Dive Brief:

• General Mills and Champion Athleticwear teamed up to create a capsule collection of activewear inspired by General Mills cereals. The classic Champion apparel features Lucky Charms, Wheaties, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios characters and designs, the company announced via press release.
• The capsule collection, which will be available at select retail stores and at Zumiez, features athletic apparel for men, women and kids with designs from each cereal's box, characters and logos. The collection includes reverse weave pullover hoodies and T-shirts for each cereal brand, children's fleece pullover hoodies and jersey shirts ranging between $30 and $75.
• The nostalgic collaboration also features a charity component. Champion is helping the No Kid Hungry charity to supply up to 300,000 meals to children nationwide. General Mills and Champion have pledged to provide three meals per day for students in need, according to the company press release.

Dive Insight:

Releasing a capsule collection is a popular tactic for brands looking to connect with consumers and demonstrate cultural relevancy. General Mill and Champion join Dunkin', Bud Light, Sprite and Popeyes, among other brands, in releasing branded merchandise to reach fans by capitalizing on the athleisure trend. By teaming up, the two brands can potentially reach each other's wider audiences, as Champion has attempted before.

"We are always searching for amazing content that's unique, nostalgic and on trend to maximize relevance amongst Champion's broad consumer base," Matt Waterman, North American vice president and general manager of Champion Athleticwear, said in a blog post.

The collection reimagines cereal brand characters who are beloved across multiple generations, according to General Mills, tapping into the nostalgia trend that is a popular way to strengthen brand relationships with customers. General Mills brand Chex Mix in May, for example, released a reboot of its Chex Quest video game from the 1990s as a way to connect with millennials.

Tying the co-branded apparel to No Kid Hungry aims to ensure children are fed wherever they are learning this school year. The COVID-19 pandemic could leave one in four children facing hunger, per the press release. These types of charitable efforts have become increasingly common as the pandemic batters the economy and upends daily life around the world, helping to do good and deepen more meaningful connections with socially conscious consumers.