In many parts of the world, the conclusion of Halloween celebrations signifies not an ending, but the start of an even more exciting holiday season: Christmas! The merriment that accompanies the holiday is not reserved for children and families, because for most retailers, the winter holidays represent a significant proportion of their sales. It’s a period of joy for everyone involved, and since its inception around 1808, the gift-giving ritual has evolved into a massive retail opportunity that has significant implications for businesses. The National Retail Federation (NRF), an American retail trade association, considers the ‘winter holidays’ as the period between November 1st and December 31st. In the United States,…
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The magic business of Holiday Windows
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, from the twinkling lights and the holiday decorations all over the city, to most importantly, stores window displays. A perfect holiday window display is a great way to to draw customers who are in a festive, spending mood into stores they might not have stopped by otherwise. That’s why every retailer seems to be competing to have the most extravagant and attention-grabbing window display every year. But how much does all this effort and investment put into something seasonal pay off? Courtesy of Printemps The window dressing tradition has been around for a very long time, we can trace its beginning back…
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The Ultimate Discussion of Fashion: Fur
On October 12th, the fashion world woke up to huge news: Gucci announced they are going fur-free. The chief executive’s own words were “It’s not modern, it’s a little outdated”. So how did Gucci take this huge U-turn and decided to leave their infamous fur-lined loafers behind? The fur discussion in the fashion world has been present for years. Gucci is not the first to sign up to Fur Free Alliance; Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Armani are all fur free brands. However there is no doubt that Gucci’s surprising action will have some effects on their sales regarding the fact that their best selling models all contain fur. The topic…
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Are wearables taking over the fashion industry?
Since the blast of Apple Watch launch in the market, wearables, as kinds of avant-garde intriguing devices, have caught the world’s attention. Gartner, Inc. forecasts an increase of additional 16.7% sales from 2016 in the wearables market in 2017, meaning 310.4 million be sold worldwide. Sales will generate revenue of $30.5 billion in 2017, within which $9.3 billion will be from smartwatches. Business Insider also predicts a continuous growth in wearables market, both for smartwatches, fitness bands and other activity trackers, and rest of wearables market. Having seen this growing market, new initiatives just can’t stop coming out with the fact that fashion companies rack their brain’s out and strive…
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Eyewear: a vision with vision
Report from the event “Eyewear: la montatura perfetta” that was held on November 8th in Università Bocconi. Iconic, timeless, the ultimate accessory, a must-have. Eyewear is a thriving business of 82 billion dollars with incredible growth potential and the world of fashion has its eye on its changing dynamics at the dawn of a new era, a new frame. Roberto Vedovotto, Chairman and CEO of Kering Eyewear and Giovanni Zoppas, CEO of Thelios discussed the mechanisms and changes of the world of eyewear in a unique talk at Bocconi University. ‘Empowering imagination’ is the motto of Kering Eyewear launched in 2014, a fully integrated start-up which operates within the powerful…
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Black Friday: let the shopping begin
Have you ever heard about Black Friday? Most of you certainly have. But do you know where this recurrence comes from? This is an American tradition related to the day after Thanksgiving which spread out all over the world few years ago. It has become a trend adopted by many companies attracting customers with incredible discounts and offers. Black Friday weekend is important for both stores and online retailers, the sales amount is around 15% of the holiday season sales (November-December) which is estimated to be around $962 billion for 2017. As far as the online shopping is concerned, Amazon has a monopoly with huge discounts on different products, from…
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Creative Director: Instagram
Instagram. The first app you open after pressing snooze and the last one after throwing yourself in bed. It’s a reality, we’re all addicted to the magic of Instagram and its continuous thread of satisfactory images. However, Instagram is not merely a guilty pleasure we indulge on a daily basis by posting ego-boosting pictures and stalking our favourite celebrities. It is a business tool with a total of 3.5 billion likes a day, the central social media application for all fashion brands regardless of size and target audience. And with its inception, a new era for advertising has begun. The ‘gram’ is the new showroom for fashion brands, their builder…
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Turmoil for Glossies
Is this the End of the Print Magazine Era? It is no secret that the past couple of years have been increasingly rocky for publishing companies. Any statistics aside, the individual consumer can likely attest to gradually purchase fewer and fewer print magazines over the past 10 years, as digital access has increased exponentially. While the impacts may not have been immediately manifest, recent unsettling events plaguing the publishing world have made it impossible to deny the struggles presenting themselves; the cracks are showing. In the first weeks of September, two editors in chief at international publishing giant Condé Nast resigned, Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair, and Cindi Leive of…
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The rise of the mobile retail
Over the years, with the non-stop advancement of technology, firms in different industries have been doing their best to keep up. Almost every brand has an online store now, but that’s just scratching the surface since the main focus has shifted from desktop to mobile. But when it comes to the fashion industry, especially luxury giants have been rather reluctant and slow to progress on mobile retail. The rise of m-commerce is quite relevant to the industry, yet most brands are still far behind on technological advances and are doing less than they could to facilitate shopping through apps and other mobile means. Courtesy of Keep Shopping The fashion industry…
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The Forces of Fashion: Analysis
