Brand Collaboration Book (Heleena Houston - Level 4)

Heleena Houston

A Collaboration Between Of-White ™ and H&M Presents...

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It’s important to evolve and not sit in one space...

Figure 1: dazeddigital.com

Virgil Abloh

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Page 1-4......Introduction Page 5-6......The Brands Page 7-10......Introducing Of-White ™ Page 11-14......Introducing H&M

Page 15-28......20x20 Investigation and Understanding the Consumer -19-20...H&M 20x20 -21-22...Of-White ™ 20x20 -23-24...Customer Proiling -25-26...Of-White ™ Customer Proile -27-28...H&M Cutsomer Proile

Page 29-52......The Collaboration

-31-34...Brand Narrative -35-36...Logo Development -37-38...Packaging -39-40...Swing Tags -41-42...The Marketing Mix -43-44...People and Product -45-46...Price and Place -47-48...Promotion and Process -49-50...Physical Evidence -51-52...Product Development

Page 53-56......Conclusion Page 57-60......References

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The early 1700s was the beginning of the future.

From relying on steam power in the 1800s, communication took its toll through inventions of the telegraph and telephone. The 1900s; a pinnacle point when telecommunications and computers became popular (https://www.sentryo.net/the-4-industrial-revolutions/ ), further leading to today where we are introduced into cyber-physical systems where technology and media almost sufocates us; we do not know a time before these advancements (David, 2016).

Fashion and the concept of marketing and communication has beneited from the industrial revolutions starting from the irst American Fashion magazine ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ in November 1867’ (Georgievska, 2016). The 1900s was when marketing began to change and by the late 1990s, websites became an important method for communication as it boosted the awareness of brands. Due to living in a media saturated society, the simplicity of searching things on the internet has become more accurate due to the demand from the increase of people visiting the online world. It is very easy for the consumer to search for a brand and visit their website due to algorithms which provide the best results (Agrawal, 2016).

Figure 2. dazeddigital.com

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As brands take advantage of these technological communicative inventions such as the internet, it can be diicult for a new brand to become noticed amongst the already out-performing brands as discussed on (Inside the Industry – The Business of Fashion, 2017). As the deinition of branding suggests ‘creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind – Branding aims to establish a signiicant and diferentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers’ (businessdictionary, n.d.). By understanding today’s climate of brands to be successful and override others, brands will be able to keep a buzz around new products and one way of achieving this ‘buzz’ can be used through a brand collaboration.

A brand collaboration with a luxury label and a fast fashion brand can create an interest for everyone such as fast fashion buyers who have been unable to attain solely luxury labels due to their amount of disposable income. For example, the age range of 18-28; it could be interpreted that these people are perhaps still in education, such as university or starting early careers whereby a large proportion will have small amounts of disposable income. If they are style-conscious, a brand collaboration will provide a sense of exclusivity at a much more afordable price.

Speciically revolving a brand collaboration within the menswear market, it’s important to know what the consumer wants from the brand and one they can have resonance with. Over three years ago, Drapers article depicted how ‘Menswear growth was to outstrip womenswear by 2020’ (Geoghegan, 2017) – this is still relevant as men today still want more control over their style. (Paquette, 2016) notes that some men feel conined by what society expects them to be like; feeling the pressure to live up to gender roles such as acting ‘like a man’. However, with the idea that men are changing as society becomes more accepting towards people’s desires, anyone can dress how they want as gender becomes more luid (Chitrakorn, 2019). The article also highlights how women have been a power force for driving change in society “masculinity as an ideology got stuck behind” – all this change for women, now men want change. This brand collaboration can be used for men to ind themselves again and be able to take control over their style.

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Figure 3. dazeddigital.com (edited)

Resonating with a brand isn’t solely about style in this post-modern era, it’s about identifying with a brands fundamental values. Values being promises that a brand makes; their mission statement (Couchman, 2017). Today, many consumers want to know a brand on a deeper level, so it becomes imperative for a new brand to exert a clear and purposeful set of values which are evident from the beginning in order for consumers to visibly see action that the brand wants to be recognised positively.

