FASHION

Must the Fashion Shows Go On?

Designer brands have stopped trying to make “phygital” happen. But they haven’t given up on fashion month yet. 

In New York…NYFW is running through Thursday, but the calendar’s leaner than previous years. 60 brands will showcase their definitions of “wearable” this week in mostly digital presentations, down from February’s 177. 

• MIA: Heavy hitters including Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta, and Marc Jacobs.
• Presenting IRL: the Lowe’s project runway crew and a few others.

In Europe...the big three (London, Milan, and Paris) are treating socially distanced show policies like a charcuterie board to pick and choose from. Younger brands will broadcast online, but many traditional brands are holding some variation of a live show with an audience.

Across borders...TikTok is hosting its own fashion month programming for brands that don’t mind their runways becoming meme material. It’ll be a mix of short form runway videos and brand interviews; Alice + Olivia and Puma made exclusive merch for their TikTok tie-ins. 

Collection inflection 

NYFW and its global counterparts are more than trend arbiters: They support industries spanning retail, textiles, event planning, and tourism, to name a few. 

• Usually, fashion month-related spending generates significant revenue for the host cities. NYFW, for example, raked in $900 million annually, by past estimates. 
• Small brands rely on fashion month placements to connect with wholesale buyers; bigger brands rely on fashion month to keep existing accounts.

Ideally, hybrid digital and IRL programming will open these historically exclusive events up to more customers. Online-only showings also eliminate the millions brands once spent on custom runways—which they need to pay their employees while sales are soft, designer Tom Ford said. 

But hours of back-to-back digital presentations might feel less like an immersive event and more like an extended video conference. That’s what happened at early digital experiments in Copenhagen and London this summer without live audiences to drum up attention. 

Bottom line: What digital presentations lack in people watching, they make up for in accessibility. But we won’t know how effective an online-only fashion month will be until we tally up the video views and distribution deals after.

E-COMM

No Single Singles' Day

Retailers are DIY-ing a holiday discount event in October, per Bloomberg. Welcome to online shopping, where the holidays are made up and the date doesn’t matter.

Happy 10.10 Day. It’s an October 10 U.S. shopping event meant to mirror 11.11, aka November 11’s Singles’ Day, in China.  

• More than two dozen major retailers are reportedly participating—but haven’t revealed their involvement or the scope of their discounts yet.
• Shopkick, a rewards app, will host a sale hub for partner brands during the event. 

By adding a (presumably) large sales event in October, retailers hope to swerve supply chain disruptions during their busiest season. 

• In a typical year, retailers are overwhelmed in the lead-up to Christmas. 
• Between pandemic shipping delays and product shortages, they now anticipate an even bigger December bottleneck. 

Even if 10.10 can attract shoppers, it’ll need decades to match Singles’ Day’s scope. The latter topped $38 billion in 2019. 

Zoom out: Retailers that haven’t shared their 10.10 pledge will roll out holiday deals earlier than ever. Home Depot will start holiday discounts on November 8; Amazon’s Prime Day is reportedly scheduled for October 26.

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TRENDS

Vote by Retail

With 50 days until the U.S. election, brands are prioritizing civic engagement over social engagement. In addition to giving employees time off to vote, retailers are backing new Election Day efforts, including...

Powered polls. Tory Burch, Old Navy, Target, and Warby Parker will compensate employees who serve as poll workers on Election Day. All four brands said incentivizing employees to volunteer will decrease the likelihood of poll sites shutting down due to worker shortages.

Benefit merch. Following the lead of too many brands to count, American Eagle and little sister brand Aerie are selling tees benefitting the voter turnout nonprofit HeadCount. Brands hope Instagrammable shirts can encourage one of the least civically engaged demos to vote: Voter turnout in the 2016 election was lowest among 18–29 year-olds, per United States Elections Project data.   

Why it matters: Outspoken brands like Patagonia and Levi’s dominated Election Day tie-ins in past years. With more brands letting their civics flags fly in 2020, political programming could become retailers’ norm during future elections.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Walmart struck up a second drone delivery partnership, with Zipline.
• Town Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 
• Amazon will hire another 100,000 employees across the U.S. and Canada.
• J.Jill narrowly avoided filing for bankruptcy. 
• Peloton is considering adding a rental option.
• Kroger more than doubled online sales in Q2.

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HOT TOPIC

At the mall, it’s where I bought one too many Twilight shirts in 2008. In Retail Brew, it’s where I outline a recent retail debate—and readers can chime in.

Today’s topic: Bloomberg Opinion writer Ben Schott recently tore down the “bland,” a DTC brand archetype anyone who’s ever mixed up Billie and Maude will recognize. Schott writes, “What makes a brand a bland is duality: claiming simultaneously to be unique in product, groundbreaking in purpose, and singular in delivery, while slavishly obeying an identikit formula of business model, look and feel, and tone of voice.” 

Reactions: Most e-comm pros I follow agreed that Schott’s analysis of identical branding strategy was on the money.

My questions: Do you agree that there are too many “blands” on the market? How can retailers develop a profile that’s more brand than bland? Hit reply to share your thoughts.

SWAPPING SKUS

Fresh perspectives on widespread retail practices, right this way. 

• A new way to think about stores: They’re not just distribution channels, but media channels. And closing them may not be the path to profitability for all. (Forbes)
• Womenswear brand Misha Nonoo adopted a made-to-order model before the pandemic sent inventory stockpiles skyward. Here’s the case for every brand to follow suit. (Fast Company)

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Retail Bankruptcies: Who Exited, Who's Next
• Why Away Broke Its No-Sales Rule 
• This Company Wants to Overhaul Your Online Checkout