DNI capabilities democratize fashion objects of desire

In the previous weeks we talked about the success of online clothing retailers asos.com and the influence in the fashion industry of the photo blog thesartorialist.com.

This week we will talk about a very interesting kind of online business, that thanks to the infamous DNI (digital network individualization) capabilities of the Internet are democratizing people’s access to their fashion objects of desire.

How does it work? It’s simple. Instead of spending hundreds or thousands of pounds to buy one handbag or one dress, that you will probably wear only a few times, now you can hire for a short period and at a reasonable price a gorgeous handbag or dress and then return it afterwards. Some websites offering this service are www.girlmeetsdress.com and http://designerhandbaghire.com.

The first one with its nice domain name (much more appealing than the dull name of the second one) is if course a website where girls can browse, borrow, wear and return the dresses of their dreams. The prices start at £31 a day. Currently they promise delivery by post in three days anywhere in the UK, but soon they will have a same-day delivery service in London. The labels are top ones such as Fendi, Marc Jacobs and 3.1 Philip Lim.

The second website offers a similar service with designer handbags. You can rent a bag from £30 for up to a month. And if you become a member for £9.99 a month you have discounts in the rentals. There are all the usual suspects: Prada, Chloe, Chanel, etc.

I think all this business models would not be feasible in the bricks and mortar world, for problems such as keeping stock, attracting customers willing to try it, scopes of scale, etc.

The DNI world has made it possible. This is fashion democracy. This is online revolution. Are you up for it?

Drapers Etail Awards

From drapersonline.com:

My-wardrobe.com was named overall winner at the Drapers Etail Awards last night at Sketch in London.


Asos, Sarah Coggles and Radley were among other businesses to pick up an award at the inaugural awards event.

The winners were:

Best Customer Experience, sponsored by HDNL
Winner: Asos.com

Best Etail Innovation, sponsored by Fashshot.com  
Winner: my-wardrobe.com

Best Etail Marketing Initiative, sponsored by e-style   
Winner: Mio Destino

Best Etailer, sponsored by PayPal  
Winner: Asos.com

Best Independent Etailer
Winner: Sarah Coggles

Best Multichannel Retailer, sponsored by Adobe Scene 7
Winner: Schuh

Best New Etailer, sponsored by Ventura Network Distribution
Winner: Radley

Best Single-brand Etailer   
Winner: Mulberry

Best Specialist Etailer   
Winner: Soleheaven

Gold Award: Overall Winner, sponsored by Venda
Winner: my-wardrobe.com 

Photo blog of fashion-conscious ordinary people

Continuing our trip to the online fashion world, after talking about a major fashion e-tailer last week, today we are going to talk about an outstanding fashion blog.

The blog The Sartorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com) has become a real “authority” in the online fashion world, both in the usual meaning of authority – an expert in his field – and in the internet theory definition of “a network member with a large number of inbound links”.

The Sartorialist is an innovative street-style blog grounded in finding and showcasing style. Last year, Time Magazine even named it as one of the Top 100 Design Influences.

Scott Schuman, the creator and driving force behind The Sartorialist, worked in fashion sales and marketing and even opened a showroom in 1999. However, he ran into trouble after Sept. 11. He closed the showroom in 2001 and began to focus more on photography.

One day, Schuman ended up on an interior design blog and was inspired. He felt blogging was a good medium to share his photographs and his point of view, one that was unique yet understandable.

The idea is simple: Schuman uses his Canon 5D to take photos of ordinary people strolling the streets of the cities around the world. He’s based in New York, but he is always travelling to cities such as Paris, Milan, Moscow, New Delhi and Rio.

Now, over 90,000 people a day visit his blog. There’s nobody in the fashion world that does not go there once in a while. Each picture can be commented by dozens or sometimes hundreds of visitors. The blog has several frequent visitors, who post comments everyday, and also some people who appear in the photographs with some regularity – normally people from the fashion industry that he meets in fashion events around the world.

“The Sartorialist now seems bigger than me,” Schuman said. “I write a little about my point of view, take pictures, but I leave it to the audience.”

Being selected and photographed by Schuman has become an international stamp of aesthetic approval, a kind of certificate of style in the 21^st century global world. Some people sent their own pictures to the blog, which are promptly deleted. Only Schuman has the gift to choose, shoot and make people famous for 15 seconds.  

Please post your comments: if Scoot Schuman came to LBS to shoot, who do you think he would choose? 

How to sell clothes online - ASOS magazine

http://www.asos.com/Womens-Magazine-2008-11-Newsletter/Cat/pgehtml.aspx?cid=6262

If you don't want to read all this post, just click in the link above and check how cool is this online magazine in which you can TURN the pages, and they even make a SOUND.

If you want more explanation, read below.

As some of you will have noticed by the name, this blog is biased to talk about fashion in the online world.

And so it is natural that the first post is about ASOS, one of the most successful players in the e-fashion arena, and that is heading to overtake NEXT as the largest online fashion retailer in the UK.

They have over £100m of turnover, and have been growing consistently even in the middle of the retail downturn. 

ASOS comes from As Seen On Screen, representing the concept that the internet-only retailer has of selling clothes "inspired" by celebrity outfits (the Victoria Beckham blue dress, the Keira Knightley green blouse, etc.).

To be successful in the difficult task of selling clothes online, they have an arsenal of weapons.

One of the most interesting is the online magazine (http://www.asos.com/Womens-Magazine-2008-11-Newsletter/Cat/pgehtml.aspx?cid=6262), in which you can virtually TURN the pages, with SOUND, and where you can click in every item of clothing and BUY it.

Now you can do RETAIL THERAPY from the comfort of your own sofa, you don't need adventure to OXFORD street!