Lille, France – Maisons de Mode, a French fashion incubator that shines a spotlight on
young and up-and-coming talent on the fashion scene, hosted the 11th
edition of its annual fashion festival last weekend: Maisons de Mode 48h
Lille.
The event, held between 12-15 September, saw 26 designers present their spring-summer 2020
collections to an audience of international buyers; the launch of
the first Lille Fashion Night (a night where a select number of fashion
stores in Lille’s old town opened their doors to allow the public to survey
their collections with champagne in hand); and a number of panel talks led
by Adrien Garcia from the podcast “Entreprendre dans la mode”.
The panel talks saw a number of industry professionals share their top
tips on how up-and-coming designers and brands can make it in the heavily
competitive market, covering topics such as how to tackle the tricky
problem of distribution, and how to effectively use social media to promote
yourself.
These are five of FashionUnited’s takeaways from the talks:
1. Have a strong brand DNA
To get ahead, particularly when it comes to the distribution stage, you
really need to build a strong brand DNA, that’s according to Sébastien de
Hutten, founder of French virtual showroom, Playologie. “Being very honest
about it, you need to put brand DNA first, it needs to be very clear and
you need to be able to define what your brand is really about in just three
sentences,” he said. “From there, everything is much easier.”
When it comes to trade shows, the key is to be pragmatic, you have to
attend them and find your niche, de Hutten continued. “You need to go to
the shows because only there will you really understand whether you belong,
only by going will you be able to say ‘okay, this is my home’”, he said.
“Each brand needs to question themselves as to what their DNA is, go to
showrooms and see which one feels most intune with that DNA.”
2. Do your homework:
But when it comes to attending showrooms and trade shows, it’s also
critical that you come prepared, de Hutten stressed. “Everyone really needs
to do their homework. You’re not going to meet the same buyers at one place
that you’d meet at another, so you need to study what’s going on at each of
those places and know if those different buyers are the ones you’re
targeting.”
Diane Lepel-Cointet, marketing and communication director at French B2B
fashion trade show Tranoï agreed. For her, it is important that brands
arrive at her trade show prepared. “I would say maybe the most important
criteria is that the designer is ready. They have to be ready in terms of
their collections, in terms of price, in terms of delivery.”
If a designer comes unprepared, and can’t deliver on all these things,
then they might be in for a surprise. “They risk not being able to deliver,
and will end up being disappointed because then they spent the money for
nothing,” she added.
“I mean, we’re talking about a long-term process here, so we need to
identify the designers who are ready with their team – with their financial
team, too – because they need to get a return on investment, that’s the
goal.”
3. Be multichannel, combine physical and digital
“It is really important now for designers to have a combination of
offline and online,” said Patricia Lerat, CEO and founder of PLC Paris, a
fashion consultant and brand development company. “I think it is very hard
for a showroom to transfer their model to online. I think even shows like
Who’s Next and Premier Classe should have done this already 10 years ago,”
she added. “But now I think it is incredibly important for designers when
you launch your brand and you’re trying to find an exhibition or a showroom
is important to have it in combination with a website.”
Instagram, according to Lerat, is another way the need for brands and
designers to go digital has increased dramatically in recent years. Buyers,
for example, are taking to the social media platform to reach out to
designers and brands.
De Hutten added that while he appreciates the need for physical events
such as trade shows and showrooms, he stressed that the importance of
digital alternatives should not be overlooked. In 2016, De Hutten, who runs
the Parisian childrenswear trades how Playtime, launched his showroom,
Playologie, after noticing a gap in the market for buyers who couldn’t
attend his events, whether it be for financial, geographical or other
reasons.
Online platforms such as these allow buyers to access the marketplace
all year round in several languages (Playologie is in eight). But de Hutten
continues to stress the importance of still having an offline presence, and
says he still advises people to do trade shows or showrooms. “I have been
running an online platform for several years, and in the last six months it
has been tremendously picking up as everybody understands how obvious it is
nowadays that nothing can work only offline,” he said. “There needs to be
an alliance between offline and online; the physical and the digital.”
1. Use social media to show your identity
The popularity of social media as a way to advertise your brand has
skyrocketed in recent years. Justine Clenquet, founder of her eponymous
jewellery brand, said Instagram has been a particularly valuable tool, allowing jer
to reach new customers and engage with her current ones. But to be
successful in using it you have to embrace and reflect your
brand’s identity. “I think you need to stay true to your brand on social media, you must
be authentic. Everytime you insert new content it has to represent that
identity of the brand,” she said.
Alexandre Remise from lifestyle and accessories brand Mathilde Cabanas
agrees. She said that in fact it was partly through growing an Instagram
account for the brand and building a community that it truly found its
identity. “You know as a brand what makes you different, what your identity
is. That’s really important to show through whichever social media platform
you choose to use,” she said. “You often hear the phrase ‘Instagram versus
real life’ – well for us Instagram is real life.”
“Our strategy is to have no strategy,” she continued reffering to social media, explaining that
unplanned and sporadic posts more effectively reflected the
spontaneous and fun identity of the Mathilde Cabanas brand.
Use multiple platforms
It seems that Instagram is the powerhouse when it comes to advertising
fashion online these days, but the speakers were keen to emphasise the
importance of using multiple platforms to engage with audiences. They
recommended designers to not neglect platforms such as competing social media
sites, newsletters, paid adverts, and word of mouth, which in Clenquet’s
case had been a particularly valuable means of promoting her namesake
brand.
“It’s great now with the new Instagram checkout feature which lets you
pay directly from the app, because the quicker it is for a customer to make
a payment, the more likely it is that you won’t lose them,” Remise said.
“But you should never rely too heavily on one platform because you don’t
know what might happen. It’s important not to put all your eggs in one
basket.”
She recommended using newsletters with vouchers or offers – like
early access to product launches – to keep your audience interested in your
different platforms.
Photos credit: Sébastien Gras
