We find out how Fyodor Golan has become the go-to label for brand fashion collaborations.
Fashion label collaborations have become a great route for licensors to show their brands in a different way, showcasing a new side to them in an environment which offers that element of surprise as it’s not their natural habitat.
Fyodor Golan – the award winning young fashion label run by Golan Frydman and Fyodor Podgorny (pictured above) – is fast gaining a reputation as a go-to design house for innovative and forward thinking licensed collaborations, working with brands including The Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony and Felix the Cat among others.
CPLG has worked with Fyodor Golan on two projects this year – Felix the Cat for its Spring/Summer 2018 Resort Collection which hits retail at the end of this year, and most recently Chupa Chups (see separate box out below) which arrives in stores next year.
Victoria Whellans, senior business development manager brands at CPLG, explains: “Fyodor Golan are highly regarded, innovative and forward thinking designers. They have become a label to watch over recent years and their label is stocked at a number of high profile retailers.
“They have a number of celebrity followers and their catwalk shows have garnered a huge amount of press coverage. They also understand how collaborations work and have experience working with rights holders, so were a natural choice when looking for a partner.”
The Source was lucky enough to catch up with Golan earlier this year at The Hoxton Collective, a designer showroom featuring womenswear and ready to wear pre collections, including its Felix the Cat garments. He told us that the label couldn’t wait to begin working with Felix.
“Straight away we said ‘yes, we can do so many things with this’,” Golan enthuses. “The synergy works really well… Felix is extremely recognisable on its own, so as young designers who are trying to establish our own voice in the world of fashion we challenge ourselves to use the brand in a new and refreshing way to surprise people, and get them to consider it again as a relevant, pop culture piece for their everyday life.”
Golan added that being given an element of freedom by brand owners is key, allowing the label to really inject its personality.
Victoria adds: “Both Universal Brand Development for Felix and PVM for Chupa Chups allowed Fyodor Golan to have free rein on the creative for both brands, which gave them the flexibility to develop two unique collections, but still both featuring the Fyodor Golan handwriting.”
For Johanne Broadfield, vp of Cartoon Network Enterprises EMEA, Fyodor Golan’s vibrant and distinctive style combined really well with the eye-catching aesthetics of The Powerpuff Girls.
“What’s also hugely important is that Fyodor Golan really get The Powerpuff Girls,” she explains. “They are big fans of the show and they have undeniably captured the essence of the ‘super cute, super fierce’ brand, bringing to life its core values of female strength, friendship and fun in a way that is engaging to our young adult fan base.
“The traits of both brands allowed Fyodor Golan to create something very special and bring a fresh spin to PPG that fans couldn’t fail to love.”
Jo continues: “We see collaborations helping brands expand their reach by taking them into new retail channels, new markets and helping them to engage different types of consumers. Meanwhile, designers really benefit from the buzz and talkability that adding a licence to a collection can bring.”
Hasbro is another major company that has worked with Fyodor Golan, this time on collections for Transformers and My Little Pony, with the latter seeing the character Rainbow Dash appear as part of the label’s autumn/winter 2015 collection.
“Today’s consumers want to engage with brands across every facet of their lives, which means our brands have the opportunity to expand into all sorts of new categories, audiences, channels and platforms,” says Barbara Robinson, fashion and home director EMEA at Hasbro.
“Fyodor Golan’s profile, fashion credentials and handwriting makes then a great partner for Hasbro brands. Golan contacted us as he was a huge fan of My Little Pony when he was growing up and wanted to incorporate the brand into the autumn/winter 2015 collection. Hasbro artists also created some bespoke character art for them to use on a number of pieces.”
Fashion is certainly an area of growth in the licensing industry and high-end collaborations are becoming more prevalent, particularly in certain territories. As such, it’s something we should expect to see more of.
As Cartoon Network’s Johanne concludes: “Fashion is a prime ground for experimentation, innovation and creativity which is enticing fashion companies from mass market, right through to high-end boutique designers.”
A sweet collaboration
CPLG’s latest collaboration with Fyodor Golan was revealed at London Fashion Week in September and focuses on the Chupa Chups brand.
The deal was brokered as part of the iconic lollipop brand’s 60th anniversary celebrations in 2018. The capsule collection features womenswear pieces and accessories including dresses, denim trousers and tops. Fyodor Golan’s signature bold and playful prints are played out through their use of the wrapping design for strawberry-flavoured Chupa Chups, which has been reworked into this season’s prints and accessories. The Chupa Chups logo, meanwhile, has been transformed into an object of grandeur, through detailed embroidery and gold and silver casting.
Christine Cool, area licensing manager at Perfetti van Melle, comments: “Design has always been a key asset to Chupa Chups, so we felt very privileged to have Fyodor Golan’s creative minds propose an empowered and exquisite version of our brand elements in this fashion collection.
“It is fascinating to see how they have made an artistic conception by fusing the brand icons with surprising materials and disrupting shapes.”
This feature originally appeared in the autumn 2017 edition of Licensing Source Book. Click here to read the full publication.
