Australian streetwear brand MERTRA got British rapper Nemzzz to pose alongside a live, seven-foot-long alligator for their Autumn 2026 campaign.
MERTRA has earned a reputation for staging elaborate campaign imagery, whether it be staging a photoshoot in a cave 70 metres underground, at a prison, or at Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. The latest campaign is just as vivid, teaming Nemzzz up with a seven-foot-long alligator at a studio in London. In the imagery, Nemzzz is seen sporting some of the highlights from MERTRA’s new 24-piece collection, including a crocodile print jacket, denim, headwear, and knitwear.
MERTRA founder Aron Williams, in his first public interview, explained why he wanted an alligator to be featured in the photoshoot.
“I always say ‘From Aus to the World’, and this is exactly that,” he shared with Complex. “We wanted the shoot itself to bring that whole story to life. We always go all in on our campaigns, so getting a crocodile into the room was a necessity. Finding one safe enough to shoot with was close to impossible, so we eventually settled on a seven-foot alligator. It came with its own professional handlers and we shot on its terms, not ours. Nobody on set was going to argue with it.”
Nemzzz, meanwhile, said he was drawn to working with MERTRA because he was a fan first.
“I’d seen MERTRA about for a minute and I just liked what they were doing,” he shared. “The pieces are clean but there’s still something different about them. I’m quite particular with what I wear, so if something fits right and feels natural on me, I’ll wear it. It never felt forced.”
See more from our Q&A with Williams below.
Where does Australia come into the rest of the product?
Williams: MERTRA started in Melbourne in 2022, I live in London now, and there's a lot of space and inspiration between those two points. We're an Australian brand moving into a lot of different regions, and keeping my roots in the product matters to me. We've been working more references to Australia into the collections throughout the year, not to make a statement, but as subtle details. There's a tracksuit from June where the yellow panels are kangaroo shapes. The reference was right there in plain sight, and most people never clocked it. The details are there for those who look closer. That's why seeing Nemzzz in the croc-print jacket ties everything together.
What drew you to Nemzzz, and how much of this was actually his?
I've been listening to Nemzzz for ages, and he's been wearing our pieces a ton lately, styling them in his own way. So I knew we had to make this happen.
I don't want someone to just turn up to the shoot, put the clothes on and have us tell them exactly what to do. This isn't some transactional thing for us. I try to make sure whoever we're working with brings their own style and personality into it as well. Nemzzz was involved on the day with the styling, from the creps to the specific looks he wanted to wear. We didn't just choose him at random to be part of this alligator shoot. The talent had to make sense with the concept, and in my mind he was the guy for this.
He's also selling out shows in Aus, which feels quite full circle to me. Growing up there, I was always listening to artists from the other side of the world, and now those artists are going over to Aus and people are listening to them the same way I did. That crossover between different places and cultures is such a big part of what MERTRA is about.
You're Australian, you live in London, and MERTRA is worn from Manchester to Tokyo. Where do you actually fit into that?
I grew up on music, sport and clothes that came from America and the UK. For a long time, Australia was treated as an audience for that, rather than a contributor to it. Most of us consumed it, but we didn't really get to be part of the conversation. I always felt like Aus had more to offer. Moving to London put me closer to the pulse of everything, while keeping the brand rooted at home. We have offices in London and Melbourne now, plus one in China.
That's also changed the way we collaborate. I want the people we work with to actually be part of what we're creating, rather than just putting their name or face on something from afar.
Living in London means I can be in the room with people I wouldn’t otherwise cross paths with, and my relationship with Olaolu [Slawn] is a great example of what can come from being here.
One night last year, he randomly hit me on DM. The next day I was at his house and we got along hella nicely. By the time I left, we'd decided to do a collaboration. Within a week we'd painted a piece together for the collab, and a week or two after that every piece of the collaboration had been designed.
It was the quickest turnaround we've ever had, because we were both doing it for the love of the game. He's now a really close friend, and Lil Yachty ended up modeling the collection because he and Slawn are tight. That's what happens when people are open to ideas and don't let egos get in the way.
I design for the life I actually have: split across cities and always on the move. That means technical pieces that make sense in harsher conditions, puffers built for a London winter, and lightweight jackets for a summer evening in Melbourne or Tokyo. That's been the reality of the last four years of my life, and I need an array of pieces for my wardrobe and suitcase. If I need those pieces in my own life, I know there are people out there who need them too.
You've shot on Mont Blanc, in Southern Italy, in a prison, in a cave 70 metres underground. Why does MERTRA's marketing keep going to these lengths?
The musicians I grew up on weren't just releasing songs, they were building worlds: a visual language, an actual language, and a community formed around all of it. The song was one object among many. I can't think of an artist I cared about who didn't have a world around them.
I think a good brand works the same way. For us, a campaign holds just as much weight as the product does. So many brands put creative second and treat the product as the main thing, with the campaign just there to sell it. The campaign gives people a reason to care that the product exists, and that can't be faked. Scroll through our Instagram, and the proof is there. The team and I genuinely try to max out every part of what we're doing, from the campaign concept, casting and copy to the fabric, fit, hardware and how a hem is finished.
Nothing lights a fire in me more than when someone tells me an idea is too difficult or not possible. "You can't stand on the wing of an aeroplane." "You can't get a lighting rig and electricity source 70 metres underground." When you hear those types of sentences, that's how you know you're onto something good. The first one I ever heard was, "You can't build something global from Australia." I started MERTRA with AUD $5,000 of my own savings and zero external funding, while working multiple jobs to support myself and build the brand.
The collection will be available through MERTRA’s website on Friday, Oct. 23. Check out more imagery from the campaign below.
