Samsung recently announced a collaboration with French luxury fashion house Maison Margiela to create a special edition of the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Aptly called the Galaxy Z Flip 4 Maison Margiela Edition, the handset gets some cosmetic touches inspired by the brand. Everything else remains the same, it has the same specs as any other Galaxy Z Flip 4.
This isn't the first time that Samsung has linked up with a high fashion brand to promote the Galaxy Z Flip foldable. The original Galaxy Z Flip had a Thom Browne Edition. Samsung also launched a Galaxy Z Flip 3 Thom Browne Edition last year. Ever since the first model was launched, Samsung has positioned its clamshell foldable as a high fashion accessory. High fashion brands are thus the perfect partners for such collaborations.
As far as fashion brands go, Maison Margiela isn't as hyped or as popular as the LVs and Guccis of the world. That's why it was a bit surprising to see Samsung launch this collaboration with Maison Margiela, as if it wasn't able to secure a more popular brand to embark on this journey with.
There will certainly be markets across the globe, particularly in Asia, where Maison Margiela has better recognition compared to the west. However, it just seems like a wasted opportunity to limit the global potential of a high-fashion partnership to a few regional markets.
This also makes one wonder whether more popular brands such as MCM, Versace, Dior, Armani, etc have no appetite for such partnerships. Does that speak more to their aversion to such partnerships or their aversion to being linked with Samsung's brand? That conclusion is for you to draw.
Wouldn't it be better for Samsung to work with brands that have a much wider reach? The company's previous partnerships with LeFleur, Swarovski and Montblanc come to mind. They had a significantly wide reach and were relevant for customers across the entire price spectrum. Not everyone who buys a Galaxy Z Flip 4 will buy something from Maison Margiela.
There are plenty of mid-range and high-end fashion brands that Samsung could do a collab with. From the likes of Zara and Uniqlo to Ralph Lauren, Givenchy, Loro Piana, Tom Ford, etc. There's no need for Samsung to box itself into a partnership that would suggest there aren't any major players attracted enough to its brand to participate in a collab.
Lastly, why launch the Maison Margiela Edition three months after launching the Galaxy Z Flip 4? This isn't a significant enough event to warrant such a gap. Announcing this special edition when the device was being unveiled for the first time would have given it far more publicity than a rather quiet announcement three months down the road.
A quick survey among friends, many of whom are considerably woke, revealed that they hadn't even heard of the brand. Those that had found it difficult to comprehend the fit between these two brands. We also conducted a quick poll on Twitter and found that over 80% of the participants had never even heard of Maison Margiela.
As Samsung fans we can only hope for better implementation of such collaborations in the future so that the company can extract the best possible value out of them.
Do you know Maison Margiela? #youhave1hour
— SamMobile – Samsung news! (@SamMobiles) November 29, 2022
