Weird but wonderful collaborations within the fashion industry

The world of fashion is celebrated for its bold choices and has become one of the biggest ways for people to express themselves. Fashion has the power to convey someone’s personality or mood without them ever having to communicate.

It’s because of this that fashion is unavoidable in everyday life and is a powerful tool for many. Members of the public often see the latest designer trends and are confused by the abstractness of the fashion industry without realising that it’s a way of making a bold statement.

However, it’s fair to say that many designers and artists within fashion push the boundaries too far into the bizarre category. Whilst many of these can be seen as strange and pretentious, there are a small handful of these choices that are weird and wonderful.

The same can be said for collaborations with the fashion industry as this can either be brilliant or an absolute mess. This is a risky move and often expected when two different worlds collide together but can lead to fashion gold if it’s done well. From fast-food giants to a Korean noodle brand, here are some of the weirdest but most wonderful collaborations within the world of fashion.

Vetements and DHL

When people think of fashion, DHL does not often come to mind. For starters, the company is a delivery service and not at all associated with fashion. Secondly, the outfits are often known as quite gaudy and tacky with bright red and yellow colours. Despite this, luxury fashion brand Vetements decided that DHL was the perfect subject for their Spring Collection show at Paris Fashion Week in 2015.

The crowd went crazy and flooded social media with pictures of a model wearing a DHL shirt with Dr Martens and shiny black trousers. Ultimately, this led to the shirt going on sale and even selling out, resulting in people trying to purchase actual DHL shirts from the company’s website in desperation. The DHL and Vetements collaboration is more than a fad and even came back on the runway in 2018. Whilst the shirt choice may seem quite vulgar, it also showed that fashion comes in many forms and sometimes the most simplistic designs have the most longevity.

Crocs and KFC

KFC is one of the biggest brands that constantly tries way too hard to be cool with its marketing from the short film A Recipe for Seduction to the dating simulator called I Love You, Colonel Sanders. However, the company found strange success with its collaboration with Crocs as both companies are notorious for bizarre design choices.

In 2020, Crocs and KFC teamed up to create a one of a kind Croc design that’s so ugly that it happened to be popular. Crocs are already divisive amongst fashionistas but continue to sell and remain on shelves. This collaboration took that to the next level with Crocs which features the finger-licking good chicken as well as a chicken drumstick on the front of the shoe to add insult to injury. The collaboration may seem crazy but it’s so bad that it’s actually brilliant and remains one of the most popular fashion campaigns from Crocs.

Fashion TV and Spearhead Studios 

As one of the biggest international fashion and lifestyle channels, FashionTV is essentially a household name within the industry. It was established in 1997 but catapulted to fame when one of its stars released a track called ‘I Want to be a Trillionaire’ back in the summer of 2014. This led to the first online slot from the company called Trillionaire but sadly the game failed to take off and has since been forgotten.

Evidentially, this is why it was such a surprise that the company announced a new collaboration with Spearhead Studios in the form of a brand-new game called FashionTV Highlife. Not only was this game better than the original in every way, but it managed to showcase the high standard that FashionTV wanted. FashionTV Highlife focuses on the glamorous side of fashion whilst allowing players the chance to win huge amounts. It even looks to be one of the stand-out iGaming titles of 2022.

Tonymoly and Samyang

There’s tough competition within Korean beauty trends, but Tonymoly managed to make a name for itself and has taken the cosmetics industry by storm with high-quality ingredients combined with innovative technology to create truly unique products. The brand is one of the leading companies for creating and producing Korean beauty products which is why the collaboration with Samyang Foods raised many eyebrows.

Samyang launched in 2012 and quickly grew as one of the spiciest packets of ramen noodles on the market. As both brands were in high demand at the time, this made it the perfect product to collaborate with Tonymoly for the Hot Edition Makeup Collection which includes a cushion-company foundation that comes with a refill and looks like a little sauce packet as well as other makeup items such as blusher and lip balm. This is obviously a ridiculous collaboration but one that’s brilliant and took the beauty community by storm.

Nike and Ben & Jerry’s

When it comes to footwear, Nike is the absolute king and one of the biggest in the market. As the company is so popular, it’s no surprise as to why Nike partners with so many different creators such as Supreme, Sacai and even Dior. No one could’ve predicted that one of the best collaborations would be one with Ben & Jerry’s.

Aptly titled Chunky Dunky, the collaboration saw an unusual type of shoe that is completely over the top in style. All of the colours from the packaging of the ice cream are featured on the shoe as well as cow prints and a dripping Nike logo. It may be outrageous but was one of the biggest shoe releases in 2020. Whilst this shoe wasn’t for everyone, there’s no denying that it’s incredibly creative and a memorable fashion choice that will be remembered for generations to come.

Primark and Greggs

This is the fashion collaboration that no one really saw coming but was absolutely genius. Greggs is the UK’s beloved pastry goods outlet known for steak bakes and sausage rolls, whilst Primark is the biggest fashion retailer in the UK. The two combined for a match made in heaven for Greggs’ first ever clothing collaboration.

The full collection included bucket hats, sliders, trainers, hoodies, joggers, socks, shoes and shirts celebrating the bakery chain. Despite verging on being tacky at times, this was the ultimate drop for fans of the fashion retailer and the pastry chain. Primark found the right combination with a minimalistic style that celebrated Greggs without just plastering sausage rolls all over. With so many items in the collection, this collaboration became the biggest must-have item from Primark in 2022.