In the early 2000’s, Comme des Garçons set the gold standard of how pop-up shops should be executed within the fashion industry. They were ahead of their time; the use of pop-up shops did not become widespread until the late 2000’s. It gradually extended to the rest of the fashion industry, as well as to other ventures like pop-up clubs or restaurants. Pop-up shops are successful because they provide special benefits to the customer:

unique product/service

localized assortment

fun and unique experience

Although pop-up shops have now been part of the fashion industry for roughly two decades, the recent few years have seen an increase in brands, and even musicians using the retail model. The pop-up model provides retailers with a variety of benefits:

extending their brand (introducing new products)

a variety of shapes, sizes, locations; such as brick and mortar, a store within a store, or a vehicle/truck

creates a sense of exclusivity; consumers have a fear of missing out if they do not attend/participate

Following are three recent fashion pop-up shops that provide concrete examples of some of the benefits listed above.

Kanye West: The Life of Pablo

Kanye West opened a weekend pop-up shop earlier this year in New York City, giving fans a chance to purchase some of his The Life of Pablo merchandise. The line was highly sought after and was only available at his exclusive fashion show prior to this shop. Kanye is blurring the lines between musician and fashion designer as he continues to develop a huge fan base for both areas of his work.

Kanye’s fans made the pop-up shop a success; 1 million dollars of merchandise was sold in just one weekend. Consumers were enticed by the shop’s exclusive products and recognized the opportunity to purchase unique apparel. The nature of the products created a sense of exclusivity for the whole event which ultimately added to the appeal for consumers. Later Pablo shops were opened in twenty-one different cities, and designs were sold that were unique to each city, adding further to the exclusivity.

Kanye was able to move large amounts of his merchandise while simultaneously making his fans feel like they were part of something truly special.

The North Face Streetwear Concept Shop

North Face is a very popular jacket and outerwear brand that is known for its expertise in outdoor apparel. While they have experienced a decent amount of success in the fashion industry, they have only recently begun to recognize the emerging streetwear and urban trends happening in fashion.

North Face opened its first Streetwear Concept Shop in San Francisco this month, and it will only be open for a limited time. The shop’s products put more of an emphasis on the brand’s urban consumers than ever before. The designs incorporate many popular streetwear influences that were previously absent in North Face products. This shop provides fans of the brand with a new unique product line, creating a sense of urgency to visit the store. Although it is not nearly as exclusive as the previously mentioned The Life of Pablo shop, it still provides more exclusivity than your average retail store.

The Streetwear Concept Shop allowed North Face to extend their brand with new products to appeal to the young, urban target market. It provided enough exclusivity to convince consumers that they would be missing out if they neglect the opportunity to purchase the new line of products.

Kith/Rio Olympics Shop

Kith is a New York streetwear retailer owned by designer Ronnie Fieg. He and the shop are known for their high-quality products throughout the years, many which have been collaborative releases. In one of the most recent collaborations, Kith partnered with Nike to create a 2016 Rio Olympics-themed pop-up shop. It consisted of a wide selection of limited-edition Olympic Nike shoes, some of which were new designs and some were recreations of classic shoes. While perusing the store, consumers can look at rare pieces of Nike history such as casted shoe boxes, vintage advertisements, and rare memorabilia scattered throughout the store. Lastly, the store offered the Kith Treats Cereal Bar, which allowed customers to create their own cereal- flavored ice cream creation from a wide variety of cereals.

This pop-up shop varies from the other two examples in the fact that Kith centered the shop around an important event: the Olympics. This was a very smart move and helped bring in plenty of customers that would have otherwise shown no interest. Partnering with such an event helps create that sense of urgency that consumers need to hurry and visit the shop. While customers were provided with the opportunity to purchase exclusive new and retro shoes, the appeal of this shop pertained more to the whole event than the specific products. The combination of the Rio Olympics theme, the rare shoes, and the fun cereal ice cream bar created a unique experience that you could not have gotten anywhere else.

The combination of the Rio Olympics theme, the rare shoes, and the fun cereal ice cream bar created a unique experience that you could not have gotten anywhere else. Kith was able to appeal to a large demographic because of this unique experience.

Looking Forward

These are just three of many successful fashion pop-up shops from the past year. All of the examples listed provided unique benefits to both the customers and the retailers. Because of the many positives that are offered by pop-up shops, expect to continue to see this retail model succeed and increase in popularity in the months and years to come.