The TamesisYou put on your shoes, coat, bag. But have you ever considered your coffee mug to be your last accessory? Blank Street, a chain of coffee shops in New York and London, is betting on this. The mint-green matcha mecca beloved by Gen Z on TikTok has today launched a London Fashion Week (LFW) campaign in partnership with the British Fashion Council, aiming to build resonance beyond the barista drink.
Blank Street will serve coffee and matcha in LFW’s emerging designers NewGen space, host a breakfast for the media, and host a pop-up showcasing art installations for the public at its Strand outpost (a stone’s throw from LFW’s main show space). The brand has also launched the Down Sleeve, a limited-edition puffer jacket designed exclusively for Blank Street drinks, available in-store and online from February 21.
“Fashion has always been an industry that we have a close relationship with because we see the cup as an accessory in itself,” said Mohammad Rabaa, global creative director of Blank Street, who spearheaded the project. “A quick scroll through the photos we tagged and you’ll see people incorporating Blank Street mugs in OOTD videos. We were photographed alongside other accessories as the finishing touch to a look. The mugs feel like a part of people’s self-expression, which I think is really exciting.”
Blank Street was founded in 2020 as a coffee cart located near New York’s iconic Wythe Diner in Brooklyn. The chain soon expanded across Manhattan, and in 2022 it landed in the London borough of Fitzrovia. Last year, Rabaa oversaw the chain’s rebranding, which featured a new serif logo and Pantone “12 Noon Green” branding on storefronts and cups, which proved popular with younger consumers. As of July 2025, the company is valued at approximately $500 million. Bloombergwith more than 90 branches in cities across the United States and the United Kingdom.
Blank Street isn’t the only coffee brand active in the fall and winter of 2026. In New York, Starbucks funded fashion shows by five emerging designers—Area, Collina Strada, Eckhaus Latta, Sergio Hudson and Zankov—with the goal of co-creating merchandise and coffee sleeves. in London, Fashion will run it again Fashion 180 Corner Shop partners with Nike to launch a café concept offering customized snacks and juices. While in Milan, Fashion Italy will host its own Fashion A café in collaboration with women’s clothing brand Twinset from February 26th to 28th.
This makes sense. Small luxuries like matcha, coffee, or a $25 smoothie have become status symbols for Gen Z and Millennials, who command much higher prices than traditional luxuries and like to post romanticized messages about their daily lives online. In turn, brands like Blank Street or Los Angeles greengrocer-turned-luxury brand Erewhon have become lifestyle labels, while food and drink have become key marketing tools for luxury brands looking to stay relevant to young people.
