When I published Fashion Goes Tech, retail was suffering the worst crisis ever: covid-19. Empty streets, no traffic, stores closed. In other words, no footfall, no conversion, no inventory turnover, frozen cash flows, no business. In a business like fashion, it also means that you are increasing inventories and reducing the probabilities of selling it … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digitalization in retail (1)
TFR: What is GFAIVE? Maria Makarova: At its core, GFAIVE is a company focused on simplifying the life of fashion brands and retailers. We built an AI SaaS Platform that combines elements of assortment planning, demand forecasting, and new model sales performance predictions. With the help of our solution, companies can grow their revenue steadily, … More A few words with Maria Makarova, Co-Founder and Strategy Director of GFAIVE
A few words with Nina Brener-Hellmund, Founder & CEO of Cult Mia Nina Brener-Hellmund (Nina): Raised between Mexico, Texas, and Switzerland, I was a global nomad growing up, always feeling like I could adapt to anything. I’ve always been happiest in environments that foster diversity and value an international perspective. Now 29 years-old and a … More A few words with Nina Brener-Hellmund, founder of Cult Mia
The Fashion Retailer‘s collaborations and network is growing! Since the blog was founded in 2017, we met, talked or chatted with amazing people, mostly executives and founders of fashion technology companies like Nextail, Heuritech or Zliide. Those essential conversations broaden my perspective on how technologies are making businesses more effective and were key when writing … More The Fashion Retailer Tech Ecosystem is growing
Last week, Brooke Roberts-Islam wrote “Zara Meets Netflix” (Forbes). In others words, a business model based on “speed-to-market (fast-fashion), customer centricity and excellent operations” meets the “platform economy”. The article mentions FINESSE, a startup that replaces designers and buyers with data, describing itself as “Zara meets Netflix”. The startup, that raised $4.5 million for AI … More Digital Fashion Platforms: Zara meets Netflix
While I was writing how technology is impacting the retail business (book to be published in the coming 2-3 months), a young entrepreneur from Danemark contacted me through LinkedIn asking for advice. Morten presented me what Zliide could offer to omnichannel players when it´s time to rethink stores and customer experience. I didn´t hesitate to … More A few words with Morten Mogelmose, co-founder and CEO of Zliide
Coronavirus is impacting our democracies, our economies, our individual and social behaviors… When it comes to fashion, the virus is showing how difficult is to manage a seasonal business in such volatile and uncertain environment. Covid is killing cash flows in one of the most inventory-intensive businesses. Values-led collaborations in the sustainable era When it … More Values-led collaborations in fashion
A few words with Rene Fang, iStaging CEO Rene Fang (RF) is the Chief Executive Officer of iStaging Corp. Previously, she held senior leadership positions at Financial and Capital Market companies across Asia and Taiwan building transformational companies and leading new initiatives. The last 2 years, she is leading iStaging to success at first as … More A few words with Rene Fang, CEO of iStaging
Two years ago, TFR included Heuritech as one of the AI startups that were taking the world of fashion by storm. The Paris-based company has been recognized by Vogue, BoF, Forbes, WWD, Elle and partners with Google Cloud, Microsoft AI Factory, NYFTL or La Maison des Startups (LVMH), just to mention a few. Fashion keeps … More A few words with Tony Pinville and Célia Poncelin, Heuritech´s founder and CMO
A few words with Shivang Desai and Chandralika Hazarika, founders of Bigthinx Shivang Desai (SD) is Bigthinx CEO/CTO. Indian. 34 years old. Studied MBA (Finance & Strategy) at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, USA. Shivang has previously founded three startups: one of the first drone manufacturers in India, a marketing and branding company for medical … More A few words with Shivang Desai and Chandralika Hazarika, founders of Bigthinx
Lauryn Vaughn was born in small town British Columbia and eventually moved to Calgary with her mom, who was a single at the time and also pursuing her Master’s Degree in Education. After high school, Lauryn enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Calgary and interned for Canadian fashion designer, Paul Hardy. … More A few words with The Upside Founder and CEO
William Bernal is the CEO and founder of VIPO Group, a new company that is changing the way people shop in-store and online. He was born in Colombia and moved to France almost two years ago, where he finished his master studies in image and signal processing. William is an electronic engineer with a great … More A few words with VIPO Group CEO and Founder
A few months ago, I interviewed AJ Mak, founder of Chain of Demand, a predictive analytics company that empowers the retail industry to maximize sales and minimize inventory waste with AI-driven sales predictions. Chain of Demand just launched COVID19 Retail Response Tracker that is meant to help businesses better prepare for the upcoming quarters. Retail … More COVID-19 Tracker for the Retail Industry
