Wrangler x Barbie New York City and Los Angeles Event

Sadie SmithEvent, Fashion, News, Public Relations (PR)

The New York City Event

This past September, Wrangler debuted their exciting new collaboration with Barbie at an intimate media dinner in New York City. Held at Friend of a Farmer, a farm-to-table restaurant in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood, 22 key, NYC-based writers and three Wrangler brand representatives attended the dinner.

Throughout the course of the evening, we had customization stations and other fun activations for guests to visit. At The Wild Knox Custom Cowgirl Hat Bar, guests could design their own cowgirl hats with an assortment of beads, feathers, rope, ribbon, twine and pins. Branding was also available to add extra personalization to the hats; many guests chose to do their initials. 

We also had The Untrend Shop Custom Chain Stitching as another customization activation. We gave each guest a Wrangler denim jacket to have personalized — they could choose to do their name, or a Barbie/western word or symbol, in any color. The most popular customizations were western symbols & guests’ names, and nearly everyone chose Barbie pink as their color. The activations made for fun talking points at the dinner table — everyone was excited to show off their personalized jackets & hats.

The event was super engaging and all guests stayed for the entire three hours. Attendees loved the venue and truly enjoyed the food options as well as the decor.

The Los Angeles Event

The Wrangler x Barbie collaboration debuted with a family-friendly event on a Saturday in Los Angeles. The event was held at The Paddock Riding Club, and a wide variety of guests were invited, including media, influencers, Wrangler VIP/celeb friendlies, Mattel VIP/celeb friendlies, and Wrangler & Mattel brand reps.

Several different unique activations were a part of the event, and truly made for such a special day. The activities included:

  • Large Lemonade Custom Chain-Stitching: Women received a denim jacket and men received a denim button down shirt that they could have chain-stitched onsite. 
  • Little Words Project: LWP had a wide variety of beaded bracelets for guests to choose from (each guest could choose up to three). All of the bracelets had empowering messages and/or female encouragement. They also included their Barbie collaboration bracelets in the mix. 
  • Pony Rides: Younger children were treated to 5-minute pony rides. 
  • Face Painting & Hair Braiding: Children could choose from a range of face painting and hair braiding options. Some adults even got theirs done.
  • Children’s Arts & Crafts: Activities included bracelet making and coloring Wrangler-themed artwork. We hired a team of professional nannies to man this area so parents would be comfortable mingling. 
  • Family Games: We ordered custom Barbie x Wrangler Jenga and cornhole, as well as horseshoe for adults and kids.
  • Trick Riding Shows: For guests of all ages, we had seven female trick riders perform two shows — this was a huge hit!
  • Barbie Boutique: Designed to look like a chic boutique, it included samples of the full collection for guests to browse.

Guests had plenty to do to stay busy and most stayed for at least an hour or more. Adults were happy they could bring their kids — as a result they were able to stay longer and enjoy all of the activations. Guests loved the food options (pink tacos were the biggest hit), the venue and the decor. Many asked how we found the venue, and, because people weren’t familiar, it felt new, exciting and very much “ours.” We saw great turnout throughout the day, even in spite of brief rain showers. Everyone was excited about the collection and wanted to shop onsite. One celebrity even told us the event was “better than Fashion Week.” An overall major success for the Wrangler x Barbie collaboration! 

Image Credits https://www.instagram.com/masonramsey/

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