How non-fashion brands are cashing in on the fashion market

Did you know that Kodak has a range of apparel to its name? Photo: Kodak

National Geographic, Discovery, Nasa, Jeep, MLB and Kodak – what do they have in common? It may be hard to believe, but these brands are celebrated for their fashion offerings.

The trend started in South Korea back around 2020, where the Seoul style scene began paying attention to licensed brands co-opted into clothing lines.

The MLB brand started in South Korea offering preppy athleisure. Photo: MLB Korea/Instagram

It has then become a global phenomenon in which a fashion company acquires rights to manufacture and sell clothes with trademarks of well-known non-fashion brands.

Read more: From street to runway: High-end fashion recognises the influence of streetwear

Today, National Geographic and Discovery are not just loved for their nature documentaries. The respective licensed brands sell outdoor apparel too.

MLB, the acronym for Major League Baseball of the US, exists as a fashion label offering everything from T-shirts to caps and bags. Jeep and Kodak, on the other hand, are offering activewear.

Nasa (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the US), came into attention way back in 2017. At that time, Coach launched a line bearing the space agency’s logo.

Designer Heron Preston and fashion house Balenciaga have since released their own Nasa lines. Adidas, Swatch, Vans and many others did so too.

For this particular instance, the fashion labels don’t have to license the logo – simply because it involves a government agency. It’s all free of charge, and Nasa does not make a dime off it.

The questions remains – why though? What compels a person to want to wear clothes or carry accessories bearing a non-fashion brand logo?

Perhaps it is more of a streetwear thing. The same way someone would want to buy a brick with the Supreme brand slapped on it. Hype is serious business.

The Lockheed Martin clothing line focuses on technical wear as a trend. Photo: Lockheed Martin Apparel/Instagram

It is also maybe similar to how collaborations work. Fashion labels have often partnered brands like Disney or KFC to launch limited edition capsule collections.

For National Geographic, Discovery, Nasa, Jeep, MLB and Kodak however, it remains an ongoing thing. The fashion lines are not just a one-off.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, the US aerospace, arms, defense, information security and technology corporation, recently became the talk of social media – and it is for a range of technical wear that bears the name.

Read more: How fashion is obsessed with footwear that are a little less than conventional

A company in South Korea licensed it, with hopes to make the most out of the gorpcore trend.

Gorpcore refers to wearing outdoorsy clothes for fashion as much as function.

One good example is how Moncler started off as just an outerwear brand for mountain climbers, but it is now recognised as a luxury label with runway shows at fashion weeks.

So, it only means that non-fashion brands can eventually be recognised as fashion brands – in time, that is.