This article is the continuation of Coronavirus and Fashion (1/2), an overview of the short term strategy to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, the biggest challenge to face. Once the bleeding has stopped, companies will need to adapt their businesses for uncertain times. It will require anticipation, flexibility and agility. It’s time to breathe fresh air … More Coronavirus and Fashion (2/2)
As mentioned in Fashion Retail Safari, New Retail is about new processes, new analytical capabilities, innovation, technology, new store formats, …, that respond to digital generation trends such as experience, sustainability and authenticity. We live in very volatile times – weather extremes, political distruptions (e.g. Brexit) and public health threats (e.g. COVID-19) – and today, … More Tackling Fashion Industry’s Waste Problem
TFR latest post was a sociological perspective on Coronavirus, a virus that has the potential to destabilize the pillars of Modern Life. This is a global threat, the worst challenge since WWII, that will cause the first ever global recession (every country is impacted). Blocking the economy might cause rebellion too. Note that guns and … More Coronavirus and Fashion (1/2)
The aim of The Fashion Retailer blog has been to provide an updated overview of the creative and scientific approach to the business of Fashion, from design to operations. Fashion is a form of social expression, and today that millions of people are staying home because of the coronavirus disease, it’s time to make a … More Coronavirus, the biggest challenge to face
Platforms or conglomerates business models excel at optimizing resources and reduce financial risks (everything impact on financials such as over-stocking, slower lead-times…). It’s the story of “a basket of eggs or eggs in baskets”. Understanding what is the value proposition and leveraging your key resources and partners is crucial to grow in a sustainable way. … More Fashion Technology Platforms
As introduced in the previous post Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection, hyper-consumption and hyper-individualism enabled by technology in the phygital arena are offering customers infinite choices. It´s the long tail of brands and products that create the long tail of customers (from a mass/cebra target to YOU). Nowadays, some leading companies are already segmenting their … More Hyper-customization
Last week, I met a friend that works at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), a well-known design education center in Barcelona. We were discussing about how companies were redesigning their approach to customers’ journeys, and how students were helping them and the different collaboration projects in place. Design is not only about the functional aspect … More Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection
As reported by Bloomberg (November 2019), Nike is breaking up with Amazon and will stop selling its apparel and sneakers directly from Amazon’s site. “As part of Nike’s focus on elevating consumer experiences through more direct, personal relationships, we have made the decision to complete our current pilot with Amazon Retail,” the company said in … More Why Nike and Amazon are breaking up
Last May, the startup 3DLOOK won the third edition of LVMH Innovation awards. The benefits of artificial intelligence and augmented reality were discussed in previous posts, but technology is constantly improving and there is still a very important restriction when buying online: finding the right size. The goal is driving up conversions and reduce ecommerce … More Body Scanning in Fashion
Looking back to the latest retail news regarding sustainability and Fashion as a Service, and putting together the pieces of the puzzle, we could conclude that New Retail is a result of product-brand experience mixed by the changing patterns of consumption. Fresh could be different from new. Fashion customers are expecting products to be trendy … More Redefining the way we shop and consume
Proud to announce my first publication: FASHION RETAIL SAFARI, a personally curated selection on industry trends, insights and conversations with key opinion leaders that have been posted during 2019 on The Fashion Retail Blog. Fashion Retail Safari focuses on the following trending topics: General Thoughts about the Fashion Industry Customer Experience and Segmentation Fashion and … More Fashion Retail Safari on Amazon
Last 25th of October, I was guest speaker at Innovatours at the Movistar Center in Barcelona. The event revolved around Future Cities & Mobility, Food Innovation & Artisinal Food, Media & Creativity and Fashion. During Fashion Retail Safari, I introduced the main changes the fashion industry is facing, then went thru current trends and what … More Fashion Retail Safari @innovatours
A “Tech” exec to replace a “design” exec as Nike CEO… From Design to Technology When I started this blog the aim was to explain how the creative side – Fashion – merges with the scientific side – Retail – of the business of Fashion or Apparel. The Fashion Retailer Blog. A merge of Fashion … More Fashion pivots to Technology
Burberry announced recently a partnership with luxury resale site The RealReal, to promote circular economy in fashion and sustainability. Resale is a rising trend within the Fashion as a Service landscape. It’s about nownership and environmental consumption, contributing to increase product lifespan. Many legacy retailers are supporting circular economy, even fast-fashion brands selling to mass-market … More Legacy brands embrace fashion resale
