Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
On a recent rainy Wednesday afternoon, a small group of influencers and TikTokers gathered inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The occasion? A look at 19th-century art and paintings by artists like Van Gogh and Henri Fantin-Latour. Also? A sneak peek at Pacsun’s latest capsule collection of sweatsuits, t-shirts, hats, socks, and more inspired by these artists.
- The 30-piece fall/winter collection has been a year in the making, starting with Pacsun reaching out to the Met.
- “We started the whole product development process in March,” Richard Cox, VP of men’s merchandising at Pacsun, told Retail Brew. “That’s kind of when we came to agreement, that, “Yeah, let’s do this. Let’s put a collection together.’”
- The collection features sweatshirts with Met X Pacsun logo, as well as sweaters featuring floral motifs inspired by the paintings.
Although Pacsun is certainly not the first brand to look to art for design inspiration, it’s an interesting choice for a brand whose consumers are mainly Gen Z, who Cox believes have been especially “inspired” by the arts over the past few years. So the collection is a “unique way” to speak to the brand’s customers.
“A lot of the content on the actual pieces that were there that were used for the products just spoke to us. Plus, we know that our customer is aware of who Van Gogh is,” Cox said. “But then some of the other items from other artists, they really helped kind of tell a complete story. We wanted a certain color language. We wanted to speak to more floral motifs.”
- So far, collections and items with artistic motifs have been Pacsun’s strongest sellers, though the company said that it “can’t disclose numbers.”
Beyond Gen Z, Pacsun is also hoping to tap into a smaller base of fashion-focused customers with the new collaboration.
“90% of the opportunity is just speaking to our core consumer and giving them something cool that they’re already requesting,” Cox explained. “But the other 10% could be people in the fashion community who have not necessarily shopped with us, but who think that this project is unique and kind of speaks to them.”
He added that another consumer he hopes would be intrigued by the collection is “the fine-art enthusiast who hasn’t really seen someone do a really good job of pulling fine art into apparel products.”
Although only time will tell how well the partnership is received, Cox told us this will not be Pacsun’s last collaboration with the Met. The duo has another collection planned for next year, though details remained TBD. —JS