Internally at FC, we are closing out SxSW. The preparation is over; the event has come and gone. Our Fashion Brain Bar is in the past, as are all of the panels and presentations attended. Our inner circle dinner party in Austin, which took place for a small group of industry friends and leaders at our beautiful rental house, is now but a memory of great fun, great wine and great dialogue. We even brought the lessons of SxSW back to NYC and taught a workshop last week on the most critical insights, some of which are presented below in this article. However, as much as we may have SxSW fatigue, and are closing the chapter on this year’s festival, we can’t help but feel that the opposite is more attuned with reality; much more than an ending, this represents many beginnings. What will our industry do with the knowledge and insights that were presented? How will new advances in technology impact our culture over the next year or few years?
The Fashion Brain Bar @ SxSW
This year, more fashion and luxury professionals are heading to SxSW than ever before. For the full five days of interactive panels and presentations, digital teams from the world’s top brands will hear first hand from global leaders. It only seemed right to host our first ever Fashion Brain Bar at SxSW.
Gathering Business Intel at Fashion Week
Back in October, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion at the FashionForward: Commerce event entitled “Opportunities in Fashion Week,” between Moda Operandi Co-founder and CEO, Aslaug Magnusdottir and Fashion GPS Marketing Director, Jennifer Jann.
Insider Access: Q&A with Cannon Hodge, Bergdorf Goodman
For the next few days on Fashion’s Collective, we are bringing you insider access to our Fashion Brain Bar event, which took place on March 11th, on the roof of the W Hotel in Austin during SXSW interactive. We gathered an elite group of industry experts for a day beside the pool, and took question submissions from around the globe. Here’s some of what was said:
The Other Side of Fashion Week
This New York Fashion Week, you just may have spotted certain fashion icons sporting studded leather jackets bearing the slogan “Out of Hand”, or discreet black flyers posted throughout the city with those same words.
3 Major Hurdles Brands Face Launching Ecommerce in China
Despite the lack of a functional shipment and payment infrastructure, Chinese companies have invested heavily in e-commerce in the past decade and have created an online demand worth hundreds of billions of dollars. However, while the path has been forged and consumers have been educated to purchase goods online, western brands who want a piece of this tremendous market will discover that the lay of the land is unlike what they’ve experienced in the US or Europe.
