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#2/2016
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH SOMETIMES." SARAH ANDELMAN, FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR COLETTE PARIS
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As Direct as it Gets! Why Online Makes Stationary Retailers Better /// True: Communication is Everything. Also true: Everything is Communication! /// Impulse Generators or Scroungers? How Bloggers Change the Rules /// We've Been Doing it for 120 Years! Curated Shopping is the DNA of Specialised Retailers
contempoRARy fAshion tRAde show
28 - 30 June 2016 ARenA BeRlin
www.seekexhiBitions.com
002 EDITORIAL
Anything but Blah-Blah
Cover photo: Markus Pritzi
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Welcome to these lines. Oh yes, we are immensely proud to have the media-shy Sarah Andelman on the cover (The Longview, from page 020) of an edition focusing on communication. Three cheers to Markus Ebner in Paris, who managed to gain the trust of the Colette owner and led this truly exciting interview before everything changed. Well, before everything changed a little. Burberry is no longer a magical term that merely stands for the famous check pattern, but is now also symbolic of the courage to face the inalienable truth that the fashion industry’s timing in terms of communication and marketing needs to be re-aligned. Markus Ebner went on the prowl once more in the midst of the order season to obtain another statement by the most sought-after buyer in Europe. When he finally managed to meet up with her in the Loewe showroom, her statement on a development that many classify as game-changing couldn’t have been cooler: “If Burberry approaches us with a good idea to implement See Now/Buy Now, then we’d be happy to do it. If it takes someone like J.W. Anderson six months to get his bags and clothing into my store, then that’s perfectly fine too. The main thing is that the promised delivery deadlines are met.” What enables her to do that? Colette has transformed into a global mega-brand in its own right and no longer needs to give a damn about the industry’s sensitivities. This is an approach that is being adopted by most upscale retailers, as Nicoletta Schaper proves in her article about the “Burberry question” (Game-Changing? No. Focusing!, from page 070). Despite all the deliberations about how one should communicate with customers in an environment subject to amended rules, a pinch of the good old gut feeling doesn’t go amiss. This gut feeling brings to the fore what we had almost forgotten in all the euphoria surrounding new means of communication: personality is all-important (As Direct as It Gets, from page 038). The same applies to the online world, by the way. The
trend of curated shopping is swiftly becoming a standard that draws its inspiration from the virtues of the stationary retail industry: direct customer contact, advice, and fulfilling desires. Fashion retailers all over the country are much better at the aforementioned than any global conglomerate that ponders delivering parcels with drones. Admittedly, individual retailers have already lost the logistics battle before it even started, but people-oriented retailers enjoy a number of advantages over robot-like drones. Let them deliver their subscriptions to 5-packs of black socks. Making people happy is the business model that leads the way forward, according to Martina Müllner’s interviewees (Return my Heart, from page 042). Today, communication needs to encourage people to get up from their sofas and to motivate them to go shopping in the first place. This is a fairly difficult task to accomplish, which is proven by all recent customer frequency studies. Which media channels allow you to reach those sofa dwellers? Quynh Tran and his interviewees arrive at an exciting mixture of the old and new (Old Paper and New Paper, from page 058). Lo and behold, the good old magazine still holds its place in the minds of the millennials. You, dear readers, have been aware of this for a long time. There is a very good reason why you - despite all the information you can access - are holding the latest issue of style in progress in your hands. Take your time to immerse yourself in a topic that is very close to our hearts: a selection of labels that break with the classic pre-order rhythm by offering highly innovative models (Real Time Fashion, from page 078). Enjoy your read! Your style in progress team
Erratum: Our 1/16 issue erroneously attributed the cover photo to Clemens Kois. However, the photo was taken by Raoul Beltrame during a photo shooting for Lardini in New York. We humbly apologise for this error on our part.
duvetica.it
004 CONTENT
002 EDITORIAL
Anything but Blah-Blah
008 RIGHT NOW 020
THE LONGVIEW 020 “I find it embarrassing for a brand when this celeb culture becomes more important than fashion” Sarah Andelman is Colette. The workaholic, who is known to be media-shy, speaks openly with Markus Ebner
WHAT’S THE STORY COMMUNICATION 028 Everything is Communication Why questions are often more important than answers – by Stephan Huber 030 Just Talk! Many players, many opinions – why communication is the answer to all questions 038 As Direct As It Gets Customer communication with modern means and a lot of personality 038
042 Return my Heart The stationary retail industry starts to catch up online 045 “Only Top Level Service Impresses Customers” Outfittery’s Julia Bösch on new challengers and shared virtues 046 Bloggers – Impulse Generators, Scroungers, or Something Completely New Chiara Ferragni & Co – what’s behind the hype 050 It’s Trade Show Time On the role of showmanship and showboating 053 Bread & Butter for Consumers Premiere in September: Zalando invites consumers to its trade show 054 No Guts, No Glory Johan Lindeberg on good advertising with one voice 058 Old Paper and New Paper Digital address vs. alleged old communication channels
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062 A Classic in Expansion Mode The Gingham shirt is merely one facet – Ben Sherman realigns itself
006 CONTENT
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064 WANT IT
FASHION 070 Game-Changing? No. Focusing! Catwalk shows in the rhythm of consumers? The question of all questions… 074 “Clinging to Old Structures is the Wrong Way” Inked’s Nicole Doleh on summer goods in winter and the death of sales
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078 Real Time Fashion Labels that break with classic pre-order rhythms – a best-of 084 New Widths The silhouette is changing – it’s about time
IN STORE 094 Impeccable Sense for Timing Schwarzhogerzeil/Berlin 096 Appreciation Freistil/Bad Salzuflen 098 The Great Gatsby Abseits/Stuttgart 100 The Fashion Improver Yuta Powell/New York
102 EDITOR’S LETTER Magic Words 094
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102 ABOUT US
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Hydrogen x Duvetica Limited Edition
Van Laack The Masterpiece In time for this year’s 135-year anniversary, Van Laack has decided to launch a new 60-piece collection for men under the promising title “Van Laack Masterpiece”. The designers delved into the brand’s in-house archives and unearthed a variety of shirt patterns and fabric books from the 1920s. They not only found countless lovingly hand-crafted details in these archives, but also rather amazing cut structures. These structures guarantee a perfect fit and an optimum of wearing comfort despite the shirts’ slimmer silhouettes. One example of these details is the fact that the sleeves are sewn circumferentially. The aim of the new masterpiece collection is to revive craft traditions and implement them while creating a modern, contemporary product. Handled eyelet buttonholes and fell seams with extra-delicate hems, hand-stitched armhole and shoulder seams, and - as the icing on the cake - hand-sewn shirt gussets guarantee a truly high-class product experience. In addition, the newly developed tailor collar is adorned with Van Laack’s typical three-hole button, which is made from the nacre of deepwater snails known as Trocas. The exclusively developed materials made from the finest 120 ply yarns are sourced from traditional weavers in Switzerland and northern Italy. Hand-crafting a masterpiece shirt takes approximately three times longer than manufacturing a conventional high-quality shirt. The core retail price ranges from 169 to 199 Euros. The masterpiece collection is distributed selectively via upscale specialised retailers and the brand’s own stores. www.vanlaack.com
Common cause: Duvetica manufactures the jacket designed by Hydrogen.
Duvetica, an Italian jacket specialist, has teamed up with Hydrogen, a luxury sportswear brand, to launch a limited edition for the autumn/winter collection of 2016/17. Alberto Bresci, the designer at Hydrogen, created a classic Duvetica down jacket for women and men with a black all-over camouflage pattern. The jacket also dons Hydrogen’s classic skull logo on its sleeve. “My idea was to design a particularly exclusive Hydrogen down jacket. We chose Duvetica as a co-operation partner, because it is an Italian company with great expertise in terms of the production of high-quality jackets. The result of our collaboration is a cool and aesthetic goose down jacket made from outstanding materials”, Alberto Bresci explains. Hydrogen has collaborated with other brands since its inception in 2003. The list of co-operation partners include household names such as K-Way, Superga, Fiat, MV Augusta, Lotus, Lamborghini, and Alfa Romeo. “It was an extraordinary experience for us to share our own understanding of innovation, quality, and our ‘no-logo’ philosophy with Hydrogen, which is such a creative Italian brand with a strong visual appearance”, says Stefano Rovoletto, the co-founder of Duvetica. The limited edition is distributed via selected multi-brand stores and via the two brands’ own stores. www. hydrogen.it, www.duvetica.it
Nobrand’s Superlova model is available in black, ivory white, and red.
Nobrand DJ Kicks
A truly unique product experience: Van Laack’s masterpiece shirts are completely hand-crafted.
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For most DJs, it is a long journey from starting off as a newcomer to being a resident in one of Ibiza’s hottest clubs. If this is the dream, it certainly can’t harm to hone your skills with celebrity support. From the 1st to the 21st of July 2016, “Burn”, the energy drink from the stable of the Coca-Cola Company, turns its attention to the Balearic island, which plays host to the 8th edition of “Burn Residency”, a popular contest involving the most promising DJ talents. Over the last few years, the young DJs were supported and trained by international stars from the music business, such as Avicii, David Guetta, Fatboy Slim, or Carl Cox. Nobrand, a Portuguese footwear brand, once again equips both the boot-camp participants and the DJ royalties with its Superlova sneakers for their respective sets and the subsequent tour. The sneakers not only provide the common style element, but also a perfect mix of fashion and technology. The LED lighting elements in the transparent soles of the premium leather sneakers are capable of glowing or blinking constantly for several hours. The power source for the lighting elements is also incorporated in the soles and can be re-charged via a USB port. www.nobrand.pt
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Active reparation: denim expert François Girbaud at work.
François Girbaud & NDL Naveena Clean Jeans
©Plant-for-the-Planet
During the Texworld trade show in Paris in February, NDL Naveena Denim Ltd, a Pakistani denim manufacturer, and François Girbaud, a French designer, officially announced their intention to develop an environmentally friendly fabric collection. “In the past, when we developed techniques such as stone washing, sanforising, or the chemical treatment of jeans, we weren’t aware of the consequences for the environment and future generations”, Girbaud explains. “Back then, I made a huge mistake and contributed to destroying our planet. We didn’t know better then, but today we do.” Girbaud started dedicating his life to the development of more sustainable techniques for finishing jeans. One example is a laser technique called watt washing, which utilises light instead of chemicals to simulate the ageing process. “I can’t turn back time, but I want to spend my last active years making amends and I found the perfect partner in NDL Naveena”, the designer explains. NDL Naveena is one of the world’s most respected denim manufacturers and is the supplier of many renowned denim brands. As a fully integrated fabric supplier, the Pakistani company attaches great importance to the use of BCI cotton or recycled Repreve Yarn when it develops new materials. “We need to invest in the future by training our employees and procuring the best equipment for spinning, weaving, and refining the fabrics”, says Masood Riaz, the owner and president of NDL Naveena Denim Ltd. Rashid Iqbal, the executive director of NDL, perceives the collaboration with François Girbaud as a logical step in the right direction: “We share a vision. Together with François Girbaud, we will reinvent denim in accordance with our own corporate philosophy. To this end, we are currently developing very prestigious techniques that no longer require the use of water and chemicals.” The new fabric collection will be presented on the 18th and 19th of May 2016 during the Denim Premiere Vision in Barcelona. www.naveenagroup.com
Marc O’Polo Big Step with Little Helpers At the end of April, the Marc O’Polo Foundation, located in the company headquarters in the Bavarian town Stephanskirchen, organised a “Plant for the Planet Academy” for children. The aim of the event was to introduce kids to the topics climate protection and sustainability in a fun way. The “Plant for Planet Academy”, which is based on the idea of 9-year-old Felix Finkbeiner, was launched in 2007. Back then, he suggested that one could balance CO2 levels if children in every country plant one million trees. The idea has long turned into a global movement in more than 100 countries with more than 100,000 participating kids, including the many little helpers in Stephanskirchen. The event was open to children between 9 and 12 years of age. In addition to the symbolic planting of saplings, the academy offered exciting lectures. The children also learned how to give speeches themselves and were introduced to practical tips for everyday use. This allows the kids to contribute to environmental protection. The worldwide “Plant for Planet Academies” are an officially recognised element of the “UN Decade of Sustainable Development” and are recommended by the Ministry for Environment and Nature Protection. The Marc O’Polo Foundation hopes to deploy many little ambassadors for climate protection to families, schools, and circles of friends. This will hopefully change the world’s view on the issue gradually. www.marc-o-polo.com, www.plant-for-the-planet.org The Marc O’Polo Foundation organised a “Plant for the Planet Academy” in April.
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Liu Jo Second Store in Munich Liu Jo’s retail expansion is progressing well. In November last year, the label opened a store in Amsterdam. At the beginning of April, it added another one in Paris. The German-speaking markets have always been strategically important for the Italian womenswear brand. This is why Liu Jo decided to open a second store in Munich, located in Theatinerstrasse 33, on the 24th of March 2016. The first store is located in Munich’s Hofstatt district. The new shop, situated in an elegant shopping street in the heart of the Bavarian metropolis, boasts 200 square metres of sales area spread out over three floors. Champagne coloured laminate panels on the walls and a noble resin floor with inlays act as exclusive highlights within a representative interior concept. The new store’s minimalist interior design is based on the brand’s typical Curiosity retail concept, which is defined by straightforward and clean product presentation. In addition to the pre-collection, Liu Jo Collection, Liu Jo Jeans, Liu Jo Accessories, Liu Jo Shoes, and Les Cocktails de Liu Jo, the label also offers licensed products such as jewellery, sunglasses, and fragrances. Liu Jo’s third German store is located in the Mall of Berlin. www.liujo.com
Since its foundation in 1962, Havaianas has been spreading Brazilian spirit around the globe.
Havaianas Limited Edition with Liberty London
Glamorous style world: Liu Jo brings the flair of Capri to the banks of the Isar river.
L’Officiel and Think Inc. Well-Rounded Last January, during the Premium trade show, L’Officiel, a fashion and luxury lifestyle magazine, and Think Inc., a full-service agency, implemented a fashion shooting as a holistic communication concept. On various sets spread out over the “Station Berlin” area and at the booths of participating brands (such as Superga, Ash, American Vintage, Invicta, Tiger of Sweden, and Lili Radu), photographer Katja Wik and stylist Peninah Amanda set the “Contemporary Style” looks of autumn/winter 2016 in scene. “We connect individual contact points, thereby creating a chain of communication. We allow our partners to participate, but, at the same time, we create awareness for our magazine”, says Alexander Kratz, publisher sales at L’Officiel Germany. The project was celebrated with a get-together at Galeries Lafayette, one of the retail partners. Think Inc.’s Holger Petermann, the initiator of the project, summarises: “The launch was a resounding success and created avid interest during the Premium trade show. As always at the start of a project, one simply has to believe in it and then go ahead and implement it. We are looking forward to the autumn edition of L’Officiel and, naturally, to the next collaborations with the Premium trade fair and Galeries Lafayette.” www.thinkinc.de
The capsule collection titled “Liberty loves Havaianas” consists of five floral patterns that are typical for Liberty. The patterns date back to the 1960s and were selected from the 43,000 print samples in Liberty’s in-house archives. In addition to the famous sandals, the product range includes espadrilles, beach bags, and towels. Scott Tepper, the purchasing manager at Liberty, explains: “Sharing our cultural heritage and fashion approach with a global brand such as Havaianas was a very inspiring process. The result is a collection of colourful and wearable products with re-worked Liberty prints.” The new offices in Düsseldorf’s “Medien-Hafen” are Havaianas’ headquarters for the German-speaking markets. The master showroom allows the brand to showcase its collections and offer re-orders all year round. Sven Kunze, the country manager for Germany and Austria, says: “In 2015, we sold 250 million pairs of Havaianas worldwide. The EMEA region, which includes Germany and Austria, is the strongest growth market. We managed to increase revenue by 55% from 2014 to 2015 in Germany and Austria alone. Our best performing products include models such as Brasil, Top, and the Slim lines. Seasonal prints and models with high-end metal logos are particularly popular among women. In the future, we expect strong growth in the closed sandals segment of the women’s footwear range.” www.havaianas-store.com, www.liberty.co.uk New means of communication attracted the interest of both buyers and brands during the Premium trade show in Berlin.
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Photo by Irene Schaur
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Select Trading Moving With The Times With the collections Tiger of Sweden and By Malene Birger, Select Trading, a fashion agency owned by Bernard Waage, has adapted the delivery dates to meet the demands of the market. The pre-autumn/winter collection will be delivered in May and June instead of April, while the pre-spring/summer collection will only be delivered in November and December. The main collection for the summer will reach its customers from February onwards. With these adjustments, Select Trading responds to climate-induced shift of demand. As of the 1st of April, the fashion agency is the representative of Humanoid, a Netherlands-based brand which has already gained a foothold in the upscale contemporary fashion segment. Humanoid strives to strengthen its high-end positioning by focusing on its knitwear competence. Since the spring/ summer season of 2016, Select Trading has - in co-operation with the fashion agency Aco Modern - acted as distributor of Rebecca Minkoff, a US brand offering accessories, activewear, and shoes. As of autumn/winter 2016/17, the brand portfolio also includes Scandinavian Edition, a Norwegian collection which specialises in fashionable outerwear. The retail prices of the latter range from 400 to 650 Euros. Labels: By Malene Birger, Garment Project, Hudson Shoes, Humanoid, John Varvatos, MDK, Munthe, Rebecca Minkoff, Scandinavian Edition, Tiger Jeans, Tiger of Sweden Select Trading GmbH, Munich and Düsseldorf/Germany, Zurich/Switzerland, info@select-trading.com, www.select-trading.com
Select Trading has adjusted the delivery dates to the need of its customers with among others - the collections by Tiger of Sweden. Room Nine Agency continues its success with the brand C.P. Company.
Room Nine Agency On Course For Success Torsten Müller, the owner of the fashion agency, is particularly satisfied with the first three seasons of C.P. Company, which managed to get listed at reference customers such as Breuninger, Braun, Ansons, and members of Masculin Modekreis. The Flip Flop brand also scores high with its design philosophy and by staying true to its roots. It offers customers a comprehensive stock programme with 24 colours for women, men, and children. The new additions to the agency’s brand portfolio include Pajar Canada, a jacket collection from Montreal. The label offers windproof and waterproof down jackets made from innovative materials. The jacket collection allows expeditions to climate zones with -40 degrees, but is equally at home in an urban environment. Another newcomer is New Lily Paris, a young and feminine real-time fashion line with an excellent price-performance ratio and a fast collection rhythm. The third addition is Blake Seven, a Netherlands-based casual t-shirt collection with funny and witty sayings and prints. Labels: Blake Seven, C.P. Company, Deyk Pants, Flip Flop, Minnetonka, New Lily Paris, Pajar Canada, Pierre Cardin Woman Room Nine Agency, Düsseldorf/Germany, torsten.mueller@roomnineagency.de, www.roomnineagency.de
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CP Fashion News From The US
Premium jeans from the US: Ström is the latest addition to CP Fashion’s portfolio.
The latest addition to CP Fashion’s portfolio is Ström, a design-oriented contemporary collection created by Erika Strömqvist in the US. In addition to jackets, shirts, and tops, the label offers leather and fabric trousers, as well as an extensive range of denim clothing. All items are manufactured exclusively in the US. “The premium segment currently has a demand for trousers with an excellent price-performance ratio and retail prices ranging from 189 and 249 Euros. Ström’s trousers impress with up-todate silhouettes, good fits, and high-quality looks. Furthermore, we can supply a compact range of very contemporary shirts, blouses, tops, and jackets”, says Reinhard Oberstein, the managing director of the fashion agency. CP Fashion can look back at a highly successful appearance at the Curvy Is Sexy trade show, an event that focuses on plus-size fashion. The agency will continue to expand the market presence of Silver Jeans, a brand from Canada. Labels: Articles of Society, Chaser, Debbie Katz, Greywire, LA Gang, Michael Stars, Robin’s Jeans, Silver Jeans Co., Soia & Kyo, Ström CP Fashion, Bad Säckingen, Düsseldorf and Munich/Germany, info@cpfashion.de, www.cpfashion.de
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Aco Germany Just the Product In addition to a modern fashion portfolio, Michael Schulz strives to establish a new area in his Düsseldorf-based showroom for the new season. “The new area focuses on mono-products that are individual and available immediately without burdening the retail industry with new minimum budgets”, Michael Schulz explains. “We call this new area ‘Concept Products’. It houses everything from product-driven projects to high-end fast fashion within an emotionalised shop concept.” The first successful product is The Liquidhealth Company, a tea concept that developed its own special tea flavours for its own launch. “The KaDeWe, as well as other concept and department stores, are planning to organise events with our tea sommelier”, Michael Schulz reveals. The portfolio also includes Bison Natural Authentic, a Düsseldorf-based sustainable furniture label that offers sofas and fur stools made from high-quality, natural materials, as well as Chalet Affair, a furniture and accessories line renowned for its particularly high quality of materials. Images by photographers, such as Düsseldorf-based Frank Dursthoff, as well as fashionable mono-products, such as blouses by Concept Products and bags by Munich-based label Any Di, complement the range. Labels: AnneClaire, Concept Products, Dsquared Underwear, Ebony&Ivory, Fortemente Luca, Fracomina, Fusalp, Hydrogen, Iceberg, Just Cavalli, Lab Pal Zileri, L’Arianna, Moschino Underwear, Ora, Parosh, Peuterey, Pinko, Rebecca Minkoff, Seventy, Superjeans of Sweden, Space Style Concept, Stefano Mortari, Tara Jarmon, Thomas Wylde, Versace Collection, Versace Underwear, Vertige Aco Modeagentur, Düsseldorf/Germany, info@acomode.de, www.acomode.de Concept Products is a new segment introduced by Aco Germany and presented as a showroom within a showroom.
Die Hinterhofagentur Top-Service via Ware house Die Hinterhofagentur, a fashion agency based in Munich, has once again encouraged its collections to offer customers a maximum of flexibility and service by providing extensive and professional warehouse management concepts. This approach has already proven its worth. The Breco’s brand can, for instance, deliver re-orders within four working days due to its comprehensive, well-stocked seasonal warehouse. Dominik Meuer was very pleased with the initial sale results. The womenswear collection by Des Petits Hauts and the jacket range by Cape Die Hinterhofagentur relies upon Horn also offer the opportunity Des Petit Hauts’ extensive wareto re-order via excellent stock house management programme. programmes. In this context, Cape Horn focuses primarily on the light-weight down segment. The agency’s team is also very satisfied with the repeat order capability of 0039 Italy’s range of men’s shirts. The agency has represented the latter successfully for two seasons. Wool & Co recently launched a new B2B web shop, which allows customers to re-order goods directly. “We have noticed that an increasing number of our customers want goods to be delivered closer to the time they are actually sold. For example, they prefer to receive the goods for autumn/winter at the beginning of September rather than in July. This is a development that we welcome”, Dominik Meuer, the owner of the agency, says. Labels: 0039 Men, BOB, Breco’s, Cape Horn, Des Petits Hauts, Ginger & Ruby, Koike, My Bro Tie, Re.Ve 77, Sophie, Stramici, Wool & Co Die Hinterhofagentur, Munich/Germany, d.meuer@diehinterhofagentur.de, www.diehinterhofagentur.de
Michaelis Fashion Agency “Come and Unearth New Truffles” Daniela and René Michaelis, the owners of the fashion agency with an exciting mix of comprehensive collections with high commercial appeal and smaller niche collections with a distinctive character, perceive their company as a passionate service provider. As a result, they both have no problem whatsoever with going the extra mile for their customers. The perfect example of their understanding of a sustainable partnership is the fact that they have represented the Peuterey brand in Germany for no less than 12 years, which ranks them among the most entrenched representatives of premium sportswear. René Michaelis invites his customers, in his own words, to “come and unearth new truffles”. In terms of brand selection, the agency pays particular attention to sustainable and certified products, which it believes to be the future of our industry. In addition to Peuterey, the agency also represents labels such as Marlino and Pyrenex. From this season onwards, it also started to establish the knitwear collection Rosa Cashmere in its core regions of Baden Württemberg, Thuringia, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse, and Rhineland-Palatinate. Another new addition to the portfolio is RRD Roberto Ricci Design, an exclusive outdoor collection from Milan, which stands for innovative materials and unusual designs. The brand won the coveted Outdoor Fashion Award at the last Pitti Uomo in Florence. It was founded by Roberto Ricci, the surf god who spends eight months of the year in South Africa. However, he still finds enough time to add his input in terms of fashion. Labels: Eleven Elfs, Ganesh, Marlino, Peuterey, Pyrenex, RRD, Rosa Cashmere, Yippie Hippie Michaelis Fashion Agency, Munich/Germany, mail@michaelis-fashion-agency.com, www.michaelis-fashion-agency.com
Daniela and René Michaelis present their collections in a showroom located in Munich’s Lodenfreypark.
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The Wearhouse Fashion Trade Passion for Shoes Patrick Ebnöter adores brands that have a story to tell and attach great importance to the materials they use. This is why he has decided to co-operate with Andrea Zori, an Italian brand, in the sneakers segment. The brand is run by Andrea Baggio, who represents the third generation of its owners. The company in Vicenza not only produce accessories, but also incomparable shoes, which are hand-crafted in a traditional manner. Andrea Zori certainly has a passion for the materials it utilises: “Leather has its own memory. That’s why one needs to process it with love and attention to detail.” The brand focuses on men’s shoes, but plans to add belts to its repertoire in the future. Labels: Andrea Zori, Barena Venezia, Caliban, Campomaggi, Care Label, Caterina Lucchi, Circolo 1901, Freedom Day, Giuglielminotti, GMS-75, Hunkydory, Mason’s, Mey Story, Nabholz, Paltò, Rude Riders, Siviglia White, Stone Island, Tintoria Mattei 954, Whitcomb. The Wearhouse Fashion Trade GmbH, Erlenbach/Switzerland, wearhouse@wearhouse.ch, www.wearhouse.ch
Rolf Griesinger Internationale Mode Swinging London This Munich-based agency’s concept also focuses on flash programmes that offer short-term delivery, such as Anima Pop, an Italian label. The delivery date for the summer flash was March/April. In addition, the label offers a stock programme consisting of the current range. In summer, Anima Pop is all about “Swinging London”. The collection is inspired by young artists, musicians, and designers from the 1960s. The colourful look, which relies on two-dimensional prints and drawings, draws from Op-Art, Veruschka, and Twiggy. IQ+ Berlin has decided to offer a small flash programme for this winter. The focus is on expressive Jacquard prints - somewhere between Valentino and Gucci - on coats and bomber jackets. The label offers five exclusive patterns on shiny polyester, for instance in trendy tones of red and green. The sale of the short-term programme starts in May and will be delivered in September 2016 to coincide with the start of the autumn season. Labels: Anima Pop, Bloom, FFC, Flowers for Friends, IQ+ Berlin Rolf Griesinger Internationale Mode GmbH, Munich/Germany, office@griesinger-mode.de, www.griesinger-mode.de
Hand-crafted shoes by Andrea Zori are a new addition to the brand portfolio of The Wearhouse Fashion Trade.
