Functional Fabric in Fashion Brand — COOLMAX® and GUESS
Nowadays, it’s common that various kinds of functional fabric are applied in consumer brands for domestic uses. Among all the applications, the partnership between fashion brands and functional fabrics is the most intriguing to me. COOLMAX® is a brand belongs to INVISTA company, fabrics produced by this brand all possess good moisture management properties. In the April of this year, the famous consumer brand GUESS introduced a special pair of jeans to its European market, which features the technology provided by COOLMAX®. Nowadays, jeans are the simplest fashion item which can be found in all closets. The popularity of jeans provides a great opportunity for these two brands to benefit each other.
The biggest benefit of co-branding is resources sharing. When two brands come to work together, their advertising resources are shared to drive sales. In the homepage of COOLMAX®, the news of new GUESS jeans is displayed in a prominent position.
And for the consumer brand, detailed advantages are listed in related web pages to differentiate the JEANS COOLMAX from other GUESS product and highlight the advantages. A short video about COOLMAX® Core Technology is also attached. It is notable that the video will be displayed automatically when you search the keywords “coolmax” in GUESS website. This is the application of targeted advertising.
The customer resources sharing is also remarkable. In some extent, COOLMAX® may benefit more from their partnership. Because clothing brands are more recognizable than specific fabrics or fibers to most customers without textile studying backgrounds. As a famous jeans producer, it is no doubt that GUESS can provide COOLMAX® with lots of potential customers. It is stated in the COOLMAX® Blog, Guess uses a co-branded hangtag in the jeans to present the unique selling points of COOLMAX® which are the all-day comfort and good moisture transfer.
If a customer may feel good in the pair of GUESS Coolmax jeans and then become interested in other COOLMAX® products, such as T-shirts and sports pants made from COOLMAX® fabric.
After all, denim product series only takes a small part of COOLMAX® business, training sportswear, and functional outdoor sportswear still own the larger market share.
And in this relationship, the commodity value and competitiveness of the jeans is improved by COOLMAX® technology. In the fashion industry, GUESS jeans are well known for its quality and design. But competition in jeans industry is fierce, GUESS has many competitive rivals such as Calvin Jeans and G-Star Jeans. In this situation, special selling points play the essential role in the competition. COOLMAX® indicates that jeans made with their technology can transport moisture away from the wearer’s body and develop a cool and dry wearing condition. It is really appealing to jeans wearers around the world.
In this partnership, the brands do a good job in their products description. Without cramped words, the advantages of the jeans are explained clearly in several simple sentences. It is easy for a common customer to understand the functional features, but more progress can be made in their co-op advertising and continuous product development. The short video which is played in GUESS website mainly displays the COOLMAX® sportswear. If GUESS wants to promote their sales, a particular jeans video may be more attractive and useful. The COOLMAX® blog shows that the 3 pairs of jeans were introduced to European market 4 months ago, but we still cannot see them in the American market. And the two brands launch no product for females who take the larger part of the fashion industry. I believe that the business market of the brands will be more successful if the two brands can develop a long-term cooperation and create more products.
Sources:
COOLMAX®. (n.d.). Retrieved August 23, 2017, from
NEW GUESS JEANS FEATURE COOLMAX® TECHNOLOGY FOR ENHANCED COMFORT. Retrieved August 23 , 2017, from
SKINNY JEANS COOLMAX. Retrieved August 25, 2017, from
ATELIER GARDEUR INTRODUCES MEN’S SUPERFLEX COOLMAX® DENIM. Retrieved August 25, 2017, from August 26, 2017, from
