Superdry Spring Summer 2010 | Source: Superdry

Sales soar at fashion label Superdry (Telegraph)
“The chain said that expectations for pre-tax profit for the year to the start of May will be ‘not less’ than the £25.7m it outlined in its IPO prospectus earlier this year. Total group sales over the year are up by £63m, or 83pc, to £139m.”

Italy’s Yoox Posts 1Q Growth In Net Profit, Revenue (WSJ)
“Italian Internet fashion retailer Yoox SpA (YOOX.MI) said Tuesday its revenue and net profit grew in the first quarter as business performed well across all segments and territories. Net profit for the first quarter increased fivefold to EUR2 million from the EUR0.4 million a year earlier.”

Fuller’s fashion website closed for lack of funds (Times)
“Fashionair was the brainchild of the former manager of the Spice Girls and Sojin Lee, a former Net-a-Porter executive, and was established as an ‘entertainment and shopping platform’. Last week staff were told that they would be made redundant after an investment review by its American parent.”

Fashion sales double with new system (Internet Retailing)
“In the first five weeks since launch, net retail sales on lkbennett.com rose by more than 100%, compared to the same period a year ago, and customer conversion also more than doubled. Compared to the previous season, sales were up by more than 70%.”

Is ‘wearable technology’ the future of fashion? (Telegraph)
“The ‘Look at me, I’m electric!’ appeal of wearable technology could prove far more lucrative than acting as a mere vehicle for its attention-hungry wearer. Surely it will only be a matter of time before arriving at the Oscars with your latest movie trailer playing on a loop across your chest maximises box-office longevity.”

Hermès Spring Summer 2010 | Source: Luxuo

Hermès reports 1st-quarter sales up 19 percent (Marketwatch)
“Hermès, the French luxury goods maker, reported that first-quarter sales rose 19% to 507.7 million euros. All sectors performed well, with sales growth at the group’s own stores “particularly robust,” up 26% at constant foreign exchange rates, the company said in a Thursday statement.”

Fashion, entertainment nonprofit Gen Art shuts down (Crain’s)
“After 16 years in business, Gen Art has become another victim of the recession. The nonprofit, which produces film, concerts and fashion shows featuring emerging talent is closing its doors.”

Asos plan online marketplace (Fashion United)
“Asos announced plans that it will launch an online marketplace for customers to buy recyclable clothes and encourage customers to shop in a more environmentally-friendly way.”

What’s a fashion consultant? (Globe and Mail)
“If you think fashion consultants have anything in common with fashion police, think again. Far removed from the world of television shows such as What Not To Wear, these professionals offer expertise that can benefit a range of small businesses beyond those immediately related to the apparel industry.”

Fashionair to Shutter (Fashionista)
Fashionair “is set to close down in the near future, according to sources. Currently, there’s an announcement on the homepage that says: ‘FASHIONAIR is going through some changes. We will be back just as soon as we can.’”

LONDON, United Kingdom — The fashion film movement has hit the mainstream, with well-known brands like Prada and Y-3 running integrated, cross-channel campaigns around high-impact digital videos and a dedicated Digital Schedule for fashion films and catwalk streams now in place at London Fashion Week.

But there were no signs that the medium was condensing around fixed codes. Quite the opposite. What we saw was the kind of restless innovation and constant evolution that characterises the fluid nature of digital media itself, with an explosion of new films that energised, but also transcended, the seasonal presentation schedule, speaking directly to consumers across the internet as part of in-season digital campaigns.

During the Paris menswear collections, Stefano Pilati opened the Yves Saint Laurent show with “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” a 7-minute film by legendary photographer Bruce Weber, while on the first night of New York Fashion week, a mesmerising film by Nick Knight, featuring Ranya Mordanova in a fractured, postmodern ritual, beautifully complemented Korean designer Jung Kuho’s deconstructed Hexa collection. A week later in London, the British Fashion Council inaugurated a special screening zone at Somerset House for a series of film presentations by young designers like Craig Lawrence, Louise Gray and Katie Eary.

But much of the action took place outside the official fashion week schedule. We saw fashion films inhabiting online advertising units on sites like The New York Times, as well as the emergence of new editorial channels like TEST and NOWNESS, which joined SHOWstudio, Dazed Digital, brand websites, video sharing sites, and Diane Pernet’s international festival, A Shaded View on Fashion Film, as platforms for striking films by avant garde designers and established brands alike.

Last October, we brought you our first seasonal ranking of the Top 10 Fashion Films. This season, the competition was stronger than ever. So sit back, turn up the volume, and enjoy the Top 10 Fashion Films of the Season — and since most of the films are in HD, we recommend you expand the videos to fill your screens with the latest in digital fashion creativity.

(RSS and Email subscribers, click here to view the films).

… Continue Reading

Sojin Lee, Co-Founder, Fashionair.com

LONDON, United Kingdom — Over the last decade, the internet and the mp3 have revolutionised the way people access and consume music, fundamentally threatening the system of controlled distribution that traditional record companies had built. Now a similar digital tidal wave is giving consumers unprecedented access to the once closed, “insider” world of fashion.

The rapid pace of chance is causing disruption across the industry and calling into question the logic of the current fashion calendar, where consumers have access to collections online months before they arrive at retail and fast fashion copycats create and market look-a-like merchandise faster and cheaper.

In the context of these underlying shifts, Sojin Lee, former chief buyer for Net-a-Porter, has teamed up with multi-millionaire and founder of 19 Entertainment, Simon Fuller, whose impressive track record in the music industry includes managing the Spice Girls through the peak of their success. Together, they have launched Fashionair, a new platform for “fashion entertainment” that’s both digital and democratic.

… Continue Reading