Banana Republic’s Archive Reissue Revives Its Surplus Era

Produced with The Explorers Club, the 20-piece capsule draws from Banana Republic’s late 70s surplus-gear years.

The Fashionisto

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Published April 20, 2026

Jackson sits on a wooden stool in ribbed knitwear layered under an utility vest with a white shirt and khaki trousers, photographed in front of framed Explorers Club flags
Joshua Jackson fronts the Banana Republic Archive Reissue collection. Photo: Banana Republic

Banana Republic’s Archive Reissue collection arrives with a cast that understands the assignment. Actor and frequent traveler, Joshua Jackson, model and surfer Jon-Paul Phillips, and USAL Project founder Michael Washington fit the clothes because they spend time where gear gets used. The distinction matters.

Banana Republic x The Explorers Club

Phillips wears a nubuck leather fireman's jacket with drawstring toggles and metal clasps, photographed against a leaded stained glass window for Banana Republic's Archive Reissue collection
Jon-Paul Phillips wears the nubuck leather fireman’s jacket. Photo: Banana Republic

Produced in partnership with The Explorers Club, the collection draws from the brand’s late 70s origins, when Banana Republic sold surplus gear to Americans chasing somewhere farther out. The range’s jackets come with real weight, multi-pocket vests sit closer to equipment than styling, and washed cotton layers feel soft from handling.

Washington wears a tan wide-brim bucket hat pulled low, a cream henley T-shirt, a tan multi-pocket photojournalist vest, and green linen shorts against a canvas backdrop for Banana Republic's Archive Reissue collection
Michael Washington wears a wide-brim bucket hat, henley T-shirt, photojournalist vest, and green shorts. Photo: Banana Republic

What holds the collection together is restraint. The silhouettes stay easy, the palette runs sand, olive, and tobacco, and the fabrics show their weight. A chunky knit, a ticking shirt in cotton-hemp, each piece stays plain enough to suggest a life already in motion.

Jackson wears a cream and brown vertical-striped cotton hemp shirt over a white tank with khaki cargo trousers, leaning against a desk with an Explorers Club pennant for Banana Republic's Archive Reissue collection
Joshua Jackson wears a ticking shirt with khaki cargo trousers. Photo: Banana Republic

The closest visual references come from early Ralph Lauren safari campaigns and old National Geographic spreads, though Banana Republic has its own archive to pull from. The collection finds three men for that history, and all three look most at home somewhere past the city limits.

Phillips wears a multi-pocket mesh fisherman vest over a rust henley t-shirt with khaki pleated shorts, brown suede boots, and white crew socks, holding a tall bamboo pole
Jon-Paul Phillips pairs a fisherman vest with a henley T-shirt and khaki shorts. Photo: Banana Republic

The same expedition instinct powered an earlier stop in the brand’s Santa Fe spring campaign.

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