This is a paper I wrote recently for my fashion business practices class, it deals with a new development in the fashion world. The availability of the runway looks right off the runway..no need for the department stores anymore. The article was from Womens Wear Daily titled: "Fast, Faster, Fastest"
As times change so do the means by which we conduct business. Yet innovation may not always prove to be helpful. The internet has been a powerful tool in filling the “I have to have it now” mentality of many fashion followers, but the impact on the high end market has yet to be fully understood in the long run. As consumers are allowed to fulfill their needs; fashion changes, and new rules are written and we stare into the future wondering where we are going, and what is going to greet us when we arrive.
With the availability of fashion straight from the runway people are left wondering “what happens to the Neiman Marcuss, Bergdoff Goodmans, and Bloomindales of the world?” Why do the buyers buy if the market has already been saturated with the season’s hottest looks? For the designer this can be a good thing, if monitored closely. With the advent of buying straight off the runway the
designer no longer has to worry about getting looks to the stores at certain deadlines, they don’t have to markup to compensate for selling to the department stores, and no more worries of buying back merchandise that doesn’t sell, just don’t produce it! Yet like everything in life and fashion, there is always a double edged sword, we must remember to look at the other side. What happens when designers create a look they love that no one buys? If the shopper never sees it in the store, she never feels the pressure to buy because of its seemed acceptance or never feels the urge to try on something that she may not know looks good on her. Does this mean the designer loses their sense of self and designs only what will sell out quick rather than chancing a risk ever again? Furthermore does the designer spurt out and create more and more season to keep up with a constant demand and does the traditional fashion cycle fade into oblivion? There are many unanswerable questions, as to whether this idea of buying off the runway is fully advantageous for all parties. If the department stores go out of business massive numbers of jobs are lost, and in places where fashion is king, people plunge head first into unemployment. Those who previously gobbled up the latest fashions no longer have the financial resources to buy the new collections they previously placed on the floors. Designers must remember that those who sell their fashions are also some of their best customers, you may please one customer base, but you also lose another.
The technology plunge is not lost to just buying off the runway, the designer as well has been replaced. With the creation of sites like Jeffsilverman.com the customer becomes the designer. While this increases a customer’s own satisfaction it does not make room for the designer. Women will no longer have to compromise with a fashion that does not fully suit them. They can try on a dress at a designer boutique and rush home to redesign the product. Remove a pocket here, add a pleat there and
like magic, they have the same outfit, customized to them…and taken from the designer. How does a site like this stop knockoffs? To compete with this the designer no longer has an idea, they become slave to commercial demand.
Throughout fashion and for that matter world history innovation and technology have massively reshaped the way we ponder business practices. Some changes have been for the best…while others have meant the ultimate demise of many practices. While the future is not fully known we must stare down the road we are traveling and decide if the path were on is the place we want to end up, and if we truly have a hand in this future.
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