For men, a brand collaboration can ofer exclusive and limited items to ensure that this line is about creating something meaningful to the consumer. ‘Design to Reduce the Need to Consume’ (vimeo.com, 2014) identiies a strategy about making clothing last longer and creating something that people want to keep. Don’t make it easy to throw out. Brand collaborations can aid the worlds sustainability concerns and help reduce the 31% of used clothing (350,000 tonnes) that goes to landill in the UK every year (Dr Emmeline Child, Sustainable Fashion, 2017). Sustainability, more than ever, is so pivotal in many consumers’ own values and identity in which they strive to help take action on the detrimental efects that past consumer habits have had on the world. By making conscious decisions; educating not only men, but everyone; ensuring the brand recognises their contribution in being a sustainable brand, the world will beneit.

H&M very clearly display information about their values and strategy. They cater for everyone (hmgroup.com, n.d.).

Brands such as Of-White are a little more secretive about their strategy, however the creation of items that become personal to the consumer is what we need in order to reduce waste. A brand collaboration needs to be created that ofers uniqueness, to be eicient and enable resonance.

In a small questionnaire, I sent to ten male friends, I asked ‘What is it like to be male and how do you exert this through your style?’ One respondent said, “I feel free, however women can be so much more creative, so with my style and what I want is to be more clever in creating an individual image and style for myself” This brand collaboration needs to promote their identity and look at customer proiles to determine an approach; so consumers recognise their ambition and for some, to help men gain control that they want.

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THE 5

BRANDS...

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Introducing...

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Of-Whiteâ„¢ 7

Of-White is a revolutionary brand which is still relatively young since being founded in 2013 by fashion icon, Virgil Abloh who has created ‘a multi-platform creative endeavour’ (Yotka, 2018). Of-White is an independent fashion label headquartered in Milan where items are sold in high end shops globally. In the last seven years of the brands existence, Virgil Abloh has received both praise and scrutiny based on his approach and aesthetic exerted within his brand.

Virgil Abloh has deined and has become an important, idiosyncratic igure within the world of fashion, especially in Streetwear. The instantly recognisable elements of his aesthetic, is mainly black and white diagonal lines, further implementing an American twist including white arrows, plain labels, industrial components and packaging (Tifany, 2018). “EVERYTHING IN QUOTES” is something else that Of-White is well known for, however this has brought the designer criticism in the sense that it isn’t creative and far too simplistic. In ‘Virgil Abloh’s Lecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design’ he states that by talking in quotes, it adds a sense of humour to his work and the tool allows humanity to move through conversation. His cleverness in having reasoning for his aesthetic is vital as his communicative designs are powerful and lead the way into understanding that it’s more than just a piece of clothing. Loyal consumers or fans of the brand would argue that his style of design is way more than just slapping on some words to an item of clothing or a pair of sneakers. The brand narrative is essentially Of-Whites hallmark; depicting what sits behind the brand and how Virgil Abloh works, by cultivating an avant-garde apparel, mixing Streetwear and high-end fashion together. As he combines the two to ind a ‘common ground’ it signiies the slogan of ‘OFF-WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH™ Deining the grey area between the black and white as the color Of-White™’. His unique designs and exclusive Streetwear pieces caters for both men and women and certainly satisies the needs of the millennial market which is 5.

Of-White’s primary generation of consumer.

Figures 4, 5 and 6. dazeddigital.com

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Figure 7. tessabit.com

The values of Virgil Abloh are executed through the Of-White experience by combining the style and quality which then becomes the brand image and how people can recognise and respect the brand.

It can be seen that from his roots where he grew up in Rockford, Illinois he started of as kid who didn’t care about his education, yet he went on to studying engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and also completed a course on Renaissance Art History which he applies to his work today. He then went on to completing a Master’s degree in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Delistraty, 2017). To then become a fashion designer from a degree in Architecture seems of, although his many collaborations, especially with IKEA, he can now channel his architectural skills and place this into furniture. However, from Virgil Abloh’s inspirational talk at Harvard, he did in fact say that “your degree does not deine you”.

A good word that I think is useful when speaking about Virgil Abloh is ‘encouragement’. As appointed the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s Menswear (Cochrane, 2018), the Spring/Summer 20 collection for Louis Vuitton saw symbolism of childlike minds and creations. He stated that “Youth is global” and from this he invited 600 students to the fashion show (Salter, 2019).

