The Business of Fashion

Links: Crazy Robertson and Web 2.0

Wall Street Journal: In West L.A, A Homeless Man Inspires New Brand
Back in August when the BoF touched down in L.A. to poke around the lively local fashion scene, I witnessed a very interesting character twirling  down Robertson Boulevard in an outrageous outfit. Today, I read this article in the Wall Street Journal about the same gentlemen, who has inspired a range of t-shirts that are all the rage in the City of Angels.

Fashion Inc: Web 2.0 at the Luxury Briefing Conference
I had the full intention of attending all three of the London conferences this Autumn dedicated to the web 2.0 and luxury. Unfortunately, I am home-bound due to a nasty bout of Shingles (yes, really), and so was happy to see Lauren's as-it-happens report from today's conference.

WWD: What's Next for Fashion Networks (subscription required)
Even WWD is getting in on the social networking act, though they don't necessarily seem to "get it" just yet. They begin the article by saying it remains to be seen whether niche sites could grow as big as MySpace and Facebook. So, quick answer: Not likely at all. The most interesting insight was that Forrester Research says "16% of adults online belong to social networks and predicts that social media will increase in effectiveness in the next three years: In 2007, marketers spent $600m on social media and that figure is expected to more than double to $1.5b next year and rise to $6.9b by 2012.

Crazy Robertson photos courtesy of WSJ.com

Web 2.0: Etsy and Threadless pave the way

At a wedding I attended in Karachi last year, all of the guests received a parting gift from the bride's family. For the men, it was a beautiful dark brown wool satchel, festooned with colourful embroidery and handwork by talented Pakistani artisans. No two bags were alike so each guest received a one-of-a-kind gift which was rooted in symbolism and meaning.

All around the world, in the West and in the East, artists work away in cottage industries and small businesses rooted in the passion of making of beautiful things. And yet, it seems so many consumers' lives are dominated by just the opposite of this. We live in a world where global megabrands at the high-end and on the high street drown out the quiet beauty of products by independent artists and designers. Up until now, it has been a challenge for them to reach a global audience, due to their small scale and geographic constraints. And so the victory march of the big brands has continued on.

Enter revolutionary web 2.0 sites like Etsy.com and threadless.com, which could alter the way consumers think about luxury and exclusivity, thereby changing the design process as we know it. This forces us to ask ourselves a few questions.

Web 2.0: The industry takes notice

Cathy Horyn recently asserted that that London's fashion renaissance might be linked to the fact that the city is awash with cash. From Russian oligarchs to Arab princes to Indian billionaires, it's true that that London has become a playground for the world's rich and famous. Perhaps this is also why there are no less than three luxury conferences taking place in London over the next few months, each with some focus on the opportunity that web 2.0 technologies presents for the industry.

Next week, The Walpole Group hosts Tech Luxe: Web 2.0 and Beyond, a half day seminar to help companies learn how they can "reharness the creative power of technology." Speakers will include Nick Robertson of the innovative online fashion retailer asos.com.

Fashion 2.0: A cut, sew and blog above

When Malcolm Harris, one of the designers behind the Katsumi & Malcolm label which was once financially backed by Madonna, wanted to launch a new brand, he knew he needed to do something singularly different.

Harris is the man behind Cut, Sew & Blog which has got young fashion insiders and the blogosphere buzzing and is already spawning internet spoofs. By turning to web 2.0 technologies and using sites like Myspace and Youtube to promote his new label, Malcolm may be the first fashion designer ever to build his entire business strategy around the use of the Internet, as opposed to treating it as a cosmetic afterthought. He recently answered a few questions from the Business of Fashion to explain the rationale behind this strategy.

Online fashion retail: A party without the cool kids

Every week there are reports of new online fashion retailers, but some of the biggest names in the UK are noticeably absent from the space. Selfridges and Harvey Nichols have essentially no online fashion businesses to speak of, while the venerable Harrods is selling a heavily edited mix of its lower-priced collections, with an emphasis on accessories, knitwear and outerwear only.

All of this is even more surprising when you consider that many of the major American department stores, with similarly large profiles, have made heavy (and successful) pushes into the online space. Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Barney's all have online sites with a large fashion assortment for sale. What's more, many of the world's best known luxury brands say that their rapidly growing online boutiques are their number one or two retail sales generators, even more than their flagship stores in the world's fashion capitals.

Style.com: Sartorialising

WWD reports today that Style.com has concluded an agreement to sell advertising on the Sartorialist blog maintained by Scott Schuman, a former fashion industry staffer who left a fashion sales showroom to create one of the best known blogs in the fashion blogosphere.

