Brand Showcase 2017: Directional Womenswear
Lookbook 1 of 6 focusing on luxury, directional womenswear from sustainable brands and designers who are members of SOURCE
Lookbook 1 of 6 focusing on luxury, directional womenswear from sustainable brands and designers who are members of SOURCE
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This is a risk worth taking. Just look at FarFetch –<br />
some of their brands are quite unknown but being on a<br />
platform alongside known brands works for both the<br />
brand and the platform.<br />
What can fashion boutiques and retailers<br />
do in Fashion Revolution Week?<br />
C: Download the Get Involved pack, full of fantastic<br />
ideas and resources and it’s available in English, French<br />
and German.<br />
And why should they?<br />
O: Because we are the revolution. This is the future.<br />
C: Their customers are starting to expect it. More and<br />
more brands are becoming more transparent. This is<br />
going to filter down eventually. For example, we’ve<br />
been working on the second Fashion Transparency<br />
Index. We’ve seen a huge momentum towards<br />
publishing factory lists since April 2016, so that<br />
particular level of transparency will filter down and<br />
increasingly boutiques and retailers will be asked about<br />
the supply chains of the products they sell. Be ahead of<br />
the game.<br />
People are also looking for different fashion buying<br />
experiences. Being able to tell the story about people<br />
who make the clothes you sell gives a USP – it<br />
personalises the buying experience in a landscape<br />
where buying clothes has become impersonal, and that<br />
makes the clothing sell better.<br />
Which fashion retailers do you feel are<br />
managing to be commercially successful<br />
as well as socially and environmentally<br />
responsible?<br />
O: Hostem is a top London high fashion boutique that<br />
comes instantly to mind. Their choice of fashion is<br />
very eclectic, they take risks. For example, they took on<br />
John Alexander Skelton – the new Christopher<br />
Raeburn – he’s careful in his choice of fabrics and the<br />
narrative behind his collections. They also have<br />
Geoffrey B Small – the oldest up-cyclist in the ‘hood’.<br />
Hostem is obviously a high-end boutique but they are<br />
achieving renown and a unique clientele.<br />
What advice would you give to a fashion<br />
retailer that wants to join the Revolution<br />
and be more sustainable?<br />
C: They should be able to tell the stories of who made<br />
their clothes.<br />
O: And they can do that easily by supporting young<br />
brands as they tend to know who makes all of their<br />
clothes.<br />
Fashion Revolution Week is 24–30 April<br />
<strong>2017</strong>.<br />
www.fashionrevolution.org<br />
What challenges do you think fashion<br />
boutiques and retailers face in stocking<br />
sustainable fashion?<br />
O: Sadly there is still a stigma about ethical fashion.<br />
People’s perceptions of it may not be great. So shops<br />
need to mix it up – don’t create exclusively branded<br />
‘ethical fashion’ areas but mix it in with other fashion<br />
labels. Because after all, ethical fashion is fashion.<br />
C: It used to be difficult to source great ethical brands<br />
but it’s so much easier now, there are many more<br />
brands out there.<br />
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