Another Souvenir Instant Delivery In the future, Tommy Wieler and Vanessa Baroni-Wieler will focus even more on jewellery and accessories collections which offer their customers an instant delivery programme that can guarantee new goods within no more than three weeks. In this segment they can introduce new collections and products quarterly (at the least), which is in line with the demands of their clientele. The agency has added two exciting brands to its portfolio. The luxury 3D stickers by Delicatezzen are produced in Italy from high-end eco-leather. They are destined to make the most of the current trend. The brand currently offers two collections - titled “Tattoo” and “Food” - and has managed to win over a number of Italy’s top department stores. The second newcomer is Landré Design, an elegant German jewellery collection designed by Mirjam Landré. The retail prices of her creations range from 39 to 59 Euros (calculation factor: 2.5). Landré Design is capable of delivering within a few days from its warehouse in Hannover. Another Souvenir’s brand portfolio is aimed at upscale concept stores, interior stores, and selected gift shops. Labels: Anna + Nina, Bread & Boxers, Briston, Delicatezzen, Estella Bartlett, La Môme Bijoux, Landré, Nach Bijoux, Paulo Coelho Pure Icons, Vanessa Baroni, Wood’D, Zinga Another Souvenir, Leinfelden/Germany, tommy@anothersouvenir.de, www.anothersouvenir.de
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The colourful prints of Anima Pop are inspired by the 1960s.
Slip in and chill out: Wunderfell specialises in ultra-light lambskin jackets for women.
Agentur Stefan Wittmann Feel-Good Factor The Düsseldorf-based fashion agency owned by Stefan Wittmann has added a new highlight to its brand portfolio: Wunderfell. This approximately 15-piece collection consists of fashionable jackets and casual coats made from ultra-light Merino and Tuscany lambskin - Made in Europe. Orders for the delivery date in October can still be placed until the end of May. The Wunderfell distributor in southern Germany is the fashion agency of Mathias Schwarte, while the Austrian and Swiss markets are covered by Gerhard Grafenstätter. In addition to the brands listed below, Stefan Wittmann is also the representative of the collections Absurd, Canadian Classics, Gardenia Copenhagen, and Shoe Biz in the regions Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, and North Rhine-Westphalia. He also distributes the brand Daniele Fiesole in the postal code areas 0 through 5. Labels: Baronio, Carlie Joe, Daily’s Nothing Better, Daniele Fiesoli Shirts, I Love My Moment, La Fée Marabouée, Litchi, Moment by Moment, Nima 1708, P448, Project Foce, Silvian Heach, Ten117, Trevor’s Choice, Ylati, Wunderfell Agentur Stefan Wittmann, Düsseldorf/Germany, stefan. wittmann@agentur-wittmann.de, www.agentur-wittmann.de
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D-tails New Online Platform This summer, Patrick Coppolecchia Reinartz plans to launch a comprehensive project that could be perceived as a professional and multi-faceted response to the nagging question of how to deal with remnant inventory: the online shop Buyfair.com. He hopes that this website will afford his customers (especially) an opportunity to offer their remnant inventories at a reduced price. The goal is to uncouple the discount promotions from in-store operations and to connect them to a non-profit project. A certain percentage of the sales proceeds are donated to a charity project chosen by the respective company. In exchange for a small administrative fee, Coppolecchia Reinartz shoulders the entire handling process and acts as an interface to the NGOs. “I want to offer retailers a chance to sell their remnant inventories without having to revert to radical in-store price reductions. Instead, they can sell the items at a high standard while supporting social projects”, he explains. The website launch is scheduled for July 2016. In addition, the fashion agency is happy to welcome a few new additions to its brand portfolio, including the American footwear specialist GH Bass with classic loafers for women, the Italian quick-delivery specialist Nanà, and the brand Uptobe. The latter is a project launched by Graziano Gianelli, the former head of Peuterey Group. Labels: 81 Carati Collection, Alpha Studio, Anna F., Bark, Borbonese, Bosideng, Bruno Parise, Camicetta Snob, Costume in, Essent’ial, Fattori Shawls Como, GH Bass, Gherardini, Globe-Trotter, Graziani Jewels, Laboratori Italiani Uomo, Liverani, L(!)W Brand, Lumberjack, Massimo Alba, Nanà, Nicole Benisti, Olivieri Furs, Pianura Studio, Pollini, Quinto Ego, Rialto 48, Riders on the Storm, Spektre Sunglasses, Uptobe, Wally Walker, Wheelbarrow D-tails, Munich/Germany, info@d-tails.de, www.d-tails.de
A new approach by an industry veteran: Graziano Gianelli’s Uptobe is one of the new additions to the brand portfolio of D-tails.
Deluxe Distribution Three New Brands
Circle of Trust stands for snug fits, beautiful details, and an excellent price-performance ratio.
With immediate effect, Deluxe Distribution is the German distributor for Circle of Trust, a jeans brand from the Netherlands. The label, which was founded in 2005, not only offers a wide variety of trousers, but also men’s and women’s jackets, tops, and t-shirts for the commercial mid-price segment. In Germany, the distribution network has been defined as follows: Agentur Jan Westphalen covers the North, while nuBrands is responsible for the East. The South is covered by Concept. From the spring/summer 2017 order season onwards, Agentur Stefan Koch takes responsibility for the West, while Handelsagentur Petra Hanna has been chosen as the distributor for Central Germany. Another new addition to the agency’s portfolio is Pete Sorensen, a footwear brand for which Deluxe Distribution now acts as distributor throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The shoes are designed in Paris, but manufactured in Italy. The third newcomer is Freddy, a brand that hails from northern Italy. Freddy has been deeply entrenched in its home market’s dancing sport industry for decades. Today, it offers fashionable collections with a comprehensive instant delivery programme. Labels: Ben Sherman Footwear, Circle of Trust, Freddy, Kerbholz, Minimum, Minus, Pete Sorensen, Skunkfunk, Smash, United Nude, WeSC Deluxe Distribution, Berlin/Germany, info@deluxe-distribution.de, www.deluxe-distribution.de
Brama Fashion Gallery Munich Antwerp - London And suddenly, there were three more! Brama’s European network has opened new showrooms in Munich and Antwerp, as well as a new office in London. “The decision in favour of Munich was the best decision we could have made for the important German market”, says Janine Knizia, the showroom manager in Germany. The German team added three more members to its ranks during the last season, two of them in Munich. “We are very satisfied with the development and the customers really like the showroom in Lodenfrey Park. The integration of J Brand is complete and was very successful.” Brama took over the Europe-wide (except in the UK) distribution rights for the US denim brand as of the spring order date. Another major highlight of the spring season is the 40th anniversary of Equipement, which the brand celebrates with a collection involving Kate Moss. The collection will hit the stores from July onwards. In Germany, it will be stocked by the likes of Unger in Hamburg and Theresa in Munich. Labels: Current/Elliott, Doma, Enzo Costa, Equipement, Isapera, James Perse, J Brand, Mother, Norma Kamali Brama Fashion Gallery, Düsseldorf and Munich/Germany, janine@bramagallery.de, www.bramagallery.de
The new Brama showroom in Antwerp.
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fairs
The first Gallery trade show in Böhler Area was characterised by an industrial atmosphere.
Gallery Successful Start Unanimous praise for the organisers was the general consensus after the first Gallery trade show at its new location. “It was a highly successful premiere for us”, says Ulrike Kähler, the project director for national trade shows at Igedo Company. In addition, the event launched “Platform Fashion”, a fringe programme with fashion shows and lectures on the former industrial site. The Gallery intends to expand this summer by - among other measures - increasing the area for Organic Fair Trade Fashion and adding a new segment for young fashion. The larger fashion agencies have decided to participate again. Agentur Klauser will, for instance, showcase its portfolio in “Halle am Wasserturm” once more. The duration of the event has been extended to twelve days to accommodate the particularly important order business. The Gallery opens its doors for agency visitors four days before the start of the trade show and remains open for four additional days after the main order days. This summer, the “Red Carpet” segment returns to the “Glühofenhalle”. The Igedo office itself relocated symbolically in April 2016. After twenty years of residing in the “Messeturm”, the team moved closer to the Böhler Area by relocating to the opposite side of the Rhine. 22nd to 25th of July 2016, www.the-gallery-duesseldorf.com
Supreme Women&Men Focus on Specialised Retailers The Munichfashion Company’s summer event in the B1 Building on “Kaiserswerther Strasse” in Düsseldorf is already almost fully booked. Aline Schade explains: “We have noticed that buyers increasingly utilise the Supreme Women&Men Düsseldorf - and Düsseldorf in general - for the viewing of collections. This means that the Supreme Women&Men Munich plays a more important role in terms of main and final orders. We believe that this trend will continue in the upcoming season, especially as the summer events in Berlin are scheduled very early, which is not welcomed by everyone. One issue is that not all collections will be fully completed. However, buyers desire an overview of complete collections. Furthermore, many larger
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agencies that are active in Paris are struggling with overlaps in connection with the new dates in Berlin. In general, this plays into the hands of Düsseldorf and Munich, mainly because these dates accommodate the current needs of the specialised retailers, the agencies, and the suppliers. This is why we focus solely on the market requirements in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.” Together with the Premium Exhibition, the Munichfashion Company has agreed to move the date of the event in Munich forward by a week, thereby staging it at the same time from Saturday to Tuesday. Supreme Women&Men Düsseldorf, 23rd to 26th of July 2016, Supreme Women&Men Munich, 6th to 9th of August 2016, www.munichfashioncompany.com
Aline Schade focuses the Supreme Women&Men trade shows on the needs of the retail industry in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
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GDS Fine-Tuning The upcoming GDS will take place from Tuesday to Thursday, thereby bypassing Friday, which is incidentally the retail industry’s strongest day in terms of sales. Kirstin Deutelmoser, the director of GDS and Tag It, explains: “We are responding to the retailers’ wishes to ensure they can gain optimal benefit from our trade show. They shouldn’t have to choose between visiting a trade fair and generating sales.” The dates for the winter edition of GDS have also been confirmed. It will take place between the 7th and 9th of February 2017. Furthermore, the GDS works on its trend programme constantly, especially as it as an important factor for trade show visitors. The next edition of the trade fair will also offer the GDS Trend Spots for super-ordinate zeitgeist trends, as well as Trend Codes with specific outfit suggestions to visualise which shoe is a must have for which outfit. A new addition since the last GDS in February is GDS 365 - Digital Marketplace, which is a B2B online platform for brands that showcase their collections at the trade show. The project was developed in co-operation with We Want Shoes, a Berlin-based B2B platform. It is aimed at offering retailers additional opportunities to conduct their business in a more efficient and successful manner. 26th to 28th of July 2016, www.gds-online.com
The GDS has decided to bypass the Friday, which is the retail industry’s strongest day in terms of sales.
Show & Order A Gallery for Accessories
The Premium trade show has decided to add a second day to its #Fashiontech conference.
Premium Focus on South Korea With a first-time exhibitor rate of approximately 30%, the Premium trade fair will showcase roughly 1,800 high-end collections that are tailored specifically to meet the current needs of the retail industry and its product ranges. The Dissonance Area is replaced by “[’P :PI] Studio”, a format inspired by the South Korean pop culture. The new area is dedicated to influences from art, music, fashion, and film that shape the zeitgeist beyond Korea’s borders, thereby mirroring the fast-growing economy and innovative strength of South Korea. #Fashiontech, a conference format hosted by the Premium and Seek trade shows, takes place for the fourth time in Station Berlin’s
“Kühlhaus” venue. Numerous startup presentations and workshops, as well as roundtable discussions, afford participants an opportunity to exchange experiences. Due to its great success with 2,000 participants, the upcoming event is extended by a day with the backing of Deutsche Telekom. The “Fashion Fusion” format allows ten new talents from the fashion and technology fields to present their ideas in front of a high-carat jury. The winner is afforded the opportunity to present his or her concept to a broader audience during the next #Fashiontech in January and the subsequent road show. Premium and Seek, 28th to 30th of June 2016, www.premiumexhibitions. com, www.seekexhibitions.com, www.fashiontech.berlin
Just like last time, the upcoming Show & Order trade show in Berlin starts a day early - on the 27th of June 2016, to be precise. “On the eve of that Monday, we have scheduled a great event for retailers”, says Verena Malta, the trade fair’s initiator. A brand new addition in Berlin’s “Kraftwerk” venue is a newly designed 3,000 square metre area dedicated to accessories and lifestyle, including international jewellery labels, footwear, bags, leather items, and lifestyle items. “We want to meet the rising retail demand for accessories by introducing a strong, new area and offer relevant brands their own Show & Order forum here in Berlin”, Verena Malta adds. In addition, the trade fair will stage a consumer shopping event on one of the evenings. 27th to 29th of June 2016, www.showandorder.de
A brand new element of the upcoming Show & Order trade fair is a new area dedicated to accessories and lifestyle products.
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Sarah Andelman: “I find it embarrassing for a brand when this celeb culture becomes more important than the fashion.�
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Sarah Andelman is one of the most important buyers in the world. Running the
concept store Colette in Paris has become her mission in life and she has turned the address on Rue St. Honoré in the first arrondissement into the ultimate shopping Mecca. Literally, people from all over the world make the pilgrimage to see what Sarah has deemed worthy to buy on her journeys to the fashion capitals of the world. Colette only features clothes straight off the runway and the boutique has been a pioneer in launching exclusive collaborations with famous designer labels from Dior to avant-garde labels like Raf Simons. Andelman is famous for keeping a low profile and letting the shop speak for itself or her work. style in progress has managed to get an exclusive interview with her to discuss the shifting landscape of fashion retail, e-tail, and to hear more about some of her secret formulas to stay ahead in a competitive market. Interview: Markus Ebner. Photos: Markus Pritzi
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Designer, brand, press, buyer, and now the public – in the 1980s the press were all important, in the 1990s the designers, then the brands. Who do you think calls the shots now?
I think the public is the most powerful now. Social media has changed the game. But then, as retailers, the client has always been king for us. If we don’t sell, we’re dead. If the public is the most important, has the profile of the buyer changed? Do you buy what the majority likes?
For us this does not apply. I always think about our identity and strive to be different from everybody else. We need to surprise our clients. But let me say this: I find this e-tailer Moda Operandi very interesting, because it only came about due to the public’s wish to buy straight off the runway (note: Moda Operandi is an e-tailer who cuts deals with designer brands to directly sell the entire runway collection the day after it was shown, hence 4-6 months earlier than normal stores). It caters to fashion victims and I know there are a lot. So this is a good example of how the public’s wish manifested itself in a shop idea. But again, this does not apply to us. So do you think the power of the people is a good thing for an industry famous to be exclusionary?
Oh yes, I am happy more and more people are aware of young brands. Also, don’t forget that designers and brands spend a lot of money on their shows, so it’s good that it is shared with a large audience. So in this new environment, do you think it’s easier to be a young designer?
Yes, it’s easier to touch people and to get your name out
there. But in the end I believe it’s always about the same key ingredients: talent and good connections. I am still surprised at how quickly Vetements became a success. The first collection they showed, which I did not go to, made so much noise that I went to the showroom and bought it. And you know what, it sold out right away and they could not re-deliver, because they were not set up for this quick business. And Vetements for Balenciaga?
Balenciaga is the one brand we never carried here. When Nicolas Ghesquière was there he always had an exclusive agreement with Maria Luisa (note: famous Parisian retailer who had close designer ties to John Galliano etc. and passed away recently), so we never had it. Wang was great, but a house with such a history could do a better job. So I am curious for Vetements there. Let’s talk about other social media blitzes, such as Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing and his H&M collection. What do you think? Is it annoying, a sign of the times, or already pop culture?
I see myself as a worker in fashion, so it’s difficult for me when I try to get into a show and the VIP entrance is bigger than the one for buyers. It happened to me at a Givenchy show that I had a hard time to get in. I find it embarrassing for a brand when this celeb culture becomes more important than the fashion. I understand it can help to push a collection, but I feel brands need to be more careful when they think that visibility is more important than showing respect to their clients. And if you ask me about this Balmain and H&M link; I saw photos of the police stepping in at the lines in front of the stores, violent behaviour, and ugly scenes. Images that
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“I buy what I like.” I think are not good for both H&M and Balmain. So enough is enough sometimes. And what culture does this reflect?
Well, it’s important for me to say that Colette loves pop culture. We always gave candy and lollipops the same space and attention as fashion. We love Warhol, but I am not sure we’re talking about that when it comes to this mayhem. So what were some of the craziest lines in front of the store at Colette?
We always make the crowd line up in direction of Rue Rivoli, so other shops on Rue St. Honoré are not bothered. Well, Kate Moss for Topshop was huge – the Apple Watch as well. But even a book signing with Scott Schumann, aka the Sartorialist, can create a long line. Or the fragrance launch of PSG player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which was even crazier. It created a storm. But we only had to close the shop once and that was for Drake, the Canadian rapper. We were not prepared at all, as he was not so famous yet when we did a limited edition clothing collection with him. We simply did not expect this crazy amount of people. Colette and collaborations have gained cult status. Which ones do you cherish the most?
Oh wow, there are so many. But remember when the gas station on Rue St. Honoré still existed,
which is now a Balenciaga store. We did a Chanel pop up store in it and Karl and the Chanel team allowed us to curate everything. So we had Yazbukey do a Karl Lagerfeld brooch and more kooky things like that. Also, I loved when we had a Hermès pop up store within Colette, where they offered their silk scarves, of which one was in the blue Colette colours. Oh yes, there are so many and we always insist that it’s more than just the Colette logo on something. It needs to be a product which stands on its own. One of the bigger projects coming up is a collaboration with Coach. They have reached out to their customers to collect vintage bags all over the country and this project will be coming to Colette very soon. Is this the secret of your ongoing success?
I think people expect to find something different here. Imagine, we worked with Ladurée and did one of their iconic macaroons in a Barbapapa flavour. Their master pastry chefs complied and worked on it. That was so crazy. Or the second macaroon project, which was with Pharrell Williams, who asked them to make it in an Oreo cookies flavour. All these crazy ideas can become reality with us. In March 2014, Italian luxury brand Prada became the majority shareholder of the historical pastry shop Pasticceria Marchesi. During the last fashion season, the first Pasticceria Marchesi flagship store opened its doors under Prada’s reign. It’s located on the luxury street Via Montenapoleone in the heart of Milan. Is the link between food and fashion becoming a new trend?
Fashion can influence so many things. I am super happy that
Colette never plays it safe in terms of stock.
the fashion world is now into food. And let me tell you, when I travel, the only thing I visit is food stores.
You have attained a legendary status in the industry. If you buy something, it can become an “it brand”. Is this weighing on your mind?
Not at all. I buy what I like, that’s all. I can’t do it any other way. So what don’t you like?
Here is what I think. Some brands have bad deliveries. So even if I like them, I don’t buy their products anymore because of that. And some brands just don’t renew themselves enough over a few seasons, so we drop them and don’t buy. One season, I didn’t buy Raf Simons men’s
collection and he got so upset with me. Things change all the time. This season, for example, we did not order from Fendi.
So who breaks the bad news?
Oh, I do. We’re just very realistic and honest about it. It does not mean that things can’t change again. It’s also important for our clients to feel that it’s a lively landscape of brands that we buy. Resort, spring, summer, precol., autumn, winter, flash, etc. - there are so many collections. Where do you stand on that?
For us, it’s perfect, as it means we get new stuff in the store all the time and that’s what really matters. But I need to say that the collection shown during the runway season is the most style in progress 216
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important for us. We want to give our customer a full fashion experience and often we even buy pieces that might not sell well. Also, due to the development started by websites like Moda Operandi – which is now being expedited by Burberry and Tom Ford – an increasing number of brands are offering their clothes the day after the show. We do that now with Versus by Vaccarello, Loewe, and Moschino by Jeremy Scott. And I am sure there will be more, if it goes well. More and more brands propose a capsule collection right after the show to me now. What do you think about the whole See Now, Buy Now, etc.?
I really couldn’t care less about that. If Burberry approaches us with a good idea to implement See Now/Buy Now, then we’d be happy to do it. If it takes someone like J.W. Anderson six months to get his bags and clothing into my store, then
that’s perfectly fine too. The main thing is that the promised delivery deadlines are met. Who is your latest discovery?
I really like Simone Rocha at the moment. And it’s amazing what J.W. Anderson does for his own label and with Loewe. This is what makes fashion so exciting. There is a new talent coming up all the time, which just awes you. In the past, I really loved the Rodarte girls, even though we don’t buy the label at the moment. We have always been close to Jeremy Scott and I care a lot about Julien David. What do you make of the Simons exit at Dior?
All I can say is look at Karl Lagerfeld. Is there a man who works more than him? I think all designers should be aware of the fact that their jobs require a lot of work and that’s that. Any thoughts from you on the next designer…?
I think Erdem would be great there. He is really good.
In a day and age where everyone reads the same reviews, blogs, and sees the same Instagram visuals, how do you decide what you want?
It’s simple. During the season, I don’t have the time to read WWD and I just follow my instincts. And still, often I feel at the end of a day that I did not go to enough appointments. And have you ever flopped while relying on your instincts?
“If we don’t sell, we’re dead.”
Knock on wood - I have not bought anything that didn’t sell at all yet. I am lucky. If you had said to me 9 months ago that Gucci would come back, I would have called you crazy. But when I saw the images of Alessandro Michele’s first shows online and spotted that fur-lined Gucci loafer, I knew that the brand is back. We placed a big order and it sold out right away. Talking about price, is there a ceiling where you say no?
Not at all… If it’s good, people buy it, no matter how crazy expensive it is.
I’d like to talk about some of the collaborations again. Is there one that’s missing? A car or an airline maybe…?
Well, we have done an Aston Martin and a Smart. And I have a great story for you about airlines. I always fly to New York with La Compagnie, which is a business class shuttle between Paris and New York. In September, when I left New York
Sarah Andelman believes stocking products that are difficult to sell is part of offering customers a complete fashion experience.
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after the shows, I got stuck in a horrible traffic jam on Broome Street. I really wanted to get home, so I started posting on Instagram, begging them to wait for me and so on. And you know what? I got there 20 minutes before departure and found out they had held the flight for me. I was so happy and started posting more stuff, thanking them, and telling them how happy I was. A few days later, they contacted us and now we’re planning a ski club in the Catskills with them. We will fly a select group of Colette friends to New York with La Compagnie and will make it a unique Colette experience. It’s a new thing. We started bringing people to yoga classes or taking them surfing, in order to have the Colette experience outside Colette. For example, we teamed up with Quiksilver and Julien David. We took people to Biarritz and they learned how to surf. It was a great success and now we are doing the same thing for skiing. So there you go, even the sky is not the limit. Tell me again what happened with Saint Laurent and Hedi Slimane?
This is still a sore subject. We supported Hedi from the beginning with his first Yves Saint Laurent men’s collection – then of course when he was at Dior Homme. We also supported his books, even the furniture line he did with Cappelini. When we stocked Saint Laurent again, we were planning to do windows and put some real effort behind it. And you know we love selling t-shirts at Colette, so we stocked these funny ones that said “Ain’t Laurent without Yves” and Hedi got so upset that he pulled the plug on our relationship. And let me tell you, this was a big piece of business. I am still upset about it. Tell me more about your e-commerce?
It’s evolving. We have clients all over the world and it makes about 20 percent of our turnover. You know, we only have this one store and we had many offers to expand, but we believe in only having this one place. It’s unique. In fact, we once had a pop up store with Comme des Garçons in Tokyo and I flew over a few times, but I was never that happy about it. In fact, I can say 216 style in progress
“If a product is good, people buy it, no matter how crazy expensive it is.” for sure that there will never be a second Colette. Is there a Colette formula? Do you want to dress the client head-to-toe or are you just offering the service of selection?
I like the idea of trying to make everybody happy. An elderly lady, a young girl, a teenager… You can come in and just have a coffee, buy a CD, or a piece of art from the gallery. We cater to many different needs. What’s the gallery’s role?
You know, it gives me a lot of joy to meet the artists. That’s all. As a shop keeper, what are some of your secrets? Is it lighting, music, or the staff?
Our staff is multi-ethnic. We look at everything and we change all the time. Last week, we had a window with Burton snowboards, which looked good. A day later, we decided to add fake snow and then changed the light again. There is no formula, I just have to be here every day, remain focused, and listen to my clients. Never take success for granted – we work hard here. Last question: Do you know your best customer?
Yes, it’s Karl Lagerfeld. He comes in once a week and really shops. And you don’t have to close the shop for him?
Not at all… Karl really is a sweetheart. He always has Sebastian, his right hand and bodyguard, with him and they manoeuvre the shopping and the attention he gets very smoothly. Sometimes he stops for selfies with other clients, sometimes he doesn’t. But he is our number one customer and I am super proud of that. What’s next for you? If you
Andelman grew up in a small village next to Versailles before the family moved to Paris when she was 15. In fact, the corner building at 213, Rue St. Honoré was first her home, as the family lived upstairs while Sarah went to the École de Louvre to study Art History. The giant space downstairs was empty, as Rue St. Honoré was anything but hip in the early 1990s and more of a dead corner in Paris. Andelman’s mother was running a small shop in the garment district of Paris called Le Sentier in the second arrondissement, which was a classic B2B operation. Sarah and her mum would walk by the empty space downstairs and say to each other that there should be something in it. At the time, the Japanese Muji store was super trendy and Sarah dreamed about something like that. Instead, her mother decided to rent the space and opened it as a fashion boutique. At her side was a young man called Milan Vukmirovic, who was her window dresser at Le Sentier. Yes, this is the same Vukmirovic who would later turn heads in Germany, when he was appointed as successor of Jil Sander by Patrizio Bertelli, and who is currently working as a designer at Ports 1961, an Italian sportswear brand. In terms of names, the mother and daughter team considered a wide gamut of possibilities, preferring something Japanese. But in the end, they chose Colette, Andelman’s mother’s first name, to juxtapose a classic French and Parisian moniker with the modern and clean space. So when Vukmirovic left in 2000 to take a job with Tom Ford and Gucci Group, Sarah was put in charge all on her own. Before that, small art direction projects were here responsibility. Colette was opened in the first arrondissement in 1997. It is widely perceived as the mother of all concept stores, because it not only stocks designer fashion, but also streetwear, gadgets, cosmetics, art, and high-tech devices. Its water bar is equally legendary.
look at the next five years, do you have any goals?
You know, I love my job, because I am constantly surprised by new things. I am in the privileged position to be offered so many things, to see them first, and since I am a fashion person at heart, I just don’t want this to change.
