Analyzing Supreme x Louis Vuitton FW 17'
As you all now know, Louis Vuitton is officially collaborating with streetwear giant Supreme. Louis Vuitton's FW 17' runway collection featured bright red LV bags adorned with Supreme branding, Supreme printed scarves, and even Supreme branded clothing . After the show, the full range of the collaboration was featured. The products ranged from skate decks to leather gloves and much more. Below you will find images of the collection, as well as our take on the collection as a whole.
From the perspective of Louis Vuitton, the Supreme collaboration is monumental for gaining press, as well as staying hot with a younger audience. This is possibly be the most marketable campaign in LV's history. Rapper, Travis Scott has already been given pieces from the collection, and there is no doubt that other influencers will be seeded product very soon. It is only a matter of time before Luka Sabbat is donning a Supreme cross body bag. Having your product be popular among influencers makes you a "cool." brand among millennials. I have been a huge fan of what Kim Jones has been doing at the Parisian house even before this collab, but now everyone will be hip to Louis Vuitton. Hats off to their entire marketing team, you guys won, and will be talked about for a while after this. Totally game changing.
From Supreme's standpoint what does this mean? Well, Supreme has done thousands of collaborations, but none bigger than this one. In 2000, Supreme received a cease and desist from Louis Vuitton after using a similar print to Louis Vuitton's signature monogram print. 17 years later, Supreme was on a Paris runway. I am sure that James Jebbia never ever saw that being the case when he founded the brand in 1994. The prices of the Louis Vuitton x Supreme collab will be high, which is something that a Supreme customer is not used to. Sure Supreme has some high ticketed items, but they are not a luxury brand. Louis Vuitton is one of the most high caliber fashion brands in the world, and have the prices to match. A typical LV duffle bag will run you around $1,700, and I don't see the Supreme duffle being any cheaper than that. So if you guys want some items from this collab, you better start saving now. This is a huge change for Supreme, and I am curious as to how their collaborations and branding will change because of this. Will we be seeing more high-end quality items from Supreme, or will they just collab with high end brands and then go back to making screen printed Hanes tees?
This collaboration is the biggest of the year, and maybe even of the last decade. The release of this collaboration will most likely take place online in the Fall of 2017 (will update). I highly doubt Louis Vuitton will do an in-store release due to its lack of experience with crowds. Like I said before, start saving now, because these will be premium Louis Vuitton prices.
We have selected our favorite looks from Louis Vuitton's FW 17' show below. Be sure to comment below your thoughts on this upcoming collaboration.
Runway Images via Vogue