The Business of Fashion Podcast

At the BoF Professional Summit, viral TikTok creators Nic Kaufmann and Wisdom Kaye explained what drives success on the platform, while communications executive Christopher Bugg and talent agent Pranav Mandavia discussed the critical elements of a compelling TikTok strategy for brands.Background: TikTok has become one of the world’s largest and buzziest social media platforms, with over a billion active monthly users. But while fashion brands are eager to experiment with the platform, they’re still figuring out what strategies work best to effectively engage creators like Nic Kaufmann and Wisdom Kaye, who took the stage at last month’s BoF Professional Summit alongside Christopher Bugg, communication director of Prada Group and Pranav Mandavia, a talent agent from United Talent Agency and BoF senior editorial associate Alexandra Mondalek.  Successful campaigns on TikTok tend to cast a wide net, allowing creators to do what they want with a hashtag or product. Both Kaye and Kaufmann underscored the need for brands to relinquish creative control to creators to yield the best results. For creators, “the key to sustained viral success as a creator is “differentiation [of your content], as well as being a multifaceted creative,” according to Kaye. “What defines success on TikTok is the requirement for authenticity,” Kaufmann said, explaining how his best videos — that is, those that have attracted the most viewers — are the result of brand collaborations in which he was given a wide berth to style, produce and direct his content, free of interference.  Meanwhile, for brands, “understanding that TikTok creators are multi-hyphenates” is the key to getting the best out of partnerships,” according to Mandavia. “When a brand partners with a TikTok creator, they need to remember that they’re essentially hiring a cameraman, a stylist, a model, all in one — we cover every single aspect of that,” said Kaye, a content creator with over eight million followers, who has partnered with brands such as Dior, Zegna and Fendi.  Key Insights:Between them, viral content creators Nic Kaufmann and Wisdom Kaye have a collective 26 million followers on TikTok and have partnered with brands such as Dior, Prada, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss. For brands, relinquishing creative control to creators will yield authentic content and drive organic engagement, as seen with Prada’s bucket hat challenge.Brands looking to partner with talent on the platform must understand that TikTok creators are multi-hyphenates — their roles encompass styling, modelling and production. Additional Resources:Catch up on the BoF Professional Summit: New Frontiers in Fashion and Technology. All sessions are now available to watch on demand, exclusively for BoF Professional All-Access members. The Complete Guide to Influencer Marketing — Download the Case Study: As the creator space has matured, brands must be thoughtful about crafting a strategy that leverages influencer marketing’s full power, considering everything from talent scouting to the effectiveness of metrics. To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imaginary Ventures’ Natalie Massenet, and Natasha Franck, founder of digital ID-maker Eon join BoF technology correspondent Marc Bain to discuss Eon, how the technology works and highlight the opportunities digital IDs could create for fashion. Each interaction a brand has with a consumer typically ends when a product is sold. Digital IDs have the potential to extend that exchange, integrating digital initiatives with products’ physical lives. A a flock of start-ups and fashion power brokers want every item of clothing, watch or handbag to have a digital twin, meaning, QR code-enabled garments that lead to a website packed with information such as an item’s material breakdown or suggestions on how to style it. It's a concept that is well-established in the automobile industry and a few other sectors, but has yet to gain traction in fashion. Proponents believe it could unlock enormous potential for consumers and brands.  “It's moving from this very transactional relationship that brands have with customers into this service-based continuous relationship between brands and customers,” said Natasha Franck, founder and chief executive of Imaginary Ventures-backed digital ID-maker Eon at BoF’s Technology Summit. Key Insights: Eon makes digital twins of physical products in the cloud based on information embedded in items using a NFC chip, RFID tag or QR code for partners including H&M, Gabriela Hearst and Zalando.  Massenet compares Eon’s work to building railroads at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The tracks are still being laid, but she says digital IDs have the potential to drive more connections and commerce.  Digital IDs represent a first step toward connecting consumers with web3 initiatives like the metaverse, could enable more seamless reselling and re-ordering as well as allow brands and influencers to collect royalties on sales. Additional Resources: The Year Ahead: What Product Passports Will Do for Brands: Brands are adopting new technologies that store and share product information to improve authentication, provide transparency and boost consumer trust. However, for “product passports” to truly gain traction, businesses must coalesce around common standards and engage with pilot projects at scale. What Digital IDs Can Do for Fashion: Proponents of the effort to give every item its own digital identity say they’ll unlock numerous benefits for brands and shoppers alike. But for these IDs to work it will require overcoming some big obstacles first. Is Fashion Ready to Put Its Supply Chain on the Blockchain?: H&M and Kering are among the fashion players that have recently launched pilot programmes to trace their supply chains using blockchain technology. Join BoF Professional today using the link here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BoF’s Tamison O’Connor explains how the fashion industry is betting on resortwear as consumers return to their pre-pandemic lifestyles and travel rebounds.  