Women's Wear Daily said:

A fashion label may get the best endorsement when its wares show up on a well-dressed city dweller photographed for fashion industry veteran Scott Schuman's popular blog The Sartorialist. But for those who want more direct brand promotion, Style.com and Men.style.com will begin to sell ads for Thesartorialist.blogspot.com beginning Sept. 1....

YSL: Interactive experimentation

For years now, the Yves Saint-Laurent brand has been a drag on the otherwise strong results posted by many other fashion brands in the Gucci Group, owned by parent-company PPR. Most recently, Bottega Veneta has been on a tear with strong financial results (eclipsing YSL's top line revenue in 2006) and a leading position in the luxury consumer league tables, making it the number two luxury brand in PPR's stable.

The story for YSL is a lot less fairytale, and a lot more Nightmare on Elm Street. The brand has not been profitable since Gucci Group purchased it in 1999 and is still reportedly losing around €50m a year. The brand turned over €194m in sales in 2006. PPR doesn't break out operating loss of YSL its website and has not provided a timeframe to investors for expected profitability.

Men's luxury: Time for an (arm)revolution?

That oft-ignored market for men's luxury has been popping up on my radar screen a lot more often in the last few months. Up until now, men's luxury spending has been dominated by expensive watches. But, as a generation of high net-worth men with a taste for modern design is growing up, more players are reaching out to meet their sophisticated needs in innovative ways.

It brings to mind a casual gathering of friends that took place in my kitchen on a recent Saturday evening. Over wine and cheese, I watched in awe as hedge fund managers, private equity investors and investment bankers from London's burgeoning financial community were comparing, discussing and examining each other's (expensive) watches in excruciating detail. Some were taking pride in the beautiful pearl dialfaces, others in the high-tech mechanics, and still others in having a Swiss watch brand that nobody else had heard of. Digits were exchanged. Prices were quoted. Statistics were cited. Still, it wasn't so different from the groups of professional women I have seen cooing over their friend's new Chloe bag. Could the same passion for those watches and handbags be transferred to cufflinks, tailor-made suits and high-tech men's cosmetics?

Cathy Horyn: Video on the Runway

It seems every few weeks I come across some interesting quotes from or video clips of Cathy Horyn of the New York Times. As one of the first major fashion critics to pen a regular blog, it's not surprising that she believes in the importance of blogging to the fashion industry. Regular readers know that this is a recurring topic on the BoF, especially after what I heard from some industry people at the Harvard Business School Retail and Luxury Conference earlier this year.

This is a video I came across where Julie Fredrickson of Coutorture attempts to interview Ms. Horyn on the topic of Web 2.0 and fashion. I use the word "attempts" intentionally. As you will see, by the end of the interview, Cathy's journalistic instincts come out and she can't resist turning the tables on Julie and ends up asking about her experience in (not) gaining access to shows at New York Fashion Week. The video pre-dates the launch of Cathy's blog at the New York Times, On the Runway, but many of its key messages still ring true. 

Prada: A lookbook to inspire

People talk about Miuccia Prada as an intellectual designer. Up there with Martin Margiela, Dries van Noten and Rei Kawakubo, Ms. Prada is a heavyweight in the world of conceptual fashion. Season after season she manages to surprise and inspire the notoriously critical and fickle fashion crowd.

What's less cool to talk about is Miuccia Prada's knack for marrying the creative with the commercial. No other designer seems to be as able to take the most high-falutin' catwalk looks and translate them into a commercial product in the showroom. For Prada and her infamous husband Patrizio Bertelli, "commercial" is not a dirty word. Buyers rave about Prada's ability to provide the right balance between the consistent core items that form the foundation for her collection as well as the on-trend items that push the brand's creative ideas forward. In more ways than one, she is a leader not a follower.

How cool it was then for me to see this stunning lookbook for Prada's S/S 2007 collection, which once again strikes this inimitable creative-commercial balance. So many lookbooks are just boring shots of androids- cum-models with a white backdrop. Often, the logic behind this is that its best to let the clothes speak for themselves and allow buyers to focus on editing. Instead, Prada has seamlessly combined this season's vibrant rich colour palette, key pieces and trends  (fringe bags, turbans, ruffled leather and pared-down chic), landscape and cityscape images reflecting the global footprint of her brand, and seamlessly integrated these with runway looks to deliver a strong message about what she might have been thinking as she conceived of her collection.  The technique she used reminded me of the recent Gilbert and George exhibition put on at the Tate Modern, where everyday photos were infused with saturated colours and political messages.

For someone who honestly was a big fan of neither the turban nor the fringe, she somehow makes it work for me. The products look completely different now because Ms. Prada has let us into her amazing little head.

Photos courtesy of the Prada website.

© 2007 Copyright Imran Amed - The Business of Fashion.