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Designer's passion for fashion results in TCF clothing brand - Toledo Blade

kitneper Mayıs 13, 2021

Designer's passion for fashion results in TCF clothing brand - Toledo Blade

Designer's passion for fashion results in TCF clothing brand - Toledo Blade

Posted: 19 Dec 2020 07:20 AM PST

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How Luxury Fashion And Lifestyle Brands Can Leverage Technology In 2021 - Forbes

Posted: 19 Dec 2020 09:21 PM PST

As time goes by, it's becoming more evident than ever before, that any brand that isn't leveraging technology will be left behind. In a word, the aesthetic universal codes in business strategy have drastically transformed. Take 2020, for instance, with the onset of COVID; the need for businesses to reach consumers from home- without an in-person experience, is a testament to the luxury fashion metamorphosis period the industry is experiencing.

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This year, the first remote fashion week, was not only relevant but rather a strong indicator of how the consumer has now been elevated to an editor by filtering their own taste and curiosity. This innovation proved one thing: If you can't leverage technology, your business may not last the test of time. More to the point, technology is a constant reassessment of how the fashion business has operated over the last few decades. In a word, consumers have witnessed first hand that technology can simply the shopping experience. Therefore, if you're not making things easy for your customers, you may wander to new territory where technology can play a huge part in marketing, customer service/satisfaction, and product delivery. The luxury space thrives because advertisers have been able to reach costumes on an emotional level. Buyers of luxurious products believe that these luxury products give them a particular image, and to maintain that image, they have to get more of these luxury products.

Nevertheless, the industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with the closure of brick and mortar stores. In addition, day =-to-day activities came to a halt. Ironically, at this time,—the demand for luxury products surged. Consumers who still patronized luxury brands took to online shopping, which will soon be the norm in a post-COVID world. In an article by Bain & Company, it stated: "Approximately half of all luxury purchases will be digitally enabled thanks to new technologies along the value chain, and online interactions will influence nearly all luxury purchases." 

Now more than ever, consumers are demanding an offline experience in addition to the comfort from buying online. Morphing the two together can only be gotten through Artificial Intelligence and this is where high-end luxury fashion brands are moving to in the modern age of fashion apparel and accessories.  

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Throughout my career, my research has always focused on men's and women's luxury fashion. To my point, fashion is not conventional. Today, artificial intelligence brings that needed personalization and customers back to the brand. Luxury brands such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Estée Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger and even Levis have leveraged chatbots to add that human touch, needed for today's customers. From the exclusive access, previews, and style tips, it is a strategy that heightens the customer experience by making everyone feel like a VIP.

For example, Burberry understands by using chatbots to send push notifications to each consumers who had previously interacted with the technology. According to Luxury society, as of November 2016, they allowed their users to preview the Burberry movie. The following year, they invited their customers through the chatbot to view their runway show live on Facebook while shopping the newly featured collection.

Going further, brands leverage AI to monitor their browsing history to provide better-targeted emails that show users' content based on their choices. This trend moves far beyond the fashion and luxury e-commerce platform and segues into the entertainment space with rapid flow. Although music streaming companies already use AI for music recommendations, there are possibilities that AI will be used to do more than recommend music to you. Imagine reading your body vitals like heart rate, stress levels, breathing rate, and possibly even neurological signals through wearable technology and recommending music from your mood?  Well, the same can be said for fashion and beauty.

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"Today's consumers want ease and an exceptional buying experience. Brands that offer the least stress around their product/service delivery own the future," says Business Development expert Paul Iwenofu.

Although I do not report on this topic, the rise of wearable technology is segueing into mass marketed fashion brands for everyday use.m The fashion industry has embraced wearable technology with two hands. These go beyond smartwatches. These days, shirts, blouses, jackets, and tops that respond to the wearers' mood, environment, and the ones that keep the body temperature balanced. And this is just the beginning.

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Recently, Ralph Lauren introduced a PoloTech T-shirt with sensors that track live metrics like breathing, heart rates, and steps straight to your Apple Watch or iPhone. 

My dear friend and fellow colleague Salvatore Giardina, an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, commented on the PoloTech and said, "People are just information addicts today. My gut feeling is it will do well because it's not just something that looks nice; it gives you information."

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"What seems science fiction now may be the norm in 10 years," Giardina points out.

