Fast-forward to 1987 and venerable Japanese luxury fashion designer Yoji
Yamamoto designed his first sportswear collection for Adidas under the brand
name Y-3. This generated a buzz in the fashion press and several ‘analysts’
tried to understand the motive behind the collaboration apart from the
commercial gains. This action was promptly termed the ‘commercialization
of exclusive fashion’. The partnership remains in existence and has broadened
to a product range including apparel, footwear and accessories. Adidas is also
collaborating with Stella McCartney in designing stylish but functional
sportswear.
In the autumn of 2004, however, something groundbreaking happened in
the fashion-branding arena. Respected and often revered king of the catwalk
and creative director of Chanel and Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld designed a limited
edition collection for Swedish mass-fashion brand H&M. Lagerfeld’s reason
for accepting this one-off collaboration with H&M was his desire to bring
high fashion to normal people. His designs turned out to be a hit among
consumers worldwide and a retail innovation for H&M. Several items in the
collection were sold out within hours of their launch. H&M also experienced
same-store sales increase of 12 per cent in the first month following the
launch, and also higher profits.
A repeat episode occurred in the autumn of 2005 through another one-off
design collection for H&M by Stella McCartney. This time, there were
reported queues in front of several H&M stores all over the world, the night
before the collection’s launch. Some consumers were even injured in the
frenzy and near-fights that ensued in the stores. Needless to say, this collabo-
ration was a huge success not only for H&M but also for Stella McCartney
who launched her high-end brand just five years ago. The third collaboration
is with Viktor & Rolf in autumn 2006. H&M has also indicated its interest in
working with other luxury designers.
Other examples of co-branding abound between luxury brands and other
brands. Puma, another sporting goods brand, has collaborated with Japanese
designer Mihara Yasuhiro in shoe designs; supermodel Christy Turlington in
yoga wear through the Nuala sub-brand name; Richemont-owned Shanghai
Tang in footwear through another sub-brand called Shanghai Tang Peony, and
more recently in spring 2006, Alexander McQueen to create men and
women’s sports footwear. In addition, American music star Sean Combs
signed a deal in 2004, to collaborate with Estée Lauder in the production of a
fragrance line. Prada has also co-designed jewellery with Fred Leighton, the
first between a jewellery company and a fashion brand. Jewellery brand
Tiffany also hosted a first-ever fashion show in New York in September 2004
showing the designs of clothes designer Behnaz Sarafpour. In 2005, hosiery
company, Wolford collaborated with luxury designers Zac Posen and Missoni
to design a limited edition range of tights collection. Also in February 2006,
American supermarket Target launched an accessories collection by British
high fashion designer Luella Bartley.
chapter 5 169the art of creating and managing luxury fashion brands