Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 1/2

Following with Fashion business strategy and operations insights from Fashion Goes Tech, my latest book on how technology is empowering retail businesses. Today, we move forward across the value chain phases within the business of fashion: Planning. Charles Higgins Kepner said that successful merchandising incorporates the 5Bs: “the right product, in the right place, at … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digital Transformation in Fashion (4) – part 1/2

Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (3)

A few months ago, TFR commented about the merchandise lifecycle and how retailers, specially apparel ones, deal with stock managament. Following the value chain process, this article aims to describe one of the main areas within the business of fashion: Designing. Designing (part 1/2) The Design Department is probably the most creative area within the … More Fashion Goes Tech: Digitization in Retail (3)

Retailtainment and Enterprise Ecosystems

Last week, I listened to an interesting podcast from Business of Fashion: 10 Retail Archetypes of the Future featuring Dough Stephens. Stephens is a Canadian futurist, keynote speaker, author and business advisor on the future of retailing and consumerism. He also founded Retail Prophet. These are some compelling insights from the podcast: SHORT VERSUS LONG TERM Last year, during the … More Retailtainment and Enterprise Ecosystems

How to deal with Planning Volatility in Fashion: New Marketing Merchandise Calendar

As described in Fashion Goes Tech, my latest book, retail hasn’t changed much in the last century but, over the last 20 years, digitization has drastically transformed the way companies do business and how customers shop. Retail was already facing the digital challenge when Covid-19 unexpectedly forced a shortening of the “adaption deadline” (Fashion Goes … More How to deal with Planning Volatility in Fashion: New Marketing Merchandise Calendar

Influencer Brands

Digital era, the long tail, streetwear, social media, pure players, business platforms, influencers, liquid design… these are some of the ingredients for cooking this article… Global volatility, from geopolitics to social instability, is the new normal. Companies in all industries need to adapt the way they manage their businesses in an ever changing landscape. Agility … More Influencer Brands

Values-led collaborations in fashion

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

Urban Fashion Deserts?

Dollar Stores, Urban Deserts, Sustainability and Black Lives Matter I’ve been following Dollar Stores (Retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells them at discounted prices, sometimes at one or several fixed price points, such as one dollar – Wikipedia) … More Urban Fashion Deserts?

Hyper-customization

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

Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection

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

New Retail: Curated Fashion Boutiques

Last March, I described how fashion retail will change its store format strategy. As an example, I explained how grocery retailers where segmenting their store formats (hypermarket, supermarket and neighborhood stores) to respond to different shopping occasions. In grocery, shopping area and assortment are aligned, from a wide and deep assortment in large stores, to … More New Retail: Curated Fashion Boutiques

Fashion as a Service (2)

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)

A few words with See Rose Go founders

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

Luxury and Fashion Corporations

The Fashion Luxury Industry, like other industries, has seen the rise of big corporations such as LVMH or Kering. Some luxury goods conglomerates are more diversified than others. LVMH portfolio, for example, includes high-end brands in the categories of wines & spirits, fashion & leather goods, perfumes & cosmetics, watches & jewelry, selective retailing (e.g. Sephora) … More Luxury and Fashion Corporations

The Fashion Pyramid of brands

Many fashion retailers define their strategy starting from their value proposition and key positioning levers (assortment, price, experience, speed, channels…) to differentiate themselves from competition. It’s part of their DNA but also define their purpose and business model. The segmentation of fashion brands is illustrated on a pyramid where the more expensive brands are on … More The Fashion Pyramid of brands

Bonobos. Fit for every man

Bonobos launches a new extended sizing line to include bigger/taller men, continuing their natural customer-centric business approach focused on better-fitting menswear. Founded by Brian Spaly (also founder of Trunk Club) and Andy Dunn, Bonobos is a menswear brand offering the perfect fit pants, a personal guideshop and customer service Ninjas. • Perfect fit: The objective … More Bonobos. Fit for every man

Nike´s new retail approach: curated stores

Nike recently opened its first new concept store: Nike by Melrose, in Melrose Avenue (LA). The retail approach is brand new and takes into account the latest trends in fashion such are customization, localized assortment and omnichannel. In this store, product (footwear and apparel) mix is unique and exclusive, different from other Nike stores, and … More Nike´s new retail approach: curated stores

Amazon Storefronts

The Curated Hyper-Segmentation era is here The Long Tail illustrates how traditional business based on Blockbuster, built under massive media, celebrities, mass-market products, Hollywood, MTV, have lost their strength and even disappeared. The Pareto principle resulted in a global mainstream, clone society: a Zebra Society (Zebra as a metaphor for a non-differentiated, extremely homogeneous society), empowered … More Amazon Storefronts

H&M uses Artificial Intelligence to optimize the assortment

Fashtech, phygital, omnichannel, hybrid retail…I´m sure that sociolinguistics are happy to think about new words to describe Fashion 4.0 and the omnichannel era. It´s seems creativity is everywhere.  But as a Sociologist, I can confirm that our society is evolving faster than wording, and we will see many other attributes to describe some of the … More H&M uses Artificial Intelligence to optimize the assortment

Niche fashion is the new black for investors

Who says retail is dead? It´s the retail apocalypse for many department stores or fashion retailers in USA that couldn´t manage their different channels and pricing…but Supreme is the example of retail excellence in the Millenials era. An era where niche players have the power as I wrote in the Fashion retail long tail. According … More Niche fashion is the new black for investors

The Fashion Retail Value Chain Revolution

The Evolution of Supply Chain in the Fashion Industry Traditional Supply Chains are based on made-to-stock model, economies of scale and mass-production. This model is unidirectional and sequential. Companies have a concept, then design, plan, produce, stock, stock, stock, distribute….and somewhere you will find the customer. Nowadays, Supply Chain has totally changed into a platform, … More The Fashion Retail Value Chain Revolution

Le Tote, fashion based on customer data

Millennials are prioritizing experiences over tangible products. More than 75% of Millennials would choose to spend money on an experience over buying a product (Harris Group study – 2016). More than that, the experience is not based on onwnership, but on NOwnership.  They (we) want to feel the adrenaline but without ties, and sharing economy … More Le Tote, fashion based on customer data

Fast Fashion, the art of liquidity

The Fashion disruption Polish-born sociologist Zigmunt Bauman described our modern life as “liquid modernity“, where change is occurring more and more rapidly. Social entities are flexible, plastic. “Each new structure which replaces the previous one as soon as it is declared old-fashioned and past its use-by date is only another momentary settlement – acknowledged as temporary … More Fast Fashion, the art of liquidity

Diversification and Segmentation in Fashion retail

Many brands have evolved into groups that focus on different customer profiles. On the one hand, we have companies such as GAP, H&M, Inditex, Mango, Armani…that are focus on many segments in order to respond to different income, gender, style (e.g. COS vs H&M), size (e.g. Violeta by Mango) or categories (e.g. beauty, homewear) profiles. … More Diversification and Segmentation in Fashion retail

Maslow, evolution and Luxury Fashion

Consultants like tables, diagrams and charts… Fashion is not a science (some might disagree…) but using this “figure” makes easier to understand and organize something so complex as “needs”. Maslow was an American psychologist and was best-known for creating in 1943 the hierarchy of needs, or Maslow’s pyramid. As I said, using a pyramid is … More Maslow, evolution and Luxury Fashion