Many luxury fashion brands travel all around the world, spending their time , energy and money , exhibiting in different fashion weeks ( tradeshows) , showcasing their Avant - grade collections to the consumers and design connoisseurs . Talking with Designers about this fashion weeks worldwide, representing an enormous expense of energy (planes, shipping collections, A/C, hotels etc) , answers,
“we all love to travel in the fashion industry but it’s expensive and ultimately meeting people is finally not very qualitative. Buyers meet for 10 minutes and say they have to run to the Alexander Wang showroom and that they’ll ‘see you in Paris’ – and that’s it. ”
Vidya Narine is the Founder of Le New Black, the first virtual B2B fashion platform tailored to cutting-edge brands and influential buyers. We speak to her from her Paris office about the merits of an online presence.
Before LNB, I wondered why there was no online solution for such a chic B2B industry. Buyers and brands need time to work before, during and after the fashion weeks. If one day there is a buyer from somewhere in the world who goes to India to meet Ruchika( designer for Bodice ) because she saw Bodice on LNB and wants to learn more about her, about the way she works, about her inspirations – for me it would be a victory, a positive result for LNB. That’s what I hope we can create.
“What exactly is Le New Black?”
The idea of Le New Black (LNB) was to bring together the most interesting brands that focused on quality of creation, production and distribution, and the most demanding retailers worldwide: concept-stores, department stores and buying offices. We mix emerging designers (Bodice, Rodebjer, Carin Wester, Etudes, Baserange etc) and more established ones (Henrik Vibskov, BACK by Ann-Sofie Back, Kenzo shoes, John Lawrence Sullivan, Sessùn, Baum und Pferdgarten etc). LNB allows brands to show and sell their collections throughout the duration of the whole season, and retailers to preview and discover collections, confirm quantities, and order online if they don’t travel. This mix makes retailers come to the platform and keeps them curious. Today we work with 180 brands and over 3000 retailers from 70 countries, such as Colette, Le Bon Marché, Harvey Nichols HK, Dover Street Market etc.
The business model is very simple – brands rent an online showroom space for a year. For example, if they were to go to a trade show they would rent a space for four days in one city. On LNB they rent a space for one year and it’s worldwide, permanent and instant. Pricing depends on the size of the brand – from very small brands at 2800 Euro to more established brands at 6000 Euro for a year. For example, more established brands work with agents all around the world so their agents have access to view orders and live statistics. Their buyers can see the collection in the price list matching with their territories.
“Buyers usually like to see and touch products. How do you ‘replicate’ a typically physical and emotional experience online?”
It was never our intention to replace the experience of a trade show. It’s important to meet people, to see collections and designers. We don’t replace the physical experience, we just complete it. Something that we say to prospective buyers all the time is that LNB was not meant to replace showrooms and trade shows – it is a way for buyers to prepare their buying sessions and for brands to prepare their sales campaign. What’s happening on LNB is that most of the time buyers discover brands online, then go to the shows or showrooms to meet the brands and view the collections. Then, they may order online.
“A way to bring Indian fashion to International Network”
What I felt about Bodice( Indian Fashion Brand) is that her designs want to talk to everyone in the world, not only to India. When we entered Fashion Week, Ruchika was the first person we saw and I told Emilio, my international business manager, to take a picture of her because she looked so good. A few days later we realized she was the designer behind Bodice. We had a crush on her, but then it was because her colour palette was so subtle, silhouettes so laid back yet elegant at the same time. Her Look Book was strong and coherent, and we also visited her store – it seemed like the beginning of something. It seems like she has a vision that goes beyond just a shirt, she can build a global brand. That’s not for all the Indian designers and maybe the domestic market is big enough.
The Indian territory is such a big business that maybe the international market is not interesting for everyone.
I think a lot of young people feel very close to Bodice’s vision. It’s a bit early to talk about the results of LNB for Bodice, because there’s a delay between our fashion weeks and yours, which are very late in the international calendar. Bodice had her S/S collection up beginning of November but buyers had bought their collections by mid-October. But she had visits from many great retailers – Assembly in New York and Hunting & Collecting in Belgium. I think both these stores are exactly the right scene for Bodice. It’s just that it will take some time for her to reach these places because they will need to meet and keep contact and she will need to adapt herself to the international calendar, and all this takes time. But for me it’s a very good first sign because it means we spotted a designer that fit our network of retailers and it was a good match. Hunting & Collecting or Assembly are exactly the kind of multi-label store we target.
“Why is it important to you to bring Indian fashion to an international network?”
I want people to learn through LNB that the Indian creative scene is great and professional.
There is a fear about Indian designers from the international point of view of the industry – because there’s a reputation that deliveries are not on time and messy. Also in the mind of the western market, India is a production market, rather than a creative market.
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Rajat is a freelancer content writer and author for various design articles published in various design magazines , creating content for various design brands . He has worked for AD and Elle Décor - World renown magazines in the interior design industry .
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