The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Corteiz relaunches the BOLO jacket with a film in which its return implodes a café
London streetwear label Corteiz announced the revived BOLO jacket as a phenomenon: in the film 'Bolo Is Big', the jacket's power shatters a greasy spoon.
Corteiz
What it had to solve
Corteiz, a London streetwear brand, was reviving its BOLO jacket, an iconic piece whose return would immediately be noticed by the people who knew the brand. The relaunch needed a film that made the jacket feel like a phenomenon rather than a product.
How it works
When London streetwear brand Corteiz revived its BOLO jacket — an iconic piece from its own history — the announcement film treated the return as a phenomenon rather than a product launch. The challenge was simple in shape: make the jacket's comeback feel as big as the people who wanted it already believed it was.
In 'Bolo Is Big', Kwollem enjoys a serene moment of calm in a greasy spoon while wearing the revived jacket. Bunmi, passing by, is captivated by the unexpected return of this iconic piece, and his fervent attempts to extract information from Kwollem transform the mundane scene into a frenzied symphony of desperation. Increasingly unimpressed, Kwollem unleashes an unseen force emanating from the jacket: windows shatter, baked beans take flight, and Kwollem nonchalantly strolls out of the now-derelict café taking a last bite of toast.
The result is a relaunch film in which the product is the plot device: the jacket's mere presence triggers an immense implosion, so the message — this piece is back and it is big — is acted out rather than stated. D&AD placed the work in its 2024 awards archive under Direction. The archive records no sales or viewing figures, so the case stands on the film's idea.
Why it lands
- The jacket is the cause of the destruction, so the product does the storytelling instead of a voiceover or a spec list.
- The mundane greasy-spoon setting makes the surreal explosion land: hype is shown as an absurd force that disrupts ordinary life.
- Two characters — a calm owner and a desperate inquirer — dramatize the demand for a cult piece without the brand saying a word about scarcity.
- By putting the explosion in a cheap café, the film gets its scale from comedy rather than from a production budget.
What it did
The film made the product itself the plot: the jacket's power destroys the room, so nobody needs to be told the BOLO is back or that it matters. D&AD placed the work in its 2024 awards archive under Direction. The page records no sales or viewing figures, so the case rests on the idea rather than measured results.
What you can take
For a cult product's return, treat the comeback as mythology rather than inventory: humor and absurd force make a reissue feel inevitable without a big-budget spectacle.
Since then
The film was archived under Direction in the D&AD 2024 awards pages, with Corteiz credited as the brand. The page carries no view, engagement or sales data, so this entry claims no numbers; the value of the case is the idea itself — a relaunch announced as a supernatural event whose hero is the returning jacket.
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