Background:  Every spring, top fashion clients, influencers and insiders are whisked away to lush destinations like Monte Carlo and Capri to indulge in fabulous dinners and cocktail parties — and sneak a peek at brands’ resort collections. Resortwear, which began as a way for luxury houses to cater to wealthy, travelling clients halfway through the main season, now represents so much more as a meaningful driver of sales for retailers.    “It's really attractive for the true luxury customer who sees these items as a fun way to accessorise a holiday, but it's also an entry point for more aspirational and younger consumers,” said luxury correspondent Tamison O’Connor.   Key Insights:  As consumers start travelling and treating themselves again, luxury is betting big on vacation dressing.  Resortwear stands apart with more casual designs, lighter fabrics and lower prices. Brands aren’t just using these collections to attract travellers and true luxury consumers, but also to snag wealthy domestic clients and appeal to aspirational buyers. Retailers are picking up on opportunities to engage wealthy consumers by building buzz with events and activations surrounding resortwear online and in stores. Big brands are opening more stores and pop-up markets in vacation towns.  Luxury doesn’t expect growth in the segment to slow, even amid global economic turbulence, travel restrictions in China and skyrocketing inflation.   Additional Resources:  Luxury Seizes the Vacation Dressing Boom  Loewe's Brand Within a Brand: Is This the New Way to Do Diffusion?  How Fashion Is Targeting the Travel Rebound      Join BoF Professional today with our exclusive podcast listener discount of 25% off an annual membership, follow the link here and enter the coupon code ‘debrief’ at checkout.  Want more from The Business of Fashion? Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Month, Intimacy expert and podcast host Lila lays out a formula for creating intimacy to combat loneliness.   “We are simultaneously the most connected and the loneliest we have ever been,” said intimacy expert Lila at BoF VOICES 2021, just before the Omicron wave extended further restrictions and social distancing amid the pandemic.    Indeed, social distancing caused a complete breakdown in contact among family, friends, and entire communities. But the epidemic of loneliness predates the Covid-19 crisis, and has only worsened since the pandemic began   On this week’s episode of The BoF Podcast Lila explains why intimacy is the cure for loneliness, and lays out a formula for creating authentic connections. To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BoF’s Imran Amed quizzes Amy Odell on how she went about biographing the fashion media icon, and the surprising things she learned on the way.    Background:  Anna Wintour is arguably the most recognisable name in fashion media. In her new biography of Wintour author Amy Odell sets out to paint a nuanced and meticulously researched picture of Wintour’s life based on hundreds of interviews and sweeping archival research.  This week on The BoF Podcast, Odell joins BoF’s Imran Amed to talk about the process of biographing the complicated fashion titan, and provides some insight as to what she learned about Wintour’s life and career, as well as what the future holds for Vogue in a post-Anna Wintour era.    Key Insights:  Even amid a number of industry shifts, including the decline of print media, Wintour has maintained her power in part because of the strong network of people — in fashion and beyond — who value her advice and her ability to bridge the  business and creative sides of fashion. Former colleagues and friends  have described Wintour as future-focused and hungry; she hasn’t stopped working because she enjoys the work.  Whoever succeeds Wintour as editor-in-chief will inherit lots of sway that comes with the role. Odell theorises that a Vogue veteran will be tapped next as has always been the case in the past.    Additional Resources:  What Anna Wintour’s Big Promotion Means for Condé Nast: As the publisher focuses on returning to profitability, a new unified content strategy under Anna Wintour, more powerful at the publisher than ever, aims to make its strategy more efficient and intertwined. Org Chart: Vogue’s New Global Editorial Structure: The heavyweight international Vogue editors who once filled the front rows at Paris Fashion Week were gone this season, a stark sign of the restructuring that has consolidated power in the hands of global editor Anna Wintour and her regional deputies.   Join BoF Professional today using the link here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benoit Pagotto from RTFKT Studios discusses how fashion brands should focus on community, incentivize engagement with NFTs, and embrace web3 technologies. He shares insights on Nike's acquisition of RTFKT and the launch of virtual Nike Dunk sneakers. Pagotto emphasizes the shift from 'consumer' to empowered community members defining a brand's value in the web3 era.

