After months of teasing the opening of his brand’s 10,000-square-foot headquarters in Williamsburg, KidSuper founder and designer Colm Dillane is officially making a go of it on Saturday.
“We set a deadline, so now we’ve got to show up,” Dillane told Glossy.
That deadline is based on an invitation that has gone out for a mid-New York Fashion Week party at the space dubbed the KidSuper Gala. The event, which mandates black tie attire, will double as the launch party for KidSuper’s latest product collaboration, and first home project, with the furniture brand Lovesac.
The multi-season Lovesac x KidSuper collaboration will kick off with a limited-edition SuperSac, best described as an oversized bean-bag chair with a KidSuper-designed printed cover. The style will exclusively be offered for gifting, while a full product collection will available for purchase this fall.
“I’ve always wanted to do home,” said Dillane, who added that his goal is to exclusively outfit the KidSuper headquarters with the brand’s designs and collaborations, all shoppable, plus “memorabilia from some amazing projects we did.”
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“It’s cool when other brands [like Lovesac] see the endless potential of KidSuper,” Dillane said. “We’ll see how this takes off — selling a T-shirt and selling a couch are different.”
Twenty-six-year-old Lovesac specializes in comfortable furniture pieces with changeable covers that lend themselves well to design collaborations. Anti Social Social Club, Jeremy Scott and Alice + Olivia are among brands that have collaborated on covers and accouterments for the company’s two signature styles: a “Sactional” couch starting at $2,600 and a beanbag-style chair starting at $700.
“Colm is as hot as it gets right now and a disruptor, and Lovesac is in the most boring category ever — who cares about furniture, really, unless it’s super avant-garde?” said Shawn Nelson, founder of Lovesac. “So we love working with people like Colm who push the boundaries and let us stretch our creative wings.”
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According to Nelson, Lovesac’s Kidsuper partnership will be at least a year long. Dillane said his Lovesac plans include collaborating on his idea of a “dream couch.” In addition, he hopes to serve as a curator of artists who can also design Sacs, seeing as getting a foot in the door in the home category is “daunting, if not impossible” for emerging creatives, he said. Finally, he hopes to contribute to the collaboration’s marketing strategy. He’s currently envisioning an interview series centered on “cozy couch conversations.”
“All of the collaborations [I do] are opportunities to open up doors that were previously closed or only slightly ajar. I see them as paths to something bigger,” Dillane said. “Especially if you’re trying to be as independent and as free as KidSuper is, you need support in many ways. … I do things that are personally fulfilling, And I’m willing and able to sell my ideas for bigger ideas.”
In January 2023, Dillane became Louis Vuitton’s first guest designer when he showed his fall 2023 menswear collection for the brand at Paris Fashion Week. That led to a CFDA nomination for the Menswear Designer of the Year award. Since then, Dillane has collaborated with the Rolling Stones, the NBA, Ugg, Stuart Weitzman and Starbucks, among other brands.
While reaching middle America was not a consideration when Dillane signed on with Lovesac, it’s decidedly a bonus. The publicly traded company has 270 U.S. stores, where it sells to a core customer base of 35-45 years old. Forty percent of purchases are by returning customers. The pandemic served the company well, catapulting its growth. It reported a 31% revenue growth to $652 million for fiscal 2023. Seeding the KidSuper collab to influencers and celebs will be a marketing strategy for the company come fall, Nelson said.
Following January’s “demanding” KidSuper fashion show in Paris, which was met with positive reviews, Dillane said he’s currently focused on “writing a script for Puma” and working with a car company on a future project. Next, he hopes to roll out a TV show and another KidSuper headquarters, in Japan.
According to Dillane, the New York headquarters is nearly party-ready, though a planned recording studio and rooftop soccer field will be revealed at a later date. Other elements, including a gallery, a storefront, a podcast room and a bar, will be perusable by party attendees, who will also be treated to entertainment including salsa dancers.
“We’re KidSuper; we’ve got to do something out of the ordinary,” Dillane said of the party plans.
Along with Lovesac, party sponsors include the job platform company Creatively, Canada Goose and Jägermeister.
Following the launch party, the headquarters will be open typical retail hours, with expanded hours for events like gallery openings, Dillane said.
