SSNHZ Samsung Electronics Company Ltd (PK)

By Jacob Gallagher 

LAST WEDNESDAY, as an unexpected capstone to New York Fashion Week, designer Thom Browne presented not a new clothing collection, but a new cell phone. It was, to be precise, his customization of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip phone, the ballyhooed first "foldable glass" phone that the Korean brand unveiled a day prior during its " Galaxy Unpacked" summit in San Francisco. This designer edition of the phone teems with details from Mr. Browne's whimsical world: A red, white and blue grosgrain stripe, echoing the ribbon on his dress shirts, wraps the case; app icons are customized to look like size labels; the phone opens with an animation of slatted Venetian blinds like those that envelop Mr. Browne's stores. For $2,480, the grayish phone, which went up for pre-order last Friday, comes bundled with a pair of similarly Browne-ified earbuds and a smartwatch.

It's a tech set designed to entice a Thom Browne completist, but Samsung and Thom Browne won't gauge the project's success in terms of units sold. The goal is to re-tailor customer perceptions. Working with innovative technology can shift a fashion brand's image to "appear more future facing," explained Jason Kass, the associate dean at Parsons School of Fashion in New York City. For Mr. Browne -- whose business is nearly 20 years old and is rooted in facelifted takes on mid-century suiting -- the collaboration telegraphs that he remains a forward-thinker.

It might have also turned new consumers -- particularly those more interested in download speeds than inseams -- onto Mr. Browne. Google Trends data reveals that a significant spike in searches for the designer's name coincided with Samsung's teasing of the partnership during a livestream event last Tuesday.

In turn, for Samsung, this liaison with the esteemed cult designer sprinkles a little bit of Mr. Browne's clout onto the tech giant's portfolio -- what Stephen Baker, vice president at industry analyst NPD Group, called a "halo effect."

Wednesday's event, held at Sotheby's, brought this to life. It was surely the only phone launch in recent memory to unfold at a tony art auction house and boast arty attendees including Broadway producer Jordan Roth ("Hadestown") and Jessica Williams, co-host of the hit comedy podcast "2 Dope Queens." The device is also the first phone that Mr Porter, the influential online menswear emporium, has chosen to sell.

Samsung's decision to pick an established American designer and get buzz stateside and a different kind of social-media traction may prove savvy for its global expansion goals. According to Statcounter, a web-traffic analysis site, in January of this year, Apple had 57.4% of the mobile-vendor market share in America compared to Samsung's 25.6%. Is Samsung trying to take things from Apple? "Sure," said Mr. Baker, adding that the company is particularly focused on "how to be more successful here in the States."

For tech companies launching new phones, the fashion-collaboration gambit is a familiar one. In 2004, Motorola introduced a diamond-encrusted version of its i833 phone in partnership with Baby Phat; a year later, Donatella Versace collaborated with Nokia on an 18K gold slide phone; in 2007, LG worked with Prada on a touchscreen mobile and Samsung partnered with Giorgio Armani on the super-slim SGH-P520 model.

Those collaborations, however, arrived at a time when phone tech had only fitfully evolved. The idea of a "luxury" phone was a punchline when a cell lasted about a year before it broke or the technology became obsolete. Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, noted that past fashion collaborations fell short because the phones were unintentionally disposable. "A scuffed-up Prada phone with a cracked screen is not what Prada's designers would be aspiring to deliver," said Mr. Wood, who collects old cell phones, including a couple of beat-up LG Prada phones. In nearly all cases, these past partnerships between the tech companies and the designers did not endure beyond a single model. (So far, Samsung and Thom Browne have not announced plans for a continued partnership.)

Today, smartphones can last considerably longer and have infiltrated nearly every waking second of our lives, making it seem reasonable to invest as much in a phone as you might for a high-end suit. An iPhone X can cost upwards of $1,149 and arguably conveys as much cachet as a suit. In interviews, both Stephanie Choi, head of global marketing of Samsung Mobile, and Mr. Browne discussed the Flip device as if it were a fashion accessory. It "is made for the luxury consumer who wants to make a statement," said Ms. Choi. For his part, Mr. Browne said the phone functions as a "fashion-first product, as well as being cutting edge technology." Sort of like a pocket square, but with 5G capabilities.

Write to Jacob Gallagher at Jacob.Gallagher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2020 11:52 ET (16:52 GMT)

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