Collaborations in the Sneaker's industry

Today, I would like to talk to you about collaboration in the word of the Sneakers. This notion of work is really appreciated, particularly in the fashion industry where you can find a lot of collaborations. Of course, it is the same in the Sneaker industry. But why there are a huge number of collaborations? How it is possible to know if the collaboration will be famous and “out of stock” after the release date? Moreover, what are the collaborations that I love the most? I will talk about it in my today’s post.

It is normal, for a sneaker company to ask people for collaborations. You can make collaborations between retailers, with famous or inspirational clothing labels, with artists or famous celebrities, with sneaker brands, with sportspeople, etc. When brands ask external sources to work with them, it is because they want to celebrate something (anniversary of a model, special events), to revitalise a model or to change completely the model design. It is a real need for the brand to have new inspirations, new ways of thinking and that is why collaborations exist. When two people works together, they can come up with better ideas than they would on their own. So, the inspiration, the renewal and the special events are why the collaborations exist in the Sneaker world.

But, you have to know that all the existed collaborations are not a success or will not be a best seller of course. Sometimes, some of them are … weird. To create a perfect collaboration, you have to regroup trend elements: engaged artist, popular model of shoe, experienced and creative clothes shops. You cannot do collaboration with everyone. You have to find a perfect design, a relation between the colour on the shoe and something new that never appeared on the model before. There are a lot of things to think and to design but the results will be good for sure. Moreover, you can choose to collaborate with popular singers or sportspeople: it is one the best way to meet success because the brand that wants to collaboration can benefit from its image and from the celebrity of its collaborator. I will use one example to demonstrate you this idea

: Pharrell Williams. I can talk about the collaboration between Adidas Originals and the American producer and singer. Why the collaboration between them worked perfectly: Pharrell is a huge influent artist both in the music and fashion world. Moreover, he gave to the Superstar a total new look and colourways. It is simple but totally efficient. That's why Adidas asked Pharrell Williams for a new one (you can check the article here). People bought the shoe because Pharrell designed them. If he had designed Nike shoes people would buy its Nike shoe.

Now, I would like to show you some collaboration that I particularly love. I think I will present you three different collaborations.

Beam X Footpatrol X Saucony GRID 8000

First, I will talk about an international collaboration between London’s Footpatrol and the Japan’s BEAM. I love it! It is beautiful, isn’t it? This upper of the shoe is made of orange multicolour knitted textile and white premium suede for the rest. There is a special tag on the tongue mentioned the Beam’s logo and the sentence “Only in Tokyo”. To finish, the sole is perfect and really different than the others. I particularly loved the sawtooth design of the sole. It is a pleasure to see a perfect shoe made without obscure colours and themes.

Kendrick Lamar X Reebok Ventilator

I love this collaboration too. First of all, it is because Kendrick Lamar participates to the collaboration. I love this artist and the things and ideas that he wants to transmit. Moreover, I love the ventilator model of Reebok so it is obvious that I love this shoe. The upper of the shoe is constituted of white cream upper and light colours. Finally, there is a special tag on the tongue mentioned “Kendrick Lamar”. It is a perfect result.

Adidas YEEZY Boost 350

To finish, I was sure that I would talk about Adidas. Of course, the collaboration between Adidas and Pharrell Williams is a really good one that I appreciate but I will talk about the collaboration with the famous rapper, producer, designer, entrepreneur, and all the words finishing by “er”: Kanye West! It is more than a collaboration because Kanye West designed them entirely and that is why is totally new (and rare in the same time)! Worldwide recognized, this model is one of the best commercial successes of all time. If you want to know more about the Yeezy in general you can go and check one of my article about it here. 

I hope that you have enjoyed this post and that you know more about collaborations now. Don’t hesitate to comment, like and share this article and, above all, see you for the next post!