Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2011 | Source: Victoria's Secret

NEW YORK, United States — In recent years, the main fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris have attracted unprecedented interest from end consumers, with brands live streaming their shows and bloggers reporting from the runway in realtime on their sites and social channels like Twitter and Instagram. But in most cases, the actual clothes showcased during fashion week aren’t available to consumers until many months after the shows have finished.

In short, fashion’s communication cycle has become wildly out of sync with its retail cycle. Would the film industry ever hold a movie premiere 6 months ahead of its release to the public? Would Apple make its buzzy product announcements a half-year before said products were available for sale?

By shortening lead times, planning production in advance, and using other lean manufacturing techniques, fashion brands may be able to get product to consumers more quickly. But these kinds of structural changes could take years to implement, especially as many fashion brands do not control the means of production.

One solution has been to let consumers order — but not receive — products immediately after the shows. Mega-brands like Burberry have offered pre-ordering for several seasons now, while a number of mid-sized and emerging brands have collaborated with ‘pre-tail’ trunk-show start-up Moda Operandi to do the same. But market reports suggest that the sales volume of pre-orders has been limited. There are only so many consumers who are willing to plonk down money in advance to guarantee they will get a specific garment in their size months later. Most consumers still seem to prefer to purchase in-season, close to the time of need.

So if enabling consumers to pre-order clothes is not the ideal solution, why not engage consumers just before the collections arrive in store? Based on the evidence of blowout events from Victoria’s Secret and H&M for Versace in New York earlier this month, consumer appetite for this kind of engagement, and the impact it has on sales, seem very promising indeed.

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Escada Store, Berlin | Source: Luxuo

Megha Mittal to buy luxury fashion house Escada (Reuters)
“‘Today the insolvency administrator of ESCADA AG signed a sale and transfer agreement with one of the Mittal Family Trusts,’ the company said in a statement late on Thursday after the preliminary creditors’ committee approved the deal.”

Victoria’s Secret unveils plans for launch in UK and Europe (Retail Week)
“US fashion and beauty giant Limited Brands has outlined plans to open Victoria’s Secret stores in strategic markets including the UK as part of an international expansion drive.”

eBay goes upmarket with fashion site launch (Revolution)
“eBay has launched a website written by fashion followers in an attempt to attract more ‘well-to-do’ shoppers. The Inside Source aims to shift perceptions that eBay only offers second hand goods and last season’s threads.”

Asia boosts Hermès luxury sales (AFP)
“Sales in Asia helped boost French luxury group Hermès in the third quarter, the company said on Friday, reporting an overall 10-percent rise in sales to 452 million euros (672 million dollars).”

Seamstress takes on might of Chanel over crochet pattern (Guardian)
“A 61-year-old woman from a small town in eastern France is taking on the might of one of world’s greatest fashion houses in a case that threatens to shake up the way the industry treats its skilled workers.”