Kentucky Fried Chicken has entered the elite fashion game with a shoe that’s drawing attention at New York Fashion Week. The quick-service chicken chain unveiled a collaboration with the footwear brand Crocs in time for the debut of high-end designers’ collections for Spring 2020.
News outlets that typically cover New York Fashion Week, the first in a month-long series of shows across four cities globally where designers showcase their collections for the next season, have picked up on the KFC x Crocs collaboration.
KFC is no stranger to collaborating with fashion brands to bring a new audience to its brand. However, the audience reach from an event like New York Fashion Week amplifies the marketing money spent and draws in those who might not have considered KFC in the past — people who get dressed specifically for Instagram.
Instead of simply debuting a shoe with popular footwear brand Crocs, the quick-service brand decided to use the reach of Instagram, as other brands have been doing recently, to be a part of an event that is flooding people’s social media feeds for the next week.
The shoes that debuted this week are a “fashion version” of the shoe that will eventually be for sale. According to a release, they are a “sky-high, platform avant-garde” shoe based on the style and shape of the signature KFC red and white striped bucket while following the classic crocs clog shape.
In Spring 2020, consumers will be able to purchase their own pair of the Louisville, Ky.-based KFC’s Crocs. The shoes for sale will be the classic style with a low heel and topped with a realistic Kentucky Fried Chicken pattern and a red and white striped sole so consumers can walk around with KFC on their feet.
If looking like there was chicken on your feet wasn’t enough, each pair of shoes comes with two removable, chicken-scented charms that look and smell like a fried chicken drumstick.
They will retail for $59.99 and be available in unisex sizes.
“Combining the unmistakable look of our world-famous fried chicken and signature KFC bucket, with the unparalleled comfort and style of Crocs, these shoes are what fried chicken footwear dreams are made of," said Andrea Zahumensky, KFC U.S. CMO in a company statement.
The brands worked with artist Me Love Me a Lot (MLMA) to promote their product on Instagram, the way into any fashionable Millennial or Gen Z’s heart.
MLMA has over 1.2 million followers on the social media app and posts photographs of her face and body covered in intricate and boundary-pushing makeup trends, some of which she started before they went viral (wavy brows are an example).
Crocs, founded in 2002 and synonymous with moms gardening and embattled chef Mario Batali, has recently been branching out into the fashion world. In 2010, Time Magazine even named them one of the “50 Worst Inventions”. But when “ugly shoes” were spotted on runways across New York Fashion Week two years ago, shoes that were relegated to hippies and chefs like Crocs and Birkenstocks were seen on the fashion elite.
"As Crocs continues to create new, unexpected brand collaborations, we're thrilled with this 'bucket list' partnership with Kentucky Fried Chicken that will bring fans an unbelievably fun and fashionable take on our classic clog," said Terence Reilly, Crocs SVP and CMO said in a release.
Former collaborators include designers Christopher Kane and Balenciaga and singer Post Malone.
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