J.Crew and American Girl Want You Buying Two of Everything Again

J.Crew and American Girl have teamed up on a holiday capsule collection that lets girls and their dolls dress alike, down to the Fair Isle knits and tiered plaid skirts. The line includes three full matchable outfits, from a party-ready bubble-skirt dress with a faux-fur jacket to a casual barn jacket paired with a polka-dot shirt and tulle skirt, plus winter accessories sized for both.

The brands are leaning into a pitch anyone who grew up with an 18-inch doll already understands intuitively: "the best things are even more fun when shared," as the companies put it in a joint statement. It's the second high-profile collaborator American Girl has brought into its orbit this year, following its Cherry Blossom Couture line with Harlem's Fashion Row, and it lands less than two weeks after J.Crew ran its own 40th-anniversary barn jacket campaign.

None of this is subtle. Matching-outfit collaborations exist to sell two of something instead of one, and American Girl's entire business model has always been a bet that parents will spend on sentiment as readily as on style. J.Crew gets a built-in audience of mothers already loyal to the brand from their own childhoods; American Girl gets a shot of adult fashion credibility. Everybody wins except whoever's credit card is doing the shopping.

Source: Parade

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →