The Fashionable Partnership

"You're wearing a sweater that was actually selected for you by the people in this room two years ago from what you call stuff..."

According to Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada", the fashion industry is so powerful that predetermined colors and styles are envisioned for the masses long before the latest trends hit the high end runway shows, let alone the magazines and mass marketed stores.

With power like this, combined with the fact that the fashion industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, you wonder why every product brand is not campaigning to every available fashion house to partner up. And the answer is simple, in fashion, it's all about the perfect fit.

Fashion partnerships are born with many goals in mind, most of which to entice and drive the consumer to crave and eventually purchase the product. Most of the successful partnerships have brought high end fashion names to a brand that is affordable and in line with every demographic. One of the first and most successful of these relationships was between Target and Issac Mizrahi in 2004. This collaboration brought the wild styles of the famed designer to affordable prices for the everyday consumer, the success of this merger lead to Target partnering with other high end brands including William Rast and most recently Calypso St. Barth. These relationships have given Target the results to put them ahead of their retail competitors.

In some cases a brand will look to a fashion partner for the name that will add a "luxury" factor to the product. Serta Mattresses accomplished this in 2006 when they partnered with Vera Wang to create a mattress that screams luxury before you even lay down on it. This partnership allowed Serta to re market their mattresses in new media outlets.

A strong example was their 2009 campaign "Comfortably Ever After" which they used bridal magazines and trade shows to market to the young women who are looking for the Vera Wang name, synonymous with the wedding industry, to sell the mattresses to.

With success stories like these you wonder what will be the next successful fashion partnership. As the fashion industry has taught us, just wait because the deal and launch has probably already been planned well over two years ago.

The Master of Design Collaborations- Junya Watanabe

Maybe it comes from the group think aspect of the Japanese culture, but Japanese designer, Junya Watanabe, continually amazes his fans with creative ways to bring two unlikely brands (ahem... Levi's and Brooks Brothers) together to create a cutting edge and progressive line.

If brands already are iconic in their own way and have mastered the art of the suit, the jeans, the leather, the retro... okay you get it... why not take that knowledge and collaborate with them. It saves time, money and effort, plus you are guaranteed the quality you need to solve the equation.

Think about something you would have to completely learn fresh in order to meet your vision or goal... got it, well now think of someone out there that already is doing it well, approach them and see if you can collaborate. If you have an equally good product or at least an equally good proposition, they would be foolish not to. Not everyone is this savvy, but believe me you can convince those who are, to work with you, and all come out on top.

Especially with the fashion industry hurting these days, more collaboration will be key to stay cost effective and get the people what they want.