This demonstrated Virgil Abloh’s determination in continuing this process of creativity, he wants people to have access to something that they can take inspiration from, because after all, Abloh himself uses his friends and what is around him as inspiration for what he creates.

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Figure 8. tessabit.com

As Virgil Abloh moves with the times, he has certainly deined Streetwear yet he does recognise that Streetwear itself will die out. However, as the London Fashion Week Men’s live Round-Up A/W 2020 saw consistent patterns and how designers are adapting and making room for Savile Row approaches. Even Of-White unveiled tailoring. This certainly diferentiates from his ‘Streetwear’ aesthetic, and even the sight of brogues rather than sneakers was something mesmerising for the brand. He caters for the change in styles, yet he still places his mark on his collections. For example, the holes found in his Spring ’20s women’s line-up which was applied to suits, they also feature in his A/W 2020 menswear collection too, which is the next most recognisable asset to Of-White since the quotation marks (Of-White Fall 2020 Menswear Collection—Vogue, 2020). Vigil’s unique designs and innovative behaviour means that the ‘buzz’ is maintained around the brand and nothing is ever the same.

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Introducing...

H&M

Hennes & Mauritz

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Compared to Of-White which is a luxury brand, H&M is a popular fast fashion that has too, had a global impact on the world. Of-White has been around for seven years and there is no doubt that Virgil Abloh has made his mark however, H&M has more of a legacy to live up to, it has heritage since being founded in 1947. Swedish entrepreneur Erling Perrson created a womenswear store in Västerås, Sweden and named it Hennes which is Swedish for ‘Hers’ (H&M group | History, n.d.). Primarily starting of as a women’s brand, in 1968, the name is changed to Hennes and Mauritz where the brand as we know today, caters for everyone; for the family. The global success of Hennes and Mauritz was extortionate and by 1969, they had 42 stores. It then spread to Norway, then Denmark, the UK and Switzerland and inally as we use the abbreviation of ‘H&M’ today, this started in 1974 (H&M group | History, n.d.).

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H&M’s marketing strategies started of diferently to that of Of-White which was born into the beginning of a media saturated society. H&M reached customers through the use of Swedish mail furthered by the 1990s allowing traditional newspaper advertising to be overruled by city billboards.

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Figure 9, 10 and 11. H&M Man Instagram

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H&M also has a reputation for working with famous celebrities and fashion designers, even inviting Haute Couture designers to collaborate with them at a much lower and more accessible price so that all fans can attain designer items they like, but who cannot aford the couture prices. From 1973 where Anni – Frid Lyngstad models for the company, to 2004 where Karl Lagerfeld made an imprint.

Success for H&M grew even stronger when they got on board in 1998 by ofering online shopping which started of in Sweden. In a world where consumer habits have changed, online shopping is at the forefront of the go-to purchasing method for how easy it is. Some say we are losing that in-store shopping experience (Williams, Dan, 2019). When speaking about H&M today, the main words that people use to describe the brand are ‘Sustainability’, ‘Green’, and ‘Good Value’. Starting in 2010, H&M released a collection which was made from sustainable materials and to inluence customers, in 2013, they enticed people to make use of their garment collecting scheme, which has had positive results considering over 50,000 tonnes has been brought in and re-used (H&M group | History, n.d.).

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H&M’s eforts to make change happen and to minimise their contribution to environmental damage, their success hasn’t gone unrecognised and they are praised for this. They launched the Global Change Award in 2015 which is for inluencing displacement from a linear fashion line and to make it circular to reduce wastage and harm to the planet. It was only last year in 2019, that H&M was the irst major fashion brand worldwide that provided thorough information about their practises with regards to factories and material sources.

They have recently introduced and revealed that they will be the irst to use Circulose in their clothing which is non-toxic and innovative of them (Hughes, 2020). Their research continues and they maximise every opportunity to be kinder to the planet by encouraging others to follow in their footsteps.

They also address their own values which can sometimes be diicult to ind in a brand, but this has made H&M triumphant and aluent, they are transparent in everything they do by showing that they are more than just a brand, they are a community.

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20x20 Investigation and Understanding the Consumer...

