2025 was a turning point for fashion collaborations. What has long been a tool for brands to innovate and surprise shoppers with unexpected partnerships continues to fall flat more often in a progressively crowded space. Many brands still haven’t figured it out.
Over the past five years, brands have increasingly relied on collaboration-based economies of scale, according to James Whitner. The Whitaker Group founder’s brands, such as A Ma Maniére and APB, are no strangers to this, as they frequently drop collaboration products, whether it’s suede Maniére-mauve shoes with Nike or tracksuits with Lanvin. Like many execs, Whitner thinks brands’ increased reliance on collaborations has muddied things. “People are exhausted by collaboration. Scarcity is necessary,” he says.
Fashion collaborations need to evolve to succeed in the future. Louis Vuitton’s re-edition with Takashi Murakami and Skims x Nike may have been splashy in 2025, but there were plenty of others that weren’t so resonant. Why? In today’s environment and to excite today’s customers, collaborations have to satisfy an ever-changing matrix of characteristics. “Simply coming together with another brand isn’t enough,” says J.Crew CMO Julia Collier. “The attention of audiences and customers is being fought over constantly, so creating something that feels fresh and timely is the only way you can stand out.”
Understanding audiences to create culture
To make a collaboration work well in 2026, collaborators must both make sense and cause surprise. "Great collaborations start with doing your homework,” Stacy Bereck, NielsenIQ’s global practice leader of consumer insights and brand, says. “Brands need a clear understanding of their target audience… their values, preferences, and even how they’ll perceive potential partners. The best collaborations are built around shared values between the brand, the collaborator (whether that’s another brand or an influencer), and the audience they’re trying to reach."
A good collaboration isn’t just about selling out, according to Gap president and CEO Mark Breitbard. A good match-up also drives culture. “When we look at collabs, our filter is simple: is it fun? Is it unexpected? Is it a vibe? The right partner brings relevance we can’t create alone,” Breitbard says. It’s paying off too: more than a quarter of customers who shopped Gap collabs in 2025 (like its drops with Béis, Sandy Liang, Dôen, and Harlem’s Fashion Row) were new to the brand. In Breitbard’s view, “the best collaborations bring in new audiences and build brand heat.”
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This has been the case for an unlikely player: Chipotle, the fast casual chain that’s been vocal about losing Gen Z customers. The company has been working with fashion and beauty brands more and more to engage young customers, and according to CMO Chris Brandt, it’s been successful in building cultural moments, even if it doesn’t convert to sales at this point. It dropped a “Lipotle” lip stain with Wonderskin, for example, in response to a social media trend where people said they wanted something that doesn’t come off on their burrito. The stain went viral.
Responding and engaging with conversation in real time is an agile strategy, according to fashion analytics platform Launchmetrics CMO Alison Bringé. “As we move into 2026, this reactivity will remain essential,” she says, before cautioning against doing too much of a good thing. With this tactic, “brands risk jumping from moment to moment without a cohesive narrative.”
What the fashion customer loves
H&M whet the appetite of its fashion-forward shoppers who value affordability by teaming up with designers of the zeitgeist. It dropped a splashy collaboration with Glenn Martens, the creative director of Diesel and Maison Margiela, as well as contemporary Mexican designer Lorena Saravia. Both partners fit the “H&M model”, head of design Ann-Sofie Johansson says. That framework “has always been about giving people access to amazing design, and to pieces of fashion history, whether we are working with iconic super-brands like Versace or younger designers such as Simone Rocha or Glenn.”
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“2026 will be a continuation of the surprising mix that we saw during 2025 with locally relevant talents mixed with globally recognized names,” Johansson added. The fast fashion retailer has already teased its next drop with British designer Stella McCartney, coming spring 2026.
Sézane also wooed the fashion girl when teaming up with New Balance, offering a “meeting point between an American heritage brand and our own Parisian sensibility felt meaningful”, according to founder Morgane Sézalory. “I’m always interested in what happens when two sensibilities meet and quietly influence each other, through details, materials, and references.”
Brands know to keep appealing to the sporty customer, who’s made tenniscore and motorcore reign in recent fashion trends. This is what led J.Crew to ink a three-year partnership with US Ski and Snowboard. The brand will drop capsules inspired by the snow sport, “rooted in Americana that speaks to both sport and style”, per Collier.
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When collabs go wrong
If strong collabs speak to audiences in surprising ways while creating or responding to culture, what do weak collabs do? Those that fail “often stem from misaligned values, lack of authenticity, or partnerships that didn’t resonate strongly enough to break through. In some cases, the collaborator was irrelevant, or even alienating, to the intended audience,” per Bereck.
Inauthentic collabs also risk backfiring especially quickly, thanks to Gen Z’s keen sense on what’s genuine versus not. Bringing in an influencer with misaligned values or one who dubiously loves the brand on their own? That’s going to sit particularly poorly with younger shoppers.
Brands must stay on their toes, balancing reactivity with reservation since they can’t fully control the narrative. “In today’s environment, virality can be both a dream and a nightmare, so planning for unpredictability and being ready to respond quickly is essential,” Bereck adds.
Customers may be more exhausted by collaborations right now, but there is still a desire for them, especially those that feel meaningful and authentic. “That’s where the magic is. Customers can instantly tell when a brand is chasing hype,” Breitbard says. Collaborations will continue to play a key role in 2026, but drops will have to be more tasteful and on point than ever to sell, authentically engage culture, and bring in new customers.
