The launch of Gwyneth Paltrow’s collaboration with Proenza Schouler for G. Sport — Goop’s athletic line — may have been held off “if it was another category,” said Shaun Kearney, Goop’s general manager of fashion and home. “We discussed holding the collection.”
With the current climate, many brands are postponing launches and rethinking marketing strategies. As the world turns to life’s bare essentials, retail (particularly the extravagance of luxury) has taken a back seat and been impacted by store closures and a variety of cancellations.
But it’s activewear’s connection to wellness and “the Goop community looking to stay healthy” that made this release “a right fit,” Kearney continued. As nearly 40 million California residents alone were ordered to “stay at home” until further notice by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday and other states are likely to follow to help manage the outbreak, wellness — from the mental to physical — has been a rising focus. “We’ve been seeing an uptake in loungewear and ath-leisure,” Kearney said. (At-home workouts have been trending online, as fitness studios continue to turn to streaming.) While nonessential businesses in California and New York have been ordered to shut down, Goop’s warehouse has not yet been impacted as it’s not located in an area with a mandatory lockdown, New Jersey, shared the brand.
Goop is looking to “alleviate stresses” at this time, Kearney continued, and “create a sense of normalcy in their environment.” He and Paltrow, who work closely, turned to Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez simply because they were fans. “We both love their DNA. Their creativity is relentless.”
The limited-edition collection, out online now, marks Proenza Schouler’s first effort in activewear. “We’ve been lucky enough to know Gwyneth for some time now and are constantly amazed by the work she is doing at Goop,” McCollough and Hernandez, who founded the line in New York City in 2002, shared in a statement. “When she called and asked if we would be interested in working together, we said yes. We love everything about Goop and know so many Proenza Schouler customers who live in both brands. In many ways, we consider Gwyneth to be the ultimate Proenza Schouler woman.”
Made in the U.S. and Italy, the line offers seven women’s styles, ranging in cost from $125 for a sports bra to $895 for a jacket. There’s also a $125 T-shirt; $155 “short-sleeve cutout” top; $795 jumpsuit, and bodysuit and leggings retailing at $145 each. The launch is also G. Sport’s first designer collaboration. For her part, Paltrow shared: “Tapping Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s relentless creativity and street-smart aesthetic brought an entirely new, cutting-edge feel to our G. Sport world. And the fact that this was their first go at a sporting collection made the collaboration feel even more special. I think the pieces truly speak for themselves.”
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