Look out Fashion Week 2014! There’s a new label in New York City with some “smart” designs. The U.S. Postal Service recently announced plans to establish a showroom in the garment district to showcase its new product line of all-weather apparel and accessories. Men’s apparel will be the first to hit the floor, and a women’s line will launch later.
The Postal Service sees the creation of a clothing line as an opportunity to promote and strengthen its brand. After widely publicized financial difficulties, it’s a way to build consumer confidence as well as to generate money. “We’re looking at many different approaches to generate revenue and become more innovative in the marketplace,” Betts said. “This is one effort among many that the Postal Service is undertaking to respond to the changing dynamics of the marketplace.”
The USPS is partnering with The Wahconah Group, a Cleveland-based apparel company and using the brand name "Rain Heat & Snow." They hope to play off the brand recognition of their unofficial motto: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
"This agreement will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion,” said Postal Service Corporate Licensing Manager Steven Mills in a statement. “The main focus will be to produce Rain Heat & Snow apparel and accessories using technology to create ‘smart apparel’ — also known as wearable electronics.” According to agency spokesman Roy Betts, products will make fashion even more functional by integrating modern technology devices and ports into their designs. Jackets, headgear, footwear and other clothing will "have electronic wiring and capabilities that will allow people to plug in iPods and hear music while they're walking, jogging."
Unlike a limited retail line the Postal Service introduced in the 1980s, "Rain Heat & Snow" gear will not be sold at the post office. The decision to offer the apparel and accessories in stores instead of post offices comes from the commotion that came about all those years ago when Congress received complaints from lobbyists who claimed this was directly competing with private businesses and that the USPS was not established to sell merchandise.
Licensing their logo and image lets the Postal Service collect royalty fees instead of having to invest money to produce the gear or adapt their service centers to accommodate retail transactions. Instead they seek to stock their new line at high-end department and specialty stores, which is more logical than asking people to try on clothes in the Post Office. "Nordstrom is one store we're looking at," said Betts.
While these aren’t the uniforms the contestants redesigned for the USPS in Season 1 of Project Runway, it is activewear that utilizes the USPS’s experience of designing garments that help get the job done despite the elements. So even if they have to stop Saturday service, they’re still going to “make it work” on the weekends with their fashion-forward tech training clothes.
Image by adamr / Freedigitalphotos.net
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