GoSee CREATIVES TO WATCH : Donald Schneider, Creative Director and master of collaborations, brings a breath of fresh air to the slopes with the ELHO Freestyle relaunch!
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The outdoor brand ELHO is celebrating its comeback with great momentum. This October 2024, the brand, which was regarded a pioneer of functional outdoor fashion in the 70s to 90s, is launching a new collection. With ELHO Freestyle, a line specifically designed for the next generation is being launched – one that embodies agility, a spirit of adventure, flexibility, and, not least, a fashion-forward approach.
The man behind the successful relaunch of ELHO is Donald Schneider. The award-winning creative director has already planned and implemented global campaigns with Karl Lagerfeld and Beyoncé for major brands such as H&M.
The former art director of French Vogue recognized the appeal that still lay dormant in the ELHO brand and acquired the worldwide brand rights. Together with a team of industry professionals, he developed ELHO Freestyle. “To be creative, you always have to be a little ‘on edge,’” says Donald Schneider.
Donald believes that the next trend will be to combine performance and functionality with cool style, or fashion. He is committed to launching ‘game changers’ – with reference to his hugely successful idea for ‘Karl Lagerfeld x H&M’ in 2004 – the first major global designer collaboration that marked the beginning of today’s era of brand collaboration.
With his agency, he specializes in realizing collaborations with fashion and lifestyle brands, as well as celebrities such as Beyoncé, David Beckham, and Kendall Jenner.
For Donald, the ELHO brand is more than just fashion - it stands for an attitude to life that combines adventure, freedom and creativity. The new brand ambassador embodies precisely this mindset: freestyle skiing world champion Andri Ragettli. The multiple freestyle ski world cup winner is the perfect choice for ELHO Freestyle. He is not only an athlete, but also a social media star who inspires millions of followers with his spectacular stunts. Ragettli was actively involved in the development of the new collection and tested the pieces under extreme conditions.
ELHO Freestyle’s first collection for Fall/Winter 2024/2025 offers everything you need to survive the cold months – warm and in style. With bio-based materials and a focus on durability, ELHO Freestyle sends a strong message against fast fashion.
A highlight of the collection is the exclusive ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat x ELHO’ art-inspired capsule collection, spectacularly fusing art and fashion. This first collaboration between the artist and the brand will be followed by further sensational partnerships – there’s much to look forward to.
“Collaborations are my favorite. Occasionally, brands approach us that have never done a collaboration before, and we start with initial discussions about a possible course of action. The first question is almost always whether the era of brand collaborations is coming to an end.
In response, I always tell them that, especially in fashion but also in lifestyle, there used to be two seasonal campaigns with cost-intensive productions and around six to eight photos. These were used everywhere, in every magazine, and on every billboard for the following months, until the next campaign came along.
Has anyone ever wondered whether the time for campaigns is over? Indeed, the times of seasonal campaigns have also changed... Our relationship with these large seasonal campaigns has only changed with the rise of social media, because remaining relevant today requires much more content than before. And that’s precisely where collaborations come in, because they have replaced such big statement campaigns and now generate what statement campaigns used to generate: attention,” says Donald Schneider.
And how exactly did the Karl Lagerfeld collaboration come about? We wanted to know: “I got a bit bored creating campaigns with a top model in front of a white background. I wanted to do a campaign where people would talk about the product, not just the model.
So I came up with an idea: let’s create a campaign where we spend all the money on a high fashion designer who creates a special collection, instead of on a top model. It was immediately clear to me that in order to really make a game changer, we had to go to the number one designer for it, and that was simply Karl Lagerfeld.
Then we received a reply: Yes, but he certainly wouldn’t want to do anything for us. I knew him well and had worked with him many times before, during my time as ‘directeur artistique’ at French Vogue. So I suggested that I could ask him, and I did. Lagerfeld replied within a second: “Wow, that’s the future,” says Donald Schneider (via Fashion United).
GoSee : donaldschneiderstudio.com + elhofreestyle.com
GoSee : gosee.de/fashion
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