A Sustainable Sequel: Tommy Hilfiger and Shawn Mendes Meet in London
LONDON — Tommy Hilfiger and Shawn Mendes are back for a sequel collection together.
“I was born in ‘98, so my parents were living in Tommy Hilfiger. I’m pretty sure for the first three years of life that’s the only clothing that I thought existed on the planet,” Mendes told WWD about his first recollections of the American brand.
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Hilfiger has previously collaborated with Gigi Hadid, Zendaya and Lewis Hamilton on capsule collections, but this is the first musician he’s worked with in recent years.
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“I haven’t done this with a current live music icon in many years since Aaliyah and Britney Spears. So it’s like coming home to me,” said Hilfiger at his brand’s London headquarters in Knightsbridge, right next door to Harrods.
The women’s and men’s collection is an ode to the ‘90s, embossed with the Tommy Hilfiger logo on the sports bras and boxer briefs; wide-leg slouchy pants; varsity jackets; tank tops, and rugby shirts.
Customers will also be able to experience the collection digitally in stores via an AR Mirror from try-on tech company Zero10. This will be available in London, Berlin and Milan for a limited time.
“We believe that AR technology could be utilized by brands now to implement new approaches into their businesses and gain credibility among the new generation of customers. This is just the beginning for Zero10, our next step will be introducing AR Storefronts and interactive selling points,” said George Yashin, chief executive officer of the tech company.
Hilfiger said he’s always looking for ways to move forward and that he never wants to retire — with sustainability shifting to the core center of the brand year-by-year.
“When I found out Shawn was interested in sustainability, I thought it was incredible because a lot of people talk about it, but they don’t walk the walk,” said Hilfiger, pointing out that the stars and stripe rugby shirt that Mendes was wearing is made from 80 percent organic cotton and 20 percent recycled yarns.
The Canadian singer-songwriter mentioned that he had been learning about sustainability since he was eight years old, but only came face to face with the environmental impacts three years ago when he was thinking about his own merchandise line.
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“I was like ‘We can’t even sell merchandise unless we figure out a way to make this sustainable,’ and I felt this cloud of impending doom coming. I felt like my hands were tied and that was when we kind of started talking with Tommy,” explained Mendes, who was starting to get an appetite for ‘90s archival fashion and wanted to partner with a brand based around sustainability.
The collection uses Recycro, which makes dye from reprocessed fibers from pre-consumer factory cutting waste into a colored powder and Circulose, a new material made from mixing recycled textile waste with wood fibers, which reduces the dependency on virgin fabrics.
The brand said it’s expanding its share of responsibly washed and finished denim by using less water, energy and chemicals.
“We’re always looking at ways to improve sustainability and we have a team of people in Amsterdam, who are 100 percent focused on that — that’s all they do. But we’re also in the renting and re-sell space. All of those aspects add up to bringing us to a better place,” Hilfiger said.
In the evening, Hilfiger and Mendes hosted a 80-person seated dinner at the newly renovated The House of Koko with Pamela Anderson, Will Sharpe and Alexa Chung in attendance.
The venue underwent a 70 million pound refurbishment with help from production company and investment firm Sister, cofounded by Elizabeth Murdoch.
Koko has been home to performers including Prince, Amy Winehouse, Coldplay and more.
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