Olivia PowellUS-based sporting goods retailer DICK’S Sporting Goods has hosted a fashion show in New York City.
The brand aimed to create a ‘memorable, cutting-edge’ experience to demonstrate the intersection of sport and fashion, and to unveil its autumn and winter looks.
The DICK’S Sporting Goods team brought INVNT onboard to imagine, design and produce the show.
Senior creative director of INVNT Matt Flachsenhaar said: “The event was intended to blend a fashion show and immersive brand experience. This meant having an entry that let guests peek backstage at the model prep area and walk through a red-carpet experience before even getting to the main room”.
Visitors to the historic Caldwell Factory in Chelsea were immersed in a digital forest which encapsulated the transition from autumn to winter, themed courtesy of orange hued leaves and lights combined with blue AV effects and falling snow, as well as real trees and autumn leaves.
Fourteen vertical LED pillars were placed around the room and in all quadrants of the intersecting runways, creating ‘front row seat’ viewing for all attendees.
The visuals were complemented by two tracks custom made by INVNT, which played as those modelling the sportswear walked the runway.
Flachsenhaar added: “We wanted to highlight how DICK’S Sporting Goods doesn’t sell only performance-based gear, but clothes that look good walking around the city. INVNT played on the natural rawness and exposed brick in the space with our digital pillars, showing a traditional fall and winter environment in the city rather than an active, sporty one”.
The show received nearly 340 media and social placements and 95m impressions for DICK’S Sporting Goods. Several media outlets including CBS Sports HQ, People, E Online, US Weekly and InStyle covered the event, and the social media influencers who walked the runway promoted the event on their social media, along with members of the audience.
The vice president of public relations and corporate communications of DICK’S Sporting Goods, Jennifer Moreau, said: “INVNT was a key strategic and execution partner of ours on this brand reconsideration event. We set out to do something we had never done before as a company, and the energy, creativity and expertise they brought to the process from start to finish helped ensure the event was a success. The event proved to increase awareness of the DICK’S assortment by garnering extensive press and social coverage for our fall and winter collections.”