Richard Christiansen pursued a career in fashion as an escape from his upbringing in rural Australia, where his parents worked as beekeepers and sugar cane farmers. In 2005, he founded global creative agency Chandelier Creative, which worked  with clients like Hermès, Cartier and Calvin Klein. But when the pandemic hit, everything spun out: work evaporated, he lost his New York office and was forced to let some employees go.    Even amid those challenges, new opportunities emerged. Christiansen ended up revamping a dilapidated Los Angeles garden and found himself embedded in the local farming community. Soon, these new connections, with everyone from wine makers to olive growers, led to the creation of Flamingo Estate, a brand which generated about $6 million in sales in 2021 and has developed over 150 products, such as olive oils, vinegars, candles and soaps.   This week on the BoF Podcast, Christiansen talks about creativity and resilience and how the two helped him build Flamingo Estate.    “Spending my whole career trying to get excited about make believe and luxury goods, It’s funny that the thing I love the most was right under my nose the whole time,” Christiansen said last year at BoF VOICES. His dream is to support more farms and businesses to move to regenerative agricultural practices.    “To me, that would be a fantasy that it’s really worth fighting for,” he said. To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.   Follow The Debrief wherever you listen to podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fast fashion upstart Shein set the industry ablaze this month after reports it was seeking to raise $1 billion in funding at a $100 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Shein has upended fast fashion by making apparel at jaw-droppingly low price points and gaining market share, attracting major investors. But is it profitable?   “Even if Shein isn’t profitable now, the thesis is that if enough people shop from the brand it would be able to leverage some of its operational costs … It could become a very lucrative business,” said Chen.    Key Insights While it is unknown whether Shein is profitable, the retailer drives ultra-high sales volume and razor-thin margins  Shein is powered by a nimble, AI-driven supply chain, which allows it to produce a plethora of trendy items for an internet-obsessed young fashion audience almost instantaneously.  The retailer’s app uses casino-like tactics and rewards to draw shoppers in and keep them buying, sharing and engaging.  Despite its murky manufacturing process and reputation for amplifying rates of consumption, Shein is popular among young consumers — who purport to care about sustainability.     Additional Resources The $100 Billion Shein Phenomenon Explained: Reports revealed that Shein is seeking over $1 billion in funding at a $100 billion valuation. BoF breaks down how the fast-fashion disruptor has built a global business that now rivals Zara and H&M. How to Compete With Shein: The Chinese fast fashion giant built an empire on unmatched speed-to-market and unbelievably low prices. To compete, others must play a different game.     Search for 'The Debrief' and make sure to follow wherever you get your podcasts to never miss an episode.   Join BoF Professional today with our exclusive podcast listener discount of 25% off an annual membership, follow the link here and enter the coupon code ‘debrief’ at checkout.  Want more from The Business of Fashion? Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode, professor of psychology Sheldon Solomon, Depop’s head of sustainability Justine Porterie, The Fabricant’s head of content and strategy Michaela Larosse and Chloé's chief sustainability officer Aude Vergne join retail futurist Doug Stephens to explore how evolving consumer preferences are shaping purchasing decisions. In this final episode of Retail Reborn, we explore the future consumer’s preferences and needs, and how this is shaping their purchasing decisions, from the V-shaped recovery of the personal luxury goods industry in 2021 to the renewed verve in, and take on, the experiential economy as the world reopened post-global lockdowns. “It’s worthwhile to question the extent to which some of the changes we are witnessing are truly indicative of longer-term shifts in behaviour, or an almost primally motivated response to the profound medical threat of the pandemic, not to mention the social, political and economic unrest that it has unleashed,” says podcast host and retail futurist Doug Stephens. The conversation examines human behaviour and the effects the pandemic might have played in the mindsets of young consumers, before discussing evolving attitudes towards ownership, the rise of responsible goods and sustainability in a luxury fashion house and the resale market — an industry expected to nearly triple by 2025. Finally, we explore virtual technology’s presence in consumption preferences, from the evolution of sampling processes to the increased interest in digital products. Indeed, the metaverse is projected to provide a $50 billion revenue opportunity for luxury by 2030, according to Morgan Stanley, and the first Metaverse Virtual Fashion Week took place last month. To break down what consumers will buy, four global experts share their insights and expertise with host Doug Stephens. Listen to all episodes of Retail Reborn Season 2 on the BoF Podcast, to discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges the consumer of tomorrow will bring. Brookfield Properties is building marketplaces of the future that meet the needs of the modern shopper. Discover more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Teacher, farmer and indigenous women’s rights activist Seno Tsuha travelled over 40 hours from her home in Nagaland, northeast India, to reach Soho Farmhouse in time for BoF VOICES 2021 because she had an important message to share with the global fashion community.  “When it comes to textiles we use, it’s not just a piece of cloth, it has cultural meaning,” said Tsuha. “When we talk about respect, especially in fashion, it’s very important to understand the local context or historical context and also the social meanings, the cultural meanings attached to the piece of cloth. If you understand that, and if you acknowledge that, that’s where respect comes in.” Alongside Rebecca Hui, the founder of indigenous arts organisation Roots Studio, Tsuha led a compelling conversation on why cultural inspiration doesn’t always have to be problematic. Together, they suggested a framework for more mindful cross-cultural borrowing rooted in respect, reciprocity and remuneration. Want more from The Business of Fashion? Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.