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The next part of this brand collaboration book explores the concept of my 20x20 research. The 20x20 approach really helped me to further understand both Of-White and H&M and how I perceive them. The idea of the 20x20 approach consists of describing the brands with twenty diferent words. The next task was to choose ten words from each brand and elaborate on these further by creating mood boards which I have made on Photoshop. Producing visuals for each word helped to plant ideas and although breaking the brands down into singular words seems simple, it is a very efective and useful method which has certainly inluenced my ideas and the narrative for the brand collaboration which you will discover later on.

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Here are some examples of my 20x20 mood boards that I created for H&M and more can be found in my ‘20x20 Investigation Book’. In the Investigation Book I explain in more detail as to why I think H&M is sustainable and how they inluence encouragement. However, for this brand collaboration book I decided to also include my ‘style-conscious’ mood board because I feel as though H&M is a brand that exerts true commitment to providing their style-conscious customers with on-trend clothing that is at an afordable price alongside trying to help the environment.

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Here are some examples of the luxury brand for the collaboration; Of-White mood boards that I created.

Again, in my ‘20x20 Investigation Book’ I write about why I think Of-White shows encouragement and how there could be a shift in style.

Renaissance is another word that I chose to explore further using imagery where I gained inspiration from Virgil Abloh’s lecture at Harvard. He notes of the origins and how everything is essentially art. Renaissance being an era of some of the most beautiful art creations; it is useful in applying this to a modern world where art is interpreted in so many diferent forms.

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Customer Proiling...

Thinking about the brands based on who shops there, it’s very important to understand the customers in order to work out how the brand collaboration would work because you need to cater for customers from both brands and not just one. Not only do you need to consider their personality characteristics known as psychographics, such as what they enjoy doing etc. it’s also important to understand what type of consumer they are too. There are three types of consumers such as the following (Virginia Grose, 2012)…

Need-driven customers – shopping is done by need rather than preference and these consumers tend to be more price-conscious about what they are purchasing.

Outer-directed customers – customers such as these ill most of the market as they are more interested in status prosperity and being ahead, often inding items that ‘say’ something about them as a person.

Inner-directed customers – These are a smaller group, where they are more individualistic, becoming the trendsetters who then difuse their ideas into other groups.

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Demographic: 18-34 – International Geographic: City and Urban life Psychographic: Trend conscious in the luxury market, someone who wants quality and resonance with their own style. They enjoy socialising, hip-hop and rap music.

- The Of-White consumer would tend to come from a middle-class background considering the cost of the items, however with OfWhites More Afordable collection ‘For All’ (Ogunnaike, 2018), collections such as these makes Of-White clothing more accessible. Some customers just buy into the brand rather than making their whole wardrobe Of-White. For example, they may purchase a belt or a bag.

These types of people enjoy brand collaborations because they can buy things at a iltered down price, yet can still identify themselves with the luxury label.

- Their main style is Streetwear or enjoy pursuing a casual but stylish look. Virgil Abloh is best known for creating ‘Streetwear’ however his current customers can attempt a new style as he makes room for tailoring and it could even bring in more customers as he begins designing for a new era.

- Of-White customers often gain inspiration form platforms such as Instagram pages from the Of-White page, Hypebeast and may also be interested in keeping up to date on fashion news from magazines such as Dazed.

- These customers are people that want to be creative in what they wear. I think the Of-White consumer is typically inner-driven as they are able to use unique and limited pieces purchased from the brand to create an individual look, however there are also outer-directed customers, as Of-White can also provide people with pieces that are loud and can ofer items that ‘say’ something about them. As Of-White clothing can be limited they can be seen as sentimental items, for example, ‘it’s more than just a shoe’. It shouldn’t be worn every day, but it is.

- They source their Of-White products online and even attend new collections that are brought into stores globally or are visiting their city. They may also shop at places such as Dover Street Market in order to obtain items from a limited collection or collaborations that are only available for that week.

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Demographic: 15-40 (includes children’s wear and teenager’s) Loyal customers. International.

Geographic: City and Urban Psychographic: Trend conscious, compares prices as they want the best for their money. They expect quality if something is slightly more expensive but will choose H&M because it is afordable. The H&M customer likes to socialise. They perhaps work in retail and also aspire to work for H&M. - The H&M style can still be trendy without being luxury which makes them suitable for customers who are both style and cost-conscious. Also, I believe that H&M customers are also a mixture of two diferent consumer types.