Another area where lifestyle brands are heading to is Augmented Reality (AR). Gucci is doing impressive work in this area with their virtual try-on feature. They added an AR feature on the IOS app that allows shoppers to try on their sneakers. All you need to do is point your phone on your feet, and shoppers can see a digital image of the sneakers from different angles. This helps shoppers make an informed decision when trying to make purchases. And other luxury fashion brands have followed suit as well. Nike lets its customers scan their feet with a smartphone camera to get customized recommendations on their correct shoe size. 

Even the luxury automotive industry has been co-branding with luxury fashion brands. When it comes to co-branding and modified technology, luxury automotive brands are not taking the backseat (pun-intended). For instance, BMW has also brought AR into their services. Their AR tech allows users to operate real-life virtual care with their phone's camera and sensor. It feels like a video game because you can change the interiors or lights. Ultimately, it is useful for helping customers make their purchases. 

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Finally, the use of influence marketing, especially in the luxury niche, is becoming more and more important as mankind moves into the future. At first, luxury brands didn't believe in social media —for fear that it would have made their products appear less luxurious. Nowadays, new luxury fashion influencers are popping-up every day due to the demand in the marketplace.

Studies present that 66%+ of luxury brands are actively using influencer marketing to promote their brand. The benefits of influencer marketing are grand in scope. Most of all, the ROI studies show that businesses earn $6.50 for each dollar spent on influencers, with the top 13% making $20 or even more.

It seems to me that the never-ending search for change is racing to keep up with consumer buying habits and overall lifestyle. The world is changing, and so is the market. Today's customers demand more. They want personalization, ease of service, and a great buying experience. Although fashion retail has evolved, forthright fashion and beauty brands are well aware of the importance of a retail physical locations for various reasons in today's consumer marketplace.

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I recently had the pleasure to interview Kian Vessal Founder of Mega Mansions luxury fashion company. Followed by global fashion and beauty brands, celebrities and athletes —including Lebron James, Lionel Messi, Justin Bieber to just name a few. Kian Vessal discusses his inside scoop on his journey in the luxury space and the importance of luxury fashion and beauty brands developing brand culture and consumer acceptance in that space.

Joseph DeAcetis: What inspired you to go into the luxury brand business?

Kian Vessal -It was always interesting to see the things that we don't normally see, things that are exclusive. It could be a one-of-a-kind watch, a handmade suit, or a luxury vacation. With regards to Mega Mansions, the inspiration was to showcase the world's most exclusive homes that very few people were able to catch sight of and experience. Seeing the boundaries pushed with stunning architectural designs and builds is something a lot of people really enjoy and engage with including myself. 

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Joseph DeAcetis: In your words, how will brick & mortar retail space still be relevant with the remote fashion shopping and overall digital space?

Kian Vessal: I think that fashion retail is still necessary and relevant as the brick and mortar business moves into to the future. Luxury fashion brands will still require a physical space to connect the remote world of digital space with product offerings and curating the architecture and fashion displays reflecting the a fashion brands culture. This helps shoppers connect with a location when trying to make purchases. Moreover, a retail brick and mortar space is a reality point where customers can meet and connect with others in the same space. It is a testament to the brand.

Joseph DeAcetis: What's the unique strategy you can say has helped you get to over 2.4 million followers on Instagram?

Kian Vessal -Every Instagram account has different ways in order to gain followers which is mainly to do with their content however one key strategy is consistency.

Joseph DeAcetis: Despite the heavy competition in the luxury brand space, how do you thrive?

Kian Vessal -We have managed to be consistent and introduce a unique style of content that best fits our followers and demographic. We thrive by showing people fascinating content they have never seen before simultaneously bringing our followers ideas, inspiration, and motivation.

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Commodities Are Back In Fashion as Investors Get Ready for Boom - Bloomberg

Posted: 19 Dec 2020 09:00 PM PST

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Commodities Are Back In Fashion as Investors Get Ready for Boom  Bloomberg

Opinion/Commentary: South of the Zoom screen where fashion doesn't matter - The Daily Progress

Posted: 19 Dec 2020 10:15 PM PST

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This morning, I combined my light clothes with my dark clothes in the washing machine — an unthinkable act in my prior life. As the washer churned and my whites got dingier, I realized my universe had shifted. For good or bad, my pandemic life bears little resemblance to my pre-pandemic life.

