Head to toe collaboration: Havaianas X New Era

Summer is not over, though after a couple of recurring heatwaves, the temperature in the UK seems to have dived this week.  While many people are staying put in the UK rather than travelling overseas as the Covid-19 pandemic is still not under control in many holiday destinations, then comes news that Gatwick Airport in London is planning to axe up to 600 jobs in a 'signifcant restructure' due to the impact of the pandemic on passenger and air traffic numbers. Quarantine measures from tourist hotspots have reported to have damaged hopes of a summer of recovery for the airline industry, with redundancies reported at airlines including Ryanair, British Airways, Virgin and Jet2.   

So with Staycation very much the latest holiday trend, sunseekers are looking on the bright side and keep local economies going around the country while enjoying the government's summer scheme of "Eat Out to Help Out" to support the hospitality industry.

So it is also great to hear that the go-to Brazilian brand for over a half-century of trendy flip-flops and shoes Haavaianas is helping famous hat brand New Era to celebrate its 100th anniversary.  The two brands well-known in their respective corner of the fashion arena are cooperating with a capsule collection of bucket hats, trucker hats, classic caps and flip-flops. 

The exclusive New Era X Havaianas collaboration feature seven products
 in a range dubbed as “Step into Joy”.  

All items feature both brands’ logos, with both the Trucker style and 9Twenty classic hat including New Era’s signature silver stamp, identifying them as a signature New Era style. The limited-edition collection is available beginning today on Havaianas.com and select Havaianas stores. 

New Era Havaianas 9FORTY Trucker cap, finished in an army green and white colourway.  The contoured crown benefits from mid and rear mesh panels for a cooler wear. A Havaianas rubber badge is applied to the front of the design and New Era traditional flag logo is embroidered to the left. The curved 'sandwich’ visor features the Havaianas logo jacquard to the lip and boasts a stand-out, colour-contrasting underside.
 A snap closure at the rear allows for versatile sizing.

The exclusive collaboration feature seven products in a range dubbed as “Step into Joy”.  The line consists of two TOP style flip flop prints, a bucket hat, a single color 9FORTY cap and a 9TWENTY cap with four colour variations. All the items have the identities of both brands, such as a rubber icon on the caps. The products were designed to play around with combinations, as each flip flop print matches a cap/bucket hat.

Visual Identity

The creation process started by focusing on the strengths of the two brands; the cap and the flip flops, and then came the creation of a character that translates exactly the following essence: Havaianas on your feet and New Era on your head.

To heighten this story, two artists were invited to translate the visual identity created for the collab into art. Consequently, the New Era street moods and the Havaianas colourful, cheerful style have also become stickers. Patricia Leda, advertising professional by training and book illustrator, and Bruno Menon, illustrator working closely with the fashion universe, accepted the challenge and co-created stickers that are part of the collection and serve as shareable pills of art.

The campaign visual identity was created and executed by W3haus advertising agency. "We observed the customization behavior that people have with stickers on their computers, clothes, bikes, and surfboards and we believed that it could be a path to get closer to the public and be a feat with the collection. In the first internal presentation, everyone wanted a collab sticker to call their own. As co-creation is one of the processes that we like the most here at W3, the idea of bringing two artists together to collaborate was a natural path, that is why we called in Patrícia Leda and Bruno Menon to sign the campaign with us," says Daniele Almeida, creative director at W3haus. In this creative process, the brands also got involved and suggested the mascots and elements that they would like to see represented.

The products are already available on each of the brands e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores.