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Strategy August 23, 2018

Plastic Couture: Ziploc Releases Merch Line with Japanese Fashion Brand

The timely collection manages to be entertainingly tongue-in-cheek while also tapping into the trend of transparent plastic fashion accessories, making it a marketing win.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Ziploc, the well-known maker of re-sealable plastic bags and containers, has teamed up with Japanese fashion brand BEAMS to release a limited edition collection of branded merchandise. And -- heck yes! -- there’s a fanny pack:

Mind blown, right? Well, we’re not the only ones:

Beyond the fanny pack, the line of transparent plastic couture promotional products includes a backpack, tote, visor, cap, umbrella, apron and more.

Sure the fanny pack is our personal favorite, but we also liked the visor, cap and backpack.

These folks definitely had some fun with the tote, apron and fanny pack.

The Ziploc X BEAMS collection has a novelty, tongue-in-cheek quality that’s funny and appealing. But even more than that, it’s remarkably on trend. Plastic/transparent items have enjoyed a surge of popularity in the fashion world. Savvy marketers at Ziploc and BEAMS saw a clear opportunity to tap into that. Their logoed swag collaboration is a phenomenal example of how creatively playing off a popular social current through branded merchandise can garner even a relatively blasé brand (No offense Ziploc!) a lot of attention. Be inspired y’all!

You can find the whole collection here. Items were retailing for between $12 and $125 or so. That doesn’t seem all too much to pay. Nonetheless, some people apparently decided to simply improvise their own Ziploc look: