The fashion industry is going through restructure, just like the music industry did few years ago. As fashion brands become more digital, it gets harder for the old rules to work. Collections, seasons, fashion weeks, buyers, magazine editors – everything and everyone are challenged these days, and inevitably many processes will be redefined, and many positions will lose their power. Despite the threat on the traditional industry establishments (magazines, department stores), I think the restructure is a healthy thing and eventually will lead to enhanced productivity, which in turn will leave fashion brands and houses with more time and resources to innovate. Here is what will need to happen in order to allow that.
No more seasons. The chase after Spring, Fall, Resort and Pre-Fall seasons is pointless when you have chains like H&M and Target coming up with collections every week or so. Many of them cross the lines between winter and summer, and their pieces could be mixed and matched. Examples: Jimmy Choo for H&M, Rodarte and Zac Posen for Target – all included dresses that could be worn both during summer and winter, not to mention open sandals sold by H&M in December… Dividing collections by seasons might not make much sense in this fast paced environment. Although the way we dress is still influenced by the weather outside, it doesn’t mean designers have to introduce them all at the same time, twice a year during their regional fashion week.
No more full collections. Most fashion collections are consisting from basics, which don’t change much from season to season, and trendy staple pieces, which change according to seasonal trends. It’s not very efficient to start every season from scratch, creating basics and staple pieces. Sportswear companies are a great example to a more effective approach: take Adidas which has the same basic sneakers available from year to year, and releases special limited edition, themed sneakers few times a year. Designers could adopt similar approach and keep their best selling basics from season to season, and this way save on production. This will also allow them to focus all their energy on the most creative items, which truly express who they are. In addition, just like people stopped buying music albums and instead now purchase individual songs on iTunes, consumers today are not necessarily shopping for the entire look, but rather are looking for that one special piece to add to their wardrobe. Therefore designers should be focusing on creating best selling pieces which can stand out on their own, instead of worrying about making a cohesive seasonal collection which will please fashion writers. Online retailers like Net-A-Porter already are experimenting in this direction of smaller item-focused collections, by inviting designers like Roland Mouret, who launched six limited-edition mini dresses with the e-tailer last December.
Runway shows as marketing tools. The transformation of the fashion shows into highly publicized events is happening already, but it’s not very clear today who the fashion shows are staged for. Right now many of them include buyers, editors, online press, celebrities, important customers and people at home who watch them live on their computer screens. Each of these audiences have their own agenda/ reason to see the fashion show, and as more designers start using their runway shows to create buzz around the brand, they will have to redefine who they stage them for to make the most return on this huge investment. Perhaps we could learn from Melbourne Fashion Festival, Australia’s largest public consumer and retail driven fashion event, happening every year to get the general public excited about fashion and shopping. Pieces shown on Melbourne runways are available for immediate purchase, making the shows a very effective marketing tool. In addition, there is an industry only fashion week in Sydney Australia focusing on buyers, agents, stylists and other fashion industry representatives.
Computerizing the buying process. This point is directly related to the redefined role of the runway shows, where buyers are no longer the center of attention. There is lots of innovation waiting to happen in the buying process. I recently met few startup companies launching in the space, so hopefully they will start influencing the industry soon. Major challenges in this space include connecting designers and buyers, streamlining the orders, and managing the inventory – all these can be easily solved with cloud computing. Of course you might argue that buyers still need to see the clothes in person, and no computer screen can replace the touch of a fabric, but the more shoppers move online and trust their computer screens to pick their latest fashions, the more it proves buyers could use a similar but perhaps better equipped system. Besides that, the growing trend of more brands adopting e-commerce on their own, challenges the role and importance of the buyers in general.
Opening of the two way street. For the last few decades fashion brands pushed the product at the consumer, shooting in the dark, praying for the support of fashion editors, and then hoping the consumers will listen. If consumers didn’t listen – there was always another season… In the age of social media brands finally have the opportunity to listen and adjust their product accordingly. By acquiring more Twitter followers, Facebook fans and subscribers, brands are basically building their own focus groups. These focus groups could be a huge advantage for smart brands who are willing to change dramatically the way they work and utilize consumer’s feedback into the product in the early stage. It could be as radical as designers sharing the sketches online and asking consumers for voting and feedback. This connects directly to the importance of building brand loyalty. Those who fear for their ideas to be stolen should focus on building a stronger brand following instead, so their customers will never buy a fake or look-alike somewhere else.
Whether some of these ideas turn reality or not, the fashion industry will be definitely witnessing metamorphosis in the next few years, and I’m curious to watch and document here the changes. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below or on Twitter @yuliz.
Ooh and the fantasy? The onslaught of celebrities front row began with Giorgio Armani in an early womens show – he flew Jacqueline Bisset over and that began the thing. Row One was for the Vogue editors, Marvin Traub (CEO of Bloomingdales), Joyce Ma … it was a nice place to be except that the photographers were in front of you: smoking, shooting, standing.
The press phoned in their stories and rolls of film were flown off. Some houses frowned on certain journalists and worried that the clothes would be knocked off before they could ship. Well, they were right.
The thing is that's the fantasy, some miasma between street and couture and perfume. It's simply not germane, beyond the nice sales potentially at H&M, Target, Gap, etc – they have as much to do with the world of fashion as staples and brooms do.
