Think Tank: Finding Success Without Mirroring Gucci, Zara or AmazonEdward Hertzman, founder and president of Sourcing Journal, explains.

[Collection]As apparel retailing suffers through ongoing bankruptcies and store closures while trying to survive under the looming shadow of Amazon and its growing online apparel sales, it’s clear that the fashion industry needs a fix. And while it’s easy to blame Amazon for much of the industry’s woes, value, convenience and immediacy are increasingly key for shoppers. Moreover, the industry’s real problems can’t be fixed with brand cachet alone. Instead, cachet may not be what you order, but rather, how you order it. (Hello, Alexa, what knit tops do you have in Russet Orange?) This shift is making the back office the new black. The focus now is as much on what’s going on behind the scenes of endless fashion weeks in New York City, London, Paris and Milan, and the requisite live-streams on social media as it is on the clothes. The “unfashionable side” of fashion now deserves the spotlight as the “last mile” and the “first mile” of the supply chain take center stage. Edward Hertzman  Courtesy image. At first blush, the easy thing to do would be to follow other successful brands. But does the recent success of Gucci, for example, offer a fix for fashion? Kering, its parent company, recently reported financials

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