the entire Star Wars x Columbia Sportwear jacket collection here.
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