Copenhagen-based label mfpen has partnered with legendary American outerwear purveyor Schott NYC for FW25, reinterpreting the brand’s iconic CWU (cold weather uniform) Bomber Jacket.
Among other iconic silhouettes, like the leather Perfecto and the Cafe Racer jackets, Schott’s nylon Bomber jackets have become synonymous with tough guys and rebels — think biker gangs, punk rockers, and youth subcultures. Growing up in one of Denmark’s industrial hubs, thousands of miles away from Schott’s home in New York City, the counter-cultural connotations of the brand’s jackets were palpable for mfpen founder Sigurd Bank.
In an exclusive interview with Hypebeast, Bank shared that it's exactly this notion that he sought to reclaim.
“In my youth, wearing a Schott jacket meant you were one of the ‘bad guys’ who wanted to beat up kids like me.”
In the 90s, the young Bank was immersed in the indie music scene and skate culture of his city, finding himself rather intimidated by the more rebellious type — “guys riding mopeds, wearing Schott jackets, and No Fear T-shirts,” he recalled. “In my youth, wearing a Schott jacket meant you were one of the ‘bad guys’ who wanted to beat up kids like me.”
The mfpen x Schott CWU Bomber Jacket is also reclaimed in a literal sense. In line with Bank’s long-held commitment to responsible production, Schott provided leftover jackets for the collaboration, which the mfpen team reworked with light touches. The designer, whose label focuses on an understated, Nordic aesthetic, decided against a complete rework of Schott’s CWU Bomber Jacket and instead made discreet hardware updates.
“I'm a big fan of general release stuff; I don't like the crazy colors. So we tried to do something that's very close to the original product, while doing tweaks to make it more interesting from our point of view,” Bank explained. “We tried to work with it to make it better and more aesthetically interesting without actually destroying the cool product of a Schott jacket.”
Available in black and navy colorways, the jacket’s traditional one-way zipper has been replaced with a two-way zipper for a “more deconstructed look.” This small change brings a more relaxed sensibility to the bomber silhouette, which often rides upward due to the cropped and ribbed waistline. Additionally, Bank opted for zippers from Riri, a premium Swiss zipper manufacturer known for being used in luxury and sportswear garments.
At the collar, a hook-and-bar closure gives the neckline a sophisticated look, while rivets on the pockets complete the look with metal trims. Lastly, mfpen’s suiting label is attached to the sleeve, tying the piece back to the brand’s background in more tailored styles.
To launch the collaboration, mfpen produced a video with collaborator Isak Berglund Mattsson-Mårn, featuring dancers from The Royal Danish Ballet in rehearsal. For the soundtrack, Bank enlisted his good friend August Rosenbaum, a well-known Danish pianist and composer. “The piano is also something soft, but he plays quite aggressively. I think this juxtaposition between these soft and harder elements is fun to play with.”
In the spirit of taking ownership of a garment he was once intimidated by, the Ballet dancers give this tension a physical manifestation. Bank expressed that while the dance style is often associated with qualities like softness and grace, it’s tough in its own way, requiring immense skill, concentration, and physical strength.
Indeed, this implication of physical strength is easily transferable to classic bomber silhouettes, which can lend anybody a deceivingly buff torso and shoulders for the day. “Sometimes I feel like the bomber jacket is a bit off in design — a little too cropped, a little too round. But I think that’s what also makes the product so good,” Bank said. “It may have a weird proportion, but that's also what makes it look intimidating; you look like you have very broad shoulders.”
“It's a rebel product, an anti-establishment item."
The origins of Schott’s CWU Bomber Jacket starkly contrast with the more gentle connotations of ballet. Now a ubiquitous silhouette, the jacket was released in the 1950s, when the brand began issuing designs originally commissioned by the U.S. Air Force during WWII. Later, in the 70s, the jacket was slightly updated with light insulation and a boxier fit. It was around this time that counter-cultural communities began to embrace the garment.
“It's a rebel product, an anti-establishment item,” Bank said. “It was an army product that people wore to re-contextualize it — you could be against war and still wear army products.”
In 2025, Schott’s CWU Bomber Jacket and other military styles have far transcended their wartime origins. The endurance of the bomber silhouette and related elements, such as camouflage and fatigue uniforms, speaks to the power of subcultural subversion. A garment once associated with combat instead becomes adopted as a form of personal armor and a vehicle for community identity.
The mfpen x Schott NYC CWU Bomber Jacket will be released in limited quantities on December 3, 2025, at Dover Street Market London, the mfpen Store Copenhagen, and mfpen.com.
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