DK Metcalf Explains Wearing Jeans with 200-Plus Stuffed Animals (Exclusive)

It’s going to be tough to top DK Metcalf’s bear-y cool ‘fit! 

The Seattle Seahawks wide receiver is no stranger to fashion-forward tunnel walks on game day, but his stuffed-animal stitched pants worn ahead of his team’s week 7 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons might be his most memorable one yet. 

When speaking with PEOPLE about his involvement in the NFL’s My Cause My Cleat initiative — where he personally designed shoes for two foundations close to his heart — Metcalf detailed the denim’s unconventional design, while also sharing his laid-back approach to his sense of style.  

“I was just scrolling on Instagram a year or two ago and they popped up,” Metcalf, 26, tells PEOPLE exclusively of the pants that have nearly 200-plus, multicolored stuffed animals sewn all over them. Each leg is covered with an assortment of toys like yellow ducks, green frogs and classic teddy bears. 

Metcalf’s initial thought upon finding the custom garment? “Those are cool,” he says of the decked-out denim. The pants are Le Rêve Nazam, an independent brand based in Virginia and founded by designer and creative director Chad Nazam. 

While it’s unclear how much Metcalf spent on the custom jeans, a similar pair is listed on the brand’s website for $650. The pants are unique, to say the least, which is what influenced his decision to snag ‘em for himself. 

“Nobody else got them so I’ll go ahead and get them,” the star Seahawk recalls of his thought process ahead of purchasing. “Just put it with a fit and let the rest take care of itself.” 

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Metcalf paired the plush-patterned pants with a white Balenciaga graphic tee and paired it with pink-and-white Nikes. He accessorized with a few chain necklaces, a studded watch and topped it off with Beats headphones as he made his way to the locker room ahead of the game. 

For a pair of pants hand-stitched with over 200 stuffed animals, surely they have weight to them, so much that the athlete thought they weighed roughly “15 to 20 lbs.” According to the denim’s description on the site, they weigh 5 lbs total.

The most ironic part about this particularly bold look, Metcalf tells PEOPLE that he doesn’t necessarily consider himself a fashion-forward guy. “With some of the people out there, no,” he admits, adding that he has “a lot of catching up to do.” 

The athlete went on to list a few of his Seahawk teammates who all have “great style,” like 2023 Rookie of the Year C.J Stroud, wide-receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and quarterback Geno Smith. “There’s a lot of people who have great style and I just try to keep up with them,” he emphasizes. 

Now, Metcalf says he works with a stylist for his game day outfits. “Her name is Danny Hill,” he reveals, noting that she lives in Dallas but they both grew up in Mississippi together. “She styles me and another NFL player,” he says.

As for whether he has a particular motto he lives by when deciding on outfits for himself? “No, I don’t have a motto I live by,” he says, explaining his looks usually come about depending on how he’s “feeling that day.” 

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In fact, Metcalf says his “mood” often dictates his outfits. “So if I’m wearing a jogging suit, that means that I didn’t have enough energy to put together a fit or if I have jeans or something,” he explains. “So my style definitely represents how I’m feeling.” 

For Metcalf’s latest venture, though, he’s the creative at helm! The athlete’s back for another year of involvement in the NFL’s My Cause My Cleat initiative, which has fused sports and philanthropy since 2016 by inviting fans to connect with players’ personal causes via custom-designed cleats.  

This year the causes Metcalf is highlighting are Prison Fellowship and Sound. “This is important to me,” he says of his decision to support these two non-profit organizations in this way.

“I don’t like people feeling like they’re unheard or feeling forgotten, so Prison Fellowship spoke to me in that sense to where I don’t want prisoners feeling forgotten or being left out,” the NFL star explains. 

“And with Sound, I recently learned ASL and they’re a big supporter in the deaf community here in Seattle,” he continues. “So I wanted to pick an organization that was based here in Seattle that had a lot of different arms to where they could reach a lot of different communities.”

For the first time in the history of the initiative, the athletes used AWS’s generative AI app to customize his cleats. “We started off by typing some keywords that meant a lot to the organization,” he says, ultimately adding the word “hope” to the back of the shoe.

“The overall vibe of the shoe is very loud and expressive, so people look at the shoe and wonder what is on that cleat and make them look closer,” Metcalf says of the shoes’ aesthetic. “These shoes are unique on their own.”