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“Even the sky is not the limit”, Sarah Andelman says while discussing her ideas for Colette. style in progress 216
028 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
EVERYTHING IS COMMUNICATION Why questions are often more important than answers… An opinion piece by Stephan Huber “Everything is political” has been a common short formula to illustrate the close connection of the private and public sectors since the late 1960s, even though it remains unclear whether the formula was really devised by Ulrike Meinhof or stems from the “Policy of the first person” concept. More specifically, it explains the interrelation of individual thinking and acting with overall social and political developments. The opportunity to observe these interrelations as clearly as in these times is rare. They affect all major and minor topics that shape the public debate, whether it’s the refugee crisis, the state of the European Union, TTIP, the discussion about freedom of expression and religion. Massively fuelled by the new communication platforms of “social media” (i.e. by the digitalisation, see issue 4/2015), the boundaries of the so-called sovereignty of interpretation are shifting very rapidly. This is only seemingly pluralistic and, in many respects, highly problematic, but it is, after all, the nature of our times and the reflection of a society that still hasn’t found answers to how it should deal with these changes and upheavals, for example in the field of communication and/or communication behaviour. The loss of the sovereignty of interpretation affects journalism drastically. It is no coincidence that both serious debates about a “crisis of journalism” and the dull whinging about the “lying press” have steadily increased in recent years. Interestingly, most protagonists - editors, commentators, self-declared experts, etc. - identify “unfavourable external circumstances” (Internet, changing competition, uneducated public…) as the cause in the same way as the protagonists of the fashion industry believe that their problems - such as decreasing customer frequency, diminishing turnovers, etc. - are caused by external factors. This is too short-sighted in both cases, especially as both cases first and foremost
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pertain to content, and ultimately to communication. Digitalisation has robbed journalism of a monopoly it enjoyed for decades, namely the monopoly to shape opinion. As we all know, monopolies aren’t healthy, which is why the process of opinion shaping has become increasingly independent. The clear position that (not only) journalism should represent started morphing into paternalistic condescension. Critical journalism succumbed to opinion journalism, which gave in to the temptation to claim it has all the answers too often. It even claimed to have the only correct answers. It is, however, not journalism’s primary task to have all the (correct) answers to everything. Its primary role is to ask questions and to always query things that are seemingly set in stone. Journalism should do this in a constructive manner in the spirit of positive change and development. Criticism isn’t an end in itself, but should - at least in my humble opinion - initiate and promote debate. This doesn’t merely apply to political journalism, especially when one truly believes that everything is political. This also applies to our work at style in progress. It is our duty to question the almost historic transformation process of the fashion industry critically and to contribute to its development. We need to fulfil this duty with the aim of facilitating debate, as well as identifying and addressing topics early, and not with the aim of shaping opinion. It is paramount to ensure that the essence of communication remains meaningful. Today, this is more important than ever, which is where we come full circle: everything is communication and communication is everything.
CO SY PA N T S
www.alberto-pants.com
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COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION IS WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT. BUT ARE WE ACTUALLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER? ARE THE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN THE RETAILERS AND THE INDUSTRY MERE BUZZWORDS? OR ARE THEY REALITY? STYLE IN PROGRESS HAS ASKED AROUND A LITTLE - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DIALOGUE WITHIN THE ECOSYSTEM OF FASHION. Text: Kay Alexander Plonka, Quynh Tran. Illustration: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler
HONESTLY HONEST
“As a brand and supplier, we desire an honest, direct, and binding dialogue with our retail partners. We appreciate an honest interest and praise just as much as honest and direct criticism. In our experience, there is often only a dialogue when there are problems and miscalculations to solve. We perceive this as mere emergency communication and would prefer to avoid such a dialogue completely. We are, of course, willing to assist our customers when they ask for help. But wouldn’t it be more sensible to establish a strategic communication concept right from the start? This would allow us to communicate on a regular basis, thereby ensuring that the situation doesn’t escalate in the first place. This would also allow us to remain up-to-date at all times, which means we can join forces and start working on solution-oriented measures at an early stage, thus creating transparency and mutual trust. Jointly achieved milestones and objectives lead to success for both parties and create guidelines that point to problems in time. The correct interaction between retailers, suppliers, and brands requires the contribution of all involved parties. A smooth and successful communication is only possible when everyone pulls together.” Mike Stöhr, international sales director at Mountain Force
Share the Risk
“The direct and simple contact with the supplier has become more important than ever. Our customers are well-informed and expect perfect service. In this context, the fulfilling of specific customer wishes and quick access to the supplier can create trust. Fair support during the season, selection consignments, and product-related training in the store can facilitate mutual success. I am, for example, no longer willing to bear the entire risk for promotional items I have on display. If the supplier strives to generate additional revenue, he must also share some of the storage risk. This should be standard procedure, as should an up-to-date digital stock list that facilitates short-term sales floor management. Unfortunately, there are still suppliers who believe active customer care is an invitation to the Pitti Uomo and short smalltalk during the order appointment. However, this species seems to be in danger of becoming extinct…” Clemens Sagmeister, Gebhard Sagmeister Herrenmoden GmbH
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032 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
EVEN MORE CONNECTED
“Partnerships should be continually improved through communication. Whether by e-mail, by phone, or face-to-face - one needs to be even more connected than before. We face this challenge by evaluating on which communication channels we need to improve and how we can react to questions, wishes, and suggestions of our partners more efficiently and promptly in the future. It is vital to ensure that the reliability of the information flow remains at a high level in order to provide an appropriate service level. One needs to prepare the entire organisation for this, especially on the part of the brands. At Gaastra, we are currently in the process of creating the necessary structures and installing the required systems to enable us to deal with such communication volumes in the future. Personal meetings and telephone calls are certainly still the most effective and intelligible approaches. In our digital age, acting quickly can also mean that one needs to put aside formal procedures from time to time and choose a simpler form of communication such as text messages, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, or e-mail. The situation is similar in terms of hierarchical levels within the company. If one wants to facilitate problem solutions or expedite results, one also needs to implement swift and effective decision paths within the organisational structure, allow some scope for decision-making, and give employees adequate leeway. This is in everyone’s interest and prevents frustration and resignation. Above all, it creates trust, both among customers and employees. The latter will then act competently and be motivated to work for the benefit of the customer and the company.” Oliver Frielingsdorf, CEO at Gaastra
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
“It would be nice to receive regular feedback from retailers and to have sufficient time for consultation during the order period. This would allow us to fine-tune the collection individually. Fits, cuts, quality, and colour selection could be discussed in detail. Regular communication affords us an opportunity to be significantly more responsive to the needs of retailers in terms of future collections and to solve problems that arise personally. Duvetica has focused on customer service and satisfaction right from the beginning. Due to points of contact which are always available, we guarantee personal contact to all retailers. We showcase our collection in the showroom and provide comprehensive product and brand training. We want to convince with our products and high quality standards. The aim is to increase customer satisfaction continuously by responding to the needs of our customers and, for instance, further optimising the already swift processing of transactions.” Claudia Schönrock, area manager for Germany at Duvetica
Better Understanding
“The fact that we quite deliberately refrain from showcasing Quantum Courage at trade shows ensures that we are in very close contact with our retailers. The in-depth dialogue takes place primarily in our showroom or at the customer’s premises. We discuss the brand’s philosophy with every single partner, but also allow enough time for the customer’s specific needs. This very distinct demand analysis, which we carry out together with our customers, serves to gain a better understanding of which products the customers need and to incorporate the learning experiences into our conceptual world. This constant reflection means that we are capable of including the customers’ wishes in our collections’ orientation in a targeted manner across our brand DNA. The result is that our retailers can offer their respective customers unique products on a regular basis. We have created a streamlined retail structure, which currently spans 18 countries, and co-operate with no more than approximately 100 exclusive points of sale quite deliberately. These points of sale include the likes of Apropos in Munich, Cologne, and Düsseldorf, August Pfüller in Frankfurt, Le Shop 17 in Cannes, Fidelio in Zurich, and Helga Design in Tel Aviv. In order to guarantee this level of exclusivity in the short, medium, and long term, it is extremely important to us to convey our philosophy, our dialogue-oriented approach, and our selective distribution philosophy to future distribution partners. A recent example is the Sonoho Showroom in Antwerp for the Benelux countries.” Maximilian Köhler, CEO at Quantum Courage
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28–30 JUNE 2016 T H E E U RO P E A N M A R K ET P L AC E F O R FA S H I O N & L I F E S T Y L E WWW.PANORAMA-BERLIN.COM
034 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
Time and Patience
“That our industry has changed radically can be felt by both retailers and brands. Today’s consumer society is both a blessing and a curse - from conveyor belt fashion via overproduction to radical 70% discounts. The permanent imbalance between supply and demand, which is supposed to encourage additional consumption and endeavours to tempt customers to buy with increasingly high discounts, ensures that the buying habits of customers change constantly. The consequences are volatility and a lack of customer loyalty, which is obviously disadvantageous for retailers and suppliers alike. To secure the regular customers we need so desperately, we need to show a lot of empathy, patience, and trust. Too many suppliers and retailers no longer make the time for this, but focus too much on short-term solutions. To inspire regular customers for new ideas in a diverse fashion on a regular basis requires a lot of creativity. I try to regularly offer my customers a personal experience by offering individual advice, inspiring fashion shows, and unusual events. In my eyes, the customers’ true freedom lies in affording them an opportunity to immerse themselves in an emotional moment, try out combinations, and make purchase decisions that are not tainted by remorse. I’d like to see more parallels in the order process in this respect. Furthermore, I demand an honest communication at eye level from my suppliers. The customers are our partners; they have managed to lead us and to determine the market. The more the retailers listen, the easier it is for suppliers to evaluate their current market and produce the right fits, sizes, styles, and volumes. Thus, the retailers receive sellable styles and are happy to pay their bills, because it is fun to sell labels that generate revenue and make customers happy.” Franziska Kuczmera, Bleibtreu Berlin
HUMAN CONTACT
“In most cases, the communication with our suppliers is excellent. If that is not the case, then it’s usually down to a lack of interest and understanding from both sides. Developing a good understanding for each other (as in: the retailer understands the brand and the supplier understands the fashion house it is delivering to) requires human contact. In our capacity as buyers, we need to travel to the showrooms and sit down with the suppliers and agents in person. On the flip side, it wouldn’t harm if suppliers took the time to visit the stores, just to get an idea of the atmosphere in the respective sales departments. We all depend on talking to each other. However, it requires a good personal relationship for the full spectrum of communication to work. Once there is a mutual understanding, it is much easier to exchange experiences and discuss potential problems in terms of production, delivery, or sales that need to be addressed from time to time.” Andreas Weitkamp, managing director of Modehaus Schnitzler
EDUCATE WELL
“We have more than 1,500 retail customers all over the globe. Hence, the communication in terms of order processes has to work smoothly. In our experience, the key to good communication is the education and preparation of the individuals who are responsible for the order processes and retail support. This includes the employees in the stores, the sales agents, and even our own staff. We have a five-person service team for retailers. This team is dedicated solely to issues involving the order process: questions regarding the products, returns, deliveries and subsequent deliveries, payment details, and so on. We are also looking at the possibility of digital re-order systems, because such solutions could speed up the process. Everything else is, however, a matter of personal, human communication. It’s all about how quickly retailers and suppliers manage to exchange information regarding products, deliveries, and payment processes. To this end, we strive to train our staff to the best of our ability.” Cristina Paulon, sales manager at Parajumpers
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UNDERWEAR SOCKS SHIRTS www.maratexfashion.li
036 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
Monthly Analysis
“Retailers and brands tend to ascribe responsibility to each other, especially if business is bad. This is why we attach such great importance to establishing fair co-operations, in which both the retailer and supplier take responsibility for the sales floor. Many buyers are on the road a lot and difficult to reach, which is why it’s so important to ensure that certain information is exchanged automatically. What we have already managed to implement with a number of partners, is that we automatically receive sales figures at the beginning of the month, which allows us to analyse the data. This means that we and the retailers see exact figures, can evaluate the sales floor, and determine what is selling and what’s not. Based on this analysis, we can then supply additional recommendations in terms of sales floor management. An aspect we would like to introduce in the future is a face-to-face meeting with buyers and sales floor managers at the end of the season. At this point in time, we have all seen the sales figures, analysed the data, and submitted final recommendations. This is an excellent basis for a discussion about what went well and what could be improved. It’s a chance to allow the season to pass in review and to head into the new season in a stronger position. Seeing that fashion is such a passionate product, it requires personal interaction more than any other industries. Face-to-face conversations can unearth aspects that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. In the event of problems in terms of delivery or payment processes, we are especially eager to sit down with the customer and try to find a solution on a personal basis. This rings especially true for good partners with whom we have built a strong relationship over the years. We strive to solve problems on an amicable level. We could, for instance, discuss moderate payment plans in the event of unforeseen issues such as illness or a currency crisis in Russia. This is what we want - and what we expect - from a partnership.” Andre Lietz, sales manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at Airfield
IN-HOUSE
“In terms of co-operation between retailers and suppliers (or brands), the communication should be as direct as possible. This is what we perceive as the basis for a good exchange. We stopped working with an intermediary sales agency approximately five years ago, because we wanted that aforementioned direct communication with our customers. For the German market, we have, for example, four very dedicated in-house sales managers in the field and three more German-speaking employees in our back office to handle customer requests. Digitalisation will facilitate communication even more in the future, especially once we start exchanging data regarding sales and stock levels. In the case of our largest customer, we have already implemented EDE - Electronic Data Interchange programmes to gain data and manage the restocking process. This allows us to determine instantly which shoe has been sold and whether we need to deliver more. We are working on such systems all the time and thereby automate processes, thus making them more efficient. It is our responsibility to offer retailers excellent service. It is the retailers’ responsibility to communicate with the consumer and make the product appealing to them. There is, so to speak, a communication line from the supplier to the retailer and from the retailer to the consumer. In short, it requires direct communication and dedicated individuals, who are willing to communicate with the consumer and who are capable of utilising all available digital tools, to automate all possible processes.” Pepijn van Bommel, commercial director at Van Bommel
Optimise Re-Orders
“As a concept store, our first concern is to select brands in line with our concept. We visit the showrooms of Paris to view products and meet designers every season. Given that most of the labels are very individual, they have close ties to our team and the communication is generally very good. We understand the products and brands, while labels understand our store. This is the result of a dialogue on a personal level. In the event of problems with the products or returns, we normally take photos after receiving the goods and then continue to communicate via e-mail. This has worked well in the past. In terms of optimisation, the re-order process has great potential. At times, products that are sold out in our store and that we would like to re-order are also no longer in stock at the brands. A brand could, for instance, create a portal that allows you to see in which other countries the product in question is still available. Seeing that most stores already have an online presence, this could be a solution to the problem. It would make life easier for the brands, the stores, and the customers.” Huy-Thong Tran-Mai, managing director at Oukan Concept Store
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SHIFT UP TWO GEARS
“One can say that, in most cases, the communication between agencies, brands, and retailers is either catastrophic or non-existent. It starts with fairly simple issues such as accessibility, reliability, returns management, and collection of goods, but reaches all the way up to brand building and support. 98 percent of the agencies are pure sellers - even bad sellers, for that matter. Hardly any of them have experience in brand building and brand management. Old friendships are often valued more than the welfare of a brand, thus opening the floodgates in terms of brand sell-outs. This development makes it particularly hard for retailers to show brand loyalty, thereby offering their customers a certain level of continuity. I would hope that the agencies shift up two gears in terms of communication and professionalism. More transparency and loyalty are essential for both sides.” Iris Jorde, Amorph Berlin
YOU CHEAT, YOU’RE OUT
“The fashion system has just reached a low point. Everyone has cheated recklessly for years and raked in money greedily. The distributors supplied too many retailers, while the manufacturers dealt with top retailers and operated their own outlets - side by side and in the same towns. The relationship is therefore still very strained and there is no mutual trust. This low point will, however, be overcome once quality returns. We need to re-establish quality in terms of distribution and it will be reinstated in stores once retailers communicate with suppliers in a clearer and more consistent manner. Those who cheat must be kicked out, even if the brand is performing well. This hasn’t happened for a very long time. At this point in time, it is certainly not enough when suppliers merely sell products; they also need to implement some kind of after-sale service and improve communication. What is in stock? What can we exchange? Should I train your team? However, one mustn’t forget that many retailers are attached to the old system and often don’t take advantage of such co-operation offers. They simply aren’t used to them.” Patrick Coppolecchia-Reinartz, owner of Agentur D-tails
Mutual Respect
“Satisfied customers return. While the slogan might seem a bit worn out, it is still on the tip of everyone’s tongue. The customer is king. As retailers, we all attempt to live up to this motto in a difficult business environment. The majority of our long-standing partners and agencies have the same approach. Such partnerships fertilise themselves by mutual appreciation and reliability, as well as an honest interest in and understanding of the needs of both sides - as much as possible anyway. The task of creating an interface between the industry and retailers requires a lot of sensitivity. It is not always easy, but definitely the right choice in the long term. Collaboration is truly enjoyable when it is sustainable for both parties. Once the retailers are happy and have the backing of the industry, they can focus on what it’s all about: making fashion accessible to the general public. The fashion agencies are aware that this is the extension of their own axis. Unfortunately, some agencies only master the art of communication when a buyer visits their trade show booth or is in their showroom to participate in an order round. They rub shoulders and chatter about how beautiful the world is. If the agency allows a problem to arise - let’s say due to a lack of communication between the manufacturer and the retailer - own interests come to the fore very quickly. After all, one must avoid angering the cow that supplies the milk. After all, the customer has already placed an order. After all, the agency has the brands the customer wants. So far, so good: sometimes dissatisfied customers return too - but sometimes they don’t.” Torsten Mansfeld, owner of Bazar Royal Leipzig
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038 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
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AS DIRECT AS IT GETS No doubt, the online business is successful. And it continues to grow too. Does this mean the stationary retail industry is left behind with no chance of catching up? The opposite is the case. After all, nobody is better at what is already the core competence of stationary retailers: personal customer loyalty management. This field has been treading new paths lately. And we should thank the Internet for some of those paths… Text: Nicoletta Schaper. Illustration: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler
The rain is pouring down and the temperature has dropped to an uncomfortable level around zero degrees. It’s the kind of weather in which you wouldn’t even let your dog out, let alone consider shopping. Nevertheless, the Bella Donna store in Regensburg is a hive of activity. The occasion is a get-together of regular customers to mark the last sale at the end of the winter season with a glass of Prosecco. While chatting excitedly with each other, the ladies try on the latest trends, which are a lot more appealing than the sale items anyway. They are offered breadsticks and fresh parmesan, just like at a party. In the evening, the women leave the store happy and with shopping bags that are bursting at the seams. “We generated a ton of sales”, says Katrin Koller-vanEersel. “And we initially thought that nobody would come to the store in this weather.” Store as Meeting Point
Ulrike Koller and her daughter, Katrin Koller-van-Eersel, worked hard to ensure that their regulars attended the event. Bella Donna is their second store alongside a branch in Weiden in Upper Palatinate. The concept has been in place for 30 years and a few of the customers have bought from the store right from the start. The two women have internalised how important it is for the store to remain “the talk of the town”. Hardly any retailers can still rely on customers to show up unasked. “It is
important to remind customers that we’re here on a regular basis”, says Koller-van-Eersel. “That being said, the ways to get in touch with customers have changed drastically, especially over the last two years. We used to call customers to tell them about the newest trends. Today, the focus has shifted to Facebook and WhatsApp.” It therefore comes as no surprise that the invitation for the aforementioned sale was posted on Facebook as a casual offer. The offers that are tailored to the needs of individual customers are, naturally, more targeted. “When new stock arrives, it is the duty of each sales assistant to pick up their respective tablets and write to the customers”, Koller-van-Eersel explains. “A sales assistant can, for instance, take a photograph of herself in the new Acne Studios outfit and send it via WhatsApp to a customer she knows to be a fan of the brand.” Andrea Reimann, the owner of Lillas, also posts on Facebook on a daily basis - for instance new arrivals in the store or even images from trade shows as a preview. “It’s not about how many clicks and likes you generate, because even a photo without likes means that the items will be sold the very next day”, the Dortmund-based retailer explains. “The acceptance levels are rising, even among those who claimed not to be active online two years ago.” In addition, Andrea Reimann messages her customers personally
Diana Sponsel, owner of Maingold: “Everything that’s close to the customer is good. Personal advice is the only chance we have to compete with e-commerce.”
on WhatsApp. “I do, however, ask them for consent first. It is important to ensure that one is never too intrusive”, she stresses. That timing is an ultra-sensitive matter is not lost on Sue Giers, the managing director of Linette in Hamburg. She interacts with her customers primarily via Instagram, Facebook, and her blog on Gala.de. She posts outfits and news from the boutique twice a week. “It is incredibly difficult to get in touch with customers, mainly because they already own almost everything the premium price segment has to offer”, says Sue Giers. “One should reach out early. The best time to contact customers personally and exclusively is when new items are arriving.” However, the right moment often depends on the mood of the customer and the weather. Sue Giers believes that it makes little sense to make a move during the sale period. “At that time, the customers have most likely just purchased a bunch of items they don’t really need and possibly didn’t even want. This is also the reason why I stopped sending out a Valentine’s Day newsletter in February. It was always drowned out completely.” Diana Sponsel, the owner of
Helmut Eder, owner of Helmut Eder Kitzbühel: “We notice that an increasing number of customers return to the stationary retail industry.” Yasemin Demirici, owner of Schneeweiss and Rosenrot: “It’s important to remain attentive - just like in a friendship. We want women, who may be a bit insecure, to leave the store self-assured. We can give them that feeling. That’s something one can’t sell.”
Maingold in Würzburg, and her team started communicating via Instagram four years ago. “It’s all about images that don’t merely show the product, but also tell a story. An example for that is the photo of the highheels on the Acapulco chair”, Diana Sponsel explains. “I initially feared that the flood of images could be too much, but it seems the rule is the more the better. We now generate very good sales figures this way.” This approach also increases the frequency in the store itself. A scarf posted on Instagram attracts 15 customers, who ask for that particular item, within a day. Even though online communication has proven to be so successful, Diana Sponsel never had any intention to run an online shop. “We can’t really compete with the online specialists, but we are very good at what we do now.” style in progress 216
040 WHAT‘S THE STORY COMMUNICATION
Store as Brand
The online world is setting the pace at the moment, but good stationary retailers are smart enough to take advantage of their possibility to tend to their customers’ personal needs even more efficiently. The customers of Helmut Eder travel a lot and can therefore shop wherever they want. However, they prefer to do their shopping at Helmut Eder in Kitzbühel. One reason is that many of them have known their personal sales assistant for a very long time. “The relationships have often evolved into a level of friendship”, Helmut Eder says. “Some customers from Munich and Vienna are in Kitzbühel every weekend and really enjoy paying us a visit. Such a personal connection really is the most important aspect of all.” Helmut Eder makes sure his concept isn’t forgotten by sending out a newsletter every ten days. In addition, he sends his regular customers photos of their favourite looks. The photos are shot in the in-house photo studio. These photos show the dream dress by Valentino or the newest high-heels by Gianvito Rossi. “We often receive instant feedback per e-mail or by phone asking us to send them the outfit. We do that free of charge. Our tailor service is also free.” In addition, the product range is always kept fresh by adding new items. It is vital to avoid becoming boring. “We reinAndrea Reimann, owner of Lillas Dortmund and Kirchhörde: “I love my work and the customers can sense that. When a customer requests a personal shopping appointment, it is not unusual for me to drive to the store late in the evening. After all, she can also shop 24/7 online.”
Katrin Koller-van-Eersel, owner of Bella Donna Regensburg and Weiden: “We have always maintained close contact with our customers. Social media is a new channel we can utilise.”
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troduced Chloé to our product range, mainly because the brand has returned to its old strength. We also stock the newcomer Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. Our customers really appreciate that. When a new trend surfaces, they know that Helmut Eder will have it in stock.” Helmut Eder recently decided to move away from the large events he used to organise in the past. “I believe the time of large events is more or less over. Customers of today lead a demanding life with many appointments. People, who have little time, would rather enjoy a relaxing dinner.” The spontaneous get-together in the store has, however, never lost its magic. Helmut Eder bustles with life during the Christmas period, which is also its most profitable time of the year. “We are always very full and we often stay open longer too. Our customers actually enjoy a little bit of hustle and bustle.” Bella Donna, on the other hand, offers its demanding customers something exquisite every Saturday during the Advent season: home-made chocolates supplied by an employee who is also a gourmet cook, live harp music, or jazz music on the piano with saxophone accompaniment. In Stereo, a store in Munich, one can enjoy the services of Turan Balci, a shoe shiner, on a Saturday in November. One can also meet David Ferchner from Munich’s Barber Shop, who offers wet shaves and beard trims. This is something special and is a perfect fit for the store’s demanding clientele. In addition, it is also an optimal promotion for barber products by Mühle, which can be purchased at Stereo too. The Café as the Best Tool
Stereo has only been around for two years, but the store owned by Henrik Soller and Florian Ranft - who are also the driving forces behind the fashion agency Komet und Helden - has already developed a cult following. The owners instinctively did the right thing by opening a café on the upper floor. It offers American coffee brands, home-made cakes, and special smoothies. The café is managed by Arnold Jäger, who is a well-known figure in Munich’s nightlife and
Sue Giers, owner of Linette Hamburg: “It is incredibly difficult to get in touch with customers, mainly because they already own almost everything the premium price segment has to offer. One should reach out early. The best time to contact customers personally and exclusively is when new items are arriving.”
Florian Ranft, owner of Stereo: “The store taught us so much that we can also use for our fashion agency. After four seasons, we know a lot more about what our customers expect from us - and what they don’t expect.”
restaurant scene. This is one of the reasons why Stereo has managed to gain so many fans so quickly. Those who want to visit the café need to walk through a section of the store. The informal setting lowers inhibitions. “It ensures that you instantly have a different kind of connection to the people”, Florian Ranft explains. “Many customers ask about their favourite sales assistants as soon as they enter the store. Many have already made an appointment online via Book Your Appointment. Our sales assistants prepare for those appointments and compile an individual selection. That’s exactly the same we do for our trade customers in the agency”, he adds. “We pre-select, which shows the customer that we have invested some thought in it. Most importantly, it simplifies the choice for the customers considerably. Those who don’t have much time really appreciate that. You only get one shot and you need to hit the target.” The more personal the selection, the better it is. Diana Sponsel knows that: “We have progressively adjusted our product range to suit the customers’ requirements. The amount of times our service providing customers with a selection of their favourite brands is utilised is increasing dramatically.”
Role Model, Confidant, and Girlfriend
Yasemin Demirici manages the two Vienna-based stores Schneeweiss and Rosenrot. In particular Schneeweiss, which was founded in 2008 and is no larger than 60 square metres, thrives on intimacy and exclusivity. “Once a store has established itself, the customer really identifies herself with the store”, Yasemin Demirici explains. “She aligns her wardrobe with our store and relies on our fashion competence. Most of my customers wouldn’t dream of shopping online. They don’t want to trawl the web; they prefer to rely on us and our expertise.” The fact that Yasemin Demirici - and her team, for that matter - know the personal circumstances of their respective customers, turns them into trusted confidants and even girlfriends. “A sales assistant needs a personality. Something needs to come across. Otherwise the customer finds it very difficult to engage with the staff.” At the end of the day, personality is the decisive factor. “I recently travelled to Prague to visit one of our best customers”, Katrin Koller-van-Eersel recounts. “I asked her why she buys at our store in Regensburg even though all of the brands are available in Prague too. She showed me the usual mono-label stores, but also multi-brand retailers with four to five brands on the sales floor and ten centimetres distance between the hangers. The latter looked like art galleries. She then told me that the special thing about me and Bella Donna is that we have a very specific Bella Donna mix, from which we compile a personal style for her. She explained to me that her husband reads a car magazine and enjoys a good coffee during her visits. She said that they both have fun and she gets to walk away with a great, highly individual style.” Katrin Koller-van-Eersel is very aware of the fact that the competition is tough and that e-retailers are now also offering curated shopping. “Even in Regensburg the next store is no more than five metre away and that store isn’t a bad one either. There are so many options in terms of shopping! It’s therefore even more vital to always stay a step ahead.”
