General Pants has joined forces with a raft of iconic brands, including Ksubi, Converse, Lee and Dr Martens to create an exclusive pop-up store for music festival Splendour in the Grass.
“The Very Small Mall”, which will operate throughout the festival schedule, will open for trade this weekend July 29 until July 31, and will stock a range of labels such as Dr Martens, RVCA, Lee Jeans, Insight, Havaianas, and Swedish denim brand Cheap Monday.
This year, local label Ksubi has also teamed up with General Pants to produce the official Splendour merch tee. The branded t-shirt comes in one style only, and black and orange colours.
Established in 2001, the Splendor in the Grass festival, which is now held at Woodford in Queensland, regularly attracts thousands of music lovers with many staying on-site on the camping grounds provided.
This is the third year General Pants has partnered with Splendour In The Grass as the exclusive apparel sponsor for the event, but General Pants chief executive Craig King said the brand's involvement has increased this year.
“Last year, with the movement of the festival from Byron Bay to Woodford, the addition of an extra day-and-a-half to the festival schedule and the on-site camping of 20,000 attendees, event organisers saw the opportunity to provide a unique festival shopping experience – eventually called The Very Small Mall,” he said.
“So this year we’re back, with a number of improvements and with partners Cheap Monday, Converse, Dr Martens and Lee Jeans, and we've worked hard with organisers and our suppliers (Converse, Cheap Monday, Ksubi, Insight and Havaianas) to bring to life a portable pop-up store in a custom fitted 40-foot shipping container, as well as various other installations.”
General Pants will also “focus heavily on broadcasting all the inspiring festival fashion from Splendour daily from the event” via a photo blog on the brand's website.
King said the festival also provides a perfect opportunity for the brand to connect with its target market, raising brand awareness and boosting sales, while adding value to the event.
“We’re always on the lookout for innovative ways to connect with our audience and entertain them. Splendour is one of the hottest festival tickets on the national calendar, and its duration provides us with plenty of scope to do just that – to add value to their festival experience,” he said.
“Our commercial objective in being there is to strengthen the connection between General Pants Co and our core target market in a highly relevant environment. The sponsorship is very much linked to the marketing opportunities the festival provides in addition to the opportunity to be the exclusive on site apparel retailer. Last year we estimated that 15% of festival goers transacted with us over the four days and this year we are planning to double that. We have some really fun brand engagement events and activities planned – we want festival goers seeking out and talking about General Pants Co at the festival. We are confident we can pull this off based on the plans we have in place.”