Kith, Louis Vuitton and a new era of luxury car collaborations

Fashion and automotive collaborations are nothing new, but brands today are driving a new partnership model. This week, both Louis Vuitton and Kith unveiled luxury car designs created to offer a complete consumer experience.

Louis Vuitton collaborated with Singer on the restorations of classic Porsche 911s, revealing two luxury cars on Wednesday: the Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer - Classic and the Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Turbo designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, the French house’s artistic director of women's collections. Both designs were inspired by Louis Vuitton's philosophy around the Art of Travel.

Ghesquière described the collaboration as “a chance to reconnect with this fascinating world – a magnificent opportunity to explore truly exceptional automobiles.”

The Louis Vuitton x Singer partnership includes a full wardrobe, with a racing jacket, a made-to-measure suit, jeans, driving gloves, driving shoes, sunglasses, and helmets. Plus, an extensive list of travel goods, including bespoke trunks, document cases, helmet bags, front-trunk luggage, a brand-new wristwatch, a surfboard, custom keys, and key holders, among other pieces.

Louis Vuitton’s connection with the automotive world dates back to 1897, when Georges Vuitton was offering trunks designed specifically for cars. In 1909, Louis Vuitton’s grandsons Pierre and Jean Vuitton also designed their own car, built on a sports chassis produced by the manufacturer Stabilia. More recently, in 2020, Virgil Abloh, then Louis Vuitton's menswear artistic director, teamed up with Mercedes-Benz chief design officer Gorden Wagener to reimagine the G-Class as a one-off racing-inspired concept. The collaboration with Singer, however, shows how fashion brands are now creating projects that feel more integrated and content-driven.

Following a similar script is Kith. The brand began its partnership with BMW in 2020. On Monday, they released the fourth chapter of their ongoing collaboration, unveiling the 1972 BMW 3.0 CSi and the 1987 M6 E24 by Ronnie Fieg. The release marks Kith’s 15th anniversary and serves as inspiration for an apparel collection, which will be launched on August 17.

The combination of fashion and automotive brands is the perfect match when it comes to heritage. It lets both sides express their craftsmanship while creating a cultural moment. When BMW announced its first collaboration with Kith, Markus Flasch, CEO of BMW M GmbH, said the partnership would allow them to "spread the word to an exciting new target group, as the lifestyle fashion scene transforms from a cultural phenomenon to a global way of life, bringing a new and very distinct brand of exclusivity to many different areas.”

As Flasch's comment suggests, the appeal for automakers is less about selling cars than about borrowing an audience. For fashion houses, the reverse is true: the car lends credibility that a handbag or sneaker can't.

In the last decade, German automobile manufacturer Porsche has collaborated with Aimé Leon Dore, Tag Heuer, Rimowa, and Puma, among other labels. Mercedes-Benz also has an extensive list of fashion partners, which includes Sacai, Moncler, and Off-White. What separates this cycle from earlier fashion-automotive tie-ins is scope. Earlier fashion-automotive collaborations centered on the vehicle, while the current projects build a full commercial ecosystem around it.