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RETURN my
Heart
After awakening from its state of shock, the fashion retail industry makes its comeback with curated shopping services. It cherishes the ambition to do a better job than the start-ups without a background in retail. Text: Martina Müllner. Illustration: Claudia Meitert@ Caroline Seidler. Photos: Interviewees
“Compiling outfits has been our core competence for 120 years”, says Benjamin Brink, the head of online marketing at Modehaus Garhammer in the Bavarian town of Waldkirchen. In his professional capacity, he is responsible for the launch of the fashion house’s curated shopping services. “This is our DNA and our vocation. We didn’t have to learn how to do this, as this is exactly what our fashion consultants do on a daily basis.” Olivier Wöhrl, the chairman of Rudolf Wöhrl AG, says: “For the last 80 years, customers have told us their fashion requirements and we have combed through our infinite product range to select what suits them best. In our case, curated shopping is the translation of that competence into a modern, contemporary form. After all, the customers have been taught by many other e-commerce players that their needs can be met at any time. Customers are no longer restricted by opening hours or bound locally - they are self-determined. This is an important growth factor of e-commerce. However, self-determination and the vast selection also overwhelm many customers. The overwhelmed customers interrupt their online shopping spree, mainly because
they might not feel confident enough to put together an entire outfit without assistance. This is where ‘myoutfit’ comes into play. We afford our customers the opportunity to order whenever they feel the urge to do so and then connect them with the know-how of our fashion consultants, who are on the sales floor and advise our customers every day.” Old Love, New Paint Job
The sales assistant in the store is the ace in the hole the retail industry likes to highlight in its own favour. In this context, it is quite baffling that it took traditional retailers so long to embrace the idea of curated shopping. After all, selection consignment has been routine for many retailers for a very long time. “Sure, curated shopping is basically a selection consignment utilising modern means but so far it wasn’t considered an established channel. In line with our service philosophy, we have sent out product selections in individual cases in the past. But those cases were special requests, such as a customer specifically asking for such a service on the phone. Now it is an established service that we want to make accessible to all customers. The feedback has surprised us pos-
itively”, says Benjamin Brink. For Garhammer, which started its curated shopping project via a soft launch on the 21st of December 2015, the service makes even more sense than in other cases. Many customers are willing to drive three hours and more to shop at Garhammer. The store hopes to tap into this customer loyalty with its curated shopping service. “However, the service should not replace the visit. Our customers still want to - and still should - experience Garhammer in its pure form. It was clear right from the start that the curated shopping project has to be based on the same service concept we apply to our store and that it needs to be of the same quality as a visit to our premises.” Generating new business with existing customers - or persuading existing customers to buy more often - are but two benefits that established retailers perceive in the curated shopping field. “We are profitable from the very first parcel we send out”, says Peter Schmidt, the head of corporate development & multi-channel at Wöhrl. “The high-value shopping carts make it possible. We are quite happy to let logistics-driven market participants cover the business of sending out a pair of black socks. That kind of business isn’t our core competence. We are a retailer. We know fashion and we know how to provide guidance. We are capable of compiling fashion-driven outfits.” Start-Up Stylist vs. Sales Assistant with Tradition
Curated shopping has - despite all the legitimate hype - one huge fault. When stylists compile an outfit, they do so under visual aspects. For retailers, however, there is more at stake than merely good advice. They style in progress 216
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“We afford our customers the opportunity to order whenever they feel the urge to do so and then connect them with the know-how of our fashion consultants, who are on the sales floor and advise our customers every day.” - Olivier Wöhrl, chairman of Rudolf Wöhrl AG
might, for instance, be eager to offload an item that has been in stock for too long or recommend a shoe in a leftover size. An inventory as large as the likes of Zalando hoard cannot be managed by a human. How should Lenci, a fashion art director from Hamburg and a stylist for Zalon, be able to predict which pair of shoes will cause major write-offs for Zalando in the near future? Combine the Best
Eric Jankowfsky has been in the e-commerce business for more than 20 years, has acted as a consultant to numerous fashion companies, implemented their respective online shops, and was the founder of a successful German web-shop software developer. His new product, named POSeidon, is aimed at supplying the retail industry with a tool that allows retailers to transfer the advantages of online shopping to the sales floor. The sales assistant’s tablet is no longer limited to supplying product information and items that are in stock at other branches or the central warehouse. “At the end of a sales talk the customers often say that they need to mull the purchase over. As we transfer the shopping cart to the respective customer’s smart phone via BeamBasket technology, he or she can do just that and then order without time restraints.” This concept really is textbook multi-channel 216 style in progress
retailing. The model is suitable for both retailers with several branches and producers who operate their own stores. So let’s turn our attention to the crucial question: What does it cost? “We always saw curated shopping as our first step into a digital future”, says Garhammer’s Benjamin Brink. “The costs are comparatively low. We didn’t need to hire additional staff; we can cope with our existing workforce.” A welcome side effect: “The customers mostly visit our online shop outside the opening hours of the regular store, at the weekends for instance. This affords us the opportunity to compile the individual myoutfit-boxes during the lower-frequency hours of Monday, thereby working at near to maximum efficiency”, says Wöhrl’s Peter Schmidt. Bandwagon in Motion
In 2014, Outfittery raised 13 million Euros from investors. In 2015, it raised another 20 million US Dollars. This money is not only used to pay the company’s 300 employees in the offices in Berlin and Düsseldorf, but also funds advertising campaigns. Today, those turning the former niche market into a growth segment are benefiting from said advertising efforts. “Start-ups and investors developed and promoted this niche, no doubt. But the exciting thing is that e-commerce has, in this time, copied quite a few things from stationary retailers too”, says Peter Schmidt. “After all, curated shopping is the response to online retailing of the first “The stationary retail industry needs a tool that allows it to transfer the convenience of online shopping to the sales floor.” - Eric Jankowfsky, CEO of POSeidon
“Curated shopping has to be based on the same service concept we apply to our store and it needs to be of the same quality as a visit to our premises.” - Benjamin Brink, head of online marketing at Garhammer
“Based on our competence and our belief that we can do a better job, it is time to enter the curated shopping market now.” - Peter Schmidt, head of corporate development & multi-channel at Rudolf Wöhrl AG
hour. Back then, e-commerce was new and tempting, mainly because of its convenience, huge selection, price advantage, and availability. However, it is also overwhelming. The phenomenon of online retailing, which was initially not service-oriented at all, incorporating more and more stationary elements into its service portfolio, transcends the fashion industry. This is where we enter the picture and say: We have core competences, we have cornerstones on which we have based our successful business for more than 80 years, and, in terms of curated shopping, there is an intersection in which we see huge potential for us. So we told ourselves that - based on our competence and our belief that we can do a better job - it is time to enter this particular market segment now.”
gives the sales assistant a sense of pride”, Benjamin Brink explains. “However, this isn’t our benchmark. We didn’t launch our curated shopping service with the aim of making X amount of sales in a Y period of time. That’s why the positive feedback is all the more pleasing. The most amazing thing is that we didn’t merely receive orders from regular Garhammer customers, even during the phase in which we hadn’t started promoting the service yet. This means we are attracting new customers, which pleases us even more. This means that the online business actually attracts new customers for stationary retailers.” Wöhrl, on the other hand, is surprised by the “double-digit percentage of customers who opt against having their outfit delivered, but prefer to use myoutfit to arrange an appointment in a branch. As a stationary retailer, we have achieved our goal of tempting customers, who might not buy from us normally, to visit a branch. There we can offer them a VIP shopping experience with personal advice. This means no returns and a chance for us to showcase our core competence”, Peter Schmidt gushes.
I Know What You Bought Last Summer
One doesn’t even have to bandy about the buzzword “Big Data” to understand that the stationary retail industry has one more card up its sleeve: customer knowledge. It is a vital ingredient, no matter whether long-standing sales assistants can also serve “their” customers in terms of curated shopping or whether one utilises the stationary transaction history - customer cards tell their own story - to circumvent pitfalls skilfully. The retail industry has an excellent chance to translate its customer relationships into a high success rate. “A box without returns
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“ONLY TOP LEVEL SERVICE IMPRESSES CUSTOMERS” It’s getting quite crowded in the niche. Market leader Outfittery can witness every day how its concept serves as a blueprint for others. style in progress caught up with Julia Bösch, the founder, to talk about what connects and separates the two worlds. Interview: Martina Müllner. Photo: Outfittery
First movers such as Outfittery created the curated shopping market and introduced the concept to a broader public. Now established retailers like Wöhrl, Konen, and Garhammer are jumping on the bandwagon. How do you perceive this development?
Curated shopping is the customer-oriented evolution of online retailing and, thus, the future. Every new market participant proves that curated shopping is the next evolution step of e-commerce. It is therefore a perfectly natural process that an increasing number of retailers are now offering this new form of online shopping and it high-
lights the enormous potential of the market. Unlike the late arrivals, we focus exclusively and sustainably on personal shopping, which is why firstclass and individual guidance in online and mobile commerce is our core competence. This is certainly the reason why we emerged as the winner in almost every test pertaining to the curated shopping segment, such as the recent survey conducted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verbraucherstudien (DtGV), a German consumer study specialist. Only top level service impresses customers, which, in turn, requires a dedicated and highly specialised team. And that is exactly what we are.
Do your new competitors have advantages you envy them for?
Our more than 150 stylists know their respective customers personally, because personal contact with the customer is an integral element of our concept. As an e-retailer, we don’t have a network of branches, which we prefer to see as a cost advantage over stationary retailers. Seeing that almost all our stylists have a fashion or retail background, we are well positioned and can offer our customers top level service. We also believe that being in the online business is an advantage in terms of customer history. Nevertheless, we don’t rest on our laurels and we strive to improve every day as a team. The question of principle is not whether online or offline is better. Both worlds have their merits and will continue to exist in the future. The real challenge is to combine the best of both worlds. That’s exactly what curated shopping does. Do you have advantages that your new competitors should envy you for?
With Outfittery, start-up star Julia Bösch transformed a niche into a market.
are becoming more demanding by the day. Our answer is the continuous improvement of our service. An example is that we started offering a pick-up service a few weeks ago. It means that we pick up parcels from the customer - no matter whether from their home or the office.
Is it conceivable that Outfittery will eventually evolve from a pure online player into a business in which the personal contact (face to face) with customers plays a more prominent role?
Although we are an online retailer, we do have direct contact points with our customers. This can be in our showroom in our Berlin-based office, during a personal counselling session on the phone, or during a chat on WhatsApp. The pop-up store we organised at Hamburg Airport can also be seen as a first foray into the offline world. We enjoy being innovative and will certainly continue testing other concepts in the future. However, online retailing is - and remains - our core business. Some voices within the industry whisper that online retailers mostly offer items that guarantee sales and that the fashion aspect often falls by the wayside. Do you share this view? Or can you refute it?
We have a different opinion in this respect. Online retailing - with its huge reach - is the perfect environment for focusing on fashionable items. Our product range is ultimately determined by what our customers desire and how we can fulfil their wishes to the best of our ability. We wouldn’t be doing ourselves any favours by sending our customers products that don’t appeal to them.
Online and offline retailers really don’t need to envy each other, but they can learn and benefit from each other. Just like we learned from stationary retailers that personal counselling is important, stationary retailers can learn from e-commerce. We perceive ourselves as digital natives, which is why we push digital innovations such as counselling via WhatsApp. We were the first German online retailer to offer such a service. The customers style in progress 216
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BLOGGERS – Impulse Generators, Scroungers, OR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW? We already know the best fashion bloggers and Instagram stars of 2016! But we won’t tell you who they are. After all, we don’t want to plunge anyone into misfortune. Whoever picks the faces of the next campaign based on influencer rankings makes a mistake that might not merely cost a lot of money, but might also damage the brand image. Yes, the relationship between fashion PR and bloggers is complicated. However, it also harbours unexpected opportunities. Text: Petrina Engelke.
Illustration: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler
15,000 US Dollars for a single selfie on Instagram? Or is it worth 100,000 US Dollars? Nobody knows exactly which sums top bloggers receive from fashion and beauty brands for socalled “Sponsored Posts”, mainly because both sides are about as forthcoming as large conglomerates are when asked how much they paid for their Super Bowl commercials. One things is certain. The idea of earning money with blogs has become a reality. US bloggers like Aimee Song (Song of Style), Julie Sarinana (Sincerely Jules), and Danielle Bernstein (We Wore What) are not only millionaires in terms of followers. Rumour has it that a top blogger can fill her sponsored designer bag with between one and three million per year. The daily insight into the associated jet-set lifestyle - consisting of the London Fashion Week, a flower shop in Paris, a selfie with Hillary Clinton, a cup of coffee in Rome, and Chanel’s rooftop terrace on Rodeo Drive - increases the number of fans and thus the value
of the blogger even more. Italian blogger Chiara Ferragni (The Blonde Salad) now even has several employees. In the meantime, Switzerland’s Kristina Bazan (Kayture) has pulled off a coup that is said to be worth a seven digit figure by becoming a brand ambassador for L’Oreal. Good Bloggers are Very Valuable
Unlike in traditional media, the target audience not only sees the product in question. Good bloggers know how to coax their followers into participating actively. This content interaction represents the actual value of blogger relations. Even “Sponsored Posts” generate hundreds of comments and are shared with people who are most likely also part of the desired target audience. Hashtags make the rounds and many blogger fans react to questions, competitions, or appeals to share styles faster than the fashion police allows. Many bloggers also produce content for the brands’ own channels. style in progress 216
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However, the revolution instigated by fashion bloggers is now cannibalising its own children. A few years ago, most fashion bloggers rejected the status quo. They returned the authority in terms of style to the people who actually wear fashion. Today, some of these bloggers dictate fashion. Whatever they wear is, in some cases, sold out in no time - even in the luxury segment. In March 2015, a study conducted by the New York Luxury Institute stated that 72 percent of the millennials and 51 percent of the Generation X representatives among the questioned wealthy Americans (minimum wage: 150,000 US Dollars per year) follow a fashion blogger. 90 percent of the interviewees who follow fashion blogs, shop on websites that are recommended in those blogs. It therefore makes sense for both retailers and manufacturers to endear themselves to bloggers. According to “Harpers Bazaar”, brands now spend more than a billion a year solely on Instagram posts. The crux of the matter: Bloggers Don’t Always Think About Their Purses
“Out of principle, I don’t collaborate with brands I don’t like”, says Sonia Lyson. “I trust in my own taste. If a brand appeals to me, I enjoy showcasing it on Instagram.” Lyson - better known as Soniafrancex - has more than 42,000 followers. When the follower count started to rise, so did the number of calls from brands and fashion agencies. She does co-operate with them, but she does not perceive her Instagram as an advertising platform, but as an expression of her personal style. She has another reason for safeguarding her personal style. “I believe my followers would notice immediately if I posted something for purely monetary reasons”, she argues. This attitude is prevalent in Lyson’s field. In the cold light of day, this is an advantage. Brands also need to pay for product placements elsewhere. The credibility test of the blog and social media scene is free of charge - and new. Other channels rarely offer this service. However, a suitable influencer needs to be convinced of the 216 style in progress
merits of a collaboration. There is a rather bitter truth that needs to be acknowledged: Bloggers Don’t Need You
Many brands are learning that a traditional press release doesn’t make the grade on a blogger’s smart phone. The PR department in question needs to understand both the fashion taste and the communication style of Instagram users and/ or bloggers. If it doesn’t, it will be turned down. After all, these influencers are not as dependent on a PR deal as the first glance my suggest. Affiliate marketing companies such as Skimlink, RewardStyle, and Shopstyle Collective ensure that the bloggers earn cash every time someone clicks on a self-selected link. RewardStyle claims that Chiara Ferragni earns no less than 80,000 US Dollars per month through affiliate sales alone. Unlike a brand campaign, this system doesn’t tell bloggers which content to post and doesn’t require additional effort. In this context, a store’s offer to pay a blogger’s train ticket to its opening - in exchange for said blogger taking great photos and sharing them online - seems rather unattractive. Those who want to win over the influencers must offer them something. This can, in some cases, be PR. “If world-renowned labels with a huge reach re-gram a photo, it definitely leads to a rapid increase of followers”, Sonia Lyson explains. However, one should not forget the following: Attention Isn’t Enough
“Events involving bloggers are a good idea, mainly because one can broadcast the message to the world and target audience instantly”, says Nora Rochlitzer. As a managing partner of V Communication, she has, on occasion, invited bloggers to St. Moritz on behalf of clients. This can promote sales. According to Rochlitzer, blogger relations are, first and foremost, an excellent image tool. “It works along the lines of: ‘Look how cool brand XY is. It’s taking us into the sun, to the mountains, and to this cool event.’” Chances are that this message spreads quite rapidly, because professional bloggers know how
to make their fans work for them. Nevertheless, Rochlitzer does not believe that the new influencers are a secret weapon with unlimited potential. “What is often lacking - and what can’t be implemented via Instagram anyway - is a sincere opinion, a written collection text, or an experience report.” Rochlitzer does not see bloggers as a substitute for print media, traditional advertising, online banners, and ideas for the PoS. Even in terms of the influencers of this brave new world, she relies on a combination of follower figures and gut feeling. A marketing study titled “The Influence of Fashion Bloggers”, which was conducted by the Hong Kong-based market research firm Fashionbi, shows how vital it is that brands know the audience of a blogger and evaluate to which extent the blog in question overlaps with competitors. However, Yana Bushmeleva, the COO of Fashionbi, believes this research is already the second step. “Before contacting any blogger, it’s important to set up clear internal goals”, she says. “What does the company want to gain: awareness? New followers on social media channels? Sales online or at brick-and-mortar stores?” She believes that smaller companies in particular can benefit from co-operating with the new influencers. “Internationally successful brands are continuously investing in other aspects, and a collaboration can simply go ‘unnoticed’ by the public”, Bushmeleva says. “While for a beginner brand, one photo by a famous blogger can open many doors.” Then things can start moving fast - and they must move fast. Because: The Online Audience Doesn’t Wait - Neither Does the Future
Woe betides anyone who dares to try and evoke desires. If the dress or the pair of shoes worn by a blogger are not in the stores yet, her followers will not be willing to wait and buy similar items from rivals, Bushmeleva warns. However, the principle of “Pay. Post. Sell out.” also affects the relationship between bloggers and their followers. The ugly term “surreptitious
advertising” is making a comeback and could reduce the trust the general public places in popular Instagram accounts and bloggers. The effect can already be seen at the various fashion weeks. The bloggers are still present, but not all the brands are still eagerly flooding their social media channels with photographic evidence. In Bushmeleva’s opinion, brands should first learn how to communicate with their own clientele. Those who interpret this development as a sign that the new influencers should be sidelined again are making a strategic mistake. Who has, at the end of the day, shown the industry so impressively how to communicate with your audience directly? It was the bloggers! Anyone who intends to focus on own content in the future, finds a metaphorical goldfish pond right here. “Seeing that I regularly post on Instagram while also working in the PR industry, I understand the interests of both sides”, Sonia Lyson says. Since late 2014, the 27-year-old is a full-time PR manager for Lala Berlin, which means she collaborates with bloggers and celebrities. “In today’s fashion industry, an Instagram account resembles a business card”, Lyson argues. Although that certainly wasn’t the only reason she got the job.
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“THE BRANDS NOW UNDERSTAND GOOD BLOGGER RELATIONS COST MONEY” Bloggers are part of day-to-day business at Karkalis Communications. André Karkalis reveals how the business ticks.
Mr. Karkalis, how does one find the right blogger or Instagram star for a fashion brand?
One needs to keep a close eye on the blogosphere. Who is friends with whom? What are the blogs doing? In our capacity as an agency, we conduct such research continuously. When we start evaluating whether a collaboration would be sensible for our client, we look at which co-operations the blogger has been part of in the past and which styles she wears in general. If the focus is solely on reach and clout score, it lacks the necessary qualitative factor. In terms of rankings of the most
Who reads blogs and how do readers process their content? André Karkalis would like quantitative recipient studies for the fashion industry.
important blogs, I believe the target group definition is not factored in sufficiently. Journelles has different followers than Stefanie Griesinger.
How has the remuneration situation developed?
The brands now understand that good blogger relations cost money. However, there are no benchmarks. I can’t say that a co-operation is only possible with a specific budget if the follower count is higher than 50,000. The entry-level prices for an Instagram post range from 200 to 300 Euros, but it doesn’t take much to add a zero to those sums. I would also like to take the opportunity to speak out in favour of the influencers. This is a full-time job for those who curate their channels professionally and also maintain excellent relations with their community. They should be paid well for their efforts. What does it take to make marketing with bloggers successful?
My first tip would be to identify a circle of influencers who show a passion for the brand and try to strike up a long-term partnership with them. That would lead to the bloggers not only writing about products selectively, but also attending events and possibly even producing content for the brand’s communication channels. The top priority always has to be that the brand, product, and blogger suit each other. When Long Tall Sally, which specialises in clothing for women who are taller than 1.75 metres, opened a store, we teamed up with tall bloggers for the event. In this case, the brand values and the needs of the bloggers were truly congruent.
How does work with blogs differ from working with traditional magazines?
Although today’s fashion bloggers have media kits, many of them are more concerned about how much a brand or product appeals to them. The keyword is affinity. At a fashion magazine, there is a division of labour between the advertisement and editorial departments. On the one hand, advertising clients can be favoured when it comes to selecting a t-shirt for a styling on the other hand, the editorial team ensures brands that haven’t booked ads get mentioned too. This is how the diversity in the magazine doesn’t suffer. Bloggers are mostly editors and advertising executives at the same time, thereby mixing both interests. This means it can happen that bloggers reject a brand despite its large budget and incorporate other brands without any charge at all. Where do you see the boundaries between fashion marketing and bloggers?
The industry is very interested in this topic and some market participants are already investing significant budgets. However, I have not yet witnessed the huge watershed moment, when someone who had a two million budget for TV commercials suddenly decides to invest it all in blogger relations. Most brands still have a Google advertising budget that exceeds the budget for blogger relations.
Study “The Influence of Fashion Bloggers” http://fashionbi.com/insights/marketing-research/the-influence-of-fashion-bloggers Instagram Sponsored Post Calculator by Fashion PR Girl (calculates in US Dollars) https://www.fashionprgirl.com/calculator/public
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IT’S TRADE SHOW TIME! Were the showboaters of Florence right all along and a trade fair is - more than ever before - so much more than a mere order appointment? Or is a trade show no longer an order appointment at all and only a communication platform? Text: Quynh Tran. Illustration: Claudia Meitert
We have been told for years that the trade shows of Berlin are doomed. But as the saying goes: There’s life in the old dog yet! The last season proved it: the walkways were crowded, the mood was buoyant, and the location with its ten trade shows is by no means a thing of the past. While it is fair to say that the events in the German capital don’t make waves on an international level, they are nevertheless relevant as a meeting place of a localised industry consisting of the German-speaking and Northern European markets. “We are at the Pitti Uomo and at the Premium. We’re at the Pitti Uomo to present our concept to the world, and at the Premium to cover the German market. The latter is extremely important for us. The trade shows of today are rapidly transforming into communication platforms. For a brand like ours, which relies on distribution via the retail industry, a trade show is the only tool that allows us to show our collections to our clients”, says Nicolas Bargi, the founder of Save the Duck. Martine Boerrigter, the marketing coordinator of Netherlands-based Just Brands PME Legend who has decided to present the company’s range at the Panorama trade show, agrees: “If you want to establish yourself in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Northern Europe, it is extremely important to show presence in Berlin and utilise the visit as a communication platform.” Although the Panorama is a trade show that is eager to establish itself as a business platform, Jörg Wichmann, its CEO, acknowledges: “Trade fairs are order platforms that should not be underestimated, although human relations, communication, and promotion certainly play an important role today. It depends primarily on the customer, i.e. the buyer, whether an order is placed at a trade show.” Anita Tillmann, the founder and managing director of Premium Exhibitions, believes that communication and ordering are intertwined processes: “Trade exhibitions are
not only an important economic factor, but also a key instrument in terms of B2B communication - even far beyond the boundaries of the fashion industry. An existing market and exhibition centre should be utilised to maintain existing contacts and make new acquaintances. It is almost impossible to reach a more interested target audience faster and more effectively than at a trade show with clearly defined content. A trade fair is not the one or the other; it is both an information and communication platform, as well as an order platform. We create and emotionalise an international market place, where creative people, business owners and entrepreneurs, managers, retailers, buyers, the press and media, and marketing experts can meet. That’s exactly where the exchange that is essential to generate business happens. The more digital and global our world becomes, the more important it is to have physical formats and platforms.” The Tall Tale of Full Order Books
The fact that very few orders are placed during the trade shows is, however, an aspect that will not only have an effect on the future strategic orientation of the events in Berlin. The GDS in Düsseldorf has repositioned itself as an information and communication platform after pushing its date to the start of the respective seasons as early as 2014. “Our surveys during every trade show prove that visitors use the GDS primarily for information purposes, but they also show that targeted orders are placed. Even when no order is placed, the visitors evaluate suppliers and determine how much weight a specific supplier will have during the product range planning process. In addition, the visitors of GDS look for and find new suppliers. I believe that our trade show is the perfect platform to gain a quick overview of potential partners”, says Kirstin Deutelmoser, the director of GDS. Mirjam Dietz, the spokeswoman for Munich-based Supreme Group, believes that there is a particular need for action in style in progress 216
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terms of alignment: “It is not a question of what a trade show can offer its exhibitors, but a question of what a trade show can offer the retail industry. It’s not about bigger and better anymore, because the budgets are being redistributed. It’s about finesse and offering support to retailers. We believe that the future of the trade fair industry lies in niche events that have a clearly defined target group. They need to be tailored to the needs of specialised retailers; those specialised retailers still exist and will continue to exist in the future. The specialised retail industry needs to differentiate and must therefore be afforded an opportunity to view and order a specifically aligned portfolio of collections. The fashion agencies play an important role in this too, as they always present new labels and act as trend scouts… The sound basis for all this is definitely a direct dialogue with the retail industry and a sense for how the market changes. A constant exchange with the exhibitors is equally important. Trade shows need to be as clearly defined and positioned as the retail industry itself.” While it isn’t accompanied by concrete change, Dietz’s attitude captures the mood of the exhibitors accurately. Michi Klemera, the mastermind behind the Luis Trenker brand, says: “I currently see no alternative to the trade show. However, every trade fair needs to be readdressed every year and the flow needs to be reinterpreted. The issue is a problem for businesses of all sizes and across all price ranges, because we no longer understand what’s going on and no longer know how and in which direction we should move forward. Up until now, there was a fun factor in getting to know new people. Until recently, I found new ways, new scenes, or creative elements that inspired me at every event. We are in Berlin for the start of the season, but at the Pitti for international clients and at the ISPO because that’s where we get to greet the whole world. We spend four percent of our turnover on trade shows every year. In this context, we will need to question how high the return on investment really is 216 style in progress
and how financeable trade fairs still are. So far we have not managed to translate the investments into specific figures.” It Pays Off
“In terms of the function of a trade show, we believe it’s necessary to distinguish precisely. For us, the Pitti is a kick-off event with international status, during which we present ourselves to new customers and strive to penetrate a new market. In Berlin, we find ourselves in a saturated market and mainly present ourselves to existing customers on a very personal level. Here, the visitors are mostly from Germany, Austria, and the Benelux countries”, explains Marino Edelmann, the head of sales and marketing at Drykorn. “In this context, the return on invest is difficult to measure. In Florence, you can maybe measure it with the number of new customers and the export business. In Berlin, we don’t do orders out of principle, so it is difficult to measure what effect such a trade fair has on sales. But that’s not what this is about for us. The approach is the personal exchange between the customers and us. We believe that such an investment always pays off in the end. Nevertheless, the actual benefits of trade shows are becoming more controversial. Does personal contact really have to happen on this platform? Does it really have to be Berlin? Could we, based on how customers perceive our brand, possibly achieve something similar with a different investment of a similar amount? Today, we meet completely different consumers and retailers in the market. Currently, the trade show is an important communication platform. However, trade fairs no longer have the same information element and novelty degree as they used to. This issue needs to be discussed in the future.” Exhibitionism is Necessary
It is near impossible to find a trade show that is better at addressing both retailers and via the press - consumers in a contemporary manner than the Pitti Uomo. “The Pitti Uomo is unique in its characteristics and dimensions, because it manages to bridge the gap between trade
fair and fashion week, thereby inspiring trade visitors and consumers alike”, says Lapo Cianchi, the director for communication and special events at Pitti Immagine. According to Cianchi, the strength of the Pitti is not only its holistic approach of combining men’s fashion with male lifestyle, but also Florence itself. The city connects people and stories. “The Pitti is not only the exhibition ground of the Fortezza da Basso, but also an environment with its own history in terms of the relationship between fashion and art, architecture, and contemporary culture. I am speaking about the city of Florence as a whole.” Because the trade show manages to attract international buyers far away from the hustle and bustle of the fashion weeks, orders are written in Florence. Cianchi says he knows of companies that generate up to 50% of their order volume during the event. Can Trade Shows be Digital?
