That Time Subway Had Its Own Sandwich-Themed Fashion Show

We know Subway makes a lot of strange choices, like launching an entire website just to defend its tuna and giving customers exactly what they ordered, even if it's a soupy mess of a sandwich. However, both of these pale in comparison to the oddity that was Subway's 2013 fashion show.

Don't get us wrong, restaurant chains taking an interest in fashion is nothing new. Per Brand Eating, plenty of chains have launched their own merch over the years, including McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, and Taco Bell. In fact, that's all pretty normal. CNN points out that having customers walking around with branded clothing is relatively easy and low-cost advertising.

But Subway took it to a whole new level. Rather than taking notes from other fast food brands and launching a merch collection, the sandwich chain took over an entire runway with Fashion Week-worthy garments. Unlike the typical avant-garde fashion show, Subway incorporated bits and pieces of its signature products for a series of looks that were likely never seen before. To be honest, we probably haven't seen anything like them since then, either.

According to HuffPost, Subway hosted its first fashion runway show in 2013. For this show, the chain asked designers to take inspiration from its food and its branding, and, well, these designers certainly delivered.

Dresses were created from various Subway items, from napkins to sandwich wrappers, to straws, to the iconic Subway plastic bags (via Glamour). Oh, and in case you thought this was just a joke — the show was judged by one of the Spice Girls, a former Olympic athlete, and a "Project Runway" alum.

Subway's 2014 show focused specifically on food-inspired dresses. Per Eater, one dress was inspired by the alarming amount of lettuce Subway goes through, another by "haute" tomatoes, and a third by delicately sliced red onions. Others brought to the runway the likeness of jalapenos, banana peppers, cucumber, olives, and spinach.

Several of the dresses were reposted on Facebook, alongside pre-production sketches by Fashion Institute of Technology students. The red onion dress, designed by Veritee Hill, took first place and left the audience in tears — pun intended.