Dear Tamara Mellon and Angel Martinez: Happy New Year! Loved hearing that you two are thinking of commingling brands. An $800 Choo-Ugg thing would be just perfect for this fall. We thought we’d offer you some pointers. OMG crowdsourcing!
First of all, we know this probably goes without saying, but you’d do well to acknowledge right off the bat that your customers think of your companies as having two very different images. One thing you have in common is that lots of celebrities wear your products. This is good! People like to imitate celebrities. But the thing is, when celebrities wear Jimmy Choos, they look elegant and put-together. (For the most part.) Well done, Tamara.
But when they wear Uggs, they tend to look like they just hopped off the back of the Poison tourbus. (Also: homeless.)
You need to let people know that you know that they know that you’re only doing this for money — and at $595-$795 a pair’s worth of sweet, sweet skrilla, we hardly blame you — and not play it off as though you had this up your tailored sleeves all along. Uggs and Choos are not a match we can accept as preordained, like Balenciaga and Jennifer Connelly; you’re more Lindsay Lohan and Ungaro. Those of us expected to buy and wear these things will respect your honesty on this tricky matter, promise!