The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
THE CHEAT SHEET
TikTok in Trouble
Beauty brands were first to strike it big with TikTok challenges, but fashion is catching up| Collage by MC Nanda for BoF
The Bottom Line: Whatever the outcome of the negotiations with the Trump administration, TikTok, or at least, the platform's underlying concept, appears here to stay. Brands looking to resonate with Gen-Z will need to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.
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J.Crew Gets a New Lease on Life
A J.Crew campaign from 2013 | Source: Courtesy
Covid-19 Returns to Europe, Just in Time for Fashion Week
Chanel Autumn/Winter 2020 show at Paris Fashion Week | Source: Getty Images
The surge in new Covid-19 cases in France, and potentially Italy, is a reminder that the coronavirus crisis was never really "over," even as many countries appeared to bring the pandemic under control. The timing could not be worse for luxury brands, which are planning to show up in force for fashion weeks in Paris and Milan in the second half of the month. Legally, events with under 5,000 people can proceed in France, clearing the way for conventional runway shows, in stark contrast to the US, where audiences at the few in-person New York Fashion Week shows are limited to 50 people in some cases.
Whether that remains the case if the current infection rate continues is an open question. Many international invitees were already nervous about hopping on a flight to attend shows that are no longer so important from a financial perspective that they warrant risking one's health. Americans may be unable to attend at all, given restrictions on most travel between Europe and the US.
The Bottom Line: Barring a return to the dark days of March and April, brands are unlikely to abandon their plans for September. The digital shows clearly aren't getting the job done. And many labels showing in Paris have the marketing budgets and savvy to compensate for smaller crowds and safety measures.
SUNDAY READING
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Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.
Brands are using them for design tasks, in their marketing, on their e-commerce sites and in augmented-reality experiences such as virtual try-on, with more applications still emerging.
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