Ramir De Porrata-Doria is based in Barcelona. In 1992 he majored in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). In 2000, he majored in Economics and Business Sciences, at the University of Barcelona. In 1997 he finished his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He specialized in radiofrequency technologies, remote sensing, and radar. Ramir is today … More A few words with Keonn co-founder and CEO
AJ Mak is 34 years old, raised in Hong Kong and Toronto, studied at Carnegie Mellon University in the US. Worked at one of the largest advertising companies – JWT – before spending 10 years in the apparel industry covering brand management, supply chain management, product development, and sales. Hobbies include basketball, snowboarding, photography and … More A few words with Chain of Demand founder
As Coresight Research commented on July, Recommerce and thrift shopping are going mainstream as consumers increasingly seek out value (both economic and ethics-based), clothing that expresses individuality and that is Instagrammable. Consumers are on both sides of the transaction, donating and consigning as well as purchasing. The desire to simplify and de-clutter is contributing to … More Resale Fashion goes mainstream
ITMA, the world’s largest international textile and garment technology exhibition, took place in Barcelona in June 2019. One of Europe’s largest denim producer, Candiani SpA has won the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award, held in conjunction with ITMA 2019. Its innovative product, Candiani Re-Gen is a ‘circular denim’ fabric created from regenerated and recycled raw materials. … More Sustainable Jeans
The Resale Fashion business should be considered in relation to the landscape of Fashion as a Service (FaaS), or how experience is getting over product ownership. In previous posts, TFR already introduced subscription boxes model and rental clothing including success cases such as The Trunk Club or Rent the Runway. When describing Circular Fashion, reuse … More Resale Fashion
Continuing Fashion as a Service – subscription boxes model previous post, the following article comments on rental clothing. Millennials are prioritizing experiences over tangible products. They want to feel the adrenaline but without ties, and the sharing economy is helping them to satisfy wider needs like sustainability. Millennial, born-digital companies, are understanding the Experience Economy, creating business … More Fashion as a Service (2)
Fashion as a Service (1/2) – Fashion Subscribtion Model Last month, I brought my DVD collection to a recycling drop off point. I owned more than one hundred DVDs including Matrix, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Metropolis, Ben Hur, The Lord of The Rings… Sadly, my collection has become e-waste, like cassette tapes and VHS, in … More Fashion as a Service (1)
In previous articles, we saw how companies are transforming the fashion business into a more sustainable ecosystem as new generations demand for sustainable products, including recycling and upcycling: Circular Economy in Fashion Sustainable Fashion Brands 3D Knitting in Fashion H&M Conscious Collection, Inditex Join Life or Green to Wear + and Adidas collab with Parley for the Oceans (trainers made from recycled ocean plastic) … More Adidas, walking for sustainability
Total Retail announced the 2019 top 100 Omnichannel Retailers ranking that reveals the list of publicly traded retailers and brands at the forefront of delivering the seamless cross-channel shopping experiences that consumers have come to expect. The top performers according to the report were Department Stores, with an average score of 7.35 for the brands within … More 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers by Total Retail
A retail love story: Macy´s embraces ephemeral experiences as part of their value proposition According to Coresight Research, in the US, year-to-date announced closures have exceeded the total recorded for the full year 2018. So far this year, US retailers have announced 5,994 store closures and 2,641 store openings. This compares to 5,864 closures and 3,239 openings for the full year 2018. Even … More Macy´s to launch new Story concept stores across the US
See Rose Go founders, Erin Cavanaugh and Yi Zhou, have over 40 years combined global fashion industry experience including premium brands, Nordstrom, Nike, Converse and American Eagle. Our experience is rooted in customer service, quality product creation and an innovative design process. Erin most recently led global omni-channel apparel product marketing and insight strategies under Nike, … More A few words with See Rose Go founders
Reviewing a list of hot topics and trends from 2015 onwards, fashion technology and sustainability are amongst the most popular ones. As commented in The Fashtech Ecosystem: Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Printing Augmented and Virtual Reality and Internet of Things are some of the technologies that are changing the way customers shop, interact with the product and brands. Sustainable and Meaningful Fashion Brands … More What if sustainability starts in your closet?
Millennials are driving companies to sustainable practices even if their business model is based on volume, low margins. New generations demand for sustainable products and a visible and transparent value chain: from “sheep to shop”, something that blockchain is already enabling. Another interesting trend to mention is nownership, or the end of ownership as repair and rental … More Circular Economy in Fashion