Melrose face

Mannequin Sky Walker

Fila is teaming with R&B and pop artists Natalie and Nicole of Nina Sky to launch its first women’s footwear initiative. The Puerto Rican American identical twins will be featured in an integrated marketing program for the debut of ‘The Melrose’ footwear.

The campaign “fuses eastern flavour with western style and features bright pinks, stars, and Japanese characters”, as echoed in the footwear itself. Nina Sky’s sophomore album, The Musical will be promoted in store alongside The Melrose and across print ads in Missbehave, Latina, YRB, Cosmo Girl, and Giant.

Jon Epstein, President of Fila USA, had the following to say about Nina Sky’s endorsement: ”They are identifiable with a broad base of the female youth market attracted to Fila. The Melrose speaks to our fans in a fresh new way and Nina Sky provides us with a recognizable and relevant voice.”

Nina Sky performed at the Melrose Collection launch event on 4th December. Fila is also launching an initiative with retail partner Sportie LA for The Melrose.

So what?: This is by far a more ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ endorsement as opposed to Adidas’ House Party effort. However as it is clearly targeting a very specific demographic – as opposed to appealing to a broad spectrum of ages/genders – it does seem to be a good artist/brand fit. The Melrose is an updated version of the classic F13 high-top from the Eighties, and its vibrant colours are anything but quiet. Nina Sky themselves are marketing themselves heavily around clothing and female empowerment, having designed a New Era hat (available next year), a headwear domain generally considered to be dominated by male influences.

“And there I was thinking Nina Sky got dropped when their debut album only boasted one hit! Perhaps then, this is a game, set, (brand) match, bringing back two names we’d long forgottenwere cool.”
Chantelle Fiddy, Editor Ctrl.Alt.Shift

www.filamelrose.com