FT Business of Fashion Part 1

The Financial Times  has published its latest FT Business of Fashion supplement with some great insider insight and interesting articles, which unfortunately are not available online.

‘The Trade Show Also Rises’ talks about the growing influence and importance of the trade shows- in particular Premiere Vision, the Paris based textile exhibition; Bread & Butter, the street, denim and sportswear show held both in Berlin and Barcelona; Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence which shows over 800 men’s brands from around the world; and WSA footwear show in Las Vegas- as these are where the emerging trends can be seen over 6 months before the catwalk shows, and where buyers plan what the consumers will be wearing.

Having been to most of these shows for several seasons now, not only do I agree with their influence on the trend-led stores, (Premiere Vision even has it’s own ‘trend’ area where it analyses and groups the most exciting fabrics on offer) but am constantly amazed by their growth every season and the energy that they create for the industry. Bread & Butter in particular allows the brands so much freedom of expression, and understands the importance of creating an atmosphere and fostering more relaxed interaction, with many of the bigger brands involved throwing parties or events during the show, and everyone having a good time despite the hard work!

"Can you Rent Luxury" is an article about the growing trend for fractional-ownership in luxury having led to a similar business model being used for leasing fashion rather than buying it. The article includes the bagborrowandsteal.com site which we have mentioned before, alongside other new handbag ventures including mydesignerbag.co.uk and bagstoriches.com.

The most intersting aspect of this article however is the customer base of these companies. The pair who set up basgtoriches initially thought that "the customer base we were looking at was dual income underneath six figures; the kind of person who always wanted to carry a Coach or Louis Vuitton bag and couldn’t afford to, so this was a way to have incremental ownership of a luxury good. But we’re finding that’s not the case. It’s families with dual income of more than $125,000 and women who already have some luxury bags and are just looking to borrowing as a way to expand their variety", and as the fashion director at bagborrowandsteal says, their customer base is "affluent, between 25 and 45 years old, has a love for designer fashion, loves the idea she can swap bags as a mood or season changes, but continues to purchase, and supplements by borrowing".

So as consumers are becoming more knowledgeable and aware of their options, buying an $800 handbag for the season seems less worth it, even for the very wealthy, when that money could instead get you the ‘new’ handbag every month for a year. And as long as the magazines and Hollywood starlets continue to showcase their expensive wares, there will always be people desperate to emulate these lifestyles through timeshare living, many of whose disposable incomes are being cleverly tapped into.