John Varvatos solidifies stance as music authority with record label

September 11, 2017

Big Machine Label Group President/CEO Scott Borchetta and fashion designer John Varvatos. Image credit: Big Machine Label Group

By Brielle Jaekel

U.S. fashion designer John Varvatos is establishing itself as an authority on music with a venture that goes beyond just a sponsorship.

John Varvatos and independent music label Big Machine Records are teaming up to create a record label headed by the designer. Starting off with signing rock band Badflower, the label looks to focus on true rock and keep it alive.

Creative partnership
The two creative brands and their respective directors are partnering to discover up-and-coming rock acts that they believe are genuine and talented.

Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta and namesake designer John Varvatos are officially partnering for John Varvatos Records, but it is not the first time the two have worked together in rock.

Music runs through the veins of both Scott Borchetta and fashion designer John Varvatos. Today the two edgy and outspoken creatives announced an exciting new joint venture which allows them to discover and develop rock acts.
A post shared by Big Machine Label Group (@bigmachinelabelgroup) on Sep 7, 2017 at 9:46am PDT

The official label comes after Mr. Varvatos and Mr. Borchetta worked together to create a number one selling album. The two executives partnered on Jekyll + Hyde from country artist Zach Brown Band, which went platinum.

Cheap Trick also saw a comeback with a number one hit on the rock charts for its song “Long Time Coming,” after the two worked on it as well this year. Steven Tyler also relaunched his career with Mr. Varvatos and Mr. Borchetta.

John Varvatos will integrate the music aspect of its business along with its fashion. Currently, the site for John Varvatos Records features a variety of items from its designer collection and media from its pervious shows.

Essentially, the address for the record label hosts content from the fashion label’s Web site.

This past March, the John Varvatos held a concert named “Love Rocks NYC!” to raise money for nonprofit organization God’s Love We Deliver, which provides life-sustaining meals and nutrition counseling for people in New York with severe illness.

Love Rocks concert from John Varvatos. Image credit: John Varvatos

Music and Varvatos
Mr. Varvatos has exuded his love for music into his brand with a rich history of campaigns intertwined with music.

The label spoke to its rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic with a fall/winter 2017 advertising campaign starring a multihyphenate performer.

As the face of the effort, singer-rapper-actor Machine Gun Kelly is following in the footsteps of other performers such as Hozier and Ringo Starr, who have fronted ads for the brand. Like many of the brand's past campaigns, the effort focuses on shedding light on the artist in organic style content (see more).

Last summer when Guns N’ Roses’ North American tour made its way to Los Angeles, John Varvatos outfitted fans with a pop-up shop.

The band’s Not In This Lifetime tour marks the first time since 1993 that original bandmates Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan are performing together. To celebrate the occasion, John Varvatos created a special capsule collection of merchandise in partnership with the group (see more).

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John Varvatos solidifies stance as music authority with record label

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