How Hotels Became Fashion’s Most In-Demand Partner

At its first-ever fashion show on Tuesday, cashmere line Lingua Franca didn’t send a single sweater hand-embroidered with a cheeky phrase — its best-known item — down the runway. Instead, its collection was inspired by the brand signatures of the show’s setting, New York’s Bowery Hotel.

Model Pat Cleveland danced down the runway in a teddy-inspired shearling coat and hat, a nod to the teddy bears the hotel leaves on each bed, while former J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons wore a red jacket and top hat mimicking the hotel logo. Plenty of models sported sweaters knitted with the hotel’s logo.

It’s just the latest brand to not only align itself with a hotel to drive buzz but take a more creative approach in doing so.

Denim label Frame was one of the first of this most recent series of fashion-hotel match-ups, inking a still-ongoing partnership with the Ritz Paris in 2021. Since then, sportswear brand Sporty & Rich, swimwear label Minnow, pyjama brand Petite Plume and more have rolled out their own collections with top-tier hotels, including The Carlyle on New York’s Upper East Side; Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France; and The Colony in Palm Beach, Florida. Fashion brands are so obsessed with hotel-inspired merchandise, they’re even making it for fictional properties: Fans of HBO’s hit series “The White Lotus” can buy a branded sweatshirt printed with a “The White Lotus Resort & Spa” logo at Bloomingdale’s, or a kaftan and swimsuit in a bold tropical print (in the style of those worn by Jennifer Coolidge’s character in the series) from resortwear label Camilla.

Stylish takes on branded merch are a major element of these collabs — think sweatshirts and T-shirts emblazoned with an iconic property’s logo — but so are items inspired by a hotel’s aesthetic or visual cues. The idea is to give travel-obsessed consumers something they’ll want to wear long after they check out — or even if they never check in in the first place.

“Branded and destination merch is nothing new,” said Mandi Meng, area director of marketing and communications for Auberge Resorts Collection, which teamed up with Markarian designer Alexandra O’Neill to oversee the holiday decor of its Mayflower Inn property in Washington, Connecticut, and Max Mara to deck the halls of its Hotel Jerome property in Aspen. “I have 500 tote bags from everywhere I’ve been. Do I actually use those? Probably not. But being able to take that concept and create things that people actually want to wear and use is really special.”

The hotels brands gravitate to usually have a storied reputation and a built-in fanbase beyond their guest list, whether it’s someone who wishes The White Lotus were a real hotel chain or dreams about staying at The Carlyle but can’t yet afford the $1,000-plus nightly rate. Plus, they can provide brands with a new space to share their collections that feels naturally aligned with their offering.

Minnow, for instance, partnered with Auberge Resorts Collection on an après-ski collection including base layers, knits and swimwear. The collab launched at Auberge’s The Madeline property in Telluride, Colorado, with a series of activations like an ice-skating rink and s’mores by the hotel’s Alpine Swim Club. The hope, said Minnow founder Morgan Smith, is to give their customer an experience “outside of products.”

“You need to be in your customer’s life with many touchpoints so you’re top of mind,” said Frame’s founder, Erik Torstensson. “Otherwise, the competition is tough.”

Weaving a Shared Identity

The best hotel partnerships create a unique product or format that merges the two distinct brand worlds.

Sporty & Rich, for instance, created sweats, caps and even pyjamas for historic French luxury hotels like Le Bristol in Paris and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, as well as The Carlyle. Through partnering with the 10-year-old brand, which was founded by influencer Emily Oberg, these more old-school hotels can better appeal to younger consumers, while the brand can target its own aspirational shoppers.

“Those partnerships put Le Bristol somewhere it’s not expected,” said Thomas Matteï, head of marketing, brand and e-commerce for Le Bristol. “We are 100 years old. We know our roots, so we can go a little bit further in collaborations. We are not afraid to shake the old lady a little bit.”

Brands are also getting creative in how they bring a hotel to life through products. For its fourth collection with the Ritz Paris, released in December, Frame took a similar approach through a collection of wearable pieces meant to fit in at the hotel’s famed Hemingway Bar. While some were more overtly branded — think a sweater featuring the Ritz Paris logo — there were also more subtle approaches, like a pair of jeans embellished with minimalist “Ritz” hardware and embroidery. Fragrance label D.S. & Durga even formulated a custom scent for The Carlyle that is also infused in the hotel’s shower products, as well as carried in the brand’s stores nationwide.

“These are absolute luxury experiences. They deserve more thought than just putting a logo on some chocolates,” said Torstensson.

The Right to Play in New Spaces

These partnerships also give the fashion brands in question the ability to extend their presence into new markets. For example, by partnering with the Ritz Paris, which is well-known internationally, Frame was confident in opening a pop-up in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, giving the brand greater exposure in a burgeoning market.

For Petite Plume, which has made custom pyjamas for elevated yet family-friendly properties like Eden Rock in St Barths, The Colony and San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado, they’re an opportunity to catch customers when they are in a “lounging mindset,” said the brand’s CMO, Fanny Quehe.

“We’re getting to the right demographic in the right context …How many times have you slept in a really amazing hotel and said, ‘Oh my God, these sheets are amazing. I wish I could get them at home. What brand are they?’” said Quehe.

For some brands, partnerships don’t include hotel-branded merch at all, but are rather a way to build alternative opportunities to engage their audiences. The Carlyle, for example, teamed up with luxury e-tailer Mytheresa to bring a pop-up version of its famed Bemelmans Bar to Aspen later this month. On site, a selection of luxury après-ski pieces curated by Mytheresa will be available for purchase.

“When you’re seated at the table and you’ve got your martini, there’s this little button on the table that says ‘press for fashion,’ and along comes this bar cart … It is the most fabulous edit of luxury style,” said Jacqui Cox, director of marketing communications for The Carlyle.

It’s all a way to keep customers engaged by showing up in more and more of their favourite places. Auberge’s Meng said these sort of partnerships are “the future of marketing.”

“It becomes a really cohesive story, and also it feels like an organic experience, as opposed to just something that’s sponsored or paid,” she said.