The Nike and Tiffany & Co Collab Leaves Much to be Desired for Consumers
Photo: Tiffany & Co. x Nike via Fashion United
Sportswear brand Nike and luxury brand Tiffany & Co. surprised fans with the announcement of a collaboration. A collection featuring a $400 pair of Air Force 1 sneakers with a collection of sterling silver products that will drop this March. The products include a shoe horn, Tiffany blue shoe laces, lace dubraes, a whistle and a shoe brush (seen below). The brands released a full page ad in The New York Times on Sunday that featured a picture of a Tiffany blue Nike shoe box with the caption “A Legendary Pair.” A release that excited fans of both brands. However, once the pictures of the collaborative sneakers were released consumers opinions on social media were divided, with many thinking the collaboration was not as great as it could’ve been.
In recent years, more luxury brands have been collaborating with streetwear and sportswear brands in order to reach younger consumers. However, these collaborations only work if the designers know how to reach them by knowing the design aspects preferred by youth culture. Since Tiffany was acquired by LVMH in 2021, its mission has been to target a younger demographic by focusing on celebrity marketing and collaborations with other brands. Because of Nike’s popularity with younger consumers, perhaps this collaboration hoped to achieve this.
Photo: Yankeekicks via Hypebae
This collaboration should’ve been exciting in theory, but many consumers took to social media to express their disappointment in the collection. Consumers got a collaboration that was lazy and lacked creativity. The shoe looks like they just took black suede air forces and put a blue check on them without any thought. It seems more like a blatant cash grab or marketing ploy from both brands. Both Nike and Tiffany & Co. have done other collaborations that have been great so they have the means and the talent to do something good from this but they chose not to. This collaboration should have been a fusion between both brands. Something that takes the best from both brands and highlights their signatures in one collection because that is the point of a collaboration and why consumers enjoy them so much. This collaboration is not “legendary” in the slightest, it is disappointing.
Photo: Yankeekicks via Hypebae
It is hard to tell whether the collaboration will be successful or not with consumers when it comes out, but one cannot deny the power and popularity of both brands. Their popularity might be the push that the collaboration needs to sell out when it drops in addition to the mixed reviews. No press is bad press these days for brands. Controversy and bad reviews are sometimes all a brand needs to sell a product. Brands are already working ahead on the marketing front with several Instagram posts and ads from celebrity collaborations such as LeBron James who was seen wearing the shoes before one of his games. All in all, come March, Nike and Tiffany & Co. will see if this collaboration was successful or an absolute failure for them.
