Happy Together
Brands are teaming up with unexpected partners as an investment for the future.
Brands from opposite ends of the style spectrum are mingling in refreshing ways. Legacy toymaker Lego teamed up with big-box retailer Target to roll out an assortment of apparel, gifts, home goods, toys, and pet accessories. Balenciaga has released drops with Gap and Crocs, and so did Manolo Blahnik and Birkenstock. Meanwhile, designer and stylist to the stars Brandon Maxwell brought a touch of high fashion to Scoop and Free Assembly, two in-house fashion lines of Walmart.
While these pairings may seem unlikely on the surface, they are a time-tested tactic that helps brands broaden their reach and create new products and services. It’s also a cost-effective way for brands to gain a following from unlikely clientele, including aspirational consumers who wouldn't normally be able to own high fashion pieces. According to Collabosarus, an online platform that facilitates partnerships between brands, collaborations can be 25 times less expensive than digital advertising. And per American Express, the investment made in collaboration unequivocally generate a worthy return for businesses of different sizes.
Aside from gaining maximum exposure, brand collaborations present an opportunity to fuse ideas, craftsmanship, and brand values. Instead of problem-solving in isolation, innovative brands embrace uncertainty and disruption by working with unexpected partners to ideate, test, grow, and expand. This complex, intertwined network that brands continue to weave has enormous potential to shake things up in the fashion world.
Sources: American Express (The economic benefits of working together) | Image: Manolo Blahnik & Birkenstock