Melissa, Marc Jacobs drop ‘genderless’ collaboration collection partly made of sugarcane
MANILA, Philippines — Melissa and Marc Jacobs dropped its collaboration collection in the Philippines yesterday.
The Brazilian footwear brand’s first, and so far only, collaboration collection with the celebrated American designer encompass three silhouettes – sky-high clogs, the platform slip-on called Becky, and slides – in “American” colors red, blue, beige, black and silver. Prices range from P8,295 for the slides, to PP11,995 for the Becky and P13,995 for the clogs.
All pieces in the collection come with plain uppers, embossed with Jacobs’ new bold logo on the soles, making them gender-neutral and timelessly elegant despite their casual form as open shoes.
“We have so many collabs this year… but this one is special to us as well… What’s good about this collab is it’s very high on sustainability,” Melissa Philippines Marketing Manager Joy Cortez-Dauz told Philstar.com.
“It speaks for itself. It’s really a hot collab. Of course, Marc Jacobs, the designer is very, very hot also. It comes in his American color palette also,” she said of the collection released globally a month ago.
“Marc Jacobs is very genderless, very street-style, edgy, so he saw a potential, I guess, with his brand’s DNA with Melissa’s branding to come up with the clog.”
While the shoe label’s pairs are usually made of its technology, Melflex, which makes the shoes durable, lightweight and 100% recyclable, what makes Melissa x Marc Jacobs clogs extra special is that every piece is crafted using a mono-material made of Biobased EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate) – a compound that has at least 25% United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-) certified plant-based content (sugarcane) content to guarantee the pairs’ lightness and comfort despite the chunky-looking soles, said Cortez-Dauz.
Biobased EVA, Cortez-Dauz noted, is “a more sustainable, less pollutant type of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride).” Melissa first used Biobased EVA on its Free line of slides, platforms and sandals, the marketing manager said.
Developed using Melflex, Melissa Slide + Marc Jacobs also features a sole made of 100% Biobased EVA.
“In the Philippines, it’s always very hot, so we’re always into slides,” Cortez-Dauz said.
The Becky, she said, has been among the brand’s bestsellers as the company anticipates platforms to continue being in-trend.
Melissa Becky + Marc Jacobs is made with Melflex, while the sole's interior is filled with ultralight PU (Polyurethane), and the insole is covered with fabric made from recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles.
“It’s like 0.3 bottles per pair,” Cortez-Dauz shared.
The shoes’ boxes are themselves a gem – made from recycled paper, with a natural neutral color that fits any space if repurposed into a storage box.
“So every style in the collection is special because there’s a sustainability component to it,” Cortez-Dauz vouched. “And the pairs are made from 30% recycled materials already. So 30% recycled Melissa shoes. Actually, since last year, all of our releases are already made from 30% recycled materials. Of course, definitely, 100% vegan accredited by the Vegan Society.”
