Creative Ideas to Inspire Your Next Pop-Up
- Date: September 14, 2016
- Topic: Uncategorized
- By: Peerspace
With New York Fashion Week coming to a close, new trends are already being forecasted for the upcoming year. This time around, we noticed a different kind of trend emerge in the fashion world. More designers decided to take their clothing off the catwalk, instead opting to bring their products to life in an immersive event experience.
For example, IMG opened up The Shop, which not only carried unique accessories and apparel, but also featured made-to-order artwork from Bradley Tehodore and Nick Thomm. Puma and Rihanna unveiled their new collection at a pop-up shop in Midtown, complete with neon lights, stylists on hand, and even the chance to win a lucky key that might unlock the store filled with gift cards or concert tickets.
To give you inspiration for your own pop-up, we rounded up some of our favorites from Everlane, Cuyana and other up-and-coming brands.
1. Glossier’s Summer Fridays Showroom
Instead of covering yourself with makeup, online beauty and skincare brand Glossier wants your natural beauty to shine through with the help of their beauty and skincare products. In their 2015 Summer pop-up, the brand designed the bottom of their headquarters as a temporary retail showroom. People had the opportunity to try and buy their products on the spot, but that wasn’t the main focus. As founder Emily Weiss told Brit + Co, “We would rather people come and actually stay than people come buy something and leave,” Weiss partnered with set designer, Marguerite Wade, to create an environment where people wanted to hang out. As Weiss put it, “If Glossier can bring together like-minded women and give them space to — yes, buy product — but also learn and interact and contribute I think that’s success for us.”
2. Cuyana’s “To New York, With Love”
Most clothing brands monetize during the holidays by selling the idea that “more is more.” But for Cuyana, a San Francisco-based women’s clothing brand, their philosophy is “fewer is better.” In line with this ethos, they organized a pop-up, “To New York, With Love,” which focused on true intentions of gift giving. They did this by offering a monogramming station for personalized products as well as cards from Rifle Paper Co. Cofounder, Karla Gallardo told Racked their hope was for customers to “Gift with intention. Show people why you’re gifting. And if you’re not going to gift with intention, it’s better to not gift at all.”
3. Everlane’s Shoe Park
Photos via Everlane
Everlane is constantly challenging the status quo in retail through their radical transparency and unique pop-up events. In their installation, Shoe Park, Everlane asked guests to leave their shoes at the door. They partnered with StoreyStudio to create an environment where customers could walk, run, and even jump in their Elevate Summer collection. Since their products are sold solely online, this pop-up was extremely successful being that customers could actually try shoes on in person, and even purchase a pair of shoes on the spot.
4. Eileen Fisher’s ‘Upcycled’ Pop-Up
Photos via Eileen Fisher
Women’s clothing brand, Eileen Fisher is standing against fast fashion and for social consciousness instead. In their recent Brooklyn pop-up, they partnered with CFDA Social Innovators to create an eco-friendly shopping experience. One social innovator told Racked, “We really wanted customers to grasp the fact that people are making these clothes and there is a whole process that happens before you even see the garment.” Everything from the clothing hanging on the rack to the tables were made from recycled material. Another social innovator commented, “Each garment has had at least 50 lives. The tags are recycled, so is the paper the tags are printed on, the ink, everything!”
5. Pantone Café
Photos via PANTONE
Ever wonder what PANTONE’s 19-0912 Chocolate Brown or 16-731 Strawberry Pink tastes like? Well, if you head to Monaco, you can can taste the colors of the rainbow at their pop-up café. Merging dining and design, the café offers a sensory experience where customers not only get to see the colors in real life, but also taste, smell, and touch them as well. You can check out more drool-worthy photos on their Instagram to #tastethecolor.
6. Outdoor Voices Nolita Pop-Up
Activewear clothing label Outdoor Voices are always “doing things,” and this time in a pop-up in Nolita. Ana Kras, photographer, designer, and model, partnered with the founder to open up a unique experience to get people moving in the clothes. Kras explained their vision to Vogue saying, “We’re calling it a playground. We wanted to have a place where people could try the clothes on and move in them.” At the pop-up, customers can participate in yoga, jogging groups, and even dog-walking. The founder, Tyler Haney, believes that, “the activewear space is macho, and we want to flip that on its head, finding moderation and ease and delight in activity.”
7. Etsy’s Summer Pop-Up Market
This past Summer, Etsy opened up a pop-up market in the historical Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and brought in 60+ local artists from the Bay Area. Attendees were able to meet the makers behind the unique, vintage, and handmade items on the online marketplace. In true pop-up fashion, they weren’t just selling goods, but also had a live music and a beer garden from Lagunitas Brewing Company. It was a great way for Etsy to connect their artists on the platform with buyers in the community.
Planning a pop-up? Find a creative space that let’s your vision come to life in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