Firstly, many H&M consumers are certainly need-driven as many rely on the brand for good quality clothing at a much cheaper cost. So cost-conscious is one. Secondly, I do believe to some extent that a handful of H&M consumers are inner-directed too, as these people can create individual looks at a cheaper price. Possibly inluencers who are targeting their content at a younger audience demonstrating that the way you piece outits together can be both unique and done at an afordable price.

- They are sustainability aware; H&M is one of the top brands to evidently demonstrate their values and how they are tackling the climate of deterioration to the planet. They source the most eco-friendly materials they can and dispose of products in a friendly way which customers get on board with too.

For example, making use of the Garment Collection scheme.

- Some customers who may not ind luxury items as accessible can take advantage of the many collaborations that luxury brands reach out to H&M for because of their legacy and positivity within the company. This way, customers get to be a part of a collection which is exclusive and limited.

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Brand Narrative...

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The narrative behind the collaboration between Of-White and H&M comes from my 20x20 investigation where I have selected a word that is shared by both brands which is ‘Encouragement’. I have also taken a quality from H&M, ‘Sustainability/Conscious Consumer’ and a concept from Of-White, ‘Shift’.

A word that stands out to me permanently is ‘Encouragement’. Both brands exercise and channel this word in diferent ways which makes them unique, however by combining them both, it provides a deeper meaning and becomes an invaluable asset to the brand collaboration. I want this collaboration to appeal to both the Of-White and the H&M consumer as I need to maximise the opportunity of enticing consumers from both brands in order for the collection to be inclusive of both audiences.

As the majority of Of-White consumers are Millennials and moving towards generation Z as well, these are the younger generations who are relevant as they have been born into a society that difers from all previous eras due to technology and globalisation from the distribution and sharing of ideas (Bump, n.d.). As Virgil Abloh was born in 1980, he is closest to being a Millennial which he is embracing and is designing from the demographic that he came from by making urban style become mainstream (Delistraty, 2017). However, we are in fact seeing changes in his approach which will be discussed further along when breaking down the word ‘Shift’ for Of-White. Encouragement, for me, stems from Virgil Abloh’s past in the sense that he didn’t have any aspiration, but has become an extremely important igure who is recognised globally. ‘Your degree does not deine who you are’ (Virgil Abloh’s Lecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design—YouTube, n.d.) is something that he wants the next generation to know. He also states that it is okay not to be a perfectionist, which is a vital point for the society that we live in as the continuous growth of digital platform allows young people and anyone else to apply too much pressure to themselves. For example, male mental health is not recognised as much because of the constant pressure to ‘be a man’ (Paquette, 2016). Of-White demonstrates creativity which is something that Virgil Abloh is passionate about. He wants to encourage younger generations to take inspiration from their childhood and use it in today’s world! By creating sentimental garments, the new generations can take inspiration and feel encouraged to create for the next era.

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Today, more than ever, consumers want to see transparency and action within a brand and as the number of conscious consumers rise, brands need to be on the ball and serve what the consumer wants as this will also help gain a positive reputation (Baker, 2015). The Sustainable and Conscious Consumer aspects in the collaboration need to be taken on board so that the loyal customers of H&M can be a part of this collection as well. H&M have a wide range of information on their website about their practises, therefore to maintain their reputation, the collection will be made from at least 50% of sustainable material such as organic cotton and recycled polyester so that this collaboration can sit nicely in the H&M Conscious Shop too (Conscious-products-explained, n.d.).

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Lastly, the word I also want to include in the collection is ‘Shit’. his idea has mainly stemmed from Virgil Abloh’s recent approach by implementing tailoring into his designs rather than solely making Streetwear items. As he, himself has recognised that streetwear will die out, he is channelling new ideas, yet is still applying his signature marks on these items (Davis, Dominic-Madori, 2019). Although this word suits Of-White more, it can still be applied to H&M in the sense of a shit in values about sustainability which have become more concrete and important to everyone and not just the brand. he encouragement causes a shit and this new interest in smarter more ‘Saville Row’ tailoring can be maximised in their own aesthetic (London Fashion Week Mens Live Round-Up, n.d.), which may be challenging however this is what makes brands unique. I’m hoping that the encouragement and shit of new designs can be combined with the values of being conscious and careful in what we create, purchase and how we discard garments in order to maximise a collection that is creatively inluential, yet appropriate for the conscious consumers.