My appearance has become more feral. I used to get my eyebrows threaded by a woman at a local mall — the same mall that went under last month. I lack the manual dexterity to tweeze, so now a shelf of brow luxuriates above my face mask.

I used to comb my hair every morning. Now I don't always remember. Often, when taking a walk with only my shadow as a companion, I'll notice that shadow includes an exuberant hair wave springing at a right angle from my left ear.

South of the Zoom screen where fashion doesn't matter, I rotate between two sets of sweatpants: old, black and baggy (my favorite) and new slimming sweatpants from Costco. These shiny pants sport a tiny hole where I carelessly cut through the packaging and the clothing. I wear them when I want to impress others, usually on the rare occasions when I am taking a socially distanced walk with another masked human being.

I used to cook meals composed of nutritious food that varied in color and texture. The other day at Harris-Teeter, I filled my cart with several varieties of mac and cheese: white cheddar, aged cheddar, four cheeses and organic. The orange cheese powder gives me pause, because it looks radioactive. In the past, I'd viewed packaged mac and cheese as the food choice of a person who had given up on life. Now, I see it as a reasonable food choice of a person who barely can muster the emotional energy to boil water.

Because I no longer have a regular work schedule, I stay up late into the night. It's not so much I have insomnia; it's more my days and nights have merged. My landmarks have disappeared: The improv show I was supposed to perform in, the writing workshop I was supposed to facilitate, the Thanksgiving dinner I was supposed to share with family and friends.

Inspired by one of my sons, I've started birdwatching, an activity that brings me outside for hours at a time. Fortunately, I live next to a large nature preserve and am surrounded by birds. Unfortunately, although I hear them taunting me from the treetops, I can't spot birds, because I haven't mastered my new binoculars. When I look through the binoculars, I see a strap or the edge of my lens cap but no birds in trees. However, with my naked eye, I can always spot turkey vultures. To see them, all I have to do is look up. Every time I go out into our meadow, those buzzards make low, slow circles above me. I'm tempted to shout that Monty Python line, "I'm not dead yet!"

When the pandemic started last winter, I assumed that once the mess was over, I'd glide back into my old life. Now, I'm not so sure.

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that the measure of intelligence is the ability to change. Maybe I should smarten up and make some of these pandemic changes permanent. Maybe it's not so bad that I don't have my eyebrows threaded anymore. The process hurt and the technician often made rude, but accurate, comments like: "Your face has wrinkles."

Maybe I'll keep wearing comfy sweatpants — no more squishing myself into skinny jeans. I've begun to regard those radioactive cheese powder lunches as comfort food. Sometimes, I splurge and sprinkle Panko breadcrumbs on the orange glop.

I do miss improv, and teaching, and earning money, and seeing other humans. However, I don't miss the busyness. In my former life, I rushed from one activity to the next. Now, I will take time to commune with those circling turkey vultures. And, thanks to Mr. Einstein, I won't view the buzzards as harbingers of imminent doom, but instead as attentive avian companions on my journey through a re-imagined post-pandemic life.

Deborah Prum's essays and articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Southern Living and Ladies' Home Journal. Her award-winning fiction has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Across the Margin and Streetlight Magazine. Her radio essays air on NPR-member stations. Before COVID, she regularly gave workshops at WriterHouse.

Information link: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/85475-the-measure-of-intelligence-is-the-ability-to-change

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The Fashion Industry Is Ready For A Makeover: 4 Changes We’ll See In The Future - Forbes

Posted: 03 Dec 2020 12:00 AM PST

Fashion has always been known to push the envelope. With new trends and ideas, fashion has an eye towards the future. The fashion industry will see huge amounts of innovation in coming years as new technology and changing customer trends and demands will transform the industry. 

Here are four changes to expect in the future of fashion: 

1 . Data-Driven

It used to be that consumers wore whatever designers created. Those days are over, and fashion brands now use data to understand customer preferences, monitor their shopping behavior and create products that meet their needs. The future of fashion is data-driven: by leveraging data on consumer trends, brands can create pieces consumers are most likely to purchase. 

