Archive for May 2006

WWD reports Ralph Lauren is set to discontinue one of its jeans brands - Polo Jeans Company- in the US. This action was taken just months after it brought back the licence from Jones Apparel Group. The article says: ‘While there won’t be any Polo Jeans stores in the U.S. as a retail strategy, the company does operate a few Double RL stores for high-end denim apparel.’

Both Fashion Telegraph and Vogue tell some exciting news of the UK fashion industry, Armani are due to show at this coming London Fashion Week. But also the luxury brand will join the RED campaign. In the article Mr Armani comments: ‘It will be an honour and a privilege to present my Emporio Armani collection at London Fashion Week and, at the same time, create further momentum for Bono and Bobby Shriver’s RED initiative.’

We were kindly invited by Wired to a talk by the makers of the new eco-warning film An Inconvenient Truth last night - just yards from the blaring lights of Times Square. Opening the talk, Al Gore told the audience that it is a challenge to our moral imagination to realize that we have seen a radical transformation of the human species and that has had an never-before known impact on the ecological system. Humans have become the most powerful force of nature on Earth.

Nothing has prepared us for this moment, he said - yet we still seem to be running the planet as if it’s a liquidation sale.

Gore argued throughout the night that the argument ‘Is there global warming?’ was over and compared the current debate to the scientific debate on tobacco many years ago when “scientific prostitutes” came out and spoke up for smoking. Gore said that 500,000 people a year for 40 years died through smoking related diseases because of the continued debate.

The first step for the rest of us, was to accept it. We need to empower ourselves with knowledge and understanding. We need to carbon-freeze. He emphasized that we needed to prioritize our concerns with ‘global’ pollution over ‘local pollution’.

Gore argued that the crisis gave us a real opportunity to share a common moral purpose - like the generation that had the power to create the Marshall Plan and the United Nations. “It is our Moral Imperative that we create moral authority,” Gore urged.

Joining Gore, Jim Hansen, the NASA scientist, told the audience that we have about ten years to change the situation, before the point of no return. “If you accept that - nothing else matters,” he said.

Go see An Inconvenient Truth at your movie theater tonight

London based journalist and club darling Neil Boorman has gone all KLF on us. In a quest to rediscover his identity, he’s burning all his branded belongings. By taking Lacanian action, Boorman hopes to rekindle sense of self.

In throwing down the chains of corporate hallmarks, the Boorman’s blog says: “On 26.08.06, I am going to gather every branded possession of mine into a warehouse, douse them with petrol and burn the lot. Jacobson chairs, Christian Dior shirts, a Louis Vuitton bag”. Maybe then, this insurgent will continue to campaign for the death of brands on a global scale?

Bonfire of the Brands

Gang,

We love you dearly and we love the fact you come back time and time again for more. But after 2 years we need a break. Not for long. Just a week in the sunshine. A week in Greece.

“But how will I get my daily fill of trends news?” we hear you cry.

Easy: You write it. You read it.

The sole reason we wrote Marktd.com was because we knew we were going on our hols and we didn’t want the insights and inspiration to stop. The difference now, is that you can write the trends and marketing news and you can vote (or Mark) for your favorite stories.

From the morning of Friday May 26 until Sunday June 6, we’re going to divert the traffic from PSFK’s home page to www.marktd.com. Hopefully this will be more useful to you all than confusing.

PSFK archives will still be available by Googling us - and if you really, really must visit our front page - it will be here.

So we ask you all, friends, to use Marktd - to submit, vote and tell a colleague. And we know it’s buggy, so when we get back you can tell us all about it).

Keep well. Keep up to date.

Much love,

Piers, Simon and the team.

Marktd is a reference system that highlights
marketing articles considered valuable by the marketing community.
Marketers submit articles they either write or just find on the web and
other marketers vote on the value of those articles. The most popular
articles reach the front page.

And it’s free.

www.marktd.com

Martkd been created by Piers Fawkes who runs PSFK.com.

Here are some helpful details:

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10 years ago if you had a friend chances were that you’d met them at least once, spoke to them on the phone occasionally and they’d visited your house or you’d visited theirs.

People had a group, outside of their family, that they could fall back on when they needed emotional or social support. For the most part though they liked to meet up with their friends and chat, watch sport or just hang out.

It used to be the case that anyone that considered speed dating or blind dates would be considered a bit sad or a little bit inept. Why would you need to go and meet other ‘loser’ singles when everyone else managed just fine at meeting partners.

People were happy with the number of people they knew and believed that their social circles were sufficient.

The internet has destroyed these preconceptions and traditional definitions of friendship. It is now perfectly normal to meet your partner online, have more friends on your iChat buddies than friends you’ve met, and share music tips with hundreds of mySpace friends.

This appears to be a major shift in the way people act socially. It’s now ok to go out and acquire friends. It’s perfectly ok to log in to Friendster or Soflow with the express intention of meeting new people to be friends with.

This says to me that it’s fine to be in need. People want more friends, better friends, more contacts and better contacts. It’s almost as if, in the last ten years, it’s become fine to be insecure.

This major attitudinal shift gives brands a great way in to people’s lives. By facilitating forums for people to meet in they have the opportunity to have a positive and permanent effect on people’s lives. However, knowing that people want more and better friends and contacts there must be a more efficient and impactful way for brands to interact in a positive way with people’s lives.

