As all the textile & fashion market has changed during last decade, the marketing, production and exportation have also brought new ways and systems. First of all is of course: “online”.
The super fast rise of the digital, causes new type of products and selling strategies. And according to that, this can only happen with visual materials such as: photo and video. All around the world, there is a new job titles and companies defined as: “creative agencies/agents”. What is it ?
Creative agency in fashion field is a new formation of digital minded business. A team of fashion and product focused people come together to realize a brand’s imagination in digital for those steps:
– Online Visibility: 1- Website
2- Social media
– Product presentation: 1- Photography
2- Videography includes:
– Creative set-design.
Now the textile and fashion world is really familiar for this service. But what more ? How a brand can use those services to increase their sales ?
We are Line, an Istanbul & Paris based foreign trade and creative marketing agency, dedicated to fashion and lifestyle brands. Everyday, we create engaging, collaborative and powerful contents, stories and strategies.
The answer is in the new-gen creative trade agencies who work with sales awareness, who are using digital marketing tools just to place the product in right market for retail and wholesale both… This positioning needs different kind of knowledge:
1- Product
2- Production
3- Digital sales & marketing 4- Visualization
5- International Operation
This is a sum-up of what we offer to the brands. If the client/brand has an idea but lack of production, we are making the production plan with our ready- to-wear & couture focused atéliers in Istanbul. We work with mutliple best sewing & pattern offices to make “the” product for our client. Than we decide together if it’s suitable for retail or wholesale markets. According to those operations, we build a website and social media accounts or we upgrade already existed ones. For e-commerce and web developing, our solution partner is spectailor.co who are super successfull for all kind of UX, design and software operations. Than we are making the campaign shootings all around the world. Here our Paris office is perfectly shaped for creating amazing visuals in Paris. Also in Istanbul we have our own studio in Beyoglu and we’re working with different solution partners according to the size of shooting. If it’s just e-commerce or TV campaign etc.
Than after all the products, photos, digital tools are ready, we are starting to search right market to make the sales. If it’s pret-a-couture or designer brand, we work with different showrooms in Paris. Paris is still the best buying spot in the world for multibrand stores ad buyers. For example if the brand is suitable of U.S. market, we direct the brand to our NY partner showroom. So in total we have good connections in France, U.K., U.S. & Middle East.
If the brand is suitable for wholesale, after we got the orders we are also making all international correspondence and paperwork to finalize the operation. For that we are working with private custom offices in Istanbul, and mostly working with DHL.
As this is a long journey, the most important thing is capacity and patience of the brand. But this is fashion so all of us are ready-to-wear and boom.
POSSIBLE TREND BREAKS IN FASHION AFTER PANDEMIC HYSTERIA (POST-COVID19)
Billions of sales, millions of archived products, waiting lists, enormous stocks, manic spendings, the personal crises between fake and real needs, repeated collections, limitless ads, same and same collaborations… This was the seductive reality of fashion and it’s marketing before the pandemic. Travels of influencers, non-stop shared lives with the same contents only flavored with different beautiful lightings, the “homage” strategy of designers to legalize the lack of creation and the mind blowing standing game in face of fast fashion. And witnessing the last breaths of non-digital companies’s collapse… All those are on the stage to experience and draw a new, freshest strategies for the fashion & lifestyle brands (actually all kind of establishment).
Production & Quality Wake Up Call
The unending “success stories” of the fast- fashion companies with their extraordinary production of clothing are all waiting to be consumed after pandemic in thousand m2 warehouses mostly in Asia & Eurasia. Will they ? In how much time and how ? Will people start spending that much again to have stocks-out ? The hope is for all that companies which are producing in supply chains to minimize their production with smarter product&design, using long-lasting fabrics and sewing, adapted to individual’s needs, not super fast photographic looks. And after all of modern and digital-living people who returned to realize their own body shapes recently, doing self-care, participating online fitness and yoga classes etc., get use to feel comfy without suits, tight jeans… So the market will may really start investing in multi washable and totally simple smart focused outfits.
Activesmart & Flex-Couture
New keywords, new definitions, new patterns.. With the cancelation of shows, that may give time for designers to create totally changed capsule collections to fit the new era of the world: “post-pandemic”. We all saw how all the industry was ready to change with one viral news that caused everyone’s habits and lifestyles to change instantaneously, this new way of life and new trends will surely be considered in clothing production. People may finally start to think twice before buying. So this can cause minimal and smart shopping -%70 online- and this will bring mid priced and quality product. Natural fabrics, simple but “en garde” standing pieces, the new formal outfits, new couture perceptive.. Those can be the topics we’ll discuss after pandemic. “Prêt-a-Couture” can transform itself into multi wearable, gender mixed, less profit focused products rather than it became one time “Instagram look”, %100 polyester fast product.
In addition to new researches, sustainable process pressures to brands -pretending to be- cause the creation of different fabrics such as: “Tencel” which is kinda environment friendly is ready to rise and shine in huge productions. Returning to basic appearance trend mostly with viscose and polyester to feel the silky “touché” can give its place to tencel fabric.
After people started to be “selective” in their spendings on their outfits and when the “celebration” starts: canceled ceremonies, important travels, rush changes, annual balls, award nights, at that moment it’ll be the time to show themselves from long quarantine hidings. Couture will always be haute, no words, but the ready-to-buy night looks may start to present the techno/digital evaluation. According to designer Angel Chen’s virtual show in Shanghai, a time to explore new collections without direct participation of people to shows is fast approaching. New reality will bring its own extravagancy.
Totally Digitalized Visualization (Virtual Influencers) As the whole fashion industry is led by influencers & celebrities even more than designers, the influence market’s volume has got incredibly high and limitless. Advertisements completely focused on the “mood” of the influencers and celebs., sometimes non- professional attitudes of agencies and personal stylists and -according to that- super expensive fees already got the industry bored. Also supermodel campaigns will start to lose their own creativity and reliability, the virtual modeling and influencing has been building its own territory. Digital creations such as @lilmiquela @shudu.gram and @noonoouri has shown that a new trend is coming to take over the worthless cost of “real” people’s nasty behaviors, endless mailings and contracts, party, event and travel costs..
As now, it’s truly expensive to create a virtual character due to the fact that this sector being new and it has been building itself with fashion visionary creators who are hard to find in the market. But what’ll happen after pandemic ? When will the “influencing” people stop or become too scared to travel, to touch products etc., maybe the brands will start investing to create their own virtual faces… Once they create their own characters, the digital teams will take the content brief and start to put the character into pre-imagined digital life. We may see virtual designers and celebs attending cyber events and shows while they are actually working in their offices. So the time is ticking for the new renaissance. With awareness.. and of course #stayhome.