Why Brooklinen is partnering with scent brand DedCool on a pillow fragrance

DTC bedding brand Brooklinen was founded in 2014 with the promise of offering hotel-quality sateen sheets that you could afford without selling a kidney. The brand soon began offering sheets in other materials, too, including percale and linen, and crossed the bathroom threshold in 2019 with a line of bath towels and robes.

Those robes have—in every sense—taken center stage recently, thanks to some strategic partnerships. As “official robe partner” of Saturday Night Live, Brooklinen’s robes are worn by hosts and musical guests in the makeup chair. Celebs including Ariana Grande and Nikki Glaser have been photographed wearing its “SNL”-embroidered Super-Plush Robe. Actor Alexander Skarsgård apparently took such a liking to his when he hosted SNL in January that he wore the robe onstage both times he introduced the episode’s musical guest, Cardi B.

The robes were worn by KPop Demon Hunters musicians Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, and Ejae in a February GRWM—that’s “get ready with me,” boomer—Vogue video, and recently by a bevvy of celebrities as they gussied up for the Met Gala.

Now Brooklinen is highlighting its robes in a collab with scent brand DedCool. They’re introducing a co-branded scent to spritz on pillows and bathrobes called Sleep Mode. On their e-commerce sites, both brands are selling a limited edition of the Super-Plush Robe and a 1-ounce bottle of the Sleep Mode scent for $150.

“We love DedCool because they’re a fragrance brand, but they’re not a traditional fragrance brand,” Brooklinen CMO Laura Jacobs told Retail Brew. “They are young and fun, they try new things, they expand into new categories, they’re unexpected, they’re unafraid, they do cool things—and that’s very much in line with how we see ourselves.”

Bedfellows: When it comes to collaborations, it’s less about how large the other brand is for Brooklinen than how aligned they are tonally and philosophically.

“We’re not necessarily looking for scale or mass reach, but who else vibes with what we believe,” Jacobs said. Brooklinen is most simpatico, she continued, with brands she described as “youthful, creative, [and] diverse” and that place a premium on “self-expression.”

Last year Brooklinen registered a new annual holiday on June 27, National Ice Cream in Bed Day, and it partnered with ice cream brand Van Leeuwen to promote it. (It will partner with another yet-to-be-announced ice cream brand this year.)

In a collab with the sexual wellness brand Maude for Valentine’s Day this year, the brands collaborated on two bundles that offered a Brooklinen throw with Maude products including a mini vibrator, candle, and lube.

“We don’t shy away from that kind of thing that happens in the bed either,” Jacobs said. “We’re really proud of that.”

I’ll sleep when I’m DedCool: For the latest collab with DedCool, Brooklinen is focusing on robes as the category has been flourishing for the brand.

You’d think bathrobes would mostly be something customers added to their shopping cart after selecting sheets, the brand’s legacy product. On the contrary, when it comes to the first product someone buys from Brooklinen, robes represent its fastest growing customer-acquisition category, per the brand.

For the most recent holiday season, sales volume for the Super-Plush Robe line grew 27%. And the brand has multiple robe SKUs, including one made out of the same material as its popular lightweight waffle towels, and its newest, the Shorty, a thigh-liberating version of its thicker robe.

When chilly office workers typically would reach for a cardigan, it’s not uncommon in Brooklinen’s Manhattan office to see employees donning robes instead, introducing a Big Lebowski panache to the conference room.

“It’s really adorable,” Jacobs said of the company’s office-robe custom.

Just like some customers switch their bedding seasonally—choosing, say, a warm cashmere blend set for winter and linen for summer—Jacobs said the brand is promoting the notion that it’s time to add more hooks to the bathroom door.

“There’s no reason why someone can’t have a ‘wardrobe of robes,’” Jacobs said. “I mean, I have three.