In addition to successfully balancing orders and communication, the Italian trade show’s e-Pitti concept ranks it among the digital pioneers of the industry. “We are aware of the growing influence of digital platforms, which is why we created e-Pitti to afford the customers an opportunity to take a few weeks after the physical interaction to have another look at the collections and to complement where deemed necessary. The customer can access the collections at home, in the office, and on the road. They can also browse through photos, videos, and interviews. We start off with a human encounter and continue that interaction in the digital world - we believe that is the most sustainable path to take.” The German trade shows have also internalised that the community aspect of a trade fair needs to extend beyond the timeframe of the event itself. They have certainly learned from the Pitti in that respect. The GDS teamed up with “We Want Shoes”, a Berlin-based start-up, to create “GDS 365 - Digital Marketplace”, which is an online B2B platform. Premium Exhibitions is also in the process of developing a com-
munication tool that reaches beyond the boundaries of the exhibition itself. Who’s Out? Who’s In?
However, the German trade show organisers still lack a vital factor: the end consumer. Mirjam Dietz: “What has changed massively and will continue to evolve is that the budgets of the manufacturers will be increasingly channelled into B2C channels. This means that trade shows are no longer mainly significant in terms of portraying brands and pure communication, which is usually an extremely expensive undertaking. We witnessed that at the Bread & Butter in Berlin. The large denim brands didn’t decide to not attend the event for fun, but purely for budgetary reasons. They need the money for other purposes; they need to invest it in areas that are closer to the consumer! In the future, this development will become painfully evident for an increasing number of trade shows. The avalanche, that Burberry triggered by focusing its shows on the consumer, hits the nail on the head. It can be transferred 1:1 to the recent developments in the trade fair industry. Not without notice, the market has started revolving around itself and this will affect further stakeholders. This will, among others, also affect fashion fairs - not only on a national level, but also internationally.” Although the German trade shows - with exception of Zalando’s Bread & Butter, which still faces scepticism - stick to their B2B concepts, but they have started developing an increasing number of niche events to differentiate. Messe Frankfurt has tailored its Greenshowroom and the Ethical Fashion Show to cover the sustainable fashion market, while the Premium’s #Fashiontech offers a platform for technological innovations. Further niche concepts are currently being developed with the Seek, Bright, and Selvedge Run events. Specialisation has led to progress since the industrial revolution in Europe and maybe it will do the same to the fashion industry via the many niche concepts that each embody a different holistic lifestyle.
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BREAD & BUTTER FOR CONSUMERS The first Bread & Butter trade show under the management of Zalando takes place in September - a trade fair for consumers. Ingrid Kritscher, the director for experiential brand marketing, explains Zalando’s Bread & Butter concepts. Interview: Quynh Tran. Photo: Zalando
What can we expect from the new Bread & Butter format?
The Bread & Butter will take place from the 2nd to 4th of September in the Arena, a wellknown location in Berlin, and will include events both during the day and at night. Figuring out the right timing was essential, because we kick off the autumn/winter season. This affords customers an opportunity to gain direct access to the new product range. The idea is also reflected in the motto
of this year’s event: “Bread & Butter NOW”. Products will be available immediately and visitors can share their impressions in social networks straight away. As we all know, the Bread & Butter was originally focused on buyers. We strive to transform the trade fair into a consumer-oriented lifestyle event that combines a range of different elements. It will be a kind of urban, interactive playground with exhibitions showcasing the latest fashion innovations, interactive fashion shows, and concerts. Unlike the classic fashion business, where a lot of goods hang on clothes rails, the brands will utilise the Bread & Butter by Zalando to stage their innovations and products in a creative manner, thus introducing the latest trends.
That sounds completely different to what the Bread & Butter used to be. Why didn’t Zalando simply create a completely new format instead of acquiring an existing buyers’ trade show?
We don’t believe it’s completely different. We believe that the Bread & Butter brand is merely being adapted to new market realities. We thought long and hard whether we should really retain the name BBB. However, we agreed that the name is good and stands for what we strive to achieve. We aim to make the world of fashion, which was very exclusive in the past, accessible for fashion enthusiasts and afford everyone the opportunity to participate in a fashion event. There is currently a strong trend towards consumer-oriented events that allow customers to purchase items directly after the catwalk show. Brands such as Burberry, Tom Ford, and Tommy Hilfiger have chosen that path. Bread & Butter is a name that communicates our democratic approach well.
consumer-oriented events. These are two different approaches and it’s difficult to compare them. We strive to offer brands and consumers a completely new platform that allows them to interact. This is part of our strategy to connect the various players within the fashion industry and to offer consumers the best possible shopping experience. We want to turn the Bread & Butter into something that stands for itself.
Which kind of brands will be present in autumn?
We will have between 20 and 30 brands on location. They will be allocated their own area to showcase their products. Due to new forms of presentation we offer, fashion becomes tangible and immediately available for consumers. In addition, a number of brands can stage fashion shows. In terms of brand selection for the Bread & Butter, we believe quality is more important than quantity. The brands are representative of our store. They range from sportswear to premium fashion - a curated selection from our extensive product range. This allows us to express Zalando’s online image in the offline world.
If this is the case, do you think that trade shows will ultimately be forced to open themselves to consumers in the future?
“In terms of brand selection for the Bread & Butter, we believe quality is more important than quantity”, says Ingrid Kritscher, the director of experiential brand marketing at Zalando.
I believe that there will be order-focused trade shows in the future, because this form of trade fair is important for buyers. Zalando, as an online platform for fashion, has a different concept that requires style in progress 216
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At the beginning of the year, Johan Lindeberg, a Swede who has chosen New York as his home, returned to J.Lindeberg as a creative consultant.
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NO GUTS, NO GLORY During his time as marketing and creative director of Diesel in the early 1990s, Johan Lindeberg made a name for himself as the creator of the “For Successful Living” campaign. This was long before he launched his own brand, J.Lindeberg. Early 2016, he returned to J.Lindeberg as a creative consultant and launched the new “Bridge Series” campaign, which reflects his personal advertising philosophy: more expression, more content, and more depth. We sat down with Johan Lindeberg to talk about brands with a voice of their own, courage, the right balance, and the end of product sovereignty. Text: Isabel Faiss. Photos: J. Lindeberg Fashion was still allowed to be real fun when you were marketing director of Diesel - and I’m sure you had a lot of fun as well. Have we lost that sort of spice in advertising?
I talked with my daughter these days about the same thing in music. She was playing David Bowie and said that all the music is so boring compared to the past. I agree in many ways. Usually there is always a new movement, but at the moment it’s quite stuck. My six years at Diesel were maybe the most exciting years of my life, literally, because we were like rock stars and Diesel became a very cool brand around the world.
Nirvana came up at that time and everything was so expressive, so intense. Now we have become more controlled and very commercial. But I think what is important right now is to see, for instance, Lady Gaga’s performance at the Oscars. It was very emotional, provocative in some ways, and explosive. She used her voice to engage, inspire, and change the world. Or the performance by Beyonce at the Super Bowl, which was also extremely powerful. As a creative community, we have to use our voice to provoke and inspire. It’s important to dare to express yourself and inspire the world. Where have these strong
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expressions and messages gone?
In the past, some brands succeeded by just creating a great marketing campaign, without any depth and substance. After that period, fashion became more and more business-oriented and many brands focused on pleasing the commercial demands of the retailers. That’s still the dilemma today and I think it is very important that the creative community steps up and starts using their art form to inspire the world to head in a different direction. The new creative levels of Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent are great signs. It’s great that Kering gives space, mandate, and trust to a new generation of creativity. Storytelling is a buzzword of our times. But which stories can fashion still tell credibly today?
I have a very different philosophy. For example, I see J. Lindeberg as a brand with a voice. I think it is important that a brand talks - not only about heritage and values, but about an inspiring lifestyle. Today, the concept and expressive lifestyles can be more important than specific products. Everything has been done, so today it is more about how you package something. You saw tendencies of that during the New York Fashion Week. It’s very hard to be different with an individual product today, but where you can be different is when you give a brand a voice and it says who you are and where you belong 216 style in progress
to. Diesel was a good example in the nineties, because we created a very unique voice with a campaign and a lifestyle. Everything we stood for, people wanted to be part of that cultural movement. Today, it is a great opportunity to create such cultural movements as a brand. When you talk about creating a cultural movement with Diesel, you tell us a story about braveness. Today a creative process needs the approval of many individuals, which ultimately results in a lowest common denominator. Do we have an advertising crisis?
I think today it is all too influenced by retailers and the international approach of a brand. If too many commercial-minded people influence the creative process, it will lead us to a brand that looks like everything else. You become more diluted as a brand. Let’s look at Apple. You can never create those kinds of products if you listen to the market, because the market doesn’t even know about those products and the future demand. When I invented the Diesel campaign ‘For Successful Living’ in 1991, I did everything different to everyone else at that time. It was four-colour and it was ironic. At that time everybody did things like Bruce Webber and Herb Ritts, in black and white. But I fought for it and Renzo Rosso started to trust me. That integrity we had in our expression - we were not influenced by anything - made it very powerful. Renzo Rosso and
I had the guts to express ourselves. Renzo gave me space and I could really take the communication to a complete new level. If you talk about braveness, a lot of times it is about the balance of creativity and industry or management. Let me explain it by using John Lennon as an example. By creating songs with integrity, he touched a world. And if you look at, for instance, Thom Yorke and Radiohead, they reach out, but not as broad. I think that’s what we did with Diesel at the time. We fed those sweet spots, where we actually could be ourselves while using our irony to create our messages. We still managed to become a broad brand. That’s what I mean when I talk about balance. It is very hard to combine creativity with integrity and industry. The industry - or the commercial or business side - is definitely dominant right now. For this reason, it is very inspiring for a lot of people to see how Gucci, for example, repositioned itself within one year in a very creative way, because the management trusted in the power of being different. It’s brave not to reach out for the safest way to sell a product, but to show some attitude. Do you blame the industry for the current situation? Is it the fear of not selling enough products?
Yes, it is fear. When I left Diesel and started with J.Lindeberg in 1996, the easiest and most obvious option for me was to launch another denim brand. But I started a brand positioned
between fashion and golf. I was a golfer before, but obviously a very different one. And during my six first years I influenced golf and changed it, which actually was also a kind of political statement. I approached a very conservative environment and changed the way they dress in a more modern way. My philosophy was that if I dress them in a modern way, they’ll think more modern. During the six years it took me to change golf, everyone told me it is not possible. But I didn’t listen, did what I believed in, and succeeded in the end. But I must admit that it is very tiring to push for that kind of change, especially if you don’t have the backing of the management and the resources to promote these kinds of cultural and social changes. The world is so fucked up today, so I think you can influence the world if you really put yourself out there with powerful messages. The rapid pace the fashion industry subjects itself to is drawing increasing criticism. Is creativity - and subsequently creative communication - even possible in such a fast rhythm?
It’s exhausting, of course. But on the other hand, I see no way to stop it other than going against it piece by piece, by doing your own thing with integrity. Or you need to be part of it. At the moment, we have too many brands doing too many things that they don’t need to do. Certain brands should stand
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Johan Lindeberg strongly believes that brands need a voice. The “Bridge Series” campaign for spring/summer 2016 marks his comeback at J.Lindeberg and gives people like Waris Ahluwalia the possibility to make a significant statement. New York was the location for the launch of the campaign.
for certain things and stick to it. I really like the initiatives of Burberry in trying to change the cycle by moving with the flow and the development of the industry. There is no doubt that the publicity fashion shows get today, makes it very hard to maintain interest in the products that are currently in the stores.
With J.Lindeberg, you’ve developed a lifestyle brand. Last year you returned to the brand as creative consultant. What are your goals and ambitions?
J.Lindeberg is a very unique brand. It has fashion and it has sports. It’s an amazing opportunity, because fashion-sports products are currently very trendy and people like to dress like that. On the other hand, it is also a big challenge for J.Lindeberg, because you have two different cultures within one company and not one clear voice to the consumer. Now I
try to see how we can create one strong and precise international voice to package the whole brand. An inspiring lifestyle like we had at Diesel, for instance, but Diesel didn’t have sports. This is the challenge, but also the beautiful opportunity, that J.Lindeberg has. That sounds a lot like focusing on the main values?
And bringing everything together in one big picture… Today, we have scattered expressions, but the consumer should see J.Lindeberg as one inspiring lifestyle. We can use the strength that we have active wear, golf, and ski competence and bring those aspects together in our fashion collections. Today, we are a very organised company with a lot of highly professional people, so I think we are going to the third base now, bringing everything together and figuring out the perfect balance between art and industry or creativity
and business. It will take us to a complete new dimension and progressive level, which is exactly what J.Lindeberg needs.
Looking to the future is always more exciting than looking back. Based on the major transformation our industry is experiencing, what are, in your eyes, the most significant developments that we need to prepare for in the next 5 or 10 years?
I believe that brands can be more important than politicians. I believe in a world with no borders and where a creative community takes more responsibility for the issues in the world. I believe in women stepping up and taking the lead. I am very positive about creativity. It will come to the point where brands will realise that their main focus on selling products is not the only way forward. The consumers are getting more and more demanding and they expect
more from a brand. Because they are so savvy, you cannot do what everyone else is doing. You need to engage people in a different way and you need to work on your creative expression on a level that you’ve never been on before.
Johan Lindeberg started his career as an international marketing manager at Diesel in 1990 before launching his own brand, J.Lindeberg. He left the latter in 2007 to focus on a variety of other projects such as Justin Timberlake’s brand, William Rast, and his new brand, BLK DNM.
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OLD PAPER AND NEW PAPER Does customer communication now only happen in the digital sphere? Not at all: even pure online players turn to print when it comes to seducing customers. Pixels and bytes, paper and print the one does not exclude the other. Text: Quynh Tran. Illustration: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler. Photos: Interviewees
Every revolution has them: visions that don’t come true. When digitalisation was still in its infancy, the world was euphorically promised a paperless era. However, this hasn’t happened - neither in the office, nor in customer communication. Granted, a variety of new means of communication - primarily digital in nature have led to a significant increase of possibilities. But the ultimate realisation is that the one has not replaced the other. This doesn’t make it easier for the retailers. The stroke rate has
increased of late, not least due to e-commerce and its high-frequency communication models. But what is actually reaching the intended target audience? And how can one coalesce the moment of communication with the moment of purchase? Professionalisation
The fashion industry has always preferred a glossy finish. However, the benchmark in terms of customer communication was considerably lower for quite some time. The customers showed understanding that style in progress 216
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“Customers, who have subscribed to the Porter magazine, spend, on average, 24% more and order 86% more often than those without a subscription.” - Study published by the YooxNet-a-Porter Group
their local retailer was simply not able to publish in Vogue quality. This is where the global players stepped in. If you generate several hundred million in sales and deliver to multiple countries, you are capable of hiring the industry’s most creative minds. Today, large e-retailers have assembled a communication apparatus that covers both high-frequency newsletters and periodical print magazines both backed by multi-million budgets and produced by highly professional editorial teams. Even though Stylebop its still showing restraint in terms of communication, it is quite clear that the appointment of Jennifer Dixon, the former fashion editor of the German InStyle magazine, is meant as a statement of intent. Will we soon see yet another magazine published by an online store? Other industry heavyweights have already proven that this approach works. Mytheresa.com managed to sharpen its public profile with the help of Veronika Heilbrunner, who joined the company from the German Harper’s Bazaar, and now sends out daily newsletters containing beautifully curated designer pieces. So beautiful, in fact, that it is really difficult not to click on the images and place an order instantly. Editorial content is used to fuel the desire for the product. Global players such as Neta-Porter and Matchesfashion hire senior fashion journalists 216 style in progress
“It is always a challenge to create captivating content for our customers, both in the digital sphere and in print.” - Jess Christie, global communication director at Matchesfashion
to create an entire orchestra of communication means. It ranges from concise newsletters to glossy magazines. The latter can easily compete with the classic fashion magazines. Ever since Net-a-Porter hired Lucy Yeomans, a former editor of the British Harper’s Bazaar, in 2012, the company has been publishing the Porter Magazine. It is a glossy magazine with more than 300 pages, filled to the brim with fashion spreads (which, of course, correlate with the product range), feature stories that are often better than those in traditional magazines, and covers featuring global celebrities like Emma Watson or Amber Valetta. This gives the online retailer yet another opportunity to - in the truest sense of the word - imprint its lifestyle in our minds. It allows the customers to identify with the company and creates a desire for the latest fashion. According to a study published by the Yoox-Net-a-Porter Group
in February 2016, the Porter Magazine has a circulation of 170,000 and is available in more than 60 countries. It most recently experienced a growth rate of 10% (for comparison: the German edition of Vogue had, by its own admission, a circulation of 185,000 in 2016). The study states that customers who have subscribed to the magazine spend, on average, 24% more and order 86% more often than those without a subscription. In the case of customers with an average income of 164,000 Euros per year - and who spend up to 17,000 Euros on clothing - the investment in a magazine as purchasing incentive pays off. So there is a link between buying patterns and the interest in editorial content. One can, of course, fight about whether the interest in fashion or the desire to buy was there first. In addition to Porter Magazine, the e-retailer also publishes Mr. Porter, a weekly online magazine and a bi-monthly print issue for men that has 2.5 million digital readers, 850,000 newsletter subscribers, and a circulation of 130,000. The study reveals that the men in question have an average annual income of 195,000 Euros and are willing to spend 25,000 Euros. This proves an enormous potential that can be exploited via targeted, content-driven marketing measures. Hybrid Solution
Matchesfashion, which is active in both the stationary and online retailing markets, utilises a variety of methods.
“We have years of experience in the catalogue business and can transfer those skills to the editorial environment.” - Lillemor Brandenburg, head of communications at Conleys
It sends out weekly “Just In”, “Curated Style”, “Style Report”, and “Weekend Edits” e-mails, as well as sale alerts, wish list and look book e-mails. It also publishes “Shop With” columns with style icons such as Garance Doré or Leandra Medine, as well as “The Style Report” magazines for men and women with a circulation of 120,000 and 80,000 respectively. The latter not only offer feature stories, but also 100 pages of fashion that can be purchased easily by entering the supplied item numbers on the website. “We want to stay in touch with our customers and keep them updated in terms of news, new deliveries, and their favourite designers - both at the start of the season and during it, because we get new products delivered constantly”, says Jess Christie, the global communication director of Matchesfashion. “Twice a year - at the start of the summer and winter season respectively - we publish the print magazine ‘The Style Report’ for women and men, with exciting content that includes interviews, opinion pieces on the newest trends, and features about the season’s must-haves.
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“It never fails to surprise us when we see what our customers like to read in the magazine.” - Ambros Strolz, co-owner of Strolz Lech
The magazines are distributed in travel lounges, private jets, and luxury hotels in metropolises around the globe. It is always a challenge to create captivating content for our customers, both in the digital sphere and in print. In addition to print, we also produce videos. We ensure that the content can be viewed on all devices and that all products are available for purchase. Through the best editorial work and a stringent selection process, we strive to highlight both new and established designers.” Who Can Keep Up?
Compared to the global e-commerce players, smaller retailers are subject to certain budget restrictions and a different infrastructure, as well as - possibly - a completely different strategic alignment. In addition to catalogues, newsletters, and personalised birthday and holiday messages, Conleys, a German mail order and e-commerce specialist, also publishes a 100page customer magazine twice a
year - in spring and in autumn at the start of each season, to be precise. “A good customer magazine is characterised by its blend of reports from our own and other industries, a completely different portrayal of the products featured in our catalogues, a certain internationality, and the incorporation of both public and in-house personalities. This allows us to create a fashion-flavoured magazine with an individual character. We are basically our customer’s best friend who is incidentally also a qualified stylist”, says Lillemor Brandenburg, the head of communication at Conleys. “Our team, which consists of two permanent employees, invest a lot of love and passion in developing the Conleys magazine. The photos and text content, the structure, and photo shootings with particularly excellent photographers - that’s what it’s all about: hand-made content and amicable co-operations. Naturally, this also includes close partnerships with brands. In addition, we have years of experience in the catalogue business and can transfer those skills to the editorial environment. This is how we manage to remain competitive and this allows us to claim that we might have one of the finest customer magazines in Germany.” The trump cards of the smaller players: personality and regional focus. “It never fails to surprise us when we see what our customers like to read. Employee profiles are particularly popular. And when we pub-
“The magazines published by online retailers should not be perceived as competition, but as an inspiration from which even smaller boutiques, to which customers turn for personal advice, can benefit.” - Sue Giers, managing director of Linette
lished my mother’s recipes, we received excellent feedback and our customers sent us reports on their experience when they tried them out at home”, says Ambros Strolz, who manages the Strolz fashion and sports equipment stores in the Austrian skiing Mecca Lech. In addition to four personalised, postal letters at the start of the seasons, sales announcements, and VIP invitations to special charity events, the company publishes a customer magazine in October to mark the start of the season. The magazine is characterised by its individual approach. It is a high-end publication, which is given a personal touch by the family itself, stories about Lech and the Arlberg, employee profiles, regional news, and lifestyle features. All photo series are shot in the region and have a direct connection to the village. Even a large department store like the KaDeWe relies on a regional focus in its customer magazine. Regional editorials, as well as news about the store and the city, are what stand out next to advertisements of large, international fashion houses.
However, a magazine is not always the be all and end all. Sue Giers, the managing director of Linette in Hamburg, believes that one can exploit the marketing efforts of the larger players. “The magazines published by online retailers should not be perceived as competition, but as an inspiration from which even smaller boutiques, to which customers turn for personal advice, can benefit. Let the large online retailers spend their marketing budgets, but we should persuade them to co-operate with small boutiques. Examples include forwarding via boutiques or joint events.” It remains to be seen whether such a co-operation can ever be established. But one thing is certain: the communication channels of today provide a wide range of opportunities. Large retailers with budgets for expensive magazines are not merely competitors, they also need to coexist. After all, they will never be able to match the personal touch and the regional focus of smaller retailers.
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Ben Sherman. A CLASSIC IN EXPANSION MODE Following the takeover by Marquee Brands, Ben Sherman, a truly traditional British brand, switched to a licensing model. The Ben And fashion agency has acquired the brand rights for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The agency has only one aim: growth. Text: Quynh Tran. Photos: Ben Sherman
“I can still remember the original Ben Sherman shirts of the sixties and seventies. I really had to save up for my very first Ben Sherman shirt. It was something everyone wanted to have”, Paul Weller, the front man of The Jam and the so-called Godfather of Britpop, once said. Arthur Benjamin Sherman alias Ben Sherman - introduced the shirt with the Gingham check and the button-down collar to the English public in 1963. The bourgeois look, inspired by the dress code of Ivy League students in America, developed into an icon of the Mod subculture in Britain during the sixties and seventies. Ben Sherman was basically the uniform of brit-pop stars such as The Jam, The Who, and - a little later - Oasis. This doesn’t mean
that Ben Sherman isn’t still relevant today. “Ben Sherman is a traditional brand in line with the zeitgeist. Its roots, which are defined by a strong statement of Englishness, are still tangible, but the collection has become larger, more understandable, and more approachable. It now addresses a broader range of customers than merely the brit-pop type of the nineties. Both the tailoring and the ready-to-wear segment are performing well”, says Ben Botas, the managing director of Ben And. New Structure – New Possibilities
Despite its cult status, the brand seemed to become a bit dusty over the years and changed hands on numerous occasions. The latest acquirer is Marquee Brands, which took over the loss-making company in summer 2015. Earlier this year, it was announced that Ben Sherman will now operate on the basis of a classic licensing model. While BMB Clothing Limited secured the British markets, Ben And managed to procure the license for the German-speaking markets. Marquee Brands manages the brand identity
Ben Sherman’s signature style: brit-pop for the masses.
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and the global marketing from New York and London, but the licensees are responsible for their respective markets. “This opens up new opportunities, mainly because the local partners know their markets better and can manage the regional business more efficiently”, Botas explains. Marquee Brands hopes that this approach will both revive existing markets and pave the way into new countries such as Japan, Korea, and Canada, as well as the South American continent. The new model does not operate with agencies and distributors. Instead, the licensees contribute to product development and logistics before shouldering all retail and wholesale responsibilities in their respective markets. In Germany’s case, this means that one can develop own product lines alongside the centrally managed collections. These individual lines can be ordered directly from the factories via BMB Clothing Limited, which also owns the production license for Europe. Heading for Growth in Germany
Unlike in England, where three of ten stores were closed following the licensing deal, the German market is experiencing growth. Five profitable mono-brand stores - including all their employees - in Germany and the Netherlands changed hands and there are plans to add more stores in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg in 2017. The headquarters in Berlin will, however, be shut down. The stores are now under the management of the fashion agency in Munich. “We have taken over a profitable retail operation. It made a profit of more than one million Euros last year and we intend to
Ben Botas’ fashion agency, Ben And, is the new German licensee.
expand the business even more. The wholesale segment, which hasn’t performed optimally so far, is now managed via the Ben And agency and will also be expanded in the future. For the next season, we are aiming for a growth rate between 10 and 20 percent”, Botas reveals. In addition to the wholesale business, the e-commerce operations will be handled from Munich via the German domain (www.bensherman.de) as of April 2016. Ben Sherman’s positioning in the lower mid-price segment will definitely be preserved. The classic Gingham check shirt is available at 69 Euros, while a pair of jeans sets you back 89 Euros. This price range allows the brand to access a very broad market. Ben Sherman, Ben And GmbH, Georg-Muche-Str. 5, Munich/Germany www.bensherman.de www.ben-and.com
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A classic for the future: the Gingham shirt remains the heart of the brand.
