Industry

Lexus Marks 25 Years of the IS With a $2,600 AMBUSH Leather Jacket

Tokyo label AMBUSH reworks the IS into jackets, tees, and chrome hardware dropping September 18 — while the sedan itself soldiers on with a single engine.

Tom Beckett Sep 15, 2026, 2:31 AM ET · 3 min read

Sara Choi, Reiji Okamoto, and Reo Sano with a white Lexus IS in Tokyo — Drifter Sara Choi, musician Reiji Okamoto, and artist Reo Sano front the Future Classic Club campaign shot in Tokyo. Photo: Lexus/AMBUSH

Lexus is celebrating 25 years of the IS sedan not with a commemorative trim package but with a streetwear drop. The automaker has teamed up with Tokyo design house AMBUSH on The Future Classic Club, a capsule collection topped by a $2,600 leather jacket, backed by a short film and an open "club" for creatives.

The collection, designed under AMBUSH founder Yoon Ahn, goes on sale in limited quantities at ambushdesign.com on Friday, September 18, at midnight EDT. Lexus says the pieces reinterpret details of the IS — grille lines, headlight curves, the stitching of its seats — through AMBUSH's design language. The lineup includes:

'Future Classic Club' leather fireman jacket — $2,600
'Seat Memory' red quilted jacket — $780
'Future Classic Club' crest T-shirt and 'Recorded Design Session' T-shirt — $130 each
'Future Classic Club' long-sleeve tee — $160
'Future Classic Club' cap — $120
Chrome carabiner with engraved detailing — $300

AMBUSH Lexus leather fireman jacket with embossed crest on office chair — The $2,600 fireman jacket carries an embossed Lexus crest across the back and anchors the capsule. Photo: Lexus/AMBUSH

The accompanying film, directed by Xavier Tera, follows the IS across two eras of Tokyo, from an early-2000s salaryman office to the present-day city. It stars three "club members": professional drifter and Badseki founder Sara Choi, GENERATIONS member Reo Sano, and Reiji Okamoto, drummer for OKAMOTO'S.

Drifter Sara Choi wearing black Lexus AMBUSH T-shirt beside white IS — Professional drifter Sara Choi, founder of streetwear label Badseki, wears the crest T-shirt in the campaign film. Photo: Lexus/AMBUSH

A Birthday Without the V8

The timing is the interesting part. The campaign frames the IS, which reached the U.S. for the 2001 model year, as a "future classic" — an object built to outlast trends. Yet the car itself is running leaner than ever: with the 2026 refresh, the North American lineup shrank to the IS 350 alone, dropping both the base IS 300 and the 472-hp V8 IS 500. Lexus is selling the idea of the IS's endurance at the exact moment its engine options have thinned to one.

Reo Sano in white Lexus AMBUSH long-sleeve tee by white IS at night — The $160 long-sleeve tee pairs a minimal front wordmark with the club crest across the back. Photo: Lexus/AMBUSH

For AMBUSH, a car brand is new territory but the playbook isn't. The label started as a jewelry line before growing into apparel, has collaborated with Nike among others, and Ahn spent several years as jewelry designer for Dior Men. That resume is precisely what Lexus is buying here: fashion-world credibility for a sedan that predates most of its target audience's driver's licenses.

Close-up of black Lexus AMBUSH cap with laurel crest worn by Reiji Okamoto — The $120 cap puts the hand-drawn Lexus laurel crest above AMBUSH branding on the brim. Photo: Lexus/AMBUSH

The club launched with a New York Fashion Week event hosted with PAPER magazine, and Lexus says more activations will follow, with an open call for creators under the #FutureClassicClub hashtag. What the company hasn't said is how limited "limited quantities" actually are — or whether any of this energy translates into a next-generation IS.