Everyday fashion creates something different, that people will fall in love with and use a lot, or find it super strange and even then, use just because it is fashionable. When you think that people from the fashion world have nothing more to invent, they create something unexpected that appears on the biggest catwalks in the world. But let’s admit they create amazing pieces that we always want to buy.
One idea that comes very well is the partnership collection, which happens when two brands or companies create a collection together. These co-branding projects leave the conventional behind and challenge the participating brand, artist, or designer, to try something new. Some of them may be strange, but others are very accurate, and they have seen much-needed pieces! Here are the five collections that have been the most successful in recent years:
1. Vans x Van Gogh
Image Source: Vans
Maybe Vans and the Van Gogh Museum is the most popular partnership collaboration of 2018. It is an artfully designed collection utilizing Van Gogh’s masterpieces across iconic Vans Classics. With over 2.100 pieces of artwork produced from his decade long career, Vans worked with the Van Gogh Museum team to select four main bodies of work that speak to the creative ethos of Vans’ design as well as personal moments from the artist’s history. The paintings selected were Skull, Almond Blossom, Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s self-portrait, which showcase some of Van Gogh’s most revered artwork in a new way.
The Van Gogh Museum will dedicate a portion of its profits from this project to the preservation of Vincent Van Gogh’s legacy and collection of art. “By uniting Van Gogh’s iconic artworks with iconic Vans styles, our partnership brings Vincent’s art ‘Off The Wall’ and into the world to a new audience outside the museum”, said Adriaan Dönszelmann, Managing Director of the Van Gogh Museum.
Unfortunately, the Vans x Van Gogh Museum collection is sold out on Vans.com. But be sure to check Vans retail locations and wholesale accounts for available inventory.
2. Adidas x Farm
Image Source: Adidas
The classic design of Adidas Originals and the female brand from Rio de Janeiro, FARM, are in a partnership that started to color the world of fashion. The result is an exclusive collection of girlish pieces that contemplate the iconic Originals silhouettes. The collection translates the look of Brazil, through a tour of its nature in prints full of color and “brazilianess”, applied in pieces with an urban astral. An irresistible mix, which transits super well with the sporty and cheerful atmosphere.
One of Adidas’ most famous partnerships worldwide, it launched this year its 8th collection. Unlike the previous editions, that worked the concept of the pieces through the stamping, the 8th edition prioritizes the definition of the groups – like the true musical genres. They are: tropical and wild, that make mention to the Brazilian nature; the geography and the place of essence of the brazilians; the art and the graphic, that bring seasonings and urban codes; and that already are old friends of the marks.
“We worked the remix as the great stamping concept of this collection and it all got its own rhythm, a dance. We look at how this music is built and we develop prints with the musical mashup logic. Fashion production deconstructed to build “, says Katia Barros, founding partner of FARM.
3. Nike x Off White
Image Source: Nike
Virgil Abloh, the founder of OFF-WHITE, officially announced his collaboration with Nike in August 2017, titled “The Ten”. Virgil is a native of Chicago, grew up obsessed with Michael Jordan’s sneakers and all the sneaker culture’s representation of the hip-hop elements. From what was reported, in just 10 months Nike and OFF-WHITE finished the collab.
As the name itself, the collection “The Ten” consists of ten silhouettes, divided into two categories, “REVEALING” and “GHOSTING”. In the REVEALING category, sneakers are hand-cut, open-cut and rebuilt, while in the GHOSTING category the designed with translucent parts to promote revelation.
Some fans took note, making these extremely limited-edition shoes the most coveted sneakers of the year. It helped, of course, that Abloh generously gifted the kicks to all his famous friends, turning them into a social media sensation in their own right.
4. Louis Vuitton x Supreme
Image Source: The Fader
In 2000, Louis Vuitton sued Supreme for knocking off its logo. By doing so, Louis Vuitton made Supreme’s knockoff box logo tees one of its most coveted items and set into motion what would be the most monumental collaboration of 2017. The two brands, once feuding, became friends, and created a fanny pack together, every piece blending the logos, colors and signatures each brand is famous for.
The collaboration was so hotly anticipated that it was on sale for only a single day in handful cities around the world, after. As such, only the most dedicated shoppers and friends of each label, like Kate Moss and Rihanna, managed to make out with any of the items at all, further prompting a cycle of knockoffs and remakes.
5. Adidas x Pharrell Williams
Image Source: Adidas
Adidas definitely is the most popular brand on partnership collaborations. There’re a thousands collections that have made huge success in the last years, so let’s list one more: the collab with Pharrell Williams. Whether he’s producing a song or designing a sneaker, the musical multi-hyphenate gives each project 110 percent of himself. That was nowhere more evident than with his Adidas collaboration for the US Open. Williams was personally responsible for the Open’s most memorable outfit but the line extended beyond performance wear into lifestyle items, and also financed new tennis courts in low-income areas. When Williams is in charge, everyone is happy.