Retail Therapy: The Girl Scouts step further into fashion

It’s been another weird week in retail. The Girl Scouts stepped further into fashion, McDonald’s dropped fresh merch to promote a new menu item and Carhartt teamed up with everyone’s favorite Irish beer ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.

This, and more, in this week’s retail therapy.

Girl Scouts offer cookie fans a new way to show love

Despite most things getting upended over the past 12 months, one thing (thankfully) has continued on: Girl Scout cookie season.

While the organization has had to adapt to the current times, like by partnering with Grubhub to deliver cookies to select locations, the pandemic hasn’t stopped it from selling those addictive treats.

And thanks to a collaboration with shoe brand K-Swiss, Girl Scout cookie fans can take their love to new heights. The two teamed up to create a new collection with designs inspired by the cookies themselves: a mint green hue for Thin Mints, textured suede for Coconut Caramel (Caramel deLites or Samoas) and soft beige suede for the classic Shortbread or Trefoil cookies.

The shoes come in both women’s and children’s sizes retailing for $75 and $70 a pair, respectively. The special collection will drop on KSwiss.com, Girlscoutshop.com and footlocker.com on March 4, Women’s Wear Daily reports.

This isn’t Girl Scouts first foray into fashion, however. Last March, the organization teamed up with Diane von Furstenberg for a collection featuring a silk scarf and a wristlet, where the proceeds went to programs that support girls as leaders.

McDonald’s gears up for chicken sandwich wars with merch drop

After Chick-fil-A and its chicken sandwich grew in popularity, Popeyes threw its hat into the ring in August 2019 with its own version and thus, the chicken sandwich wars were born.

Since then, other fast food restaurants have rolled out or upgraded their own chicken sandwiches, like KFC, Wendy’s and Burger King.

And McDonald’s will soon join the others with the addition of the Crispy Chicken Sandwich to menus on Feb. 24.

To coincide with the new item, the fast-food chain created a limited-edition capsule, which includes early access to try out the chicken sandwich on Feb. 23, an exclusive audio track by music producer Tay Keith on vinyl and a limited-edition hoodie.

“We know fans can’t wait for our new Crispy Chicken Sandwich to hit restaurants, so we’re celebrating them and this moment with a drop like no other,” McDonald’s Vice President of U.S. Communications David Tovar said in a statement. “We’re excited to give fans early access to this sandwich and exclusive swag they can’t get anywhere else to memorialize this great addition to our menu.”

Interested fans could visit CHKNDrop.com starting yesterday at noon ET to purchase the capsule for $5. Unfortunately, the capsule has since sold out, but that didn’t stop Popeyes from having a little fun of its own first.

The restaurant, which has made somewhat of a name for itself by poking fun at its competitors, trolled the campaign by buying up similar URL addresses to McDonald’s CHKNDrop.com. If a user discovered one of Popeyes’ addresses, they would be redirected to a website page that offered the first 10,000 visitors a promo code to receive one of their chicken sandwiches for free.

Guinness teams up with Carhartt to ensure St. Patrick’s Day celebrations continue

While just days ago we were celebrating the season of love, it’s time to refocus our attention on the next major holiday: St. Patrick’s Day.

As with many things over the past year, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the day to look a little different from usual. But Guinness and Carhartt are calling on consumers to get creative because the celebration must go on.

The brands teamed up in a campaign that encourages people to bring the party home and share their experiences on Instagram using the hashtag #MakeYourOwnParade and tagging @Carhartt, according to an announcement emailed to Retail Dive.

“Throughout 2020, we saw the resiliency of hard-working people all around the world,” Janet Ries, vice president of marketing at Carhartt, said in a statement. “We’ve had to reinvent the way we connect and how we share experiences. So while we’re still unable to celebrate in person, we encourage everyone to #MakeYourOwnParade and share your celebrations in the safest, most connected and optimistic way.”

As part of the campaign, the two brands on Thursday released their third collection together, which features men’s and women’s hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts, featuring the tagline “Work for the Better.”

Carhartt and Guinness first teamed up two years ago, and in 2020 came together again to fund and support the Plumbers Union of Chicago, the group responsible for famously dyeing the Chicago River green every St. Paddy’s Day.

“The holiday has taken on a new meaning for us this year and, with this new collection, we remain strong in our commitment to uplifting people and communities during this time,” Guinness Brand Director Nikhil Shah said in a statement.