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Logo Development...

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When deciding on what my inal logo would look like after I had played around with layering both of the brands logos, I decided I didn’t want to over complicate things by adding loads of colours and images within the logo itself.

Experimenting in the beginning helped me gage the proportion in the size of each brand logo and what colours I would use too. I wanted to maintain a minimal appearance to the logo so that it looked professional, still ensuring that the original logos and signatures of the brands such as the of-White arrowed ‘X’ continued to relect the brands on a separate level. Despite bringing these brands together to create the collection and a new line, I still wanted people to recognise the brands for themselves whilst being able to understand the value that co-creation has brought to the individuals themselves who decide to invest in this collection.

The Of-White logo is black and the H&M red, however I wanted to make both black and just use the ampersand from the H&M logo to be red. Combining the ampersand and the ‘X’ ties together the collaboration.

The next part was deciding if I wanted to have a slogan or not. I feel as though a slogan makes a collection’s meaning more concrete for individuals and using something inspirational and encouraging can be beneicial. After all, the brands narrative is based on encouragement in creativity and conscious decisions, so the words of ‘Be Greater. Choose You’ is short and snappy meaning that it is simple to understand. As we become more aware of the challenges that men face behind closed doors regarding mental health and the ideal of being a ‘man’ and how they act to please others; I wanted to challenge this and allow them to create their own persona and not be afraid to do something for themselves instead of doing something for society.

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Packaging...

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When coming to think of the packaging for the brand collaboration, I thought about it carefully because this is the part which essentially brings all the loose ends together. The customer will visit and experience viewing the collection pieces and when they have purchased something, this will be what they take home with them at the end of the day. It will be the bag and the items that remind them of their experience.

Once I had come to a inal decision on the logo, it was time to apply this to the bag. I downloaded a mock-up design on photoshop and applied my design to see how the bag would essentially look in real life.

The bag itself is made from 100% recycled paper/card which is reinforced with an inner card base. The ribbon handles are eco-friendly, made from cotton ibres and non-toxic dyes which means the bag can be used again and recycled at the end of its life. The tissue paper used to wrap up the items from the collection is machine glazed which is chlorine free and acid free, so it will not harm the garments.

All the packaging will have the brand collaboration logo on as well as the swing-tags to help promote the collaboration. It’s important to maintain the values of sustainability and implement recyclable elements not just in the garment production, but also the carrier bag the customer’s leave with.

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Swing Tags...

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The swing tags will be tied to the garments and will be made from a thick white card which will have the logo printed on the front. On the back of the tag, there will be a little bit of information about the product and essentially the brand collaboration message. See image to the right.

This will ofer a sense of exclusivity for the customer as they will have a deeper understanding of the collaboration they have invested into and hopefully enable them to gain an emotional attachment to the piece so that they keep hold of it for some time.

The size of the garment is also noted on there as well.

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The Marketing Mix is essentially a simple marketing framework which is vital for a brand to be successful and something that marketers will use in order to cover every corner of the brand, what they will be selling and their approach to doing so.

Considering this is a brand collaboration, it’s necessary to still think about the collaboration’s position in the market, and how the collaboration will be executed. There are seven diferent aspects to cover in the marketing mix which I have elaborated on‌

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People... he brand collaboration in the pop-up store will rely heavily on the teams that execute the retail space, from the front-line sales staf to the Managing Director. It’s all well and good the products being suited for the collaboration, but the customer-facing team need to be approachable and not of putting, otherwise the collaboration may not reach its full potential. To ensure the staf-to-customer behaviour and communication is excellent, a social media policy will be released for employees to read through and any extra temporary members added to work during the length of the pop-up shop, employers will pay attention to their communicative skills.

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Product...

Thinking about the products that will be available in the brand collaboration, I needed to maintain the narrative and the appearance of the brands, taking them into the future and what they are shifting into. Focussing on some of the basics from H&M such as T-Shirts and hoodies, this is also what OfWhite was originally known for; I need to ensure the heritage remains in the product.

