With fashion and beauty brands realizing the value of reflecting culture at every touchpoint, Netflix has increasingly become a go-to collaborator. And the streaming platform is leaning into the opportunity to bring brands into the buzzy conversations around its shows. Alex Cripe, head of strategy for global consumer products, and Tara Sinclair, global licensing lead, are leading the charge.
This year, Netflix upped its efforts to drive the launches of covetable co-branded products, from makeup to luxury apparel. And, since June, it’s provided a dedicated sales channel for that assortment with the Netflix.Shop online store.
“The goal is always to bring people closer to their favorite [TV] stories IRL,” said Cripe, regarding what brands are looking to achieve with Netflix. “Fashion provides a unique way for our stories to transcend the screen and take on new creative energy.”
For Netflix, its fashion- and beauty-focused projects this year have been about “learning and pushing the envelope,” said Cripe. And they’ve taken shape in a variety of forms. For example, in June, the company linked with Japanese clothing company Beams on lines of Netflix- and “Eden”-branded styles, with the latter tied to a Netflix-original animated series. In July, it teamed with skate-and-surfwear brand Volcom on a clothing capsule dedicated to the teen show “Outer Banks.” The next month, cult-favorite dress brand Hill House Home and footwear brand Malone Souliers came out with “Bridgerton”-focused product collaborations. And October marked the release of Netflix and Brazilian brand Agua de Coco’s beachwear capsule featuring a design in the platform’s signature red and black.
But, arguably, the most high-profile collaborations hit in November and December, showing the platform is hitting its stride in identifying desirable fashion and beauty brand opportunities. Later this month, Pat McGrath Labs is set to release its own “Bridgerton” collection of a palette, blush and highlighter. And November’s Balmain x Netflix collection was just one aspect of the duo’s multi-tiered partnership centered on the film “The Harder They Fall.”
“The [Balmain] project came together organically,” said Cripe “I read the script for ‘The Harder They Fall’ and brought it to Tara. She did some cold-calling and LinkedIn-sleuthing, and we managed to bring [Balmain designer] Olivier [Rousteing] and Jeymes Samuel [the director] into conversation over Zoom. Olivier [wound up] developing two ponchos for the film and a 15-piece capsule collection inspired by it.“ The collection served as the first high-fashion launch on Netflix.Shop and sold out on the site.
“There is no formulaic method to how we pursue fashion opportunities,” Sinclair said.
But the goal is always the same. “We want to create things that people are proud to wear, talk about, and [use] to connect with other people — things that really drive the cultural conversation,” Cripe said.
