MSGM and Heineken, Telfar Teams With Melissa, Amour Vert’s New Store – WWD

SOUNDS (AND LOOKS) GOOD: MSGM and Heineken Italia have teamed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Dutch beer brand with the creation of a limited-edition capsule collection.

The tie-up leverages the brands’ shared penchant for conviviality and social gatherings as well as their youthful spirit and tone of voice. 

The key piece in the collection is a long-sleeved polo shirt winking to the world of soccer, which makes for a fitting reference considering Heineken’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, for one. Available in just 150 pieces, the item comes with a serial number and spotlights a different take on the beer maker’s logo. 

To be sure, the name of the brand has been misspelled as “Ainechen” to ironically evoke the way Italian consumers pronounce it. This is in sync with a larger campaign the beer brand recently launched as part of its jubilee under the claim, “150 years of good times. Whatever you call us.”

“We are truly proud to have made our creativity — and the traditional savoir faire of Italian-made goods — available to such an important celebration,” said Massimo Giorgetti, MSGM founder and creative director. He underscored the polo designed for the occasion “reflects our DNA: it has a contemporary vision, positivity and lightness.”

“Young Italians, especially Generation Z, have a contagious passion for clothes, style and the latest trends, turning fashion into an authentic artistic expression. That is why we have decided to come together to create a collectable, limited edition T-shirt that celebrates this important milestone and our consumers,” said Jan Bosselears, marketing director at Heineken Italia.

A selection of items in the MSGM x Heineken collection — which also includes co-branded tank tops and boxers — will be gifted to consumers via a contest to be launched on Heineken’s Instagram account on July 17. While details are still under wraps and will be teased in the coming days, on Thursday the two brands will celebrate their partnership with a party that will be staged in Milan’s central Teatro Alcione venue and featuring a DJ set by Seth Troxler.

A dedicated campaign including six images and a short video have also been developed with the involvement of fashion photographer Brett Lloyd. A young cast is portrayed on the rooftop of a building wearing pieces of the collection while having a beer.

MSGM is not new to collaborations, having forged ties with the likes of Fila, Eastpak, Diadora, Polaroid, Moon Boot and Toilet Paper through the years. For the last holiday season, the label tied up with Milanese pastry shop Cucchi for a co-branded panettone and merchandise. 

Giorgetti launched MSGM in 2009 with the support of manufacturing company Manifattura Paoloni. In 2018, Italian private equity fund Style Capital acquired a minority stake in the brand, adding it to its portfolio that also now includes Forte_Forte, Re/Done, Zimmermann and LuisaViaRoma. 

As for Heineken, the company is currently the largest beer producer in Italy, where it makes and sells more than 7 million hectoliters of beer a year. The firm has been producing beer in the country for more than 45 years, with four breweries and 2,000 local employees. — SANDRA SALIBIAN

FULL TRANSPARENCY: Telfar and Brazilian footwear brand Melissa have teamed up for the first time with Telly Jelly, a summer offering of transparent shoppers and sandals.

The shoppers, which are totally concert and festival compliant, are fully transparent and come in small, medium and large, with unisex slides to match.

Featuring fluid lines and tubular construction and molded using Melissa’s exclusive and sustainable Melflex materials (its own form of 100 percent recyclable PVC), the crystal-clear shopper collection ranges in price from $150 to $250. (The small is $150, the medium is $200 and the large is $250). The slides are $100.

The collection will be released exclusively on Friday on telfar.net and on July 17 on shopmellissa.com and Galeria Melissa New York.

As reported last month, Melissa partnered with Marc Jacobs on a special collection of lightweight sustainable footwear. The collection, which consists of The Clog, “Becky” platform sandal and The Slide, featured the signature Marc Jacobs monogram throughout and was inspired by the color palette of Jacobs’ ready-to-wear collection.

Melissa Shoes, which launched in 1979, is part of the Brazilian footwear group Grendene and is sold in more than 70 countries. Over the years the brand has worked with such designers as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, and Jeremy Scott.

Telfar, a Black-owned genderless fashion project, was established in 2005 by Telfar Clemens in New York City. Its highly sought-after bags have been worn by Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez, Bella Hadid and Beyoncé. The brand has had collaborations with Ugg, Converse, Eastpak, Moose Knuckles and the Liberian Olympics. — LISA LOCKWOOD

GREATER GREEN: Sustainable retailer Amour Vert has unveiled another store in California.

The new store will be located in Montgomery Village in Sonoma County, 30 miles north of San Francisco. It will open later this year and will be the San Francisco-based company’s fifth retail location. Since its launch in 2010, Amour Vert has grown a following for its eco-conscious values and French-inspired sophistication with Northern Californian ease.

The company joins more than 60 retailers — among them Warby Parker, Sonoma Outfitters, Rise Cycle Co. and Lululemon — as well as local stores such as Wild Honey Mercantile and Avid Coffee in Montgomery Village.

