Colm Dillane of KidSuper Talks Collaborations With Superplastic and Louis Vuitton

Colm Dillane has collaborated with rap groups like Pro Era, liquor brands like Jägermeister, and footwear labels like Puma. And who could forget the New York City-based designer’s career-defining collaboration with Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week in January? So what’s next for KidSuper? Eight-inch tall vinyl toys made in collaboration with Superplastic. 

Toys may seem like an odd move for a designer who also released a luxurious collaboration with the women’s footwear label Stuart Weitzman this week. However, Superplastic isn’t a normal toy brand like Mattel or Hasbro. Since launching in 2018, they’ve developed a reputation for producing some of the most coveted art toys on the market today. Aside from KidSuper, Superplastic has worked with Gucci, Vince Staples, and Bored Ape Yacht Club. It comes as no surprise that the brand’s founder is also Paul Budnitz, the mastermind behind the pioneering art toy label Kidrobot, which captivated many streetwear enthusiasts in the 2000s. Although Dillane never collected Kidrobot’s art toys, he admits the brand’s prominence within fashion at the time heavily inspired his first “Bots” streetwear label when he was coming up. 

“I walked into the Kidrobot store [on Prince Street] all the time. I never purchased anything but I was obsessed with the brand and mainly the clothing,” says Dillane. “At the time, that was a huge brand and I always remember it for being the first brand where I really felt that they weren’t using just blanks for T-shirts. I recognized that they had these really good quality cut and sew tees.”

Just days after Dillane presented his collections for KidSuper and Louis Vuitton in Paris, Complex got the opportunity to interview Dillane at Superplastic’s brick-and-mortar flagship on Prince Street. Here he speaks about designing art toys for Superplastic, the challenges of working with a luxury house like Louis Vuitton, his approach to design, and how life has changed for him after teaming up with one of the world’s biggest fashion brands.