Wise & Young: The nuances of Gen-Y marketing, branding, advertising, trends, & more

Alife, the ultra-hip and ultra-exclusive brand/boutique in Manhattan’s Lower East Side puts their indisputable standard of cool on their own line of footwear, as well as, revitalize other brands such as Puma and Timberland (image attached is of their recent Timberland collaboration).

The brand has been around quite a while now, but I’m still intrigued to see them continuing to release collaborations and their own product lines to mass hysteria. Marc Jacobs said the following:

If you want to get inspired, visit the Alife headquarters on New York’s Orchard Street. What looks like a shoe store is also the realization of the late-night plan that so many talk about, fewer attempt, and even fewer achieve. Rob Cristofaro, Arnaud De Le Colle, Tony Arcabascio, and Tammy Brainard (from left) met five years ago, saved and invested the same amount, and became equal partners in the venture that does what it likes, including art direction, curating (with artists like Shepard Fairey), book publishing (of Ryan McGuinness), a maiden shoe line called Rite Foot (to be carried at Colette in Paris and Los Angeles’ KBond), and a lot of other stuff that there isn’t room to mention. And they’re all 30.

Six things that help keep Alife cool:

1. Collaborate with large brands (Puma, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Levi’s) on special products in a win-win situation for both
2. Support smaller creative musicians, cutting-edge artists, and filmmakers
3. Keep their products rare and limited, promote heavily
4. All their products/collaborations are in their creative control from start to finish (no outsiders)
5. Keep the product simple, but all details matter
6. Feature/distribute their product in only a handful of the coolest stores around the world