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Wunderfell Casual Perfectionism
The core of the first Wunderfell collection are fashionable coats made from ultra-light Merino and Tuscany lambskins. All raw materials are sourced from Europe and then processed by the best specialists Turkey has to offer. The delivery dates are perfectly adapted to the needs of the retail industry. Wunderfell affords its customers the possibility to move their respective delivery dates into periods of demand in autumn, which means they don’t need to stock goods as early as midsummer. Orders for the delivery date in October can still be placed until the end of May. The collection consists of approximately 15 casual and elegant indoor and outdoor models that are both climate-regulating and breathable. Lambskin items temper the body in a natural way on cold and warm winter days. The driving forces behind Wunderfell are specialists with years of experience in the field of leather processing. The indoor topics include blazers and bolero jackets made from ultra-light leather. Casual reversible jackets, cultured fur scarves, and accessories complement the product range. The shapes of the jackets in the main lengths between 70 and 90 centimetres flatter their wearers with slightly raised shoulders and refined asymmetries in sizes 34 to 48. In addition to softness, lightness, and the related wearing comfort, the unique cuts and perfect fits of the coats and jackets are particularly persuasive. With a 2.7 calculation factor, the retail prices range from 799 to 1,999 Euros. Marlino GmbH, Munich/Germany, T 0049.89.45205880, info@wunderfell.com, www.wunderfell.com
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June 7.2 Prominent Counter
Ström Design-Savvy
No need to worry, 7.2 is not some kind of new web generation. The number 7 represents luck, while the number 2 stands for the two founders of June 7.2, an American premium t-shirt collection. In 2014, Ingrid Seynhaeve, a model from Belgium, and Jacquie Moroni, an Argentinean designer, decided to design t-shirts that are characterised by casual, minimalist looks in a serene LA Sunshine State style with exceptionally soft qualities. The t-shirts, tops, sweatpants, and dresses, which obtain their vintage look through heavy stone washing, are produced exclusively in Turkey. The winter collection also includes heavier jersey qualities and cashmere items. Since January 2016, the fashion agency Komet & Helden showcases the brand in its showrooms in Munich and Düsseldorf. In order to be able to react to short-term trends, June 7.2 not only offers two classic pre-order collections per year, but also has an express collection, which can be delivered within 14 days, for every season. The latter consists primarily of light jerseys and tank tops. The purchase prices for t-shirts range from 32 to 45 Euros. French Rebellion Showroom, New York/US, T 001.212.967.0202, contact@frenchrebellion.fr, www.ingridseynhaeve.net
Ström, a contemporary fashion collection, is currently seen as a hot tip in terms of premium designer jeans in the US. The name hints at the brand’s Scandinavian roots: Erika Strömqvist, the founder of Ström, was born in Sweden and has, in the past, worked with designers such as Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs, and Ann Demeulemeester. Strömqvist’s own fashion line focuses on simple qualities such as functionality, understatement, and durability, but combines these aspects with high design standards. Quality awareness is an integral part of her creed. All items are manufactured in the US from Japanese denim. The collection includes edgy cut skinny jeans, casual boyfriend cuts, and high-waist or parachute cuts. International celebrities such as Anne Hathaway and Cameron Diaz are avid promoters of the casual jeans line. This season, CP Fashion has taken over the distribution of the brand in the German-speaking countries. CP Fashion’s Reinhart Oberstein plans to implement a selective distribution concept. The collection consists of 60 to 70 items. The retail prices for trousers start at between 189 and 249 Euros. The calculation factor stands at 2.8. Ström Brand LLC, Los Angeles/US, T 001.323.6106586, wholesale@strombrand.com, www.strombrand.com
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GH Bass The Ultimate Loafer
Phil & Lui Sustainability as Standard
Hunkydory Unpolished Swedish
Phil & Lui, a young casual fashion label from Munich, focuses on durable, super-soft organic materials. The founders, namely Caroline Luisa Klein and Philipp Sebastian Seidl, strive to remind the broad public of the social and creative value of clothing as part of our everyday life. The label manufactures its items in Portugal in accordance with the standards needed to secure a GOTS certification. It also utilises unused materials from overproduction - so-called leftovers. The knitwear items are made of purest merino wool, a prime Cashwool and Supergeelong Mouliné yarn quality from Italy. The jeans are finished with lasers and ozone treatment according to the criteria of resource conservation and environmentally friendly processing. The label offers two collections per year, each consisting of between 30 and 40 items. The retail prices range from 59 to 89 Euros for t-shirts and long-sleeves, from 119 to 139 Euros for sweats, from 199 to 249 Euros for knitwear, and from 159 to 229 Euros for jeans. The calculation factors are 2.7 and 2.8. Phil & Lui, Munich/Germany, T 0049.173.7305985, mail@phil-and-lui.de, www.phil-and-lui.de
©Katjana Frisch
GH Bass, an American brand, lays claim to a men’s shoe classic that wrote world history and is back in fashion - the loafer for women. As early as 1876, George Henry Bass, a businessman from Wilton/Maine, developed his first Weejun as precursor to the Penny Loafer and as a universal shoe that fulfils all requirements of everyday life. GH Bass has since grown into a brand with an international presence. Today, it offers a wide range of models for men and women, but has never betrayed its roots. At the start of this year, D-tails, a Munich-based fashion agency, was appointed as the distributor of the cult brand and has decided to focus its efforts on the classic loafer for women. “In combination with super skinny jeans, the simple loafer - in its most classic reduction in black-and-white or brown - can be a fashion statement in its own right”, says Patrick Coppolecchia Reinartz, whose agency will represent GH Bass in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from next season onwards. The brand offers two main collections and shortterm programmes during the season. The purchase prices range from 68 to 80 Euros with a calculation factor of 2.9. GH Bass, Pueblo/Colorado, T 001.800.9676270, customercare@amretailgroup.com, www.ghbass.comwww.ghbass.com
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Some collections cause surprised showroom visitors to spontaneously blurt out the following question: Why have I never heard about this brand? This is exactly what happened in the case of Hunkydory, a Swedish women’s outerwear collection that has been described as a “diamond in the rough from Sweden”. At the beginning of February, Norbert Reipert was named as the label’s distributor and presented the brand at the Premium trade show in Munich for the first time. “I am excited about the core message of the brand. Fits, processing levels, and material quality bolster my belief that Hunkydory can be positioned at the best retailers in Germany.” Customer feedback suggests that Hunkydory’s concept is right on the money. The brand offers a relaxed, elegant, and high-quality women’s collection made of special materials, characterised by a successful blend of styles ranging from casual looks in denim to feminine elegance. Hunkydory, which stands for high-quality knitwear and a cool Bohemian chic, was founded in 1996 by Ulrika and Christopher Bjercke. It has two main collections and two pre-collections per year with a total of 10 delivery dates. The main collection consists of 120 items with purchase prices ranging from 58 to 220 Euros for knitwear and from 100 to 600 Euros for outdoor jackets, while trousers and denims usually cost 68 Euros. The calculation factor lies between 2.6 and 3.0. Once the order period for autumn/winter 2016 is concluded with the delivery in August and September, the pre-spring/summer 2017 order period runs from the 25th of April to the 25th of May 2016. The delivery date for the latter is late November 2016. Hunkydory, Stockholm/Sweden, T 0046.706.292431, camilla@hunkydory.se, www.hunkydory.com
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Frieda & Freddies New York Men on Board
Filling Pieces Sustainable + Independent
LOVaFur 0% Animal
Frieda & Freddies was the name of two nightclubs, located in New York and Miami respectively, in the 1980s. The discotheques embodied the slightly kitschy lifestyle of the TV series Miami Vice. In 2005, Manfred Lebek, a textile entrepreneur based in Mönchengladbach, acquired the brand name rights and subsequently developed Frieda & Freddies into a successful women’s fashion label with a clear focus on jackets. In the current season, he added a menswear line that specialises in quilted jackets, reversible jackets, parkas, fake down, down jackets, and waistcoats. In addition to utilising glossy nylon as material, the label also uses an extensive palette of wool materials with innovative bonding qualities. The retail prices for jackets range from 149 to 199 Euros, while the prices for knitwear range from 69 to 99 Euros. The calculation factors are between 2.8 and 3.0. The label hopes to serve approximately 200 menswear customers in its first season. Lebek’s long-term goal for Frieda & Freddies is to establish an entire lifestyle world. Own pop-up concepts - at Baltz in Bochum, for instance - focus the collection on the sales floor. Frieda & Freddies is currently stocked by stores such as Kastner & Öhler, Turek, Breuninger, L&T, Braun in Moers, and Garhammer. Lebek & Friends, Mönchengladbach/ Germany, T 0049.2161.980000, customerservice@frieda-freddies.com, www.frieda-freddies.com
Filling Pieces, a Netherlands-based footwear label, takes pride in the fact that its sneakers are characterised by high-quality materials underlined by a striking and distinctive design language. To top it off, the label’s shoes are manufactured sustainably in Portugal. In addition to the processing of materials such as Italian suede, nubuck leather, and vegetable-tanned smooth leather, Filling Pieces also utilises refined technology such as innovative laser cuts, elaborate dyeing processes, and spraying techniques. The collection consists of approximately 65 styles. The brand-typical Low Top, the Mountain Cut, and the high Mid Top silhouettes are available in minimalist uni-colours and in more colourful combinations. Details such as lacing covered by leather straps and Velcro fasteners act as fashionable eye-catchers. The retail prices range from 180 to 330 Euros with a calculation factor of 2.7. Guillaume Philibert, the founder of Filling Pieces, had the idea to fill the market gap between streetwear and high-end fashion with his affordable premium sneakers while studying architecture. Today, the label exports its footwear to 40 countries and is listed at more than 400 stores, including upscale retailers such as Colette, Mr. Porter, Barney’s New York, Liberty’s London, and Storm Copenhagen. Filling Pieces, Amsterdam/The Netherlands, T 0031.6.55707819, gordon@fillingpieces.com, www.fillingpieces.com
The challenges a fleece bobble - the icing on the cake in terms of hats - needs to face are truly daunting. The Agic family started establishing their company AheadHUNTER with hand-made prototypes of this likeable, pet-friendly niche product. In 2014, the company launched LOVaFur, a faux fur women’s collection consisting of waistcoats, jackets, and coats, as well as a diverse range of accessories such as shawl collars, stoles, snap-on cuffs, Peter Pan collars, loop scarves, key chains, and pompoms. All items are hand-made in the brand’s studio in Bad Ischl. Each collection is limited to 20 styles, which are available in two to six different colours and qualities. The label only processes highend materials from the EU and can, upon request, produce individual pieces in the desired volume (there is no minimum order volume) and deliver said order within a few days. The distribution for the German market is largely conducted via the brand’s own showroom and personal order dates. The fashion agency Grane represents the label in Switzerland. The purchase prices for the women’s collection range from 105 Euros for waistcoats to 219 Euros for coats. The accessories cost between 9.20 and 85.90 Euros. The collection is already listed at stores such as Best in Stuttgart, Be Code in Zurich, and Via Venty in Salzburg. AheadHUNTER, Bad Ischl/Austria, T 0043.660.6595226, office@aheadhunter.at, www.aheadhunter.at
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067 RRD Perf-Romance
What looks like a distortion of words is the self-created motto of the urban outdoor jacket collection designed by surf star Roberto Ricci and managing director Roberto Bardini. They combine sport performance with passion and devotional romance. Roberto Ricci started handcrafting surfboards in Italy as early as the late 1980s and added premium sportswear to his expertise in 1994. The latter was named among the top ten of the 1,000 best outdoor brands during the last Pitti Uomo in Florence. Roberto Ricci, who spends at least nine months of the year on his surfboard, is responsible for inspiration and functional designs. All items are designed and manufactured in Italy. The brand utilises a process called Holistic Technology, which is a technique that inextricably combines materials such as lycra, waterproof membranes, stretch nylon, down, and wool, thereby creating new fabrics with optimised functionality. Currently, the jacket collection for men, women, and children is distributed in Europe by export manager Michaela Merati. Michaelis Fashion Agency was appointed as representative for the southern German market for the autumn/winter season of 2016/17, while Austria is covered by the fashion agency of Christian Obojes. With retail prices ranging from 299 to 599 Euros, RRD is clearly targeted at the upscale premium sportswear customers. Montecristo S.R.L., Grosseto/Italy, T 0039.0564462269, montecristo@robertoriccidesigns.com, www.robertoriccidesign.com
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Pete Sorensen Shoes with Character
Uber For Wind and Weather
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This shoe label has an Anglo-Scandinavian name, is styled in Paris, and manufactures in Italy. Pete Sorensen is truly international. While “Pete” stands for English esprit, “Sorensen” stands for Scandinavian minimalist design. Kevin Serpaggi and Camille Hourdeaux, a designer, focus on rock chic for individualists. In terms of design, Hourdeaux pays close attention to simple shapes that can be combined easily and are comfortable to wear. Every model has a beautiful finish and is perfect down to the smallest details. Her footwear line not only looks stunning, it is also exceptional in terms of processing and fit. The two fashion professionals place their trust in the craftsmanship of the Italian town Montegranaro, which is located in the Marche region. The product range includes classic boots, Chelsea Boots, and loafers. With a calculation factor of 2.5, the purchase prices range from 90 to 180 Euros. The label’s own store is located in Paris, but many international stores have taken a liking to the footwear range. The customer list includes household names such as Printemps, Harvey Nichols, Luisa Via Roma, and Smets in Brussels. In Germany, the label is listed at the likes of Konen, Bungalow, and Riccardo Cartillone. Pete Sorensen, Paris/France, T 0033.1.48055411, kserpaggi@petesorensen.com, www.petesorensen.com
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What can a sophisticated man wear over his suit when the conventional parka is not businesslike enough and a classic raincoat doesn’t seem sufficiently functional? Uber, a Norwegian brand, has developed a hybrid between technology and tailoring for exactly such occasions. The jacket line for men and women, which has its roots in the activewear segment, is characterised by an extremely reduced design language. Dag Even Tresselt, the Norwegian product designer who founded the brand in 2009, focuses on functional and smart business fashion. He combines wool with materials and technologies from the outdoor segment. The jackets are defined by their light weight and clever details such as magnetic clasps, multifunctional pockets, aero-gel pads, waterproof zippers, and discreet reflectors. Two years ago, the brand introduced a women’s fashion range with a similarly reduced look. The retail prices range from 450 to approximately 900 Euros. The brand is currently in the process of implementing a distribution concept for the German-speaking markets. The list of customers includes the likes of Kastner & Öhler, Breuninger, and Die Form in Oldenburg. Uber A/S, Oslo/Norway, T 0047.94874391, info@uberfunction.com, www.uberfunction.com
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Tara Jarmon Well dressed!
Silk Sisters Launch with ModeIst
Gray The Best of Both Worlds
Contemporary elegance meets Parisian chic with a twist. This best describes the highly wearable look of Tara Jarmon. The label was founded by Tara Jarmon, a Canadian designer, and her husband, David Jarmon, 30 years ago. What started off as a small couture house in Paris, is now a seasoned company with 54 own stores and 600 points of sale around the globe. The plan is to add 14 own stores and approximately 200 points of sale within the next five years. The focus in terms of distribution is on Europe. After initially managing the German-speaking markets from Paris, the company has appointed Aco Modeagentur to handle distribution from this season onwards. The list of German customers includes the likes of Breuninger, Konen, Ludwig Beck, and Lodenfrey. On an international level, Tara Jarmon is stocked by household names such as Arnotts in Ireland, Harvey Nichols in Turkey, Princess in Antwerp, Globus in Switzerland, and Isetan in Tokyo. Tara Jarmon launches two collections per year with 300 styles each, as well as capsule collections for its own stores and corners. The purchase prices range from 70 to 120 Euros for tops and from 85 to 160 Euros for dresses. The calculation factor stands at 2.7. Tara Jarmon-SAS Uniform, Paris/France, T 0033.1.53384911, commercial@tarajarmon.fr, www.tarajarmon.fr
The standards that ModeIst’s Marion Hoferer applies to a womenswear collection can be summarised with a few keywords: an excellent price-performance ratio, a dazzling product range, a reliable supplier, and - in a best case scenario - a professional stock management concept for customers. This order round, she added Silk Sisters, a smaller high-end blouse and dress line consisting of silk and cotton pieces, to her portfolio. The label offers casual Easy Chic and smart looks at affordable prices. In terms of style, Silk Sisters is positioned somewhere between high-street and high-end fashion. With a 2.8 calculation factor, the purchase prices for blouses start at 55 Euros. The collection made its debut at the Premium trade fair and in the agency’s showrooms in Düsseldorf and Munich. The delivery dates for the first couple of seasons are scheduled for November 2016 and June 2017. Initially, the stock programme will be kept fairly small. ModeIst, Munich and Düsseldorf/ Germany, T 0049.89.15985591, info@b-kleidung.com, www.b-kleidung.com
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Implementing English menswear heritage with Italian design understanding and production know-how for the knitwear segment sounds like a rather exciting challenge in itself. Two knitwear specialists, namely Alfredo Argiro and Giacomo Canessa, accepted this challenge readily. In the past, Alfredo Argiro was responsible for knitwear collections by the likes of Cruciani, Malo, Brunello Cuccinelli, and Ballantyne, which is when he met Giacomo Canessa. The two fashion experts came across Gray, a brand that was founded in England in 1920, but disappeared from the market over the years. In 2011, they decided to revive the brand. In the production facility in Perugia, Alfredo Argiro developed yarns for the men’s and women’s collections. All pieces are knitted on-location, thus allowing very individual and possibly unconventional designs and haptics such as innovative material blends or a diagonal ribbed look. Even though it has only been on the market for six seasons, Gray has established an international distribution with leading agencies in this segment, which means the brand is listed at top retailers such as Barneys New York and The Store in Milan. One of these agencies is Heritage Agents in Munich. With a calculation factor of 2.7, the purchase prices range from 103 to 150 Euros. The small manufactory offers an enormous range of qualities. It has no minimum order levels or pre-defined quantities, thus making special customer requests and short-term subsequent deliveries possible. Heritage Agents, Munich/Germany, T 0049.89.32668063, m.koetteritz@heritage-agents.com, www.heritage-agents.com
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Eleven Elfs The Magic of Colours
Scandinavian Edition Uncompromising Honesty
Officine Federali Nostalgia for Life
Eleven Elfs has set out to brighten up the gloomy winter months of Central Europe with cheerful colour-blocking looks embodying a professional combination of two of the highest demands: function and fashion. The results are arctic-grade and ultra-light fashionable down jackets for men and women with high quality levels and an honest price-performance ratio. The driving force behind Eleven Elfs are Manuel Luciano and his wife Julia Victoria who launched the label in 2010 with the goal of combining the best elements of two worlds: Italian design and headquarters in Munich. They found a production specialist in Vietnam that is run by a German company and operates in accordance with certified social standards. This allows Eleven Elfs to develop innovations such as vegan down jackets. Luciano presents two collections per year, each with 10 to 12 models in three to four qualities and in a wide range of colours. Fashion lines such as Urban, Nature, and Vintage complement the collections in terms of content. The core retail price stands at 449 Euros. In addition to the most significant European markets, Eleven Elfs also has a presence in Canada and the US. The label is positioned to serve upscale premium customers. “We introduce colour and emotion to the sales floor; that is our greatest strength”, Manuel Luciano explains. Eleven Elfs, Munich/Germany, T 0049.89.32709009, info@elevenelfs.com, www.11elfs.com
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If you ask Select Trading’s Bernard Waage what it was that made him fall for the functional jacket collection of Scandinavian Edition almost immediately, he points to its uncompromising honesty. In 2010, two Swedish designers teamed up with two Norwegian retailers to launch a brand that specialises in perfect down jackets for the winter - 100% functional and with high sustainability standards. In terms of design, the collection, which now also includes jackets, coats, and parkas for both men and women, is defined by timeless elegance and clean understatement. The pieces can be worn both in mountainous regions and on the way to the office. The purchase prices for the two main collections per year range from 88 to 230 Euros. The calculation factor lies between 2.6 and 2.7. Scandinavian Edition teamed up with Select Trading to facilitate its entry into the German market. The brand targets stores in the premium sportswear and contemporary fashion segments. The finishing of the jackets is applied in Italy, while the materials - developed in co-operation with Sympatex and Thermore - are tested in Germany. Scandinavian Edition, Vollen/Norway, T 0047.91.121818, info@scandinavianedition.com, www.scandinavianedition.com
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The brand name says a lot about the philosophy of this high-quality bag collection, even though the name has very little to do with the product itself. Officine Federali is a term that describes the old railway production halls that Fabio Carminati, the industrial designer who founded the label, came across in the Italian part of Switzerland. He sees these halls as a symbol for precision and successfully meeting the highest demands, as well as a metaphor for traditional craftsmanship and an honest product. Heritage Agents’ Malte Kötteritz and Michael Brockmann had the backpacks and bags on their radar for quite a while and were finally won over in Berlin this January. “These bags are designed to last a lifetime; they are absolutely favourite item material. The collection is also comprehensible and has a clear structure. There are a total of six styles in the three qualities canvas, canvas and leather, and the so-called Black Edition. Depending on material and style, the purchase prices range from 120 to 180 Euros - with a 2.65 calculation factor”, says Malte Kötteritz, who is always excited by products that are not limited to specific seasons and can therefore be sold at face value all year. “Precious hand-made products like these have lasting value - over a long period of time. They don’t need to be written off.” The entire collection is manufactured in Italy utilising organically tanned leather, waterproof army fabrics, and even technical materials such as neoprene.” Officine Federali, Chiasso/Switzerland, T 0041.91.6305000, info@officinefederali.com, www.officinefederali.com
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GAMECHANGING? NO. FOCUSING! Does fashion have to become even faster? Or does it have to become slower? The right timing in terms of collections is becoming increasingly important, not only at the point of sale. Those who still wonder whether we need a systemic change are obviously not aware that we’re already in the middle of it. Text: Nicoletta Schaper. Illustration: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler
There’s a lot of movement, at all levels. Fashion has become ridiculously fast. Luxury brands such as Dior and Saint Laurent not only launch two haute couture and two prêt-à-porter collections per year, but also offer pre-collections, cruise-collections, and capsule editions. They are all featured in huge catwalk shows and broadcasted live to an audience of millions via the Internet. The gigantic fashion machine needs to be kept running. After all, there’s a lot of money at stake. This creates an awful amount of pressure and seems to be becoming a task that is virtually impossible to achieve. There is simply too much time between promoting a new collection and it actually hitting the shelves, especially as it gives the vertically integrated copyists sufficient time to supply stores with their lookalike products - at the exact time the customers want them too. The whole revenue-driven system has caught up with itself. February’s advance by Christopher Bailey, the chief executive of Burberry, to make the collections available online and in stores directly af-
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ter the fashion shows proves that the entire system doesn’t work anymore. Brands like Tom Ford, Proenza Schouler, and Tommy Hilfiger soon drew the same conclusion. It also highlights an issue that is not merely valid for the high fashion industry: the fact that the rhythm has to change. It needs to stop ignoring the market and focus on the needs of consumers. Too Much of Everything
“There clearly are too many different rhythms”, says Karl Reyer of Reyer Sports & Fashion in Hallein. “To me, it seems like the industry is running away from reality. It’s trying to launch even more collections to somehow generate the desired sales. This means that the quality often suffers, mainly because there isn’t sufficient time for creativity and product development. Retailers swamp themselves with goods that they need to sell at a discount way too early, because the next wave of products is already on its way.” “As a retailer, Hans Weber, managing director of City Jeans Berlin: “We definitely need a change of rhythm. The success story of Anine Bing proves that. She offers new looks on a monthly basis and they are delivered quickly per order: summer dresses in summer, winter sweaters in winter.”
it’s almost impossible to keep track of all the pre-collections, main collections, and cruise-collections”, Abseits Germany’s Winni Klenk criticises. “The industry actually wants retailers to spend more on the pre-collection, because the main collection is too difficult. In the case of Dsquared2, for example, we don’t order the main collection from the show, because the items are too expensive anyway.” Abseits Germany stocks brands like MSGM, N°21, and Lala Berlin exclusively in Stuttgart, which means Winni Klenk has to order in sufficient volumes. “I have no problem doing that as
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long as the sales figures support it. However, I never overrun my budgets.” His store stands for fashion, which means that many deliveries arrive early. “We can no longer survive on collections that follow the classic rhythm. Paul & Joe’s spring/summer 2017 collection sold brilliantly from November onwards. Our fashion-oriented customers want Karl Reyer, managing director of Reyer Looks Hallein: “The weather is a strong argument and one certainly can’t rely on it being cold in December. And if the temperature rises to 40 degrees in August, the goods don’t move at all.”
that”, Winni Klenk explains. “In contrast, swimwear in January and knitwear in July doesn’t work at all.” Udo Toepfer’s agency represents niche collections with a classic pre-order rhythm. “The fact that all swimming trunks and bikinis are sold out in May and June is just as grotesque as, for example, offering fur and lambskin items in July”, Udo Toepfer argues. “The timing is completely off these days. Many retailers share my wish for a more need-oriented delivery of goods. I believe that consumers are increasingly interested in consuming when they actually have a need to do so. The market is not only driven by the industry and delivery times, but also by the competitors. Retailers often tell me that they need to have goods early too if their local competitors get deliveries early.” The uncertainty in the retail industry is palpable. “There are too many different opinions and discussions. There is no coherent approach”, Udo Toepfer says. “The global nature of the business and e-commerce complicates the situation even more. The fact that nobody seems to be able to agree means we are not giving the industry a clear and precise enough signal to change the rhythms.” Anita Tillmann argues that the same principles don’t apply to everyone. “Fundamental-
ly speaking, we don’t need a systemic change, because we already are in the middle of it”, the managing director of Premium Exhibitions says. “Structure is not an abstract thing that can be changed with the press of a button, the same as individual players can’t be game-changers. All market participants determine the structure, in which there are a lot of different rhythms that exist alongside each other. The high fashion industry is subject to different rules than sportswear, for instance. Therefore, everyone needs to find out which model with which rhythm suits them best. That’s the model they need to focus on.” Smart and To The Point
Focusing is what’s happening right now in many places. The sportswear brand Woolrich is no exception. “We need to be closer to the consumers and supply retailers with the right goods at the right time. We are working very hard on that”, says Nicola Ghelfi, the Woolrich sales director for Europe. “We no longer sell two collections per year with a lead of six months. We now launch smaller collections throughout the season in order to be closer to the needs of consumers and reduce the risks for retailers.” Woolrich’s spring/summer 2017 pre-collection will be delivered in November and December in the German-speaking countries, while the main collection is scheduled for January to March. The autumn/winter pre-collection will be delivered in May and June. That season’s main collection will be available from July onwards - in three drops. This means that thick down Marco Michelagnoli, head of sales at Woolgroup and Daniele Fiesole: “Due to the pricing policies of large department stores, whose private label business allows them to reduce prices early, the regular sale period is becoming shorter. That’s why smaller retailers should make themselves independent and incomparable with special products.”