The collaboration will consist of a range of T-Shirts which have the collaboration logo screen-printed on the back and some with quotation marks for the Of-White aesthetic. Visualising the word ‘shift’ from my 20x20 investigation which inluenced the brand narrative, some products will present the idea of tailoring. I thought it was appropriate to release cigarette-trousers which are versatile in being paired with brogues or trainers and a shirt or T-Shirt.

Allowing versatility in clothing will enable these men to dress up (or down) the pieces however they desire to.

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Price...

The pricing of the garments will be important because this is the only part of the marketing mix that will generate revenue, so it needs to be done realistically.

Of-White, a luxury brand where the price of T-Shirts reaches into the hundreds; for H&M lovers, this needs to be pulled down by a lot so that it is more afordable yet still of good quality, whilst still ofering an emotional attachment between the product and the customer.

T-Shirts will sell between £45-£55 Hoodies will sell for £65 Trousers will sell for £40

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Place...

With the rise of the internet, shoppers can now browse and spend 24/7, which places extra pressure on brands to keep up with the demand.

The collaboration between Of-White and H&M will be in pop-up stores in locations across the globe which are noted when I speak about the promotion of the brand collaboration later on.

Pop-up stores have increased in popularity over recent years where they can champion new or exclusive products as well as trial well-known brands within a temporary outlet.

This exclusive space will allow men to visit the brand collaboration in a physical environment and immerse themselves in an in-store shopping experience rather than online. Although the collection pieces will be advertised on both the Of-White and H&M websites and social media pages, consumers will not be able to directly purchase the items online. I have decided to do this because I want people to experience this brand collaboration physically, not digitally.

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Promotion...

In order to promote the collaboration, Instagram will be the main location for advertising. Using both H&M and H&M Man Instagram pages and Of-Whites Instagram page, this gives a combined following of 47.1 million followers as totalled up with their up-to-date followings. It is vital I make use of this method as this is a platform which has the capability of reaching large numbers to catch the eye of potential buyers.

Close up’s of garments and behind the scenes photograph, ilm footage and sneak peaks will be uploaded to Instagram pages and Instagram stories in the week running up to the launch. The day before the release the hashtag ‘#of-whiteXh&mMAN’ will be posted to Twitter and used in further Instagram posts in order to push conversations and to begin a speculation about a collaboration. This will essentially create a ‘buzz’ amongst the brands and consumers and they will be ready for the collection.

The items will be available in H&M’s store in Västerås, Sweden, in Of-White’s irst lagship store in Hong Kong, and pop-up stores in Milan and London. The customers who visit these locations will receive either a discount code for both Of-White and H&M to use online ranging from £100 of or 20% of your purchase and these codes will be found in their carrier bags they receive after purchasing something from the collection.

100 people from each location will be lucky enough to receive an invitation inviting them to a pop-up launch night for even more exclusive designs where they will receive complementary gifts from the collection such as phone cases where they can choose which phone and it will be made for them, a pair of shoelaces and more vouchers. The night will include Virgil Abloh himself as the events will be held on separate dates and will be accompanied by various H&M staf who had a more hands-on part in the design of the collaboration collection. The evening will include press, drinks and a live fashion show of exclusive pieces from the collection that no one else has seen.

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Process...

As most customers no longer simply buy a product/service, they invest in an entire experience which starts from discovering the brand and lasts through to purchase and beyond which is what I want to achieve in this collaboration space.

Starting with open invitations to everyone who inds and follows the announcement of the Of-WhiteXH&M collaboration, to purchasing their product and receiving their discount codes for the next purchase from either brand’s, keeps them in the loop and boosts consumer loyalty.

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Physical Evidence...

Physical evidence refers to the physical context such as receipts, cards, conformation emails and PDF invoices which come alongside the product.

This is all about ensuring every component involved with the product adheres to the same brand values as the product itself.

