Collab fatigue is real but who's getting it right?

When every brand has a collaboration as part of their marketing strategy, what makes one actually worth caring about?

This week: what makes a good collab now, PSL's, that little green owl does something clever, larping-opps and more.

In 2017, Supreme × Louis Vuitton felt huge. Two worlds that weren’t supposed to belong together suddenly did. The high-low ceiling crumbled. I even had a fake wallet from the collection [REDACTED]. Fast-forward and collaboration has become almost mandatory. Brand × brand. Brand × celebrity. Brand × IP. Platform × platform. Hello Kitty everywhere. The problem isn’t too many collaborations, it's too many collaborations that make perfect sense.

In an algorithmic culture that rewards what’s familiar, compatible and immediately legible, collaboration risks becoming recommendation culture in physical form: if you liked this, you’ll probably like this. So what actually makes a good collaboration now?

01 / IT CREATES A TENSION

Good collaborations shouldn’t just combine two audiences. They should create something neither side would have arrived at alone. The original power of collaboration was the surprise: why are they doing that? When every brand is chasing “good taste”, perhaps we need more bad taste, weird combinations, niche references and ideas that don’t arrive culturally pre-approved.

THE TEST: On a scale of 1-10 how unexpected is it?

02 / IT GIVES YOU ACCESS TO A WORLD

The best collaborator isn’t necessarily the person with the biggest audience. It’s someone with a world people want access to. eBay’s Stoop Sales with people like Anna Sui and Julia Fox weren’t interesting because their names appeared next to eBay’s. They gave people access to their closets, taste and cultural universe. UGG has done something similar over time through Palace, Telfar, Hood By Air and Willy Chavarria. Together, the collaborators tell you something about UGG’s taste.

THE TEST: Are you borrowing someone’s reach, or opening up their world?

03 / IT CHANGES WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO

The next era of collaboration goes beyond product. Spotify × Depop connects music discovery with style discovery. A song can lead to an artist, their clothes, an aesthetic and eventually an entirely new community. The most interesting partnerships increasingly create new behaviours, access or infrastructure, rather than another limited-edition object.

THE TEST: If you removed both logos, would there still be an idea?

04 / IT SOLVES SOMETHING MEANINGFUL

When egg prices surged, The Ordinary sold cartons at an “ordinary” price. It was funny because it was culturally timely, but useful enough to mean something.

That’s perhaps the bigger opportunity: instead of asking what can we make together?, ask what can we make better together?

THE TEST: Does this add something to people’s lives beyond novelty?

OUR READ

Collaboration is no longer about borrowing cool. It’s about building cultural reach.

In a fragmented landscape, brands need ways into communities they can’t reach alone. Collaboration is one of the most powerful tools they have but the answer isn’t more unlikely pairings for the sake of novelty. Make it make sense, just not too much sense.

ASK AN EXPERT

Jack Self, architect, strategist, editor-in-chief of Real Review and founder of SRC

What makes a ‘good’ quote on quote brand collaboration?

ON OUR RADAR

A COLLAB WITH REAL LIFE, HYPER LOCAL & ACTUALLY GIVING BACK

Nike Street Race To Pay Rent 

Rents due… again. Nike turned New York’s housing crisis into the premise of a street race, offering two winners up to $4,000 toward a month’s rent. Held in NYC’s LES, the event brought together hopefuls and spectators, turning our gaze directly at the daunting financial reality that New Yorkers face. While the prize resonated with participants—one winner said it would cover his $3,800 rent—while others called it a “lowball” given Manhattan’s soaring housing costs. The result was a distinctly New York activation that connected Nike to a real, culturally charged pressure point of life in the city.

IT AIN’T THAT SERIOUS BUT IT’S REAL 

Duolingo’s SS27 Phonetic Collection 

Love to hate it but the little green owl does it again, with the help of designer, Megan O’cain. Stepping into something a bit more high-brow, with this seven-piece collection Duo helps us to pronounce some of fashion’s most notable names. From “air-mess”, to “loh-eh-vey”, to “zhee-vahn-shee”, we’d like to say there’s no longer an excuse for mispronunciation. While the collection itself isn’t necessarily aesthetically aspirational, it signals that Duolingo recognizes the importance of being able to talk the talk; as if speaking “fashion” is that easy and it’s all not that serious. 

A MEETING OF THE MINDS: ARE WE REFINING OR DILUTING? 

PUMA x _J.L-A.L unveil their latest collaborative footwear model: the CELL GEO 1 CAGE J.L-A.L.

Evolving from their previous sold-out CELL GEO, this new silhouette introduces a striking geometric design inspired by the geodesic dome structures of architect Buckminster Fuller. We know our sneakerheads love design, and so by default, architecture too right? Things get interesting when “something originally imagined at the scale of buildings is reduced down until it can fit around a foot,” says Arkangel. For us, while it’s an ambitious design push and product innovation is always on the agenda for footwear brands, the shoe itself doesn’t feel very Puma, it just feels “futuristic” and thus, quite ambiguous and less ownable. In an era of abundance and cross-pollinated inspiration and aesthetics, concentration rather than dilution is the name of the game. If something is a “push” is it really expanding your design language or is it pushing your IP too far outside of itself?

A COLLAB THAT LETS YOU LARP 

Elf Beauty x Alta 

Elf Beauty has signed a contract with Alta as its first beauty partner. Alta (an AI-powered digital closet and personal stylist that lets users digitize their existing wardrobes, generate personalized outfit recommendations, and virtually try looks on an avatar of themselves) users will be able to try on Elf Beauty products on their avatars and add these products to the outfits they build. It’s not about doing so so users can find out what the product will look like on themselves, but offers an opportunity to experiment with a lewk, to discover without investing. While the world and how you present yourself in it feels consequential, spaces to larp are more than welcome. 

BASIC STRATEGY, STRATEGIC RESULTS 

Starbucks x Martha x Belmont Cameli x PSL 

A friend told me that they’ve already had 3 PSL’s, shamelessly. I asked, from Starbucks? Another shameless: yes. While Starbucks isn’t necessarily a brand to revere in this day and age, they’re sticking to what they know as summer’s on its last legs and kids are heading back to school. To promote the PSL this year, they’ve teamed up with Martha Stewart and Belmont Cameli, “everyone’s favorite campus athlete” (according to Starbucks) taking ownership of all things BASIC. While no one wants to be called “basic”, awareness is everything and Starbucks fully leans into this ownership narrative with a kind of collab that is semi-brilliant because it’s strategic: welding real-world/divine timing of the season, with sure-to-resonate talent, with a product icon; the outcome: a reluctant, but undeniable head-nod.

THE PROVOCATION

WHAT ROLE DOES BAD TASTE HAVE IN CREATIVITY THESE DAYS? 

When IP becomes the medium rather than the merchandise, the question isn't just what brands are selling via collab-ing, it's what kinds of creativity they're making possible. If collaboration has become the initiative through which culture discovers itself, what happens when the things being connected are increasingly familiar? 

Something to think about until the next Echo Chamber.

The Echo Chamber is Dazed Studio’s bi-monthly read on the signals, shifts and stories shaping youth culture now.