Rest in Peace Barneys New York
Fashion Brands/Looks I’m Really Liking at the Moment
Shoes and socks and very anti-Comme des Garcons let’s vomit unicorns and rainbows cute flower coin wallets: Golf le Fleur
Socks and crazy beautiful visual narrative with brand site, I’ve been obsessed for months: Dueple
Glorious silhouette and fit for a women’s coat, except I wish there wasn’t that double button back closure decorative thing– kills the rare win in the “simple magnificence”: Ulla Johnson
Dear Brands That Rebrand_This Morning’s Meditations
Dear brands that rebrand,
You need to tell your consumers when you rebrand.
You need to invest a whole lot more money and attention to rebranding and external communications re: rebranding when you do it.
You might not in fear of confusing consumers,
but in fact,
not telling them confuses them even more.
As an existing customer or prospect, I am following you because I like the idea of you, or I already like you.
To not be fully updated about something like a name change and not understand the why
Is like having a guy you’re dating or considering dating change his name and you seeing him the next day with a different name and he offers up no context or story.
It’s like: WTF? red flag, and a potential bye-buy.
Back to brands:
If your concern is retention, then take the proper steps to pursue retention.
And that starts first by being transparent in the process of rebranding.
If you have a legacy and brand footprint that you have already that’s Soo very deep and wide.. perhaps a little customer attrition wouldn’t matter.
But for the rest of you, I strongly ask you to re-consider.
Waste not your prospecting efforts, brands.
A simple IG story announcement will not do.
Yours sincerely,
A zealotish consumer.
July 23, 2019: Conversations
My Preferred Flat Shoes of The Moment – Women’s Edition
I’ve been following this Australian brand with great interest for the past year; the overall silhouette looks a little rough, but as an accessory that completes a “look”, it looks absolutely fantastic. A total success in comfort-luxe, and that’s the place I love to be in, style-wise:
I’ve been over Common Projects for a while, but wow, I must appreciate this fresh take on its now omnipresent sneaker style:
And of course, not to ever be neglected are Manolo Blahnik flats; I am always appreciative of them– particularly the crystal buckled styles:
Best Works of Helmut Newton, “King of Kink”
Helmut Newton is a photographer best known for his erotica fueled snapshots and a taste for capturing fun… stripped bare. He was regarded by many as the “King of Kink” and you can go back to so many issues of Vogue easily with his indelible footprint.
Here are a couple of my favorite works from this talented German Australian:
While I don’t appreciate all his works, I do truly think he was the best of his kind for what he did.
There is so much life and mischief captured through a single portrait– he did it so well.
33 black-and-white photographs—framed, signed, and numbered—on sale this month at Guy Regal’s showroom in the New York Design Center. Open to the public today.
Trending In Retail & Consumer Goods
The Case For Lower In-season Markdowns:
“YNAP has also seen a deceleration in North America, where overall luxury goods sales growth has been slower in 2017 compared to Europe and Asia, according to Bain & Co. At YNAP, North American sales in the third quarter of 2017 grew 10 percent from 2016, down from 17 percent growth a year earlier. ‘According to management, this was also driven by a slightly weaker performance in the in-season business, where they made a strategic decision to have lower markdowns versus last year,’ Barclay analyst Andrew Ross wrote in a recent note. ‘While this helped margins, it had a detrimental impact on the top line.’ However, he said, “Long term, this approach by YNAP will strengthen relationships with brands.”” – Yoox Net-A-Porter Group, Bof.com
Digital & Print Publications for Next Level Branding:
Woolly – Casper, next-gen mattress brand
Here – Away, next-gen luggage brand
Airbnbmag – Airbnb, sharing economy unicorn
Technology:
Helio: machine learning [via online fundraising platform for early stage consumer brands] Circleup to make investment calls on retail and consumer brands.
“Social Media Drives Sales,” They’ve Been Saying…:
What’s next on the affiliate partnership front for consumer goods giant Amazon:
Amazon expands its Influencer Program to include Twitter and Instagram, in addition to YouTube
