Why are people excited, looking forward to, and worried at the same time, about the Shanghai Museum and Uniqlo co-branding? Museum crosses borders

On May 28, the clothing brand Uniqlo once again released a preview video of its cooperation series with the Shanghai Museum on social platforms. Three bronze cultural relics collected by the Shanghai Museum, including Dake Ding, Shang Fu Yi Gong, and Chun Qiu Zi Zhong Jiang Pan, were all unveiled. The brand has released several teaser videos in succession, announcing that it will launch the "Museums Have New Ideas: Bronze Is Spiritual" series in cooperation with Shanghai Museum of Art on June 1, which has aroused the curiosity of many cultural and museum enthusiasts: What is the joint name between the museum and the clothing brand? Effect?

In the view of supporters, important cultural relics in museums can be further promoted through the daily behavior of "wearing", and clothing brands can also use this to expand design inspiration and cultural content; however, some people are worried that if "cross-border" is just commercial If a brand simply borrows the image of cultural relics to drive sales, "it's a bit wasteful."

In the trailer of the clothing brand on May 28, three major cultural relics were revealed in full.

On May 24, Uniqlo announced the news of its joint cooperation with the Shanghai Museum on its social media platform, stating that it would "travel through the timeless heritage and charm of cultural treasures from a modern perspective" and released bronze cultural relics in the video pattern details. Some senior cultural enthusiasts discovered that these details come from three important bronze cultural relics collected by the Shanghai Museum: the decoration on the upper part of the Dake Tripod, the three-dimensional water birds and fish on the Spring and Autumn Zi Zhongjiang Plate, and the flying birds on the Shangfu Yi Gong. pattern. More details have been released in subsequent videos, and the latest video yesterday showed the full picture of the three cultural relics. However, there is currently no product-related information about the collaboration series that will be launched on June 1. However, on multiple channels such as Uniqlo’s official website and APP, the products of the collaboration series with Ghibli that will be launched on May 31 have been released. Information on styles, prices and other information has also been displayed in some offline stores in Shanghai. Even the co-branded series of products with Pokémon, which were only released on July 15, have also been released online.

Some stores in Shanghai have already displayed the Ghibli collaboration series, which will be sold on May 31.

The joint name between the museum and the clothing brand surprised many cultural enthusiasts and consumers. However, reporters visited and found that the museum’s cross-border strides are far greater than many cultural enthusiasts expected. Take the Shanghai Museum of Art as an example. In 2018, it had a cross-border cooperation with Disney and launched a series of Chinese and Western design elements and cultural and creative products, setting a precedent for Disney to cooperate with top domestic museums. In 2020, Shanghai Bo will also link up with the animation "Qin Shi Mingyue", allowing "national comics to meet national treasures".

Museums are also favorite partners for clothing brands. In addition to Shanghai Expo, Uniqlo will also launch the "Discover the Louvre Museum" series on June 3. It will collect design works from all over the world with the theme of the Louvre Museum collection, and select 9 pieces from 9,269 entries to be printed on clothing. , the brand has collaborated with the Louvre several times before. Sports brand Li Ning has launched a cultural and creative cooperation series with the Forbidden City, and clothing brands Vans and Fila have collaborated with the Van Gogh Museum to extend the impressionist painter's brushwork to clothing, shoes and bags.

Museum cultural creation has become very popular in recent years. The just-concluded "Star of China: Sanxingdui·Jinsha Ancient Shu Civilization Exhibition" at Shanghai Expo has generated cultural and creative sales of over 30 million yuan. "Cultural relics are originally fine works of art that have gone through the waves of history. They not only have historical value, but also have artistic value." In the view of some cultural enthusiasts and industry insiders, through commercial brands and IP such as clothing, stationery, animation games, etc., the art of cultural relics The value is transformed into contemporary daily necessities that can be used, helping more people understand the museum. "Except for cultural and museum enthusiasts, many ordinary citizens still know too little about the cultural treasures in museums." Wang Hua, a citizen, is a "new fan" who has gradually become interested in cultural museums in recent years. "I have become a popular among my colleagues, relatives and friends. A small survey revealed that even though many people schedule museums during their travels, they don’t know much about the cultural relics in the collection. “After traveling to the Sanxingdui Museum, he discussed this popular museum with a friend and found that even though the other party knew about it.” "Sacred Tree" and "Golden Mask", but only "I know the name, but I don't even know the specific image." “It would be worthwhile if more people could learn about these precious cultural relics through a wider joint effort.”

"Van Gogh's paintings are very famous, but what I knew before was limited to well-known works such as "Sunflowers" and "Starry Sky"." Quan, who works in administrative work, learned about "Wild Rose" from a joint signature. At first, she It was only when I saw the cool prints in this brand that it suited my aesthetics, and after learning about the work behind it, I realized that “it turns out that cool colors can also express strong vitality.”

On April 11 this year, Fast Retailing Group, the parent company of Uniqlo, released its performance report for the first half of fiscal year 2024. The two major markets of Japan and Greater China accounted for most of the revenue, contributing 30.3% and 22.5% of the group's total revenue respectively. In terms of growth rate, Japan's revenue fell by 2.0%, while Greater China's revenue increased by 12.3%. According to industry insiders, cross-border co-branding has become an important attempt for this brand that mainly focuses on affordable basic models to drive growth. “Through cross-border cooperation, we can attract some fans of the other party to consume such products.” Previously, Uniqlo and a street artist with the pseudonym KAWS Brian Donnelly's cooperation once triggered a rush to buy. Now the co-branded objects of this brand cooperation series include not only animation IPs such as "Detective Conan", "Harry Potter" and "The Legend of Zelda", but also Korean idol groups, Jeep Different teams such as Li Studio, as well as many museums and art galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In the comment area of ​​the video announcing the cooperation with Shanghai Bo, some netizens were delighted: "That's great. When I co-branded with the Louvre, I was thinking about when I could co-sign with a Chinese museum."

However, the contemporary artists that UNIQLO has collaborated with in the past, such as Keith Haring, who is famous for his graffiti, or Andy Warhol, the founder of pop art, who is represented by repeated patterns of different colors, have a better reputation as long as their works are printed on clothing. Decorative effect, this is also the practice of most clothing brands that cooperate with museums across borders. However, some cultural enthusiasts hope that designers of clothing brands will not simply use the image of cultural relics, but can truly understand and digest the connotation of cultural relics and then carry out creative designs. At a time when cross-border co-branding is becoming more and more common, some people in the industry also said that cross-border museums are not simply licensing the appearance, decoration or pattern shape of cultural relics to brands, but also ensuring that their cultural core is not destroyed. They need to cooperate with the brand In-depth communication and supervision management.