“We have an exceptionally loyal customer base here in the Bay Area, with a lot of online business coming from the North Bay,” said Amour Vert chief executive officer Dominique Mikolajczak in a statement. “This new store will allow us to meet our customers where they are and give them the opportunity to experience Amour Vert in person. We’ve been impressed with how Montgomery Village has been developing and are pleased to be a part of it.”

With popular styles spanning improved basics to washable silk dresses, Amour Vert is eyeing sustainability in its agenda. Its innovation extends to its fabrications with goods made from Ecovero viscose (a EU Ecolabel-certified viscose) and cottonseed cupro (a silk alternative made from repurposed plant fiber), to name a few. The company also has a resale program called ReAmour.

As for what’s next, Amour Vert is in expansion mode and looks to triple its current footprint to 15 stores in the next year. Most of the new locations will be in California, per the company, but the East Coast and the Midwest are also being scouted. — KALEY ROSHITSH

ALL IN: Tyr may be best known for its swim-related products, but the Seal Beach, California-based sports brand manufactures products for other sports as well, including triathlon and running.

It was the brand’s participation in CrossFit where it first connected with Operation Underground Railroad, a global charity that fights against human trafficking and child exploitation.

Now Tyr has created a limited edition of its CXT-1 Trainer shoe from which 100 percent of the profits will be donated to the organization. It features the organization’s signature black and yellow colorway and the words Rise Up on the sole.

“O.U.R. was doing all these CrossFit activations and we kept running into each other,” said Matt DiLorenzo, chief executive officer of Tyr. So the two decided to create a shoe to raise awareness and funds for the cause.

Tyr has been producing footwear for a little over a year, he said, and the CXT-1 is a “functional fitness” shoe designed to be worn at the gym or to lift weights.

In addition to the shoe, Tyr and O.U.R. will host an all-day workout fundraising event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Aug. 2 during the CrossFit Games, where participants can take on 12 “hero workouts” at the Tyr House inside Connex Gym with the proceeds also being donated to the group.

Although Tyr has worked with other organizations in the past, including USA Swimming Foundation and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, this is the first time all the proceeds from a product are being donated. “It’s a pretty serious cause and we want to raise awareness and help as much as we can,” DiLorenzo said.

Matt Osborne, president and chief operating officer of O.U.R., said the organization was created around 10 years ago to fight against human trafficking, which affects 40.3 million people around the world, 25 percent of whom are children. Over that time, its efforts have helped more than 7,000 people and led to the arrest of 6,500 traffickers, he said.

The group has been working with CrossFit since the beginning and has a special gym at its headquarters in Draper, Utah, dedicated to the sport where membership dues are donated to the cause. Its motto is “Get fit, save kids,” Osborne said.

The CXT-1 Trainer will be sold on Tyr’s website beginning Tuesday and will retail for $150. — JEAN E. PALMIERI

THROUGH A LENS: While camera-wielding tourists have given way to smartphone-sporting ones, travel photography for amateurs emerged in 1888, when Kodak founder George Eastman developed the first point-and-shoot camera. A decade later the introduction of the Kodak Brownie helped to democratize travel photography.

Now the Autograph Collection Hotels and the photo-centric museum Fotografiska are giving that paradigm added dimensions with the help of four accomplished photographers. Their new partnership will bow on July 21 with the unveiling of “Impressions” at Fotografiska’s New York City outpost. The installation will be the first among a few that are planned for select hotel properties. In addition to the images, there will be short films highlighting the photographers’ creative processes and inspirations. Some of the limited-edition prints will be available on Fotografiska’s site and at a few of the Autograph Collection destinations, with proceeds earmarked to benefit the nonprofit Bronx Documentary Center.

The Marriott International-owned entity enlisted Jonas Bendiksen, Cristina de Middel, Gregory Halpern and Alessandra Sanguinetti. Each was assigned a certain city — Bendiksen visited the Hotel Luc in Berlin, de Middel trooped off to its Alaia Belize in San Pedro, Halpern hit The National in Oklahoma City and Sanguinetti checked into the Mesm Tokyo. Using their respective hotels as launch pads, they captured the surrounding environs. After the New York debut of “Impressions,” the project will travel to some of the chain’s other sites, including its Grand Bohemian Lodge Greenville in South Carolina, The Press Hotel in Portland, Maine, and the Bankside Hotel in London and Nanjing, Jiangning Autograph Collection in China.

Running through this year and next, the alliance is also meant to motivate guests to look closer at photography and to take their own photos. Guests will receive complimentary museum admission to Fotografiska’s locations in New York, Stockholm and Tallinn, Estonia, as well as ones in Berlin and Shanghai that are slated to open in October and some time next winter, respectively. Discounted guest tickets, select programming and special events at Fotografiska are also part of the offerings.

In addition, the Autograph Collection Hotels has joined forces with Lomography, which is tied to the Lomographic Society International and plugs the LOMO LC-A and other cameras. Overnighters at select properties will be able to test their skills with 35-mm cameras and rolls of film without any fees. They will also have access to some professional tips. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG