Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[London]

I'm sure we're talking past each other. I am actually interested in your perspective from the NYC mainstream side of things.

I've mainly done direct response. So my philosophy and background is a little different.



I think we're using the word "simple" differently. I know customer acquisition is difficult.

Maybe a better way to say this is that while the tactics and day-to-day tasks can be complex and difficult, it's conceptually simple.

You need to pay less for a new customer than they will pay you over a reasonable timeframe.

The fact that achieving this goal involves product selection, product creation, testing different ad networks, creative, offer structures (not to mention balancing all that with your technical infrastructure, compliance concerns, payment processing etc) doesn't change the fact that the overall goal is simple.

I hear you man. That is a very different game. I'm talking brand marketing domestically and globally. It's extremely complex process.

 

[Joffrey]

Whatever happened to Shipley & Halmost? I'm wearing a polo of theirs that is falling apart (after close to ten years) and I'm thinking of getting more. A web search doesn't pull much so I'm figuring they died off some time ago?

 

[GoldenTribe]

There's no 'T' in Halmos, which might affect your search results, but they are indeed defunct.

In addition to eBay, you can still find stuff at TRR https://www.therealreal.com/designers/shipley-halmos

 

[dieworkwear]

 

[cb200]

Just two seasons sounds good. Well, unless you're trying to allocate production capacity that was spread throughout the year into the same two week shipping windows in spring and fall as everyone else. It's already a bit of a fight now- but if not now when is change going to happen to the calendar.

Speaking of Friedman did anyone read her review of Andre Leon Talley's book?

André Leon Talley’s Tales From the Dark Side (Published 2020)

The juiciest fashion memoir of the year is out. But is it a tell-all, a tragedy or a harbinger of things to come?

www.nytimes.com

"But today fashion has no more room or patience for such divas — not in magazines or modeling or designer ateliers — and Mr. Talley has grandiosed himself out of a job. "

 

[blacklight]

Just two seasons sounds good. Well, unless you're trying to allocate production capacity that was spread throughout the year into the same two week shipping windows in spring and fall as everyone else. It's already a bit of a fight now- but if not now when is change going to happen to the calendar.

Speaking of Friedman did anyone read her review of Andre Leon Talley's book?

André Leon Talley’s Tales From the Dark Side (Published 2020)

The juiciest fashion memoir of the year is out. But is it a tell-all, a tragedy or a harbinger of things to come?

www.nytimes.com

"But today fashion has no more room or patience for such divas — not in magazines or modeling or designer ateliers — and Mr. Talley has grandiosed himself out of a job. "

Yes. Far more interesting (and better written, IMO) is the one by Rebecca Caroll.

Anna Wintour Is Not the Star of André Leon Talley’s Memoir. He Is. (Published 2020)

In “The Chiffon Trenches,” the former Vogue editor grapples with his own complicated story.

www.nytimes.com

 

[cb200]

That review was a good read as well. Certainly took up the race issue(s) much more and put that at the core of the review. That's completely fair to do given the fact of the matter and what looks like the author's other work. I'm more curious now about the book and his story reading that. I've heard the book called a warning to creatives about loosing oneself in your career and passion and being left with less than what they deserved.

 

[jah786]

There is a very interesting - there is a dialogue happening right now in a totally different sphere of the fashion universe, unrelated in many ways to my corner of menswear but very much related to the larger economics of the industry. Undoubtedly there will be some kind of trickle-down effect, some kind of "cerulean blue" [The Devils Wears Prada], but I'm not sure what that is yet. What weighs on me is the death of the trade show and the allocation of resources (both time and money) to direct vs. wholesale. Direct is not easy and customer acquisition can easily overtake margins (as we have discussed on this thread) but the entire wholesale model was already under pressure and that was pre-virus. No easy answers right now.

 

[blacklight]

That review was a good read as well. Certainly took up the race issue(s) much more and put that at the core of the review. That's completely fair to do given the fact of the matter and what looks like the author's other work. I'm more curious now about the book and his story reading that. I've heard the book called a warning to creatives about loosing oneself in your career and passion and being left with less than what they deserved.

I can see this, though private animus against ALT in some circles is that he ended up in the position he's in because he allegedly didn't do much to bring others like himself behind him. It's impossible to say without having the read the book but from the way and frequency with which ALT writes about being the only black person in the room it seems as if that was a point of pride for him beyond being a trailblazer (as Carroll alludes to.)

There's an excerpt from the book cited in one review that goes something along the lines of Wintour not caring about clothes, but power, and I can't help but believe that Talley was/is in the same boat, just with glamour instead. I read it all as less a warning of losing oneself in career than in drinking the institutional kool aid. In an industry as cutthroat and clique-y as that one you have to imagine he'd seen his own fair share of falls from grace yet portrays himself as never suspecting it could happen to him (which makes sense considering the purpose of glamour is to dull the senses.)

He doesn't strike me as a sympathetic figure. An interesting one, with a rich life, certainly. But not a sympathetic one.

Hilston Als put together an almost eerie prediction of this for The New Yorker all the way back in 1994;

https://justpaste.it/onlyone (text)

 

[dieworkwear]

Alessandro Michele is no longer doing pre-seasons, seasons, or even shows.

 

[cb200]

“I feel the need to renew a bond, purifying the essential by getting rid of the unnecessary”

I think some of the designs shown for recent collections already dialled back and were more subdued relative to some of the more maximalist styling of the past.

Timing and how promotions will work will be interesting. Still love this campaign they did

 

[gmehra]

some interesting news about Rakuten Global Express shutting down

 

[crazn]

Alessandro Michele is no longer doing pre-seasons, seasons, or even shows.

all turning into alaia.

but from a few of the op eds... how are they going to regenerate the lost revenue if they dial down their volume? that's still the elephant in the room.

 

[Gus]

He doesn't strike me as a sympathetic figure. An interesting one, with a rich life, certainly. But not a sympathetic one.

I think you nailed it.

 

[jah786]

all turning into alaia.

but from a few of the op eds... how are they going to regenerate the lost revenue if they dial down their volume? that's still the elephant in the room.

agreed. You can't just turn it all off, Kering still wants that $. But clearly he is yearning to reign in the madness of Fashion (capital F), if that is possible.