Nic Middenway, the owner of Sutake sat down with PFSK reporter Alex Singh and found 3-legged jeans are not on the trend barometer but giving to charities is.

It’s a known fact that the premium denim market is saturated. And so there is little space for new Denim labels to carve themselves a niche. New Australian label Sutake Denim takes this challenge head on - to diversify itself from other denim brands it draws upon the culture, trends, social ideals, and art of the South Pacific. Denim is simply the label’s canvas.

PSFK: Where did your get your name?

NM: Sutake means tough and is taken from the language of the Lakota, an American Indian tribe which is a member of the family of the Great Sioux Nation of North America.

PSFK: Where did the association with “Sutake tribe” start?

NM: The initial inspiration came from the islands of the South Pacific and specifically the Solomon Islands at the turn of last century.

PSFK: Your fashion label contributes to an aid program what was the deciding factor in that decision?
Many factors went into the very easy decision for Sutake to support Aid programs that needed help. You only need to open a newspaper or turn on a television set to see that, although we pride ourselves on being a civilised society, it seems that modern health and education resources were missing in some very important parts of the world. A lot of these regions housed the very diverse and beautiful cultural regions that have inspired Sutake. I wanted to do something to help preserve these cultures whether they are in the South Pacific, Africa, South Africa or South America. To contribute whatever we can to help would also be a way to repay the very source of my inspiration for Sutake. The Australian Foundation for the People of Asia Pacific (AFAP) is a non-government, non-religious organisation that works tirelessly, providing education and support to regions that need help. The work they do is very much a low-impact approach to the communities they help. They do not attempt to alter cultural beliefs but rather integrate modern health and education practices into existing cultures.

PSFK: When did the label begin?

NM: The Sutake label started in essence, in 2004 with an initial denim range going into stores in August that year. Sutake has been kept deliberately low-key up until now.

PSFK: And how has it evolved since its inception?

NM: Hand finished original jeans have now become the trademark of Sutake maintaining a strong connection to the tribal imagery that inspired the brand initially. And today Sutake is launching a more accessible men’s and women’s denim range without compromising its unique look and feel.

PSFK: What plans do you to expand the label?

NM: There are current plans to take Sutake offshore with showings booked in both Hong Kong and Europe at the end of the year. Sutake now includes a Tee Shirt range for both Men and Women and winter will see denim jackets included in the range.

PSFK: What themes run through the upcoming Spring/Summer line?
The range that will be going into stores in Spring/Summer this year is TRADER. Trader epitomises the way of life in the early 1900s when ships carrying nothing but clothing would dock at the various ports in the South Pacific and the seamen would trade clothing to the natives in exchange for island produce. Through photographs taken at the time, I could see how the natives would use improvised means to ensure their clothing lasted as long as possible by mending with string or patching. Inspired by this I have produced not only a new range in men’s denim but the first Sutake Girl’s range.

PSFK: Will you continue to draw upon tribal culture or look for a new area for inspiration?

NM: Sutake will never be about anything other than rich and raw tribal culture. I look forward to expanding into other regions in coming ranges and especially exploring the vast colour usages of central and South Africa.

PSFK: What is the central, personal ethos you put into each design?

NM: So long as each design I produce honors the Sutake ethos of raw, honest design, my own contribution to that is to ensure quality and find that fine line between listening to what the market is telling me.

PFSK: What advice would you give to people starting their own label?

NM: Believe in what you are doing and love what you are doing because it will take over your whole life and if you love doing it. Then, you’ll enjoy life too.

PSFK: What has been the biggest hurdle for you?

NM: Some idiot only put 24 hours in the day.

PSFK: What was the most unexpected problem you have had to face?

NM: This question. Also, how it would feel to 1,000 pairs of jeans like piled up on my lounge room. I did not know until they arrived.

PSFK: What are the upcoming trends or major changes you see in the premium denim market?

NM: I don’t know this answer. But ensure that Sutake reflects current trends and I watch what the market is asking for. I don’t see three legged jeans catching on too soon though.

Sutake’s Spring/Summer “TRADER” range will be stocked in boutique retail stores around Australia.

sutake.com

Words Alex Singh

Like New York fashion boutiques, after a while New York sneaker stores all seem to carry the same brands and styles of sneakers. Individuality is lost as all the boutiques try to have the “right” label in their collection. What is the point of “Limited Edition” if every sneaker store you go to is offering the same Limited Edition line? Where do the sneaker freaks go when the stores let them down? They go online of-course.

The shoes pictured belong to Phil, a fashion designer in New York. Everytime we meet him outside a pub (this time it was the Mucky Ape), he has a new pair of sneakers and we always ask - where did you get them. And he always says, I got them online.

One of Phil’s favorite places to shop is eBay where he can truly seek out rare editions from around the world. However, these shoes he bought from the UK. Well, he tried to. “They wouldn’t take my American card,” he said about the online store where he bought the lime green soles. “It’s really hard to get things shipped to America from the UK which is a shame. So I had to get my 18 year old niece to buy ‘em with her debit card. She kept telling me off: ‘Stop calling them sneakers, uncle - they’re trainers!’”