Q&A: Jasmine Yang on Sun & Cobalt and blogger collabs
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With athleisure on the rise, Sun & Cobalt has already been heading in the right direction. The company, which was established last September in San Francisco, is a start-up which features different bloggers and capsule collections each month. The brand released a collection with fashion blogger Stephanie Nguyen of Sunkissed Steph, which is available at www.sunandcobalt.com. Together, the two launched the capsule collection as a featured project. FashionUnited spoke with founder and chief executive officer of the brand Jasmine Yang on why she created the project.
Can you tell me a little more about Sun & Cobalt in your own words?
Sun & Cobalt is a "Made in CA" concept athleisure company that works exclusively with bloggers to release limited edition, monthly athleisure collections. Each collection features minimalist and sophisticated designs, while tying in the style of our featured blogger. Not only do we show you how to style each collection, we also release fitness and lifestyle content on a weekly basis. We are an athleisure hub that believes in empowering our girl from the inside out. Just by purchasing our items, you are making a difference because a portion of our profits goes to our featured cause of the month.
I see that you are featured in a different blogger and collaboration each month, what gave you the idea to do this? What was your inspiration for this type of collaboration?
Collaborations between brands and influencers are popular, but the majotherapyrity of the time, the influencer only has the opportunity to market for the brand and not create original content. Our concept is simple: instead of bringing in our influencer at the end of product development to market the final product, we are utilizing the trickle up approach and bringing them into design the collection at the very beginning.
Lots of companies seem to be teaming up with bloggers now. In your opinion, do you think that this is a direction in which the fashion industry is headed?
Bloggers are always on top of the latest trends and know what products are missing in the marketplace. By leveraging their market knowledge and consumer reach, we are able to position ourselves competitively in the market.Sun & Cobalt offers high end, niche brand aesthetic but for prices that are below Lululemon's. Not only are we connecting two markets between bloggers and their followers, but we are also filling a hole in the retail market. Many brands are already starting to let these influencers design their product, but we push the idea by ONLY designing and releasing these types of collaborations. I believe that we are helping set the precedent for how collaborative the design process will need to become in order to succeed in this social media dominated landscape.
Why did you choose Sunkissed Steph for this collaboration? And what about Sunkissed Steph’s style aligns with Sun & Cobalt?
We thought that Steph's aesthetic went hand in hand with the look we envisioned for Sun & Cobalt. Her style focuses on neutral colors, black and white and clean and chic silhouettes. During our initial meeting, she told us she knew what she wanted to do for her collection the second the idea had been brought up, and that's when I knew that she would be perfect for our first collection. Everything in this first collection pulls inspiration from styles and designs that she has seen and liked, but refined into items she LOVES and knows her followers will love. Featuring muted and clean colors, the pop of rose pink gives the collection a feminine edge. The silhouettes are very easy and transitional and each item can be paired with another item in the collection. I am very happy with what we have.
Do you have some bloggers in mind for future collaboration?
We currently have already designed three other athleisure collections that are waiting to be released. We plan to feature a wide range of bloggers such as mommy bloggers and plus size bloggers all with a range in followings. We are also planning on launching plus sized next year with body positive yoga blogger, Biggalyoga.
Any other future plans for the company?
Sun & Cobalt x Sunkissed Steph is a test for us. After gauging interest, we are looking to begin raising funds with angel investors before we launch our month to month model. Afterwards, the sky's the limit! We are excited to push the limits of what is considered "athleisure" and there are talks of doing an accessories focused and even a swim focused line next year. We also plan on opening up the collaborations to non U.S based bloggers and customers after 2018.
Photos: Courtesy of Sun & Cobalt