Family First Cements U.S. Footprint With Looney Tunes Capsule

MILAN — What does better epitomize a family than the Looney Tunes crew?

Italian street brand Family First knows it well and to further highlight its community-driven ethos, it is teaming with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the entire Warner Bros. squad in time for the Super Bowl, as part of a further push in the U.S.

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The Looney Tunes capsule collection kicks off a two-year collaboration with Warner Bros., which will see the brand team up with other franchises and includes unisex Bugs Bunny-bearing T-shirts; hoodies covered in graffiti-style renditions of the Looney Tunes characters; silky shirts embellished with comic strip-like drawings, as well as a leather varsity jacket lined in satin, decorated with patches and the brand’s catchphrase “if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.”

Family First’s chief executive officer and president Alessandro Zanchi and creative director Giorgio Mallone decided to unveil the collection in the week heading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl, taking place in Inglewood, Calif., and featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and L.A. Rams for more than one reason.

“It’s a huge event for any brand, there’s a lot of attention,” Mallone said.

Additionally, the choice has a lot to do with the brand’s incursion in the U.S. back in 2018. Attempting to file a trademark request in the country, the duo discovered a company under a similar name had already applied for the apparel category, leaving them little to no chance other than to change the name or set up a collaboration.

They chose the latter and established a joint venture with the Fam1st Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping underserved youth communities to elevate their life through sports and family support services. The foundation is headed by the National Football League’s players Marshawn Lynch, Josh Johnson and Marcus Peters.

“It’s two different worlds and fields joining forces and coming together as a big family,” Zanchi said. In keeping with the foundation’s ethos, 1 percent of Family First’s U.S. and Canada-generated revenues are channeled into charity projects. The U.S. represents 20 to 25 percent of the company’s revenues, which in 2021 totaled 1.5 million euros.

The alliance further encapsulates Family First’s business approach, rooted in collaborations. “The family first hashtag was used around 19 million times on Instagram,” Zanchi said. “That’s exactly what our brand stands for — we are a big family, and we keep nurturing it.”

Triggered by their U.S. partners and their professional link with the Super Bowl, Family First is celebrating the capsule with an event Thursday at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, where the capsule will be exclusively sold before a global rollout at the end of February at retailers including Los Angeles’ Politics, El Corte Inglés in Marbella and Italy’s Eraldo store, among others.

Courtesy of Family First

For each purchase, Family First will offer a football engraved with 3D signatures of Lynch and Johnson, as well as a ball-shaped keychain.

Family First was established in 2015 by Zanchi and Mallone, the latter a graffiti artist, nightclub promoter and visual designer. Family First was the name of an Ibiza soirée he organized years ago.

Counting 170 retailers worldwide, 30 of which are in the U.S., the brand is aiming to cement its reputation and footprint in the country and secure distribution at local department stores. In 2020, Family First debuted its first Super Bowl-dedicated capsule collection in partnership with Iceberg.

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