Cuffing season is over, and we’re about to enter “Hot Girl Summer.” For Tinder, that means entering the cultural conversation with experiences that tap into the Gen Z zeitgeist and create moments for users and prospective users to “mingle” in-person in a casual environment. The brand’s ExCycle pop-up at Tumbao in New York City in March combined spring cleaning, breakup baggage-dumping and sustainability all in one.
The dating app invited singles to bring their exes’ clothing the pop-up, where they could exchange the preloved garments for “a fresh, curated fit.” Attendees added their pieces to a Swap Rack and chose new ones with the help of stylists, and then they could customize their finds with on-site embroidery and alterations specialists.
“Tinder is a cultural brand, and we are always wanting to show up in new and interesting ways in culture. We’ve been doing a lot in the fashion space for the past year or so, mainly with partnerships, so this was a fun, different way in,” says Devin Colleran, global brand director at Tinder. “We know people have an ex-boyfriend’s sweatshirt in their closet, and it was sort of this universal truth. We had been talking about associating Tinder with breakups and shifting those stories that can be sad and hard to talk about into something positive.”
With the activation rooted in upcycling to creatively give items a second life, Tinder partnered with sustainable fashion designer Sami Miró, who created custom jackets with Nike for the five U.S. gymnasts who qualified for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. For ExCycle, Miró transformed clothes from four influencers into bespoke outfits, which were showcased at the event.
“Sami Miró is such a Gen Z ‘it girl,’ and from early conversations, she was really into the event and its authenticity,” Colleran says. “She wanted to contribute her ideas, so it was a natural fit, and that’s what we look for in a partner. We’re a relationship business, and relationships, even when it comes down to talent, are really important.”
The sustainability elements extended to the event’s design, which featured eco-friendly materials, cups and decor, but ExCycle was also all about celebrating confidence and the power of self-discovery, giving attendees a boost to date again. At the Portrait Studio, they could snap new photos for their Tinder profiles while sporting their upcycled fashion items.
Tinder flooded the New York City venue with its signature pink color, but other than that, it kept the branding to a minimum, opting instead to create a chic fashion event with music, booze and good vibes. And dating or meeting romantic partners wasn’t the focus either—even though the organic foot traffic exceeded Tinder’s expectations. Colleran describes the event as “a low-stakes environment to mingle and do something cool.”
“The fact that we did an event, really, was inspired by Gen Z. We’re hearing more and more that they want these IRL touch points. Yes, they’re scrolling on TikTok and consuming tons of content, but they really do want authentic, real moments and events, and to build community,” she says. “We’re definitely dipping our toes back into doing stuff IRL, and so this was kind of an interesting test and learn for us. We saw great press results, awesome social results, but what we were looking at is really the engagement, and having hundreds of people come into the pop-up was more successful than we thought it would be. People want more, and that was an even bigger learning for us—that we did something right and maybe should do it again, which I would love to do.” Agency: VIRTUE Worldwide.
Photos: Courtesy of Tinder
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