Should it be organized? Well, it is. It may not be what everyone wants but that's the joy of it. It's mad merchants and visionaries that run the business of fashion. I experienced it a little differently than what you're writing about.
Argue that buyers still need to see and touch the fabric? It's not an argument. There's an intrinsic value in fashion and frankly some of the value is not there. There's a mood to the collections, a bias dress can be sinuous or sleazy; a wool skirt can scratch or be as soft as cashmere. Focus groups? I don't think fashion can exist that way. That's for bad TV that a worried semi-executive can send off notes so maybe he/she can keep their job when it fails – they can show you that if only it had gone this or that way it would have been better.
Start up companies that are not interested in seducing buyers into the showroom, not just the runway, may be cute for a blogging second. That's not the deal. It's the hand, the cut, the mood.
Let the designers save some money on the shows and bouncers. The editors, the photographers, the buyers … well, it's de rigeur to do it and a damn pain to avoid a camera looking for Paris Hilton or Chris Brown.
The commercialization of clothing is a good thing. A nice Rodarte item from Target is amusing, a Comme des Garcons dress from H&M amusing – but that's splenda, not raw sugar. The creative force of fashion feeds the little cute things that ordinary businesses deal with. Nice, sometimes. But a hand turned hem, the indulgence of an extra yard or two for a true bias dress, hand-set zippers, fabrics that take some time to produce that … these are splendid things.
I'm not sure your comment that designers should build stronger brands and “their customers will never buy a fake or look-alike somewhere else.” From Hermes to Coach, there are copies and customers looking for a cheaper version, as though there was something inherently good in lower quality copies.
I quite liked a blog from BryanBoy which said something about most people in fashion (bloggers, editors, buyers) not having twenty years of experience. That's fine – I adore the raw energy and changes will come.
But there will always be Paris. Always …
I think it's good to consider where it's going, I really do. I think Nike, do your own shoe, and Levis, custom this and that, as well as reissues from designers as relevant as Manolo Blahnik and Yves Saint Laurent are showing that there is another way.
Great post! Forced into digital-friendliness, the future of fashion is bound to follow along the lines of music and news…where power roles are redefined because the people have as much of an influence on what’s buzz-worthy as the gatekeepers (networks vs. TMZ, glossies vs. bloggers, etc…).
However, unlike music and news, fashion products are subject to characteristics that depend largely on physical examination…sight, touch, and quality. Traditionally, people relied on the glossies and retail buyers to make these examinations for us, hence their power positions. But as more designers bypass the glossies, engage in social media, and open their own e-commerce, the question becomes TO WHAT DEGREE will the entire industry (designers, retailers, trade shows, glossies, etc…) integrate customers into their exclusive arena?
All I know is there’s no dominant answer for our designers at Madison Buyer, a designer portfolio platform. Though all are digital friendly, some choose to open their profiles to retail buyers only, while others choose to open to everyone. Either way, any viewer can share a brand’s cover page with friends & followers. For us, this seemed like a reasonable compromise while the industry continues to navigate uncharted territory and reconcile a b2b world that operates 6 months in advance with a b2c world that operates in real (digital) time.
I agree that the fashion world is headed the way of the music industry in the 90s, and the news industry of last decade. As things digitize information is thrown into democracy at the expense of oligarchy.
Personally I love the excitement of fashion shows and delight in glossy fashion magazines. I expect that as fashion shows get broadcast to larger and larger audiences through the internet they'll be able to receive more and more advertising sponsorship (and thus be able to flourish), but that magazines will continue to struggle with circulation and advertising revenues. Or perhaps they'll move to internet based reading devices such as the kindle, although I hope they don't.
I also agree (with another commenter) that buyers do indeed need close proximity to fabric in order to make an educated choice; however, I'm not sure that for them a runway show is the answer. How does seeing a piece of clothing on a size 0 stick-figure woman who represents maybe 5% of the adult female bodies in this world help them understand how that item of clothing will look on the remaining 95%?
Creative destruction is the name of the game, but the source is unique to each industry. I think one of the driving forces of this decade will be women who, as they become more and more familiar with parts of the fashion industry that were previously shrouded in exclusivity, will come to demand more representation in trends, on the runways, and in the glossies. The designers that are able to adapt to this are the ones that will be the most successful.
thanks so much for weighing in on the subject everyone, really excited to read different opinions!
Excellent post. I totally agree with you that there is no need to create staples every season. It would however, make sense to help the customer build her wardrobe when introducing new pieces. At Bluesuits our core customer are professional women who wear classic, timeless business attire but that have trouble finding perfect fitting, office appropriate pieces in the stores.
We keep our best selling items in our collection specially since each style in our collection is designed with the unique body shapes of women in mind.
Every season I would add more styles that our clients can wear with what they already may own. I would expand the collection by adding new colors or introducing new fabrication but it would always be something the customer can use to build or expand her wardrobe. I certainly don’t follow fashion trends but do follow life style trends of our core customer.
Enjoyed reading your post yuli,
fashion like a plastic just go on cycles, like what's in yesterday could be in again in few days..
fashion like a plastic just go on cycles, like what's in yesterday could be in again in few days..