Anita Tillmann, managing director of Premium Exhibitions: “In terms of trade shows, we are in the lead. We are the system. We broke up and changed old structures. Our timing is absolutely perfect. Trade shows are the most important B2B meeting points. There is no way to reach an interested audience faster and more efficiently.”
jackets won’t be delivered in July, but later. Europe is currently Woolrich’s strongest market, but its business in the US and Canada is growing rapidly. “We also have offices in Japan and Korea”, Nicola Ghelfi adds. “This enables us to work more need-oriented. For example, we have learned that the US market wants the collections very early in the season, while southern Europe and Asia want them later. The local agents are close to their respective markets. In our eyes, that’s the key to success.” The trend-oriented Italian womenswear collection by Pinko utilises its domestically tried and tested order/delivery system for all markets. “With its own stores, in which it tests high-end fashion on a regular basis, Pinko has adjusted itself perfectly to the fashion needs of consumers”, says Michael Schulz, whose fashion agency Aco Modeagentur is the brand’s distributor in Germany and Austria. “The system also works on an international level, which is proven by the steady growth rates.” The delivery periods for the Black pre-collection run from November to March and May to September respectively. The trend-oriented Black main collection is delivered at the same time and is complemented by flash programmes. Instead of NOS goods, the brand offers product-related new proposals during the season, for instance the best selling trousers or blazer in the Pinko stores. Mono-Products Instead of Total Looks
In the past, there was a great demand for total look brands within the retail industry. “It was relatively easy for the retailers.
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They could simply order many outfits from a few large brands, thereby avoiding mistakes regarding colours and combinations”, says Marco Michelagnoli, the head of sales at Woolgroup and Daniele Fiesoli. The result was too much similarity in all product ranges. “Today, the situation is completely different. The crisis has forced retailers Winni Klenk, managing director of Abseits Germany: “What we would like is more time between the order dates for womenswear and menswear. There is so little time between them now. As retailers, we hardly have time to come to our senses.”
to look for mono-products to set themselves apart from their competition with added value in terms of quality, price, and image.” This is yet another process of focusing. The Daniele Fiesoli knitwear collection follows the classic pre-order rhythm and also relies on a large NOS stock. “We want to afford retailers the opportunity to re-order products that are performing well”, says Marco Michelagnoli. “As a supplier, we guarantee a good selection of bestseller products to allow customers to swap products they are struggling to sell for top sellers. We want to make life as easy as possible for retailers. That is our service philosophy.” Woolrich relies on its Iconic Products, which transcend seasons. “Becoming faster is not the right strategy”, Nicola Ghelfi stresses. “Instead, we launch products that retain relevance beyond a season on a continual basis. The result is that consumers feel comfortable with Woolrich, because our collections don’t age after two months.” Woolrich tells retailers not to reduce prices. Ultimately, that’s in everyone’s favour. Out of principle, Winni Klenk doesn’t put intermediate collections on reduced sale, but carries them over into the next season. If he wouldn’t, the regular sale
period would clearly be too short. A lot of jeans and shirts in the product range are also carry-overs. “However, it is quite common that a collection dwindles down to a few items in a certain size. In the future, I will sell those items separately in a sale to ensure that the sales floor remains clean.” The ultimate aim is to give fashion its value back - the value it lost in the eyes of many consumers due to the eternal reduced sales. This is what Gucci is trying to do when the brand announced that it will no longer have reduced sales and wants to allow its collections to merge. It’s a step in the right direction - a first step towards giving fashion back its magic and desirability. Magic and Desirability
Hans Weber, the owner of City Jeans Berlin, also tries to focus on uniqueness and compiling a product range that is incompaUdo Toepfer, managing director of Modeagentur Toepfer: “The industry needs to make its delivery times more need-oriented. The number of retailers no longer willing to accept the early delivery dates that are not aligned with the actual season is increasing.”
rable with competitors. “Whenever possible, I try to stock my brands exclusively in Berlin, or at least in western Berlin”, he explains. For him, that is an important aspect of desirability. “I had a gold chain by Anine Bing for 2,000 Euros in my store. The customer wanted some time to mull the purchase over. But when I told her that there is only one left, she wanted the gold chain at once. Things that are rare are exciting. If an item is available everywhere, it becomes inflationary and boring.” Anine Bing is quite a phenomenon. She just marched right through the distress our market experienced. As a blogger, she had a completely different approach and utilised her blog
Nicola Ghelfi, sales director for Europe at Woolrich: “Sales are an integral part of the system. But no retailer can survive if he sells most of his order at a reduced price. We reduce very little in our own stores. It’s a policy our retail customers welcome and adopt for themselves.”
as a marketing platform. “Anine Bing puts her goods online and my order arrives in the store within a week”, Hans Weber says. “That’s to the point. In midsummer there are summer dresses and in winter there are sweaters. This proves that suppliers who deliver with a need-oriented approach and closer to the actual time of sale are more successful than others.” Hans Weber stocks Anine Bing exclusively in Berlin, but is not subject to the usual minimum order requirements. “I was allowed to start with a small budget between five and ten thousand Euros. I order for 80,000 Euros per season now. Why? Because I was allowed to order on a voluntary basis and because the products perform well in the store.” Even Hans Weber is focusing these days: “I solely focus on my clients. I’ve learned that over the last 25 years in the retail industry. I buy rationally. I no longer subject myself to the pressure of minimum order requirements of 25,000 Euros.” Less is More
Less is more is also Karl Reyer’s motto. In terms of high fashion, he no longer stocks the likes of Prada, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, because he has also realised that minimum order pressure can’t be the future approach. Today, he relies on brands such as Stella McCartney, Marni, Thomas Meier, and N°21, but often omits the more expensive Michael Schulz, managing director of Aco Modeagentur: “We think that not only the pre-order budget is changing, but the in-season budget too. While the pre-order budget is decreasing, one should increase the in-season budget. However, this only works when suppliers and retailers have a healthy relationship.”
high fashion-oriented main collections. “The many collection rhythms within the industry have made us forget something essential: the presentation concept in the store”, Karl Reyer says. “A multi-brand retailer has to renew the product presentation at the point of sale on a regular basis to ensure that the store remains exciting throughout the season. We cannot achieve that by simply stocking more products. That is our very demanding task. It’s all about our uniqueness, our product range, and what we stand for as a retailer. This is a responsibility that we can’t palm off onto the industry itself.” On the whole, the classic order/ delivery system works for Karl Reyer. “I don’t really need summer goods in November here in Hallein. I wouldn’t mind if they would be delivered later. Also, one should reconsider the weighting within the product range with NOS and carry-overs on a regular basis. Both the dark blue Canada Goose jacket and the most popular pair of jeans don’t need to be reduced. The industry should point that out more clearly. They should make clear that retailers lose money unnecessarily when they reduce the price of those items anyway.” Systemic Change - Yes or No?
In the future, it will be increasingly difficult to force new products into the market continuously. Only brands that team up with distributors and retailers to meet the needs of their customers will remain successful - in line with the principle of supply and demand. This is not a systemic change that happens from one day to the other, but an ongoing process. “This is an incredibly exciting time. It’s the perfect time to move things forward, break free from old structures, and shape the future anew”, Anita Tillmann says. “I’m glad that I can be a part of it.”
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“CLINGING TO OLD STRUCTURES IS THE WRONG WAY”
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Real-time fashion describes collections that deliberately disregard seasonal rhythms to refocus the production process on customer demand. style in progress caught up with Nicole Doleh, the owner of Inked in Vienna, to find out how this concept can work in retail. Interview: Martina Müllner. Photos: Inked
Everybody is speaking about a new rhythm, about delivery dates that are actually in line with reality. As a retailer, it can’t be easy to shake off old habits.
When I discovered Anine Bing, who is the icon of this new real-time fashion movement, I immediately wondered how I am supposed to explain this to my customers. Over the decades, they have become accustomed to me stocking summer items in January and winter items in summer. So here we have someone who just waltzes in and says that she’ll do everything differently. You can have winter goods in January, some more casual items in February and March, and only then will the items for summer be available. However, I can supply more summer goods in August, when it’s really hot. How are my customers supposed to understand all this? At that point, they are already hardwired for the sales. Aren’t sales obsolete in this new rhythm?
I hate all that anyway. I don’t even want to read it anymore when I travel. When I’m in Paris and stroll through the streets it says “Sale!” everywhere. Recently I was talking to a social media influencer and he told me: stop with those sales! Make yourself exclusive to ensure that you don’t need them. I had my
concerns at first. What if I didn’t have those sale customers? I let the thought sink in a little, but two days later I wiped the “Sale” letters from the windows of my two shops. And?
It didn’t make a difference! It doesn’t matter whether it says “Sale” or not. Those who want a sale, come and ask anyway. One may be tempted to believe they wouldn’t come in, maybe because the store seems too aloof. But they do come in. And the others are much more attentive now. So the aim of the new rhythm à la Anine Bing is to ensure that nothing ends up in a sale?
That’s the underlying principle of a system like Anine Bing’s. I love it. When I visited her in Los Angeles, I asked her how she resolves the debate about sales. She answered that she has no sale at all. She only reduced a few items in the past, such as a few pairs of shoes that were more difficult to sell. However, all her other items were sold out before the sale period even started. I recently experienced exactly the same at Golden Goose in Milan. The store manager told me that they have no sale. She said that they keep their circle very small and that the customers they have know that Golden Goose stands for certain values such style in progress 216
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Nicole Doleh about her stores: „There is no more staged environment that is flashy and shiny. No, it’s all very downto-earth and realistic. We no longer pretend, we look like we are. It’s like Nietzsche said: “Become who you are.” The customers love that approach. They love this close relationship.”
as quality, handicraft, et cetera. She explained that a sale would merely negate those values. First Burberry announces a new show rhythm and Gucci announces that it won’t have sales anymore. Is the time finally ripe to end this utter madness?
Yes. What they are trying to do at the moment - these new rhythms, I mean - could reverse the trend. I am quite sure that this sale madness won’t last much longer.
The sale customer is actually a lost customer. That is proven by a sufficient number of studies. The customer who was once called “smart shopper” - but is actually a rather rude bargain hunter - is a dead loss.
What I have experienced over the last few months tells me that customers who are not in that mould don’t define themselves via the price. I brought back a few brands from the US. Those brands are really expensive, but they are selling like hot cakes. It’s all about the asset. It’s all about what the customer desires, what image you pass on - or even about which image you project as a store. If they can take this in and if this is communicated in an unmistakable manner, the price is secondary. 216 style in progress
It must be abundantly clear what and who we are, where we are heading, and that our business is truly authentic. Customers who experience this clear cut profile love coming back. I am currently paying a lot of attention to how authentic we are - and how authentic I am, as a matter of fact. I can see that the customers really latch onto this. They are not merely jumping onto the next sales bandwagon, but they really appreciate that there’s something that’s different. It’s this eye-opening experience that puts a stop to moaning. It stops you from complaining that everything is bad, while still buying the bad stuff and not changing anything. We’ve already written it off mentally, but we won’t attempt to change anything. This is the completely wrong approach: this clinging to the old and being stuck in structures of the past. If everything was triggered by the customers and if they determined the demand, how often do these customers need new items?
In terms of complete looks?
In terms of their subjective feeling… How frequently do your best customers turn up and say: I’m back!
When customers discover some-
thing new, then they want to remain faithful to that new thing for a while. If you pull them away from that discovery with something even newer, it won’t satisfy them. When you fall in love, you want to be together with that new partner, right? You want to experience those emotions. These trousers fit perfectly, that’s great. But would a dress by this brand suit me too? If I introduce something new, I don’t do it because I merely want to keep it for a certain time. I want to incorporate the new brand into my cosmos. I am not a brand catcher who wants this and that now before switching to something else in the next season. I want to incorporate that new brand properly, and it takes three seasons until it is firmly entrenched. The customers get to know the new brand during the first season, they really desire it during the second season, and they aren’t ready to let go just yet during the third season. It takes three seasons for the brand to arrive, so to speak. After all, it’s not possible to grasp the brand upon first viewing. A truly fashion-oriented customer will remain faithful to a brand no longer than two and a half years. That’s when she detaches herself from the brand and starts looking for something
new. This scenario assumes that the brand is really exciting, not just some run-of-the-mill denim on which the producer has slapped a different name. This kind of brand is hard to find these days, especially as it can’t be a brand that is already well known. The brand has to be relatively unknown, especially in Europe, and I need to stock it before it is featured in the newspapers. This has worked a treat with a few brands lately. I brought them in when nobody knew them and now they are featured in the likes of Gala, InStyle, and Grazia. The customers respect this, you know? They say: “Wow! You already stocked that brand before most people even knew about it?” What we do at Inked is to respond to our customers - not by building a fake world, but by giving them the feeling that they really are buying exclusively. At Inked, they are able to buy brands that appear as if they were made exclusively for them. We show understanding when they decide to buy one item instead of five. We even understand when they want to mull over a purchase a little longer and are grateful that we still talked to them for an hour or so. If they want to sleep on it, that’s fine. Most of them come
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The world of Inked explained by those who create it: Nicole Doleh and her employees are authors, salespeople, and role models for the bubble.
back. We are also super friendly when we don’t have an item in a certain size in stock. We simply check whether we can reorder it. Easy-peasy - it’s all very relaxed. The customers like that. There is no more staged environment that is flashy and shiny. No, it’s all very down-toearth and realistic. We no longer pretend, we look like we are. It’s like Nietzsche said: “Become who you are.” The customers love that approach. They love this close relationship. It’s not really a relationship between a salesperson and a customer anymore, but more an encounter between friends - advisory, but never didactic. It’s a cosy bubble that allows you to let down your guard once in a while.
Do you find enough employees who enjoy working on an equal footing with customers?
That’s what I demand of the girls I work with. They are all little dealers in their own right; they aren’t average individuals. They are always busy. They work just like me, which is why I haven’t set them any limits. They have their own e-mail accounts and I allow them to use the Internet. I want them to google, use Facebook, post on Instagram, and socialise in general. They are affine with our customers and brands. They even contact
the brands personally when they need something for a customer. My employees are aware of all the difficulties the retail industry is experiencing; they are not excluded from that reality. They know what it means when something needs to be imported from Japan or the US. They know how the customs process works. All this is so valuable, because it makes them so much more significant in their own perception and in the eyes of the customers. The latter perceive them as little entrepreneurs within a business. If it wasn’t so, a brand like Anine Bing wouldn’t work. I am on the road a lot, so how am I supposed to explain every aspect to my customers? I need my entrepreneurs within the business to tell the story behind the brand. I could, obviously, write about Anine Bing on my blog. I can write about how I met her and how I discovered the brand. But the daily re-orders and the daily sales have to be handled by my girls.
How exactly does the re-order process work?
There’s an online store for retailers. That’s where the new items are posted and they are usually sold out within a very short time. One has to be extremely fast and my employees take care of that. I had, however,
reached an agreement with the agency, which allowed me to place a block order right at the start. That ensured that I had a basic stock of lingerie and ready-to-wear items, which were delivered in January. Naturally, I advertised the arrival of the brand via Facebook, my blog, and Instagram. I basically utilised every social media channel available to me. I was literally swamped with people almost instantly. My block order was sold out after that and I had to re-order via the Internet. We are really generating good sales with Anine Bing. It’s a real hype.
Are the customers happy with buying real-time?
At the start of the season, I put together a block order that ensures I’m not stuck with heavy knitwear. However, the customers don’t even ask which season it is. They take what they can find in the store. Well, maybe only industry morons like us find it weird to buy items in January that you can actually wear straight away…
Maybe, yes. (laughs)
Thank you for the interview.
Nicole Doleh is the owner of the two Inked stores on “Bauernmarkt” in Vienna’s first district. After graduating from Parsons School of Design in New York, she worked - among other jobs - as a buyer for the Braun department store before taking the plunge into self-employment. Nicole Doleh’s blog inkedology.at portrays its author’s lifestyle: New York and L.A. spirit mixed with cosmopolitan European brands.
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REAL TIME FASHION No fast fashion, no NOS system - the future is a newly inter preted rhythm. The future is fashion that is designed, manufactured, and delivered in other, more sensible cycles. It is incredibly difficult to reduce this segment to a common denominator, mainly because the timing ranges from “very fast” to “all-season”. All real time fashion labels do, however, have one thing in common. They are adapted to the need of the retail industry perfectly, which is particularly important in times when retailers are (rightly) afraid to gaze into the proverbial crystal ball in terms of pre-orders. 216 style in progress
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Nanà Just in Time Freddy Move Your Pants In the 1980s, the dance scene was booming. It was the time when sports such as aerobics, hip-hop dance, and street dance were born. Freddy, an Italian company founded by Carlo Freddi in 1976, was at the heart of the movement and supplied professional dancers with ballet shoes. Freddy is still closely linked with the world of dance sports and sponsors institutions such as the Royal Ballet of London. In addition, Freddy draws from its activewear know-how to develop trendy fashion collections with a focus on trousers and casual tops. An important feature is the detailed push-up cut with an integrated shaping effect and a body-hugging fit. The trousers are available in a wide variety of models, attainable in various stretch materials - including denim - and can be delivered on short call. With a calculation factor of 2.5, the purchase prices range from 30 to 45 Euros. The list of German customers includes the likes of Görgens Group, Peoples Place, and Kaiser in Freiburg. The brand runs own stores in Milan, Rome, London, Washington, Antwerp, and Seoul. Freddy S.p.A., Milan/Italy, T 0039.0185.5910300, info@freddy.com, www.freddy.com
Due to its headquarters in the Italian province Veneto and a production facility in the region, Nanà, a feminine women’s outerwear collection, has developed into a renowned quick delivery supplier in Italy, especially via its 12 own stores spread across the country. In January, Patrick Coppolecchia Reinartz, the head of German fashion agency D-tails, presented the collection to his clients from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for the first time. “In comparison to the usual fast fashion suppliers from Bologna, Nanà relies on quality materials, perfect fits, and fashionable topics that are simply spot on. In addition, the label’s production rhythms are - also due to the own stores - much better suited to the order and delivery phases of the retail industry. Short-term orders can be delivered within three weeks”, he explains. The label offers approximately 20 new items in a fortnightly rhythm; the own stores are limited to Italy. The purchase prices are 17 Euros for fashionable tops, 25 Euros for blouses, and 60 Euros for coats. The calculation factor stands at 3.3. The agency hopes that Nanà provides its customers with maximum flexibility in terms of current trends and affords them the opportunity to create new, shortterm store environments. 8 Marzo S.R.L., Mogliano Veneto/Italy, info@nanaitalianheart.com, www.nanaitalianheart.com
Any Di Perfection of Diversity Ever since the launch of Any Di in February 2015, designer Anne Dickhardt offers all products as NOS items. Her compact collection is well thought out to the smallest detail and combines elegant design with function and comfort. A variable strap system allows various wearing styles for the bags, including an elegant style in the arm bend, casual over-shoulder style, as a practical hip bag, or upscale backpack style. In addition to classic handbags made of soft cowhide and calfskin, the label also offers larger business bags with an integrated laptop compartment and clutches, as well as matching cases for iPhones and sunglasses. The designs are complemented by flashy colour accents in the lining, removable straps, and real gold plating. All items are manufactured in Europe. The retail prices range from 59 to 89 Euros for accessories and from 279 to 849 Euros for bags. The list of current retailers includes the likes of Engelhorn in Mannheim, Galeries Lafayette in Berlin, and Mode Wagner in Baden Baden. Any Di, Anne Dickhardt, Munich/Germany, T 0049.173.3659128, anne.dickhardt@any-di.com, www.any-di.com style in progress 216
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Onomato Snoopy and Minnie Mouse
Catwalk Junkie It’s So Easy They call themselves Catwalk Junkies, because they always have the latest trends on their radar - and in their fashion. The driving force behind Catwalk Junkie is a Dutch team that specialises in introducing trends to the sales floors in a fast rhythm. The label does so at an affordable price, even though (or perhaps because) all items are produced in Europe. “The retailers had to get used to us at first”, says Jörg Korfhage, who distributes the collection in Europe (excluding the Benelux countries) together with his partners at Colorful Trade. “But all customers who have reserved a budget soon notice how practical this new rhythm is.” The break with the classic pre-order rhythm doesn’t only have economic benefits for Catwalk Junkies. “Trends are implemented with a higher success rate”, Jörg Korfhage adds. Retailers seem to enjoy this. The collection’s shirts are available at purchase prices between 15.98 and 19.98 Euros, with a 2.6 calculation factor. Catwalk Junkie, USP Fashion, Amsterdam/The Netherlands, T 0031.20.6371844, info@catwalkjunkie.com, www.catwalkjunkie.com 216 style in progress
What could possibly convey a more positive attitude to life than fashion with cartoon characters as a motive? The label Onomato specialises in such fashion and features well-known characters such as Snoopy and his sister Belle from the Peanuts, Disney’s Minnie Mouse, and the dog Idefix. “All motives appear as prints on t-shirts, sweats, knitwear, shawls, and shoes. The motives are often refined utilising high-quality craftsmanship involving, for instance, sequins and rivets”, says Holger Schmies, who launched the collection with Marc Kofler, the founder of local fashion agency Adventure, in March 2015. In addition to womenswear, the label has added a focused men’s line with Star Wars designs for the autumn/winter season of 2016. The qualities available are cashmere, silk, and cotton. The retail prices for t-shirts range from 79 to 149 Euros, while sweats cost between 99 and 159 Euros. Knitwear items set you back between 199 and 329 Euros, while sneakers cost approximately 119 Euros. The calculation factor stands at 2.85. Onomato launches two main collections per year and complements them with flash programmes. The label has already won over 80 retailers in Germany and Austria, including Jades, Jung in Pforzheim, Classico in Munich, and Seefelder in Kempten. Onomato is currently looking for international distributors to increase the label’s export business. A real highlight for the order date in April is a special Donald Duck range, drawn by Disney artist Ulrich Schröder, which will be delivered to retailers on the 9th of June - just in time for Donald Duck’s birthday. Onomato Fashion, Essen/Germany, T 0049.201.2455713, info@onomato-fashion.de, www.onomato-fashion.de
Ondura Durability as Priority Leens Jan Ondra is a professional carpenter and a graduate of the Art Academy Berlin Weissensee. After studying fashion design, he worked in the fast fashion industry for three years before launching Ondura in 2013. The 13-piece accessory collection is made from German vegetable-tanned leather in three different colours. In addition to belts, key rings, knife cases, and wallets, he also offers iPhone covers, a modern version of the classic neck pouch, and cases for sunglasses. For both environmental and social reasons, the entire production process takes place in Germany. All products are always in stock. The retail prices range from 29 to 229 Euros. The German customer list includes household names such as Mulligans in Wuppertal, Stilkontor in Leipzig, Riders Room in Hamburg, Brooks in Bielefeld, and Laden 12 in Nuremberg. The label plans to add bags and backpacks made from leather and canvas to its product range shortly. Ondura, Bünde/Germany, T 0049.176.22308913, info@ondura.de, www.ondura.de
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My Bro Tie A New Bro-Code Ora Now! Ora is a new cashmere label from Italy. It was launched by Aco Modeagentur’s Michael Schulz in co-operation with Massimo Degl’Innocenti, a designer at Cashmere Italia in the Tuscan region of Montecatini. “Ora means ‘now’ in Italian. The label’s name speaks for itself”, Michael Schulz explains. Ora specialises in Italian cashmere excellence in modern silhouettes. The collection will officially start trading as of the upcoming autumn/winter season and is immediately available as a highend range within the season. For example, the label offers knitted coats with thick cable knit patterns, a variety of sweaters, and short cardigans. It also has a smaller menswear range, which is similarly minimalistic in terms of design. “Retailers are looking for knitwear. We strive to meet this demand with this collection”, Michael Schulz adds. At a calculation factor of 3.0, the entry-level purchase price for styles consisting of 90 percent normal wool and 10 percent cashmere is 40 Euros. The purchase prices for pure cashmere items range from 140 to 250 Euros. In terms of colours, the collection’s palette - consisting of 20 natural shades from beige to grey - is fairly muted. The palette is currently complemented by a refined cognac shade. Cashmere Italia S.R.L., Montecatini Terme/ Italy, T 0039.0572.767139, cashmereitalia@gmail.com
Landré Flow and Karma Hannover-based Mirjam Landré describes her jewellery collections with terms such as Balance, Destiny, Peace, Buddha, Sparkle, Flow, and Karma. Her designs embody a very pure, clean, and romantic look. The brand’s key pieces are delicate bangles and bracelets, which can be personalised on request. Mirjam Landré presents two collections per year, which she distributes during the season from her own warehouse in Hannover. With purchase prices ranging from 8.50 to 19.90 Euros and a calculation factor between 2.5 and 3.0, Landré targets fashion retailers, gift boutiques, interior stores, and upscale perfumeries. Another Souvenir, a Stuttgart-based agency, was appointed as distributor for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at the beginning of the year and showcased Landré at the trade shows Premium and Ambiente. As a special service for customers, Landré offers free engraving, also for B2C in-store events. Landré, Hannover/Germany, T 0049.511.3381120, info@landre-design.de, www.landre-design.de
It has become increasingly difficult to find an extraordinary, independent product. These days, one normally finds such products by chance. This is what happened to Die Hinterhofagentur’s Dominik Meuer when he spotted the bow ties of My Bro Tie at a wedding-themed trade show. The story behind the brand is equally unusual. Thys Franken and Felix Kolthoff, who are from Cape Town and Berlin respectively, met accidentally while they were both searching for a truly extraordinary bow tie. In the end, both agreed that it would be easier to launch their own bow tie range. Since 2015, My Bro Tie uses vintage materials to hand-craft limited bow tie collections with an all-season warehouse concept. The brand offers bow ties for all occasions - from weddings to dinner parties. The specials include junior bow ties, father/son bow ties, wooden bow ties, the “Moustie” model in the shape of a moustache, and knitted bow ties. Each model is unique. The collaboration with Die Hinterhofagentur marks My Bro Tie’s first venture into the German market. With an average retail price of 59 Euros, Dominik Meuer - in his own words - targets customers with a penchant for special accessories beyond the mainstream. The customers receive their bow ties in cardboard boxes made from cut up and re-assembled atlases, thereby underlining the vintage concept of the brand. These bow ties are the perfect collectibles… My Bro Tie, Berlin/Germany, T 0049.30.20648179, post@mybrotie.eu, www.mybrotie.eu style in progress 216
New Lily Paris Parisian Innovation
Whytes Improved It is so simple, yet so essential: the white t-shirt. In August 2015, Nadia Botzenhard and Thomas Escher made it their mission to improve this classic item of clothing. They initially introduced two t-shirts to the market: a V-neck and a crew neck model, which were developed in collaboration with almost 400 fashion influencers. Thanks to this social media stunt, the Munich-based label is in the fast lane in terms of media coverage. The men’s shirts, which are available in ten sizes (XS to XL, each with an additional long version), are manufactured in Germany and offered at a purchase price of 23 Euros. In addition to the obligatory web shop, Whytes focuses on co-operations with retail customers such as Daniels in Munich, Cologne, and Bonn. It goes without saying that the brand has a comprehensive stock programme. Everything else would have been a surprise, especially in the case of brand specialising in classic white t-shirts, right? Whytes, Munich/Germany, nadia@whytes.co, www.whytes.co 216 style in progress
New Lily Paris was recommended repeatedly to Room Nine Agency’s Torsten Müller during a trade show in the French capital. After all, it was common knowledge that he was on the lookout for a new, fresh womenswear collection. “We were hooked the moment we set foot in the showroom. The imagery, the product itself, and the price-performance ratio convinced us immediately”, the agency owner says. Seeing that New Lily Paris launches four collections per year and offers immediate delivery, every collection is on sale for six weeks. The range is supplemented by four flash programmes per year, which pick up current trend themes such as - at the moment - culottes and flared pants made from washed denim. Customers can re-order within 48 hours and will soon be able to do so via a B2B platform. The purchase prices for t-shirts and blouses are 15 Euros and 19 Euros respectively. Trousers cost 25 Euros, while dresses set you back 28 Euros. The calculation factors range from 3.5 to 4.0. Room Nine Agency already showcased New Lily Paris in its own showroom and at the Premium Order trade show in Munich. In Germany and Austria, Torsten Müller hopes to place the collection at boutiques in the premium sportswear segment, thereby positioning New Lily Paris alongside the likes of Drykorn or Attic - as a brand, not as a product. New Lily Paris, Paris/France, ruth@newlily.fr, www.newlily.fr
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Delicatezzen Stuck On
Invisible Heels Tall and Skinny
The patches trend allows you to give a bag, a jacket, or any other item a personal touch in a matter of seconds. Boy, oh boy - it’s so much fun too! Delicatezzen’s luxury stickers are manufactured in Italy from ecological leather, are waterproof, and designed in an elaborate three-dimensional look. Tommy Wieler, the founder of fashion agency Another Souvenir, believes that Delicatezzen is simply the whole package in terms of idea, design, price, packaging, service, and the relationship between the brand and the agency. At the beginning of the year, the agency presented the patches at the Premium, the Pitti Uomo, and the Tranoi. The target audience was the upscale retail industry in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. At a calculation factor of 2.5, the purchase prices range from 4 to 8.50 Euros. Delicatezzen launches two main collections per year, but also offers numerous flash programmes and special editions. The latter are often the products of collaborations with customers such as Excelsior or 10 Corso Como. The patches are always immediately available due to a direct warehouse system located in Italy. The brand also offers displays for the point of sale as an additional customer service. Pozzi Italia, Inverigo/Italy, T 0039.031.697311, info@delicatezzen.com, www.delicatezzen.com
Until now, the desire of many women to be a bit taller - and therefore look slimmer – could only be fulfilled by wearing high heels. The Say Hello To Longer Legs label from New York has now developed shoe inlays called Invisible Heels, which make it possible to make legs appear longer within seconds. French Vogue, L’Officiel, and InStyle are full of praise for the inlays that were designed to fit all shoe sizes and can be placed easily in a wide range of shoes. These inlays are therefore ideal for all ankle-high shoes, sneakers, and boots. The feeling while walking is comparable to walking with wedge heels. The soles are made from soft memory foam, which means they adapt to the heels perfectly and allow a soft step. The Invisible Heels, which are available in 2 and 4 centimetres, are made from a breathable outer material, thereby ensuring optimal wearing comfort. A new addition to the product range is the Invisible Heel for men, which is available in stylish silver packaging. The purchase price is 12 Euro, which translated into a retail price of 25 Euros. The first customers in Germany include household names like the Quartier 206 department store, Jades, and Apropos. Say Hello To Longer Legs, New York/US, T 001.800.253.4936, sales@invisibleheels.com, www.invisibleheels.com
Stramici Smack in the Middle If one names John F. Kennedy as the inspiration for a product, one must expect to be asked if one doesn’t actually mean Jackie. The team of Munich-based Stramici chose the rather inconspicuous (at least in terms of fashion) former US president quite deliberately. JFK was known for wearing chinos, polo shirts, Ray Ban’s Wayfarer sunglasses, and cloth belts. The latter is an all-round classic that two brothers, namely Alexander and Leopold Schoeller, have revived under the brand name Stramici, a superlative of the Italian word for friend. The label offers braided belts with high-quality leather buckles in powerful colours and classic designs. The product range now also includes a t-shirt line, bracelets, and hats with interchangeable bobbles. As a fast fashion collection, Stramici is capable of delivering year-round from its own warehouse. The average purchase price is 17 Euros, while the average retail price stands at 49 Euros. Since March, Munich-based Die Hinterhofagentur presents the accessories collections in its showrooms in Munich and Düsseldorf. The customer list already boasts household names such as Galeries Lafayette, KaDeWe, Hirmer, Ludwig Beck, and Konen. Stramici, Munich/Germany, T 0049.173.5798160, info@stramici.de, www.stramici.de style in progress 216
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NEW WIDTHS New silhouettes, new volumes, and comfort are on the up. In terms of (men’s) trousers, taperedfit trousers and slacks in jogging style make the transition from casual to business look. Pants also define the rest of the wide silhouette in women’s fashion. Maxi-flared pants, culottes, and 7/8 lengths are the flavour of the season. Wide meets wide midi-dresses and long tops as combination partners in volume layering.
