Legendary film star Steve McQueen cherished the quick observe, and at all times wore the identical pair of Pink Wing boots.
Minnesota’s Pink Wing Sneakers partnered together with his household, specifically granddaughter Molly McQueen, on a brand new marketing campaign that celebrates the King of Cool by selling the concepts of legacy clothes and sustainability.
The most recent “Will your Wings” marketing campaign that includes McQueen begins this week and encourages clients to move down their beloved Pink Wing boots to heirs.
The marketing campaign is “our representation of steering clear of fast fashion,” stated Pink Wing artistic director Aaron Seymour-Anderson. “This is intentionally a campaign that is pushing against fast fashion. Our boots last so long that you can hand them down to someone else.”
To kick off the thought, the Pink Wing, Minn.-based producer is partnering on a restricted version of the “Classic Moc” Pink Wing boots worn by McQueen within the Sixties and Seventies, together with on the quilt of Sports activities Illustrated.
The up to date leather-based boots characteristic a McQueen signature and “278,” his racing quantity. Whereas the brand new and considerably contrarian advertising and marketing marketing campaign highlights a well known participant in America’s $95 billion footwear market, the corporate doesn’t anticipate it to win any gross sales awards.
That’s as a result of solely about 500 pairs of the $420 McQueen Traditional Mocs will likely be made. They are going to be offered on-line and in 20 of Pink Wing’s 575 shops, together with the flagship retailer in Pink Wing.
To emphasise the legacy angle, retailer clerks will sew cloth “legacy gifting tags” contained in the tongue of every boot. Prospects can then write their very own title on the tag, together with the title of the particular person to whom they’ll will the boots.
McQueen, who died in 1980 on the age of fifty, “is the ultimate icon of timeless style and things that last. So we partnered with his family estate, and ultimately his granddaughter, to re-design the boots that Steve wore in a more contemporary context,” Seymour-Anderson stated. “It’s all part of a larger strategy.”
Mary Van Be aware and Beth Perro-Jarvis, former Fallon advert executives and founders of the Minneapolis-based model technique and analysis agency Ginger Consulting, stated Pink Wing’s advertising and marketing method takes a web page from the “sneaker drops” that different shoe firms do. They may launch solely 20 or so pairs of an unique design to 1 or two obscure retail retailers.
That creates an enormous buzz, heightens demand and will increase the possibility a purchaser will drop huge cash for what they see as a luxurious merchandise.
“This is exactly that same kind of thing. It’s a way to build brand cache. Scarcity is very alluring,” Perro-Jarvis stated.
It additionally helps that McQueen’s granddaughter is launching the product as a result of she is younger and within the advert showcases the craftsmanship of the McQueen Traditional Mocs.
Van Be aware imagines the road will enchantment to the buyer “interested in sustainability and that maker aesthetic.”
“We see these people in the North Loop. They are people who are into making things and are small-business-oriented,” she stated. “They don’t want shoes made in China and off an assembly line. They want something that is made by hand. Something they can pass down.”
If profitable, the marketing campaign ought to maintain footwear out of landfills just a little longer. By means of YouTube, social media and its shops, the two,200-employee Pink Wing Sneakers is emphasizing its shoe restore companies. Its cobblers resole and recondition 40,000 pairs of Pink Wing boots every year.
If clients restore after which move on their beloved boots, clients can maintain the “timeless boots on feet for years, even decades, to come,” Seymour-Anderson stated. “So far, we have 40,000 pairs of boots on average that go through our repair shop every year that we’re keeping out of the landfill. That’s exactly our point.”
Molly McQueen favored the thought a lot that she lent private photographs of her grandfather and her personal story to the sustainability effort. The corporate created an online web page pairing her video and the photographs with filmed interviews of consumers who additionally talked in regards to the significance of receiving or passing down boots to subsequent generations.
“My grandfather had the unique ability to make everything he did look effortlessly cool. He was self-assured and confident, which is why people are still drawn to him today. The Will Your Wings campaign isn’t just about passing down a pair of boots — it’s about passing down a legacy,” Molly McQueen stated. “It’s about handing over something meaningful and built to last.”
Some attire execs see the marketing campaign as a rise up from the funky “fast fashion” development popularized by retail giants reminiscent of H&M, Without end 21, Temu and Shein.
The 119-year-old Pink Wing Sneakers has lengthy prided itself on making footwear that isn’t fairly however is understood for its potential to take abuse, and guard the ft of miners, hikers and manufacturing unit staff — to not point out the toes of motion stars like McQueen or avant-garde journalists like Hunter S. Thompson.
The corporate created a social media sensation in 2021 when it launched 13 international advertisements selling its intentional “Out of Fashion” vibe.
The advertisements have been filmed in Taiwan, England, Philadelphia and different spots world wide, utilizing actual clients who contributed to their communities in uncommon methods: Black equestrians in Philadelphia, English beekeepers, and two octogenarian dry cleaners in Taiwan who cheekily wore the attire of deadbeat clients who left behind clothes with out paying the invoice.
These advertisements featured voiceovers of a letter written by the late journalist Thompson.
Now the corporate is again with its newest anti-fashion nod. The McQueen Traditional Moc will likely be accessible in some shops beginning Nov. 16 and on-line beginning Nov. 21.
Retail and branding specialists suppose the bootmaker could also be onto one thing acquainted.
“Red Wing’s campaign reminds me of Crocs’ similarly contrarian marketing moves over the years,” stated impartial retail strategist Carol Spieckerman. “Crocs decided to own the ugly, much to the delight of fans and newbies alike, and concocted several campaigns that took the elephant out of the room. There are Patagonia-like sustainability flourishes too as the brand famously encourages its customers to buy less of its products. All in all, it’s a winning combination that emphasizes the practicality and durability of Red Wing shoes.”