BAGGU x Sandy Liang: What’s Up with LTO Drops?

If you’re in NYC or on fashion TikTok, you’ve probably heard of the brand Sandy Liang – a delicate women’s brand famous for dainty ribbon embellishments, Asian-inspired jewelry and pouches, and some ~elevated~ price tags. Sandy Liang’s flagship office is on Orchard Street, and its namesake comes from its creator, who was born and raised in NYC.

In what might come as a pleasantly unexpected collab, BAGGU and Sandy Liang recently joined forces to release a limited edition drop. A description from BAGGU’s website describes the collaboration between brands:

“Introducing: A collaboration between BAGGU and Sandy Liang. This exclusive collection blends together a sense of nostalgia and femininity with everyday utility. Sandy Liang is a globally recognized New York City-based designer, known for her innovative and playful approach to fashion.”

I caught wind of the collab through TikTok, where BAGGU and Sandy Liang employed a reliable influencer gifting strategy to build hype around the release. Powder blue bags with ribbons and flower motif patterns on totes/lunch boxes garnered immediate excitement in the comments – people eagerly remarked how the collab would run their paycheck dry, or better yet, how they “BIBLICALLY needed” items from the collection. I for one am a proud BAGGU enthusiast – I have three green foldable bags, all in the same shade, along with a foldable sun hat. I will say that I was excited for this release, but I was surprised that BAGGU (a brand I viewed as accessible and fun) partnered with a higher-end designer. The regular foldable bags themselves run from 12-20 depending on which size you get, and the Sandy Liang limited-time offering (LTO) bags were around that price or more expensive for heavier items like lunchboxes or canvas totes. So, with the “BAGGU girlies” excited for the release, the collaboration was naturally positioned to be a smashing success (as Sandy Liang’s prior collaborations with Target, Salomon, and Vans had been). And… these have been the sentiments immediately following the release:

To be clear, the collaboration was financially successful – in fact, all thirteen items included in the partnership sold out expeditiously. But what happened to these loyal customers seemingly left behind? It might be helpful to get some context around LTO drops and what happened in this particular instance that left BAGGU and Sandy Liang fans seething.

The Beginnings of Drop + Collab Culture

When thinking of drop culture, people usually envision brands like Supreme or Balenciaga releasing 100 units of a highly coveted item to the public. From here, people who are willing to wait in the virtual or physical queue can snatch up these items and resell them for absurd amounts of money (take this Louis Vuitton x Supreme Leather Jacket reselling for an astonishing $19.8K on eBay, or a literal Supreme brick that goes for $100+ on resale marketplaces). Yet, limited edition drops weren’t necessarily meant to fall into the hands of the mega-rich or promote inaccessible, irresponsible purchasing habits.

The golden era of brand collaboration drops seemingly arrived in the 2010s, with notable partnerships forming (Kanye x Adidas, IKEA x Virgil Abloh) and new platforms like Grailed and StockX launching to garner consumer excitement. While drops are most visible and notable within the fashion world, this tactic is becoming ever so common for CPG, manufacturing, and lifestyle brands as well! Some notable LTO partnership drops recently include:

• Barbie’s seemingly endless (but realistically, 30+ total) product collabs

• Poppi x Miami Pickleball Club’s Partnership Set

• e.l.f x American Eagle’s makeup products

The benefits of partnering for LTO drops are clear – it’s a way to spark sales and play around with new items without making a more serious investment + commitment. Responsibility is shared between parties, but the consumer reach can significantly increase depending on the overlap between brands. From a psychological perspective, drops “tap into FOMO” and lure customers with “exclusivity and scarcity” of the products. Finally, LTO drops also “activate excitement amongst top customers and recapture the attention of customers at risk of churning”.

Learnings from Sandy Liang x BAGGU

Returning to the Sandy Liang x BAGGU collection, I would’ve loved to have a bag if I had the patience (and the funds) to purchase – but, it is not anything I actually need. And I’m glad I didn’t end up buying it since the customer experience seemed to have been so negative. At the end of the day, here are some lessons from the Sandy Liang collab and LTO drops in general:

• Prepare for the hype you’ll create: Sandy Liang and Baggu hyped up the collaboration so much – working with influencers clearly expanded the knowledge around the drop, but the strategy was not airtight to avoid customer disappointment. It was pretty ridiculous that everything was gone before the general sale even happened. This reminded me of the Taylor Swift/Ticketmaster debacle, where the selling website was ill-equipped to handle ticket demand.

• Know your audience: The BAGGU girlies are staunch loyalists and tie their sense of identity heavily to BAGGU’s values of environmentalism, style, and, most importantly, accessibility. This self-congruence between consumer and brand can be shattered if there is a negative experience like selling out all your products before general sale. BAGGU did realize that this collaboration violated their fundamental value of accessibility, and they actually ended up doing pre-orders for the restock (smart move!) While people still expressed disappointment in the initial strategy, it was smart of BAGGU to identify that their brand loyal consumers needed to be placated by a restock.

• Be mindful of sustainability: LTO drops can promote excessive consumerism in the name of exclusivity and status. From the shopper’s side, it’s always important to realistically think about the usage you’ll get out of an item and whether or not it’s an actual necessity in your closet. From the brand side (especially for a brand like BAGGU that promotes sustainability), it’s important to use LTOs sparingly and keep your strategies and values close together.