Fashion branding: Arrow Apparel launches user-generated content site to save Ellis Island

(Fashion branding news) Arrow positions itself as an all-American brand. After all, its tag line is "Arrow - USA - 1851". In a move that is consistent with both its branding and the user-generated content wave, the apparel brand has just launched WeAreEllisIsland.org. All Americans are invited to join celebrities such as Christian Slater and Elliot Gould by "describing the Ellis Island experience of members of their family and their pursuit of the American dream". Users of the site will be able to read others' stories, as well as to donate money to a non-profit in charge of saving Ellis Island.

I think that this is a very generous and well-targeted move from the brand and its parent company Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation. There is a fine line between trying to make money from Americans' heritage and actually trying to preserve it. Arrow not helps rehabilitate the site, but also let emerge personal stories of ordinary Americans that would have been lost otherwise.

This is a pleasant mix of cause marketing, web 2.0, and fashion branding. Some brands sponsor the MoMa, Arrow has chosen Ellis Island. Nobody is naive here, but the initiative remains laudable on a marketing and generosity viewpoint. Full press release