Photos: Markus Burke. Styling & Production: Verena Roidl. Hair & Make-Up: Valerie Malka@Phoenix Agentur phoenix-agentur.de with MAC products. Models: Kati Seluga@Tune-Models.com, Sigurd Colsman@Tune-Models.com 216 style in progress
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Long jacket: Drykorn Bracelet: Saskia Diez Pullover: Ash Turtleneck: Boulezar Culottes: Marc O’Polo Pure Lace-up ballerinas: SchoShoes style in progress 216
Coat: Windsor Leather backpack: Brunello Cucinelli Knit dress: Marc O’Polo Pure Pants: Turnover
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FASHION 087 Left Denim suit: Closed Sweatshirt: Champion Socks: Falke Shoes: Strellson
Right Turtleneck: Closed Bracelet: Saskia Diez Denim dungarees: American Vintage Bootees: Ash
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Shirt: Stone Island Waistcoat: CG Club of Gents Trousers: CG Club of Gents Shoes: Floris van Bommel
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FASHION 089 Coat: Lardini Shirt: Lardini Tie: Antony Morato Trousers: PT01
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090 FASHION
Leather trench coat: Meindl Knit dress: Liu Jo Ear rings: Saskia Diez
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091 Blouse: DesFASHION Petits Hauts Pants: Alberto Woman
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Jacket: Blauer USA Shirt: Brunello Cucinelli Trousers: Strellson Shoes: Strellson 216 style in progress
FASHION 093 Knit pullover: Gray Shirt: CG Club of Gents Backpack: Officine Federali Chinos: Barb’one
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094 IN STORE
Schwarzhogerzeil combines fashion, art, and architecture.
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Impeccable Sense for Timing. Schwarzhogerzeil/ Berlin. Nicole Hogerzeil has always believed in the potential of “Rosenthaler Platz”, even before it became an attractive location for fashion stores. Her boutique in “Mulackstrasse” is characterised by the intimate atmosphere one normally finds in a salon. In other words, she has brought the flair of Paris’ Marais district to an as yet undeveloped area. Text: Quynh Tran. Photos: Ludger Paffrath
The upscale mid-price range portfolio of Hogerzeil is as chic and progressive as Paris itself. In addition to stocking classic brands such as Cacharel, Nicole Hogerzeil introduced Isabel Marant to her customers before the international hype, discovered the British natural cosmetics brand This Works before it was distributed in Germany on a nationwide scale, and was one of the first retailers to offer jewellery by Berlin-based designer Sabrina Dehoff. This perfect balance between international and younger local brands with French aesthetics proves that she is perfectly in line with modern trends. Today, she is the local hero for professional, fashion-conscious urban females. Her accuracy in terms of trend interpretation meant that the first store rapidly proved to be too small. Subsequently, Schwarzhogerzeil II, which also exudes French aesthetics and
stocks brands such as Le Mont Saint Michel, Laurence Doligé, and Vanessa Bruno Athé, opened its doors to the public just a few doors down the road. Last year, the two premises started to burst at the seams. The new Schwarzhogerzeil decided to abandon its location in the hidden side street and moved into “Torstrasse”, a boulevard characterised by trendy bars, start-ups, and design stores. This does, however, not mean that Schwarzhogerzeil has lost its niche appeal, quite the contrary. Pushing Boundaries
“Over the years, I ran out of space and noticed that I require more space to present my favourite labels in the right light. I am taking the best from both stores, for example established brands such as Perret Schaad, Common Projects, and Carven. In addition, I now also have enough room for new labels such
A snapshot of Nicole Hogerzeil’s hand-picked product range.
as Marni and Dries van Noten”, Nicole Herzogerzeil explains. Sylvester Koziolek, who designed the first Schwarzhogerzeil shop, is also responsible for the interior and the furnishings of the new store. The new store concept, which is inspired by the Paris of the 1940s and its architectural icons such as Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier, or Charlotte Perriand, pays homage to modernity. Purist structures meet sober neon lighting, while the interior is accentuated with wooden elements and colour highlights, as well as works by artist Johannes Albers. A 14 metre geometric paper collage, in cigar-coloured and black-and-white tones, acts as the store’s central visual element. The space highlights the clothes it sells in the same way as the clothing is supposed to highlight its wearers, without glossing anything over. The product range - which still focuses on top sellers such as Isabel Marant and See by Chloé, as well as the newcomers Cédric Charlier and Valentine Gauthier - remains modern Parisian. However, the portfolio also includes a local hero: Perret Schaad. We are, after all, in Berlin, not in Paris.
Schwarzhogerzeil Torstrasse 173, 10115 Berlin/Germany www.schwarzhogerzeil.de Owner: Nicole Hogerzeil Reopening: July 2015 Employees: 4 Sales area: 150 sqm Brands: Carven, Cedric Charlier, Common Projects, Dries van Noten, Isabel Marant, Isabel Marant Etoile, K. Jacques, Marni, Perret Schaad, See by Chloe, Tsumori Chisato, Valentine Gauthier, Zucca
Nicole Hogerzeil’s store offers the perfect blend of international brands and a few highly rated newcomers from Berlin.
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Appreciation. Freistil/ Bad Salzuflen. In the spa town of Bad Salzuflen, André Matyschik manages a store that is a truly impressive example of how a traditional retailer of women’s fashion can be transformed into a concept store focusing on modern sportswear... Text: Kay Alexander Plonka. Photos: Freistil
André Matyschik certainly knows a lot about tradition. He has been in the textile retail industry since he finished his training. In 2009, he finally took the plunge into self-employment. Since then, he has moved his Freistil store to three different locations in Bad Salzuflen. In 2014, he finally found the perfect prime location on the former premises of Th. Hunecke, a fashion house in the pedestrian zone, in close vicinity to the spa gardens. Both the building and the shop fitting from 1924 are under monumental protection. Wooden shelves, Italian brass chandeliers, Austrian glass lamps, oak panelling, and the old counters remained in the store. The only thing that has changed is the product range - and that has changed quite significantly in comparison to the previous decades. Matyschik has proved that a specialised retailer of denim and sportswear can find a new home within the walls of a traditional fashion house. The time-honoured framework is truly impressive. The shop window alone boasts a floor space of 30 square metres and - as you’d expect from a classic setting - it extends over the entire width of the store. Immediately after Freistil moved into the building from 1924/25, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, a regional association, honoured the premises as the monument 216 style in progress
of the month. The reasoning behind the award was that it is very difficult to find a new use for listed stores without changing the entire interior. Small, but Beautiful
The town of Bad Salzuflen, which has approximately 50,000 residents, nestles in the north-eastern corner of North Rhine-Westphalia on the A2 motorway between Bielefeld and Hannover. The former “state spa” is now a thermal spa and a certified Kneipp resort. “This town should not be underestimated as a location - our store attracts locals and visitors from many different age groups. They value the personal approach and the detailed advice we offer. We greet every customer warmly and serve them to the best of our abilities. We offer what the large department stores, vertically integrated retailers, and e-commerce players cannot offer”, André Matyschik explains. “The average age of residents is sixty years, which is reflected in our customer structure. However, we are the outfitters for people in their mid to late thirties, as well as for people who are well over seventy years old - possibly even eighty”, Matyschik recounts. Call for Action
The shopping experience is what counts, even in a spa town. “Four years ago, we were the
first - and also the only - retailer to organise a late night shopping event in Bad Salzuflen. In one of the past seasons, a friendly restaurateur hired an American Airstream snack trailer and parked it in front of our store. He supplied our hungry customers with curry sausages and burgers. We are currently preparing a gin tasting with Lossie, a Bielefeldbased spirits company. We will have a barkeeper in the store. He will mix drinks and explain the products, which we plan to stock after the event, in-depth. We are working hard to improve our public image. In summer, we intend to organise a downtown cross-golf tournament during the annual brewery festival. This endeavour has the backing of the city’s marketing department”, Matyschik explains with a smile on his face. Interested parties can follow all the aforementioned projects on the Facebook page of Freistil. In addition, visitors can marvel at the bikes that André Matyschik skilfully displays in the store and/or the shop window. The bikes include his Triumph Scrambler, Harleys, and some Triumph bikes owned by friends. In the future, Freistil’s product range will have an even more noticeable focus on sportswear. “The new denim brands we will stock from the upcoming autumn/winter season onwards are Diesel, Denham, and Nudie. In addition, we will add baseball and down jackets with detachable sleeves by Chevignon, jackets for men and women by Blauer USA, and jackets and cashmere sweaters knitted on t-shirt machines by the Norwegian label Johnny Love. The revived cult brand Jet Set is an exclusive addition for women. For the first time, we will add footwear to our product range on a larger scale. We started off with Aigle and Fred Perry, but will now also stock Palladium, Red Wing Shoes, and Cheaney from England. The latter are added to cover the price range that spans from 100 to 500 Euros”, André Matyschik adds.
Full of pride: André Matyschik respects the old fashion house and has filled it with new life.
Freistil Am Schliepsteiner Tor 6 32105 Bad Salzuflen/Germany www.freistilfashion.de Owner: André Matyschik Employees: 1 permanent, 4 temporary Opening: October 2014 Sales area: 250 sqm Brands: 7 For all Mankind, Baldessarini, Blonde No.8, Bugatti Woman, Colmar, Deus Ex Machina, Deyk, Fred Perry, Gant, Heinz Bauer, Matchless, Nudie Jeans, Pepe Jeans, Silver Jeans Accessories brands: Campomaggi, Hemley, Nila Pila, Umjubelt, von Jungfeldt
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The store’s fittings, which are more than a hundred years old, have seen many a collection come and go.
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Abseits polarises quite deliberately. This attitude is reflected in the extraordinary interior and the product range. The latter thrives on unusual fashion items.
The Great Gatsby. Abseits Germany/ Stuttgart. What a statement! Winni Klenk’s re-designed store really is something else. He certainly didn’t hold back. It’s confident, it’s compelling, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Text: Nicoletta Schaper. Photos: Abseits Germany
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It could have just as easily been a minimalist store with screed floor, a few clothes rails, and a couple of cubes, but Winni Klenk wanted something truly special. His investment has paid off. The new Abseits store is designed like the lounge of an upscale hotel. It boasts a fully glazed reception desk, a cool bar for indulging in a cup of coffee or a flute of sparkling wine, Hermès lamps, and expensive French wallpaper. The entire interior looks a lot more like a film set for The Great Gatsby than the cliché of Swabian frugality. Luxury and Trash
Winni Klenk is also not afraid of pushing his boundaries in terms of fashion. To this end, Abseits has become increasingly sophisticated over the last few years. “We want to sell better quality. We focus on unique pieces of the highest order. Our aim is to make a difference in the world of fashion”, Winni Klenk says with conviction. It therefore comes
as no surprise that the store’s product range is exceptionally exciting. It’s a bit rock & roll, not afraid of being extravagant, and definitely never boring. Customers will struggle to find grey sweaters and beige trousers here. Winni Klenk just loves picking the unusual elements of a collection. For women, he stocks jeans by Rag & Bone and R13, as well as the brands MSGM and N°21. He also offers high fashion by Valentino, See by Chloé, Kenzo, and Plein Sud. The product range is complemented with casual items by Sportmax and Tory Burch for slightly older customers. Winni Klenk knows that he needs to cover a broad spectrum in a city like Stuttgart. Here, you simply cannot specialise as you can in Munich or Hamburg. Furthermore, Stuttgart doesn’t offer many occasions for wearing spectacular robes that cost more than 1,000 Euros. For men, he stocks the likes of Balmain and Dsquared2. The latter has been
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Hotel lounge and film set: the re-designed Abseits store in Stuttgart.
“We don’t just want to sell fashion; we believe we have a duty to fashion”, says Winni Klenk, the owner of Abseits Germany. He lives for fashion. He has at least 25 sports jackets in his wardrobe and buys at least three more per year.
an integral part of the product range for no less than 25 years. The fashionable private label - which offers sports jackets, suits, waistcoats, and coats - is equally successful. The items are customisable in terms of lining, buttons, and lapel shape. Last but not least, Winni Klenk also stocks fashion curiosities such as Valentino’s silk bomber jacket with elephant motifs on its back, Dsquared2’s leather jacket with embroidery in Nepalese, or MSGM’s holly shirt. “Such items polarise, but they move fashion forward”, Winni Klenk explains. “Those who opt for buying something truly extraordinary, will always enjoy owning it. Such items are never out of fashion. Nobody can outrun fashion.” A concept like Abseits needs to offer its customers expert advice, which is why the store is divided into niches, thereby creating a boutique character and a certain level of intimacy for an exclusive private shopping experience. “If a customer picks
20 items, she will most definitely not buy the key piece that really matters”, Winni Klenk argues. “If she accepts our advice, she will leave the store with the look she desires and an extraordinary piece that will earn her many compliments.” Arrived
Winni Klenk started his career at 22 years of age. Initially, he sold second-hand Levi’s 501 jeans, military jackets, and check shirts from London at Amsterdam’s flea market. The first store to bear the name Abseits was off the beaten track, located on a fourway ring road in Stuttgart. Since then, Abseits has moved four times, constantly edging closer to the city centre. 31 years later, it seems the business has found its place. Winni Klenk’s initial plan was to retire as a 30-year-old and move to Ibiza, but the fashion world still captivates him. And thank goodness for that…
Abseits Germany Kleiner Schlossplatz 13-15 70173 Stuttgart/Germany www.abseitsgermany.eu Opening: September 1990, Reopening: August 2015 Owner: Werner Klenk Managing director: Manuel Thüring Employees: 14 Sales area: 411 sqm Brands for women: 8PM, AG, Avant Toi, Chiara Ferragni, DKNY, Dsquared2, Golden Goose, Harris Wharf London, Iro Paris, Kenzo, Lala Berlin, Mackage, MSGM, N°21, Paul & Joe, Preach, Rag & Bone, R13 Denim, See By Chloé, Thom Krom, Tom Rebl, Tory Burch Brands for men: Avant Toi, Balmain, Dsquared2, Filling Pieces, Golden Goose, Harris Wharf London, Iro Paris, John Varvatos, Kenzo, Mackage, Mastercraft Union, MSGM, Off-White, Paul & Joe, Preach, Prps, Rag & Bone, R13 Denim, Thom Krom, Tom Rebl, Valentino, Y-3 Accessories brands: Dsquared2, Juwelier D’Amico, Shoto
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100 IN STORE
The store, which is spread out over two floors of a typical New York town house, radiates an intimate atmosphere. Even the mannequins face inwards.
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The Fashion Improver. Yuta Powell/New York. At Givenchy in Paris, Yuta Powell learned from scratch which criteria determine an excellent piece of clothing. Now she utilises this knowledge in an unusual way for her multi-brand boutique in New York. Text: Petrina Engelke. Photos: Petrina Engelke, Yuta Powell
Yuta Powell selects every piece she sells in her eponymous store in New York’s posh Upper East Side personally. Nevertheless, not a single delivery makes it onto the clothes rail without further scrutiny. “We try on all the pieces to decide what needs to be changed before we move it on the sales floor”, says Yuta Powell. This strategy may sound insanely complex at first glance, but it pays off. Individual Shopping Appointments
The doorbell is not answered by a buzzer, but by a person mostly the owner. Yuta Powell operates like a classic Parisian salon; many customers call in to make an appointment before their visit. “They call and tell me: I am going on a trip. I have a wedding to attend. I have lost or gained weight”, Powell explains. “That gives me enough time to think things through and create a little collection for them.” However, she is also forced to turn customers down from time to time, because sometimes she simply doesn’t have the right item for this particular person in stock. “There is no point in selling something that customers perceive as a major mistake when they get home. They won’t return. And the aim is to build a clientele.” The short-term forgoing of revenue pays off in terms
of strong customer relationships. When she calls to announce a new delivery, her customers know that having a look won’t be a waste of time. This is also down to the fact that Powell has specific customers in mind during the buying process. She doesn’t buy for herself, but for her specific clientele, she says. To this end, she flies to Paris every two months. Fashion Expertise à la Givenchy
Yuta Powell’s career in fashion started at Givenchy - with a part-time job. She spotted the advertisement for the job on a bulletin board while studying numismatics in Paris. “The house had a ready-to-wear section on the ground floor and a grand marble stairway with a beautiful balustrade leading up to the couture salon”, she recalls while thinking back to her job interview at Givenchy. Even today, Powell still feels admiration and warmth when speaking of “Mr. Givenchy”, who plucked her off the sales floor and sent her through every single couture department on the upper floors. There she learned what is possible in the fashion industry and how one implements a project to perfection. She gained insight into the secrets of the diagonal cut, the selection of the optimal leather for gloves, and even
beadwork. “It was a time when people still understood what a beautifully made garment should look like and what it should do for you and your body”, Powell says. Today, she is more than happy to share her in-depth knowledge with designers she intends to buy from. She tells them what needs to be changed - and how to change it - in a manner that is always respectful and honest. This level of co-operating often results in exclusive items. Powell’s eye for detail extends to trying on the purchased collections with her various customers in mind. In this process, Powell herself represents the small and dainty customers. One of her sales assistants is relatively tall, while another is somewhere between the two in terms of size. Everything has to fit and flow perfectly - or it ends up on the top floor of the store, where Powell advises her customers in an atmosphere that resembles a private dressing room. Sometimes one can hear the whirring of a sewing machine behind a hidden door. This is where the store houses a studio run by in-house experts.
Yuta Powell believes in style, not fashion. She believes it is her vocation to provide substantiated, well-meaning, and honest advice in terms of style.
Yuta Powell 19 E 75th Street, New York, NY 10021 Phone: +1 212 570 6889 www.yutapowell.com Opening: May 2014 Owner: Yuta Powell Employees: 7 Sales area: 167 sqm (1,800 sqf) Brands for women: Boudicca, Veronique Branquinho, Giamba, Kiton, Alexis Mabille, Maison Ullens, Pauw, Pascal Millet, Rochas, T.BA, Emanuel Ungaro, Vionnet, and others Accessories brands: Delage, Caroline De Marchi, Tissa Fontaneda, Jean Grisoni, Hemisphere, IBU, Pierre-Louis Mascia, Renaud Pellegrino, Angela Tassoni, and others
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102 EDITOR'S LETTER /// ABOUT US
Magic Words
The mainstream media channels have finally picked up on the debate about the fashion industry’s system errors and their massive negative effects. A few weeks ago, Süddeutsche Zeitung published an article titled “Shopping has Become Boring”, in which it utilised skinny jeans as an example to prove that the old fashion game of suggesting that everything is always new can no longer work in a society in which there are no more conventions in terms of fashion. “brandeins”, which is a mostly excellent business magazine, dedicated its March issue to the rather brutal theme “Sale Sucks”. In this edition, the magazine - among other topics - attempts to answer the question whether there are business models to counter the death spiral of continuous devaluation. Of course there are such models. At this point, I would like to recommend the issue in question to all those who haven’t had the pleasure of reading it yet. However - and please forgive me this thought the moment you read it - one could read about exactly the same systemic critique, as well as other potential industry failures, in this magazine over the last few years. It’s certainly flattering to be proven right, but the main issue is that this obviously spreading notion that the unhealthy cycle of “too much of everything” - often also at the wrong time - needs to be stopped or changed, not promoted and kept alive. When consumers, who are in a positive frame of mind in terms of purchasing in principle, are not even interested in the admission of defeat represented by “red prices”, then the answer certainly shouldn’t be to ask for an increased calculation factor. And if stationary fashion retailers suffer from a general decrease of customer frequency, then “more of the same” certainly isn’t the answer. Rather, we must ask ourselves WHY it is so ob viously more difficult to get people excited about the product whose main selling point is enthusiasm. Let us rephrase that question, mainly because it is my firm belief that a positive approach is always the more successful option: What are those who are not - or at least less - affected by these developments doing differently - or better - than their peers? The first magic word is “scarcity”!
Granted, Hermès isn’t exactly the most inspired example in this respect, but it illustrates the principle so perfectly. The only way the brand managed to 216 style in progress
keep desirability levels so high over decades was by utilising very targeted (and cleverly positioned in terms of media) scarcity. Nobody would ever be stupid enough to include a Birkin bag in a clearance sale (amusing idea though). The second magic word is “consistency”!
Let’s stick with the Birkin bag example. From a technical point of view, the bag is a carry-over. True, that term does have negative connotations. However, the retail industry needs a substantially higher proportion of carry-overs in its product ranges. The industry needs products that are so good that they don’t need to pretend to be new constantly and are therefore not subjected to the devaluation logic. This doesn’t apply to an icon such as the aforementioned bag, which is allowed to continue the use of the name of the most famous synchronous moaner of the music industry. This ultimately applies to all products that can communicate their existence and sustainable value to the customer in a credible manner. The third magic word is “credibility”!
At the end of the day, the consumers were taught their current consumption patterns. Or maybe the better way of saying it is that they were spoiled too much. And everyone - especially parents, as well as the owners of dogs and cats - knows how difficult it is to revoke a concession that was foolishly conceded during a moment of weakness. It’s really tedious work! However, a failure to do anything and merely let the situation play out often grows into a real problem. These issues can only be addressed with consistency and credibility. While we’re at it - and because one sometimes needs to apply extra pressure to effect change - we would like to make clear that I would still like to see the return to LEGALLY REGULATED clearance sales - now more than ever! Impossible, you say? Let’s see. Why don’t we revisit the topic once Leicester has secured the Premier League title? Yours, Stephan Huber stephan.huber@ucm-verlag.at
Publisher, editorial office, advertising department and owner UCM-Verlag B2B Media GmbH & Co KG Salzweg 17, 5081 Salzburg-Anif Austria T 0043.6246.89 79 99 F 0043.6246.89 79 89 office@ucm-verlag.at www.ucm-verlag.at Management Stephan Huber Nicolaus Zott
Editors-in-chief Stephan Huber stephan.huber@ucm-verlag.at Martina Müllner martina.muellner@ucm-verlag.at Art direction/production Elisabeth Prock-Huber elisabeth@ucm-verlag.at Contributing writers Isabel Faiss Petrina Engelke Ina Köhler Kay Alexander Plonka Verena Roidl Nicoletta Schaper Quynh Tran Dörte Welti Photographers Markus Pritzi Illustrator Claudia Meitert Image editor Anouk Schönemann anouk.schoenemann@ucm-verlag.at Advertising director Stephan Huber stephan.huber@ucm-verlag.at Publisher’s assistant, distribution Sigrid Staber sigrid.staber@ucm-verlag.at Christina Hörbiger christina.hoerbiger@ucm-verlag.at English translations Manfred Thurner Printing sandlerprint&packaging 3671 Marbach, Austria Printing coordinator Manfred Reitenbach
Next issue 21 June 2016
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28 - 30 June 2016 ARenA BeRlin
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#2/2016
„MANCHMAL IST GENUG EINFACH WIRKLICH GENUG.“ 19. Jahrgang # 2.2016
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