Many stores and brands, including Miu Miu and Stitch Fix, use data to predict the rise and fall of trends. Predictive analytics consider everything from climate to color preferences, social media trends and political movements. The benefits of using data in fashion are numerous: from only producing pieces consumers will actually wear to reducing waste and connecting the right consumers with pieces they will enjoy. Data also helps brands run more efficiently, giving them room to innovate and balance supply and demand. 

Fashion forecasting has long been an artform, but with the growth of data analytics, it now becomes more of a science. That data extends to algorithms. Amazon is developing a machine learning program to automatically assess if an item is "stylish" or not. Google is testing user-driven AI fashion design that uses algorithms to create new pieces and styles. Data of all kinds will soon be sewn into every aspect of fashion. 

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2 . Sustainable

Fashion has long been one of the biggest contributors to waste and climate change, largely because of its unsustainable and non-eco-friendly production methods. But the tides are changing, and brands are moving towards more sustainable fabrics and manufacturing methods. 

Fast fashion, which was popular for its ability to quickly and inexpensively reproduce runway looks, is in decline in favor of slow fashion—pieces that are more eco-friendly and designed to be longer lasting. Nearly 50% of fast fashion retailers have reported a recent decrease in customer purchases as consumers look for brands that take a stand for the environment. 

Research shows that 88% of consumers want brands to help them be more environmentally friendly. Even with its strides, fashion has a long way to go. Fashion production releases 10% of the world's carbon emissions, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. A number of sustainable fashion brands are growing, and their innovative practices are becoming more commonplace among retailers. British design company Vin + Omi harvests its own crops to make clothing from horseradish plants and chestnuts. It also features clothing items made from recycled paint containers. Levi's recently unveiled a new collection of denim that uses 96% less water to create—a major win for clothing that notoriously requires a lot of water to produce. 

Shopping for pre-owned items is also on the rise. The secondhand market is expected to hit $64 billion by 2024. Even as other forms of fashion shopping hit a Covid slump, online secondhand shopping continues to see strong growth. With more consumers looking to purchase previously worn items, fashion brands must create pieces with longevity and that can last beyond a single owner. 

3 . Digital

The future of fashion is happening online, and brands will have to adjust how they create and sell clothing to make it work in a digital world. 

With more shoppers taking advantage of online shopping, fashion retailers have to follow suit. Aside from changing Covid-19 restrictions, consumers increasingly prefer the convenience and speed of online shopping, even if it means not being able to try an item on in person. The most successful fashion brands of the future won't just make their clothing available online—they will also create an immersive digital shopping experience with things like virtual fit or sizing tools, virtual showrooms and virtual stylists. Fashion brands will also leverage technology like AR and VR to allow consumers to "try on" items digitally from the comfort of their own homes. Major retailers like Adidas, Macy's and Modcloth are adopting virtual dressing rooms and bringing the technology mainstream. Using AR to virtually try on items helps consumers stay more confident in their purchases and reduces return rates by 36%. 

Even consumers who make purchases in person will still be influenced by digital efforts. A number of large fashion brands are moving to virtual fashion shows and are digitizing their designs into 3D prototypes on avatars that are easier to showcase, test and manufacture on demand. Designers can test out ideas virtually and float them with consumers before actually creating the physical pieces.

4 . Simplified

Fueled largely by Covid-19 changes, fashion is simplifying, both in its styles and in its delivery. Many fashion houses used to create eight collections a year. The result was a crowded fashion show schedule and items showing up in stores months before customers were ready to wear them, like swimsuits in February and winter wear in August. The new shift in fashion is to two collections a year: spring/summer and fall/winter. The simplified approach puts customers at the center by creating pieces when people will actually be shopping for them. 

Simplifying fashion also saves money and the environment. Instead of moving through clothes so quickly and having to produce a new collection, marketing campaign and fashion show every six weeks, simplified collections reduce waste and the amount of clothing produced. 

Fashion trends themselves will also become more simplified. With many people working from home and social distancing for the foreseeable future, fashion brands have toned down their styling in favor of comfortable loungewear and clothing that works for sleeping and living. Even after the pandemic, clothing will likely stay simple and comfortable.

The future of fashion will focus on customers and providing an innovative experience. The industry is continually evolving, but changes in the future will create a more sustainable, customer-centric and efficient industry.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and the author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her weekly newsletter here.
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