Alexander Wang is warming up to the “see-now-buy-now” model with a capsule collection with Adidas Originals, following the onslaught of runway-to-retail efforts led by designers like Thakoon, Tommy Hilfiger and Tom Ford this season.
Wang announced the long-rumored collaboration with Adidas at the conclusion of his New York Fashion Week show on September 10th, kicking off the line with pop-up trucks in New York City that sold nine exclusive pieces from his 84-piece unisex apparel line.
Though Wang still adheres to the wholesale practice of previewing his collection to buyers and press, and embargoing images before they hit the shows, the Adidas pop-up trucks demonstrate a nod toward accelerating the availability of his designs, even if at a limited scale. The looks — which include an array of all-black t-shirts, tracksuits, hoodies and sneakers ranging in price from $80 to $200 — will be released incrementally over the course of the next few months and will be fully available this spring.
The effort is telling for the 32-year-old designer and former creative director of Balenciaga, who has formerly expressed criticism of ‘see-now-buy-now’ and its impact on the fashion calendar. In a discussion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year, Wang said he and his team explored every option before considering capsule collections.
“We have found that this shortened timeline between seeing the collection and it being available in stores creates a sense of immediacy and generates excitement at the retail level,” Wang told Women’s Wear Daily in May.
Wang made the announcement about his collaboration with Adidas via a surprise video after his runway show. The clip depicted figures in black get-ups stocking a truck, culminating in an image of an upside down Adidas logo before models rejoined the runway to show off the new Adidas looks.
The designer also teased looks from the show on his Instagram account this weekend. Wang has been particularly innovative in leveraging social media to engage consumers, namely in a stunt at the end of 2015 in which he used Snapchat to invite shoppers to an exclusive event.
The Adidas trucks are expected to appear in Tokyo and London later this week, Racked reported. Wang joins a slew of fellow designers that have done collaborations with the athletic retailer, including Stella McCartney, Kanye West and Raf Simmons, among others.
