Shay Mitchell‘s Béis joins forces with Gap for a limited-edition 26-piece collection arriving August 1. The project marks a collaboration between the actor, entrepreneur, and Béis founder with a brand she grew up wearing. The result includes apparel and luggage pieces that reflect how she travels now: practical, layered, and quietly versatile.
Mitchell built the concept around Gap’s classic denim. Her early conversations with the brand revolved around how to translate denim’s visual identity into a softshell suitcase. Getting the exact shade of blue proved difficult, but the team landed on a pale aqua that set the tone for the travel bags. With that in place, Mitchell started expanding the collection by pulling from her own packing habits.
She travels with pieces that offer options. “I just wanted there to be a lot of layers because that’s how I travel: in layers,” Mitchell says. Every item in the collection works with another. At the same time, each piece stands on its own and fits easily into an existing vacation wardrobe.
Among the pieces is a pair of zip-off cargo pants. They offer warmth in colder destinations but turn into shorts when temperatures rise. Mitchell wears them with a hoodie during the flight and changes into a tank and heels once she lands. Another item, a jumpsuit with a bandeau top, rolls down into pants. The black knit dress doubles as a beach cover-up and dinner dress. Even the jeans got reworked, they’re made from a cotton-blend knit with a printed denim effect, giving the appearance of real jeans with far more comfort.
Some pieces reveal their function only on closer inspection. A hoodie with an oversized hood comes with more than just added fabric. The hood can stretch down to cover the eyes, acting like a sleep mask. Inside the neck sits an inflatable pillow. Mitchell avoids travel pillows because of their size, so she worked with the Gap team to build one into the hoodie itself. The pillow inflates through a small tube and deflates instantly for packing. It stays hidden when not in use.
Mitchell’s experience as a frequent traveler informed even the smallest pieces. She travels often with her kids, Atlas and Rome, both of whom appear in the campaign images. During one flight, she noticed how often she stopped them from drawing on their clothes. That frustration turned into an idea: create a toddler sweatsuit with a print made for coloring. The design draws directly from her kids’ doodles. If markers hit the fabric, she doesn’t worry. The cotton goes straight into the wash.
This collaboration with Gap goes beyond her current work as a designer. Mitchell recalls shopping at Gap before each school year. She and her childhood best friend always picked out matching overalls. That memory stuck. When she previewed the new collection for the same friend, the experience felt familiar. “It’s wild,” she says. “We really had fun with the collection.”
She focused on clothes and accessories that don’t sacrifice comfort for function. From the suitcase color to the hidden pillow, every element reflects something she wanted to improve from her own travel routine. The mix of practical features, adaptable silhouettes, and family-ready design all came from experience.
