Styles from Paper Planes’ summer collection.
Courtesy of Paper Planes
Paper Planes is entering a new phase of its retail strategy.
The nine-year-old streetwear brand operated by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is rolling out its own retail stores this summer, starting with a pop-up shop at Gurney’s Montauk, which opens on Monday. The pop-up will be followed by a permanent storefront — the first for Paper Planes — in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood in August.
“It’s a great marketing vehicle for us to showcase,” said Ronnie DeMichael, president of Paper Planes. “We sell only to small mom-and-pop shops, so none of them can house the entire collection of what we do. This is our way of putting out exactly what we do in terms of the breadth of product and showing us as a full fashion brand from head to toe.”
The brand’s retail rollout kicks off with the Paper Planes Surf Shack at Gurney’s Montauk, which will offer the brand’s summer collection of T-shirts, hoodies, knitwear, bathing suits as well as its popular hats. It will also carry customized pieces, such as Paper Planes surfboards. The pop-up is expected to be open until July 4.
“It’s just portraying us in a different light and putting new eyes on the brand,” DeMichael said. “You can wear Paper Planes head-to-toe and it’s not about the hat — it’s about great knitwear, great T-shirts, great shorts and great bathing suits.”
In August, Paper Planes will open its first permanent store, which has been in the works for some time. The store will offer the full Paper Planes apparel and accessories collections and will host events for the brand’s following.
In addition to these two stores of its own, Paper Planes sells to roughly 200 small boutiques across the U.S. This distribution strategy was launched at the inception of the brand as a way to give back to smaller retailers in the streetwear market. The brand will continue this strategy alongside building out its own retail and expanding into department stores in the U.S. and internationally.
Paper Planes is partnering with retail company Leap Inc. for its permanent store. The company has helped launch stores for other brands like ASTR the Label, Fred Segal, Hanky Panky, Malbon Golf, Frankies Bikinis and others.
Earlier this year, Paper Planes leveraged its popular line of hats for a collaboration with the National Football League, creating hats for each NFL team to celebrate youth flag football. The brand brought together 10 international teams to compete in the NFL Flag International Tournament in Las Vegas prior to the Super Bowl.
While the brand plans to continue to host pop-up stores after the Gurney’s Montauk location, no others have yet been set.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
