Fendi furthers heritage with fur-heavy couture collection

Italian fashion house Fendi is expanding its offerings to include couture with a new collection by creative director Karl Lagerfeld that debuted in Paris on July 8.

The collection features 36 unique looks almost entirely composed of fur, including minks, stoles, cloaks and capes in a variety of different colors and textures. Fendi is well known for using fur in its ready-to-wear collections, and expanding on the brand’s heritage will likely appeal to consumers who are eager to see more from Fendi in the future.

Frequent furrier
Fendi’s latest collection has been heavily anticipated in recent months. While Mr. Lagerfeld designs for his eponymous label and Chanel in addition to Fendi, consumers cannot get enough of his creations.

Fendi was originally founded in 1925 as a fur and leather shop, so this new collection aligns perfectly with the brand’s history. Creating a unified brand identity is important to appealing to consumers who can come to expect a certain style from the Roman fashion house.

Fendi's collection featured fur coats and flowers made of fur

Fendi has previously worked to explain its heritage to consumers and educate them about the history of fur. In an interesting twist of enlivening its narrative, in 2013 Italian fashion house Fendi told the story of its history as a furrier through a traveling exhibit that made its way to Beijing, itself a clear recognition of China’s growing clout in the luxury market.

To coincide with the exhibit, the brand created a page on its Web site that featured content from the show with multimedia elements, including photos, sketches and videos of iconic Fendi fur pieces. The Web site helped build excitement as viewers waited for the exhibition to arrive at a city near them, and it gave those users who cannot travel to one of the exhibit locations the opportunity to participate and learn about the brand (see story).