Chanel has thrown its hat into the sporting ring with a new collection for 2010. Featuring surfboards, snowboards, roller blades and even a bloody boomerang. Normally I would dismiss the Chanel Sports collection as blasphemous to the athletic world, but the designs are just too damn good.
Kudos to Chanel for making a set of sports products which are stylish and simple. Check out more on the Chanel Sports Collection at the links below.
Implications - No longer are corporations bound to the product, market or even industry which they first developed in. Because consumers are willing to accept a degree of fluidity, strong brands should do their best to extend the goods and services they offer. These days, brands imply a standard of quality or a certain lifestyle, not a specific product.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Fashionable Sports Equipment
- The trend towards creating stylish and aesthetically pleasing sporting goods offers an opportunity for companies to enter new markets.
- Brand Extension
- The ability for brands to expand their offerings beyond their traditional markets presents an opportunity for growth and increased revenue.
- Lifestyle Branding
- Consumers increasingly associate brands with a certain lifestyle, opening up opportunities to diversify product offerings and expand into new markets.
Where This Applies
- Fashion
- Companies in the fashion industry can leverage their design expertise and brand recognition to create new revenue streams through fashionable sporting goods.
- Sporting Goods
- Companies in the sporting goods industry can differentiate themselves and attract new customers by creating stylish and unique products.
- Luxury Goods
- Luxury brands can expand their offerings beyond traditional high-end products by entering the sporting goods market with stylish and fashionable equipment.