As part of this collaboration exerts as idea of changing consumer decisions such as all clothing being made from at least 50% sustainable material to it in with the H&M Conscious Collections too; the essence of helping the environment can be echoed in the physical context too. Staf will urge customers to make use of emailed receipts, however if customers do not have an email address then printed ones are available where it will use as little ink as possible. Reinforced paper swing-tags and bags are used as these are also recyclable, yet still of a good enough quality if customers want to keep the bag as a keepsake of their experience. Also, the discount code on a ‘thank you for purchasing’ card encourages customers to purchase from the brands again and if they win an invitation to the launch night, this is an exciting opportunity for them as well.

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Product Development...

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Elaborating further on from talking about products in the marketing mix, here I have produced some t-shirt mock-ups of how some of them will look. These T-Shirts mainly promote the collaboration from the obvious logo and quotation marks. By placing the logo on the products it’s exciting to see how they will look in real life and also gives an idea of how they will look in the pop-up store.

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Figure 12. dazeddigital.com

Throughout this module I have learnt a lot of new techniques and approaches which have helped me to create this brand collaboration book.

The 20x20 method which I was introduced to, was really beneicial for me as it aided the process in creating the brand narrative that supports the collaboration. I had to think deeply about the words that I chose to describe the brands so that I could execute these well enough within the mood boards to make them visual and explore words through images and drawings which I had not attempted prior to this module. I also experimented with creating croquis images to support the brands and the collaboration. For one of the inal images for the collaboration I decided to create a croquis to blend together the two brands. I enjoy the layering and editing on each building block of the image and although it is quite challenging, they are nonetheless efective, and the distortion and scale of diferent body parts adds character to the image.

As Photoshop was new to me at the beginning of the course, I can already see how far I have come and although there is still a long way to go I am slowly picking up new techniques and efects that I can apply to my work in the future.

Also making this book on InDesign has also been a challenge as I have had to pay attention to where I place my images and text, alongside aiming to present something that is visual and supports my ideas for the collaboration. For me, this is the irst book I have created, and I have taught myself a few things which has boosted my conidence a lot from relecting on the irst time I used this program. I am proud of what I have achieved and look forward to future projects where I can improve and challenge myself to be even more creative.

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At the beginning of my research, I only knew OfWhite for the brand name and had no idea of what lies beneath the foundations of the brand. Researching Virgil Abloh as a person was very insightful and this educated me about his approach to life, his work ethic and how this can be applied to his ever-growing brand. Despite the controversy he faces with his ideas of what fashion is, he is still successful, and people remain talking about Of-White whether it be good or bad. Understanding that the quotation marks are used as an element of humour which conjure up conversations between people is a clever element of Of-White’s success. Also, talking about how Abloh has grown from having no aspirations when he was a youth, to today where he inds his inspiration for his projects is very motivational. Alongside his busy schedule of designing for the next runway, Abloh also makes time to pay attention to current youths and encourages them to believe in themselves. From listening to his lectures and interviews, I myself have too taken inspiration from him to continue trying my best even if it seems worthless because it can reveal other routes where new ideas can arise.

For me, H&M was a brand I always relied on for basic clothing and accessories like T-Shirts or an over the shoulder handbag. I had a brief understanding of some of the measurements they had implemented into their values such as their garment collection scheme, however I wasn’t aware of the backstage work and research they do themselves in order to produce evidence to demonstrate that they are actively working towards helping the environment in a positive way.

As a fast fashion brand, they will know the negative stigma around them, so it is vital they are transparent in what they do to build a trustworthy relationship between the brand and their consumers.

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However, as Virgil Abloh himself has stated that Streetwear will die out in the 2020s it’s important to refrain from releasing the old styles that aren’t going to be as popular in the next decade. As mentioned in my research it will be interesting to see how Abloh can still have an imprint on non-streetwear items such as tailored garments that still says “Of-White”.

For the collaboration I reached for T-Shirts as this is a good staple to have in order to sell the collaboration but in the future, I would need to think about items that deter from the traditional ‘Streetwear’ garments and think about almost creating a diferent breed of Streetwear such as blazers and more conventional pieces to support the “Shift” happening in fashion today.

This would it in with a business-like aesthetic for H&M consumers as they tend to reach for the brand when looking for afordable smart clothing.

Also, more unique pieces should be released in order for the consumer to feel as though their clothing is exclusive. Hopefully a collaboration such as the Of-White X H&M man would be a success leading to a buzz around both brands and boosting their popularity.

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References...

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