A couple of weeks ago, the lovely people at Like Minds, invited #1PG to speak on a panel about Men’s Fashion for Social Media Week London, the event took place at the recently opened Hippodrome Casino, in London’s Leicester Square.
It was an extremely interesting and lively debate about a sector that is only just embracing Social Media to build its profile. The panel was moderated by Gareth Scourfield, Senior Fashion Editor for Esquire Magazine and Big Black Book.
Gareth was joined by a panel of industry thought leaders including Laura Cummings of Brunswick Group, James Nuttal who is Digital Director at Starworks, Richard Martin the Marketing Director of Lyle & Scott, David Hellqvist the online editor of PORT Magazine and the Perfect Gentleman’s very own Zach Falconer-Barfield.
We discussed the power and success of Burberry, the fact that Brands need content and that they are only just discovering it. Men tend to buy into a lifestyle and they are exceptionally loyal to those brands that they follow.
What was clear was that in the world where major international brands have such dominance; the new and the niche brands see the various social media platforms that are available to them as the key way to reach out to their potential customers and address them directly.
This personal contact and the ability to find and target information at small groups was seen as crucial for emerging brands.
The move of so many shoppers, including male fashion shoppers, to the on-line market place is also key. The example of some high end brands which have created limited unique runs of a clothing item which is announcing on line to a small group of highly fashion conscious individuals was discussed. The result was that the range sold out before it was actually manufactured.
In similar on line launches of new ranges the stores or outlets which could get the message of the launch to their ‘fashionista’ customers first would sell out their allocation while other stores which were behind with the message were left with stock.
I think from a Perfect Gentleman point of view, the global power of social media means that the brands can have much bigger impact than previously envisioned. It means that a small brand in Britain can sell across the globe.
The full blog of the debate can be read here http://wearelikeminds.com/live/impact-future-social-media-mens-fashion
