Outside attire model Cotopaxi sponsored the Sundance Movie Pageant this 12 months, after the Sundance Institute ended a decade-long relationship with luxurious outside attire retailer Canada Goose. The pivot created area for Cotopaxi, a smaller, Utah-based retailer recognized for its mission-driven technique and colourful merchandise.
Partnering made logistical sense, since Cotopaxi already operated a retailer on Park Metropolis Essential Road. For the competition, it partnered with the publication IndieWire, which bought Cotopaxi merchandise at its personal Essential Road pop-up location.
Cotopaxi’s chief model officer, Brad Hiranaga, joined the corporate in 2022 after beforehand serving as Common Mills’ chief advertising and marketing officer. He instructed ADWEEK that the competition partnership labored as a result of the Sundance Institute’s values align with Cotopaxi’s dedication to sustainability, cultural exploration and journey.
The CMO spoke with ADWEEK about Cotopaxi’s new function as a Sundance sponsor, its dedication to financial empowerment and whether or not Cotopaxi will get extra concerned with filmmakers.
This interview has been calmly edited for size and readability.
That is the primary time you’ve activated at Sundance. Inform me concerning the partnership.
Cotopaxi has been round for about 10 years, nevertheless it has by no means activated [at the Sundance Film Festival]. As a smaller [Utah-based] model, it was all the time nice to have [the festival] within the yard of Park Metropolis. Canada Goose had been doing the director’s jacket for fairly some time. Once they ended that partnership, the Sundance Institute known as us.
Sundance Institute had a patch and a emblem that they wished to design. We had a jacket that we thought was fairly iconic, and the colours match rather well.
They’re a nonprofit. We’re for revenue, however we function very similar to a philanthropic firm does.
The explanation I used to be excited for the partnership is that Sundance is all about having filmmakers present folks the world, and giving entry to tradition and neighborhood by means of their filmmakers’ lenses. Cotopaxi’s beliefs are all about [the message], “See the world and make it higher.” Once you see the world, once you go discover different locations—cities, states, only a city over even—you begin to study different individuals who possibly have totally different cultures, communities, beliefs, eat totally different meals or have totally different tales. We love that connection as a result of it’s similar to the mission that we imagine the model is constructed on.