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After two seasons of digital shows and virtual events, fashion weeks are back in real life — and the sense of excitement is palpable across the big four fashion capitals.
As the first of the four to return to real life, from 8 September, New York Fashion Week is betting on integrating in-person shows with see-now-buy-now. This allows viewers to shop or pre-order items directly from the runway of a limited number of designers, including Altuzarra, Sergio Hudson, LaQuan Smith, Jason Wu and Maison Kitsune, while their shows are live streamed on NYFW.com.
The aim, explains Patrick Connors, SVP of global brand partnerships at IMG Fashion, is to connect designers and consumers after a challenging commercial year. “It's really important to us to not only be the producers of the shows, but also to be able to help the fashion community in the sense of keeping the industry going,” he says. “Before, fashion week content was only for the industry, but now we also have to think about the consumers.”
The partnership between IMG and AiBUY, which is providing the tech integration, goes beyond designers and fashion shows, allowing viewers to shop for an array of products, including beauty and books, while watching tutorials and talks hosted on the site.
The concept of see-now-buy-now originally suggested a realignment of the fashion calendar with the seasons. It was heralded as a potential game-changer back in 2016 and was embraced by the likes of Burberry, Tom Ford, Thakoon, Rebecca Minkoff and Tommy Hilfiger. However, supply chain issues and a disappointing response from consumers dimmed the enthusiasm.
Five years on, see-now-buy-now might be ready for a comeback. Technological advances have made shoppable content integrations easier, while better bandwidth has made video streaming smoother. Besides, a larger swathe of consumers are now used to shopping online and through content, a behavioural shift accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, retail e-commerce sales worldwide surpassed $4 trillion, or 18 per cent of all retail sales. Emarketer expects this trend to continue, with online sales surpassing $6 trillion by 2024.
“The overall technology has really come a long way to allow us to do what we do today,” says Kyle Nelson, chief strategy officer at AiBuy. The solution provided by AiBuy can be integrated directly into the e-commerce operation of each individual designer, its look and feel adapted to fit different ecosystems. This also means that fulfillment, inventory control and the final sales are all managed by the designers on their own direct-to-consumer websites, removing the need for a third-party fulfillment service and related inventory issues.
The post-lockdown opportunity
“The momentum is actually in support of see-now-buy-now,” says Alla Valente, senior analyst at research and advisory company Forrester, noting the likelihood of continued uncertainty around the world over the next six months. The mindset of consumers is to focus on the moment and buy what they like. For designers, the model has the potential to reduce systemic risks associated with the supply chain, which continues to be riddled with fulfillment issues, delays and cost increases.
However, the shift to a see-now-buy-now model requires a substantial overhaul of a brand’s supply chain and production process. That can be costly and hard to execute, especially when a brand doesn’t have full control of its supply chain and stores, says Alessandro Brun, associate engineering and management professor at Milan Polytechnic University. In addition, there’s a real danger that outsourced production and early delivery to wholesalers enables designs to be leaked months in advance. “Supply chain governance and retail governance are essential for it to be implemented,” he says.
To look at this more positively, see-now-buy-now may benefit from the fact that supply chain changes are already in a significant state of flux. The Covid-19 pandemic, which led to costly overstock, markdowns and inventory shortages, highlighted many of the absurdities of the current system. “Many in the industry were caught flat-footed because they were handcuffed by traditional processes that were incapable of keeping pace with fast-changing dynamics,” says Dave Bruno, director of retail market insights at retail technology company Aptos.
As a consequence, many of Aptos’ clients are now adopting the same production changes that would be required to support a see-now-buy-now model. These include pushing planning much closer to the selling season, reserving production capacity for in-season replenishment or product adjustments, and bringing manufacturing closer to where products are going to be sold. According to Bruno, these are changes that make fashion brands more competitive and resilient, regardless of their position on see-now-buy-now.
“The pandemic helped us to think outside the box and gave us the time to figure out what worked for us,” says Inga Beckham, co-owner of Sergio Hudson, which is introducing see-now-buy-now for the first time this season. From the day of the show, on 9 September, many of the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2021 collection of 40 looks will be shoppable on NYFW.com for 72 hours and will then be available in six multi-brand retailers across the US, starting with Saks Fifth Avenue. Inventory was shipped to the stores two weeks before the show. “We did virtual market appointments with the buyers, who placed orders [in advance] and helped us have the funding to be able to produce the garments,” she says, adding that the brand is at work on Spring/Summer 2022. “Production wise, this way it’s better for us. We think the consumer likes it — we are going to find out.”
Digital and direct-to-consumer focus
Only five brands on the NYFW schedule are participating in IMG’s see-now-buy-now model this season, although it was offered to all 91 brands on the schedule. Despite the low adoption, there is general consensus that IMG, and New York Fashion Week more broadly, are heading in the right direction by maintaining a strong digital offering and more consumer-oriented initiatives.
IMG plans to livestream all shows on the calendar. Runway 360, CFDA’s digital platform, will be an essential complement to the live runways, explains Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA, who expects many editors and buyers still won’t travel to the US this season. “It is clear that brands are being challenged to deliver both an engaging physical event, augmented with an inspiring digital experience,” says Lisa Aiken, fashion and lifestyle director at Neiman Marcus. “The two channels now hold equal importance and will continue to do so for many reasons including but not limited to the lack of travel.”
Even for designers who are not partaking in IMG’s see-now-buy-now initiative, consumer reach is a central preoccupation. Kolb says that, post-lockdown, there is an evident heightened intention to invest in e-commerce and sell through designers’ own sites. “What I've seen as a result of the pandemic, it’s a real focus on the direct-to-consumer (DTC) angle of how collections can sell,” he says.
For Theophilio's Edvin Thompson, one of this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, a see-now-buy-now model would be difficult to adopt at the moment, because of production issues. However, the designer says he has been thinking about a possible small DTC approach during fashion week, making a few pieces available from the collection for customers to purchase.
House of Aama, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist which is making its physical show debut at New York Fashion Week this season, will have a number of products ready for consumers to pre-order that can be delivered in one to four weeks. “If you don't make pieces available until months later, you lose that momentum that you are supposed to have immediately after a show,” says co-founder Akua Shabaka, who started the brand with her mother Rebecca Henry as a DTC business. While the brand is expanding into wholesale this season, the DTC model remains at its core. “We wouldn't want to change the model so much that we lose the DTC consumer,” says Shabaka.
Clarification: This article was updated to describe Aptos as a retail technology company in the 10th paragraph and to clarify that not all of Sergio Hudson's collection was shoppable online.
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