Milan Fashion Week without Philipp Plein after party? We had come to terms during the pandemic, thinking that the entrepreneur had traded real life with the Metaverse and that the only chance to attend one again was to teleport to Decentraland.
Not on Saturday night, as the showman surprised guests by orchestrating the official launch of his Plein Sport brand’s first collection with a fair/party inside an abandoned industrial complex, filled with a custom Formula 1 truck, screens which projected 3D images of their NFT monsters, inflatables, and even a drop tower.
Plein said he expected 6,000 people to attend. “Tonight is a party for Milan,” he said.
Showcase aside, the commercial concept he’s developing for Plein Sport harnesses the power of the digital and the physical and puts an emphasis on the sneakers, each with a complimentary NFT and a box equipped with a video screen. It offers sportswear and activewear with high-performance qualities.
“This is not a luxury brand, it’s a sportswear brand and obviously it will compete with every sportswear brand in the market,” Plein said. “Although it has a different position [compared to them]the price is completely different from Plein,” he added.
Tracksuits dotted with the brand’s logos, a tiger and a stripe, are mixed with metallic puffer jackets and yoga sets, basketball shorts and t-shirts with the Plein Sport graphic. The offer is mainly unisex and is complemented by glasses, while watches will be launched later. The sneakers are usually thick, padded and adorned with metallic details.
“The whole new Plein Sport collection, which is obviously a technical product, is really made for sport… we say put on your tigers and run,” Plein enthused. The collection that will go on sale in August is priced between 170 euros for sneakers and 500 euros.
The silver truck, formerly owned by the McLaren F1 team and taking over the industrial site, is a traveling pop-up shop, Plein explained. He will begin his journey in August heading to the center of Europe.
The Plein Sport truck will soon tour Europe as a traveling pop-up.
Getty Images for Philipp Plein
“This truck will move around Europe for a year, it will visit every city on the map and we will launch an app to track it and see where it goes. The first hundred customers get the products with NFT [counterparts]so we will have a limited edition NFT collection for each city to accompany the shoes”, said the businessman.
Plein also has bullish ambitions in permanent retail, as he expects to open 100 directly operated flagship stores in the next two years. “This is a very aggressive development plan because we want to attack all the Nikes, Adidas and Pumas,” he said.
“Since we have a strong retail expansion plan, our store concept will be very minimalist… my idea is to operate the stores like IKEA, like Starbucks. The idea is really to make a revolution in retail that also allows us to expand very quickly in the market with low costs”, he explained and anticipated that the first 10 stores will open in early November.
Source: news.google.com