KidSuper Creates Lunchbox for SpaghettiOs
Growing up, Colm Dillane, the designer of the buzzy KidSuper brand, would camp out in front of the TV on Saturdays watching cartoons and eating SpaghettiOs. Now, the Karl Lagerfeld Award-winning designer has teamed up with the legendary food brand to create a limited-edition lunchbox.
On May 10 at 5 p.m. EST, shoppers can open the livestream mobile shopping app Ntwrk for a chance to purchase one of only 120 of the lunchboxes and matching lunch containers that Dillane has created.
Dillane, who is also one of the finalists for the 2022 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, said reflecting on his childhood, it wasn't about what you brought to school for lunch but what you brought it in. And that was the inspiration for this project.
“Growing up, some of my favorite childhood memories included Saturday cartoons and a bowl of SpaghettiOs,” Dillane said. “It's a very surreal experience to now get to lean into that ‘90s nostalgia and infuse my own cartoon world with a brand that I've been so excited to work with.”
In an interview from “HQ 2.0,” his new studio and soon-to-be retail store, recording studio and soccer field in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Dillane said as his star rises he is "hit up by a lot of companies for funny and odd collaborations" as a result of KidSuper's "whimsical persona." So when he was approached by the SpaghettiOs team, it was the brand's heritage and its appeal to young people that convinced him to sign on.
Millennial consumers make up more than one-third of total SpaghettiOs' customer base and this partnership marks the brand's intention to move into the art and fashion collectibles space.
"It's a very American thing and I like the 'iconic-ness' of it," he said. "And within the KidSuper world, if it's magical, I'm down for doing it." The canned pasta launched in 1965 and is part of the Campbell Soup Co.
Dillane said he'd always wanted to create his own lunchbox and had tried in the past, but never seemed to get it right — until now.
And while he doesn't expect his designs for SpaghettiOs to be incorporated into his next collection, he's open to working with the company again in the future. "It's a random item thing unless they let me make my own SpaghettiOs flavor," he said with a laugh.
But he is proud of how it turned out. "Andy Warhol did the Campbell's Soup cans and I did SpaghettiOs," he said.
“For many years, we've seen more Millennials turning to SpaghettiOs for fun and comfort,” said Linda Lee, chief marketing officer of Campbell's Meals & Beverages. “This collaboration with KidSuper comes at a great moment as SpaghettiOs gets a new packaging look. The lunchbox further unlocks a core childhood memory that reinforces SpaghettiOs' belief that kidhood has no age limit, as it is truly a state of mind.”
The lunchbox will retail for $30.