LONDON — Highsnobiety, the Zalando-owned media brand on the crossroads of streetwear and luxurious, is increasing its “Not In” metropolis collection to London for the primary time from Feb. 16 to 19.
Running in parallel with London Fashion Week, the multidisciplinary program is geared toward showcasing the perfect of the British capital via the lens of the streetwear authority, based by David Fischer in 2005.
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With a collection of pop-ups inside Selfridges’ flagship on Oxford Street, the “Not In London” expertise will showcase the latest assortment from HS05, Highsnobiety’s in-house brand, and merch collaborations with London stables that embrace the outerwear model Barbour, Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, the stylish hangout spot Chiltern Firehouse, music platform and radio station NTS, Reference Point, a bookshop and bar, and knitwear label Knitwrth, which is providing items that includes Princess Diana’s iconic revenge dress moment.
“Generally speaking, the curation of who we partner with for these types of initiatives, I think we’ve built our own formula over the years. Our audience goes to Beigel Bake a lot. At the same time, they enjoy Chiltern Firehouse. It’s about picking partners in different categories, mixing the up-and-coming with the super-established, yet they all have a significant meaning to our community,” Fischer mentioned in an interview with WWD.
On the expertise entrance, Highsnobiety has additionally lined up a cohort of applications past style for its group in London.
In Selfridges, a panel dialogue across the business of creativity might be held in partnership with Squarespace, the website-building supplier. A birdwatching session, organized by Flock Together, will even take place on the rooftop of the division retailer.
“Selfridges has been a longtime partner of ours. We worked with them in 2021, when we took over their Corner Shop for January to reveal our collaboration with Maison Margiela, Colette, Mon Amour and Sotheby’s. It felt very natural for us to work again with Selfridges on the retail portion of our experience.
“It’s a bit of a takeover in the places of the store that are relevant for our audience. On the ground floor, we have a showcase of certain parts of the ‘Not In London’ collection and parts of the collaborations. We will have a few other spaces where we then showcase different parts of the project in the premium streetwear and luxury men’s area on the first floor,” mentioned Fischer.
A listening session will even take place at BeauBeaus, an East London café based by artist Olaolu Slawn and his accomplice Tallula Christie, with DIY sound techniques equipped by Friendly Pressure. With the sportswear model Champion, a rave social gathering is to take place at Shoreditch’s Village Underground.
Highsnobiety is partnering with Athene Club, a group providing secure and welcoming alternatives for girls to hike and discover throughout London and trails surrounding town, for an all-female run via the capital metropolis, as effectively.
“It’s important to align these multifaceted activations with cultural moments [like London Fashion Week] around the world,” mentioned Fischer, including that London is among the two largest viewers bases for Highsnobiety moreover New York, the place the platform hosted a similar experiential activation last September called “Neu York.”
“The other thing that nicely connects us to London is this push for up-and-coming talents, which is also one of the key pillars at Highsnobiety. The city consistently bubbles up fashion designers and people who play a significant role in culture. It feels very natural to come to London,” added Fischer.
The “Not In” collection was first launched in Paris as a virtual showcase of fashion, art, and music content in the middle of a global pandemic in 2020 after bodily exhibits had been canceled, turning Paris Men’s Fashion Week right into a digital occasion. The later editions of “Not In Paris” included physical activations and product collaborations with manufacturers like Thom Browne, A.P.C., Kenneth Ize and Rtfkt Studios.
“Our brand has always stood for this idea of breaking down barriers between different parts of the world, and the coming together of street culture and luxury fashion. I’m excited about all of the things that we are doing in London from the birdwatching experience to the run, the rave, and the dinner at Chiltern Firehouse,” he added.
Zalando acquired a majority 86.83 % stake in Highsnobiety in 2022 for 123.6 million euros and has the choice to purchase out the remaining share within the subsequent three years, based on Zalando’s annual report. Highsnobiety contributed 37.8 million euros to the revenues of Zalando in addition to a web lack of half one million euros in fiscal 2022.
As a part of the deal, Highsnobiety has since acted as a strategic and inventive guide to the German e-commerce big but in addition retains its editorial independence and inventive company and e-commerce operations.
Fischer mentioned the 2 have since realized an amazing deal from each other. A living proof can be the just lately unveiled luxury, boutique-style space for designer brands on Zalando, the place model companions can “narrate their stories,” and unveil collections, campaigns and collaborations in an “elevated, curated” house.
“They learned how to communicate authentically with different types of audiences and how to build engaging content. We, of course, learn how to become a better e-commerce retailer. Those learnings are consistently happening in the background,” he added.
Given building a stand-alone e-commerce is a good precedence for Highsnobiety, requested whether or not a possible spin-off IPO is within the pipeline — just like the Mytheresa one underneath Neiman Marcus possession — Fischer mentioned Highsnobiety is “happily owned by a public company, which gives us a great sense of independence allows us to make the right choices for our brand and our business. So it’s not something that we’re considering.”
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