Arkitip X Generic Surplus X Ace Hotel Palm Springs
Collaborations are picking up at a faster pace these days as more brands come together to create interesting marketing and sales tactics to attract consumers. While we tend to shy away from posting all of the collaborations going on (which is weekly, if you take a look at sneaker culture), here are a couple worth noting based on their timeliness and relevance.
First, the beautiful art magazine Arkitip has created a unique collaboration with a hotel, The Ace Hotel Palm Springs, and tripled-up by adding Generic Surplus footwear -a strong brand in footwear but now positioning itself well in the sneaker market. Now’s the season for people to head to the desert and with Coachella taking place this weekend, April 17-19, nearby in Indio, this collaboration is very timely.
Also, the shoes created are excellent -meeting both an upscale tennis/club and poolside kind of vibe and new-school usage of mixed materials including a new mesh. Added to this is a cool Arkitip tote bag from the same type of sneaker material. According to Arkitip, “In creating a shoe for the Ace Hotel we sought to capture the essence of Palm Springs and the eclectic style of the hotel grounds. We developed a new mesh material that%uFFFDs breathable for the desert heat, quick drying and non slip for the pool side servers. Considering the Palm Springs environment and the design elements of the hotel, the creation of this new mesh material lends itself perfect to manage water and the desert heat.”
Other cool features about the sneaks are the military green heel tab, “Ace” orange colored eyelets, Vulcanized sole contructions and rubber toe, and project logos stamped in the foot liner, making it truly one-of-a-kind. While hotels such as The Block in Lake Tahoe and Hotel Amour in Paris also offer up various unique collaborations, other hotels (mags and sneakers) may want to consider the idea in the future.
Jaimie King by Stefanie Keenan/Wire Images in front of Loomstate for Target eco-friendly organic T-shirts
Loomstate for Target
In preparation for Earth Day, Loomstate, the organic and fair-trade brand known for creating unique denim jeans and T-shirts by famed designers Rogan Gregory (who also does Edun) and Scott Mackinlay Hahn, created a limited-edition collection for Target, which was pre-released in a celeb-filled party at the Big Red Sun store in Venice, CA, April 14. Guests included Kate Mara, Anna Paquin, Amber Valletta, Jaime Pressly, among many others, who got to shop for organic T’s, tunics, denim, and other pieces ahead of the masses.
The concept is to part of Target’s commitment to watching their eco footprint and to provide organics to a larger audience. It also matches the on-going trends of mixing hi-lo fashion and turning a corner for more eco-friendly solutions in fashion. For example, for Loomstate, it makes sense to create a more affordable price point collection to stay relevant with current trends and to spread their message about organics and fair trade in fashion manufacturing. The Loomstate collection for Target will be available Sunday, April 19, both at the stores and online.
It will be interesting to see if this “eco-masstige” collaboration and its message will be as popular among Target audiences as their celeb collaborations previously.
