WASTED YOUTH AND THISISNEVERTHAT REUNITE FOR FW26

Thisisneverthat returns to Wasted Youth on September 25, five years after their first capsule together in January 2021. Wasted Youth opened FW26 on September 12 with seven pieces and zero outside names on the labels. Thirteen days later, the label breaks that rule itself.

September 12 Was Supposed to Be the Whole Season

Wasted Youth's FW26 Drop 1 shipped worldwide at 11am Japan Standard Time with a seven piece lineup and no outside collaborator, an intentional first for a season opener. Four graphic tees and a WY badge tee ran 9,680 yen, a knit polo ran 22,000 yen and work shorts ran 27,500 yen, all sold under the Wasted Youth name alone. Verdy framed it as the label standing on its own for once, two days after his Mini Visty plushie release and a Mercedes Benz G Wagon wrap reveal.

That framing lasted less than two weeks. The follow up drop puts a second brand's name on the hang tags again, and it is not a new one.

Thisisneverthat First Wore Wasted Youth in January 2021

The Seoul label and Wasted Youth built their first capsule together for a VERDY'S GIFT SHOP pop up at Isetan Shinjuku, releasing online and in store on January 18, 2021 with water repellent, wind resistant jackets and pants, two colorways of light windbreakers, chino pants with a back text print and graphic tees carrying Wasted Youth's Budweiser style lettering. Five years later, the FW26 reunion trades those pieces for a team jacket, hiking pants, a light jacket, a check shirt, a beanie, a shoulder bag and a Visty figure reworked in thisisneverthat colors. Verdy posted the news himself, tagging thisisneverthat and captioning it only tomorrow with two peace sign emoji, crediting the photo to Udai, @udai65.

The collection goes up on thisisneverthat's US site at 10am EDT and its EU site at 4pm CEST, both on September 25. In Japan, it is exclusive to the brand's Shibuya flagship store, no online option, the kind of restriction thisisneverthat usually saves for releases it wants people to show up for in person.

The Six Week Run Was Never Really Solo

Wasted Youth's own recent math argues against reading September 12 as a real reset. Verdy has now hit four brands in six weeks this fall alone, wrapping Mercedes Benz's CLA and G Wagon Visty camo, running a Louis Vuitton sticker line and putting Wasted Youth's name on a Dr Martens Penton Loafer, all while holding a creative partner title at Human Made since August 2024. A solo Drop 1 in the middle of that run reads less like a change in appetite and more like a beat between partners, the same way a record label puts out one artist's solo single between two features.

Thisisneverthat has kept a similar pace on its own side. A Starbucks capsule and the brand's first ever fragment design collaboration both landed earlier this year, and the Wasted Youth reunion carries the same technical bent, GORE TEX linings and hiking silhouettes, that defined its 2021 run with Verdy.

Vick and Visty Do Not Stay in One Lane

The pattern extends past clothing. Verdy tagged Apple on July 7 to tease a follow up to his 500 dollar Vear figure, the same reach across categories that put his Vick character on car paint and his Girls Don't Cry logo on stickers inside a Louis Vuitton pop up. Streetwear collaborations are the visible layer. The actual business is a single character set, Vick and Visty, licensed into whatever category will take it that month, automotive, luxury retail, footwear, tech, and now a second lap with the Seoul label that helped define his aesthetic in the first place.

That licensing math is also why the Visty figure in this drop matters more than a plush toy usually would. The same character wrapped a Mercedes G Wagon two weeks earlier and rode a Mini Visty plushie release into the solo Drop 1 on September 12. Reworking it in thisisneverthat's colorway for FW26 is the same figure doing a third job inside one month, proof it travels between a car hood and a jacket sleeve without missing a beat.

Two weeks of going it alone was never going to hold. Verdy's calendar runs on partners, and thisisneverthat, the brand he keeps returning to across five years, is the one worth watching for a third round before this FW26 season closes out. The September 12 drop, seven pieces and no outside name, was the exception. September 25, with a team jacket, hiking pants and a Visty figure back in thisisneverthat's palette, is the pattern.