Start-up spotlight: Stylyt

Greater consumer participation in today’s brands is a trend that shows no sign of abating. In fashion of course, that’s a huge opportunity, meaning it comes as no surprise to hear there are a number of start-ups exploring the co-creation space. Stylyt, is one such example, a brand new launch that stands out for the fact it’s already working with known designers like Timo Weiland in its offering to consumers.

Founded by Nina Cherny and Jenny Wu, this “collaborative design” site enables its members to explore certain design templates offered from the upcoming collections of designers like Weiland, and customise their colour, print or fabric.

Better yet, however, they can also then potentially own them. Everyone’s submitted designs are pitched against each other in a series of galleries online (as pictured below) from which they can be voted for by the community. The ‘winning’ style from each collection is then made into limited edition pieces and sold exclusively on the Stylyt site.

As the tagline reads: “Play fashion designer for your favourite brands.”

Weiland for instance is offering up a basic backpack shape (as pictured), to which users can adjust the colour of the canvas, the colour of the leather straps and flaps, and even the colour of the ponyskin on the front pocket.

Alongside Weiland’s bags so far, are also summer dresses by Lovers+Friends, wallets and clutch bags by Hayden-Harnett and a series of dresses and tops by Torn by Ronny Kobo. New collaborations are set to open every week.

“By giving consumers a voice in the creative process, brands get to promote their collection to fans who feel involved and appreciated, leading to higher loyalty and meaningful sales,” said Wu.

I chatted to her to find out a bit more information:

How did you establish the relationships you have with each of the designers?

“Our fantastic brand partners either come through our industry connections or traditional routes, such as trade shows and showroom visits. These digitally-savvy, forward-thinking brands understand that by embracing customer input, they can gain loyal customers for life. Timo Weiland, one of our anchor brands, is quoted in our press release as saying ‘We’re obsessed with the technology behind [Stylyt], so this will be a great exercise for us’.”

Customisation often gets complicated once it comes to the manufacturing side. How are you handling this?

“Once winners go on sale, we place a custom wholesale order with each brand. We act as any other e-tailer here, except we sell exclusive, limited-edition pieces from the brand’s upcoming collection. The brands love this because we are not discounting past season’s merchandise, so we’re not diluting their brand.”

Such a system must also provide you with a lot of data. Might this be used to help inform design in the long-run?

“After each collaborations ends, we provide brands with campaign metrics that include trend data from our designs and voting results. For example, we’ll be able to show which colors or combinations were the most popular with which demographic, etc. Our voting model is set up in a way to detect trend patterns over time.”

What are your long-terms plans for scaling?

“We see Stylyt as THE platform for branded collaborations. We plan to expand to new verticals that are design-driven (i.e. home decor, beauty), as well as increase the scale of our collaborations. Soon, you’ll see entire capsule collections designed on Stylyt, or perhaps see Stylyt powering the next fashion reality show. Either way, we’re enabling brands and consumers to connect more directly, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down!”

The future of fashion weeks: do you have an opinion?

This is a bit of a different post to usual – a call for content if you will. Over the past two years, Fashion & Mash has grown to have readers from many fascinating parts of the industry – both in brand and in agency, all doing interesting things in their own right, but more importantly with a lot of things to say on this space.

Now, I’m looking for a bit of a view on where this industry’s seasonal fashion week shows can go – my very own crowdsourcing you could say. Does the old model still work? Does it need to change? How do we better align the communications and operations side of what our design houses and retailers do? As leaders in the digital field, you’re the rightly placed disruptors for these businesses – can you shake it up? Do you want to? Does it need it?

If you have any thoughts, on the record, or just as easily off (honestly), I would love to pick your brain. Let me know! Drop me an email anytime, whether it’s just with one sentence or two, or for a bigger conversation with a promised drink at the other end too. I have my own thoughts, and with recent discussions they’re rapidly evolving, but yours will really help fuel this fire…

Thank you!

A look back at SXSW Interactive – key takeaways for the fashion industry

This article first appeared on The Business of Fashion

AUSTIN, United States — With some 30,000 people in town for the 20th annual SXSW Interactive conference, not to mention hundreds of keynote talks, panels, exhibitions, meet-ups and parties to both participate in (and get distracted by) each day, you’d be forgiven for feeling completely overwhelmed by the whole affair.

The festival aims to provide a “view on the future” and is predominantly focused on the technology space. This year’s conference was headlined by Elon Musk, a South Africa-born, American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the groundbreaking electric car company Tesla, as well as payment system PayPal, and is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, the world’s first commercial company to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station. Musk spoke about a manned mission to Mars and shared a video of a reusable rocket that could, for the first time, land back on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter. Former American vice president Al Gore, likewise, touched on all manner of big ideas, including the genetic engineering of spider goats. Meanwhile, there was tremendous buzz surrounding Grumpy Cat, the real-life meme with whom conference attendees queued up to have their photograph taken.

But for the fashion industry — from which there’s a growing contingent that comes to town for the event — how much was relevant? The answer is lots.

Part of the beauty of SXSW is, of course, meeting up with digitally-minded people from across the sector. But, without doubt, the most powerful insights are gleaned by stepping outside the fashion bubble and learning from other industries. The challenge is being able to distill down the key takeaways. So here goes.

The Maker Movement

This year’s festival was opened by Bre Pettis, CEO of New York-based 3D printing company MakerBot Industries, who said that cheaply available and easy-to-use desktop fabrication tools would give rise to “the next industrial revolution.”

“We’re empowering people to make stuff, faster and in more affordable ways,” he said, announcing the MakerBot Digitizer, a machine which can scan any physical object between three and eight inches tall and replicate it. Think of it as “a real-world copy and paste,” he added.

In another talk, Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and co-founder of 3D printing marketplace and community Shapeways, said: “3D printing is so incredibly quick that what we’re doing is design-manufacturing.” Indeed, soon we will be able to not only buy an item online and print it out at home, but manipulate it first, to create a truly personalised product. Though the textiles aren’t quite there yet, a dress that’s downloadable in different fabrications and, better yet, a perfect fit, isn’t that far off.

Mike Senese, a senior editor at Wired, expects brands to swiftly take hold of this opportunity. NASA, Ford and Nokia are already doing so, while Nike, without the large official presence it had last year to launch its FuelBand, was quietly using the networking effects of SXSW to spread news of its new Vapor Laser Talon shoe. Created for American football players, it features a lightweight 3D printed plate, crafted using Selective Laser Sintering technology (SLS) and designed to improve acceleration.

Kimberly Ovitz, who featured 3D printed jewellery in her Autumn/Winter 2013 New York Fashion Week show, this February, was also on site at SXSW. She said that, for the fashion industry, the beauty of the technology at this stage comes down to timelines. Not only can she better keep up with consumer demand by delivering her jewellery within a two-week timeline, but she’s also that much further ahead of the fast fashion outlets who copy her.

Digital Meets Physical

Importantly, hardware dominated the discussion at this year’s SXSW, marking a major move away from the app-focused conversation of the past (SXSW was the launchpad for both Twitter and Foursquare in 2007 and 2010, respectively).

Unsurprisingly, Google Glass got a lot of airtime, with a number of individuals spotted trying out the augmented reality headsets around the festival’s convention center and a live demonstration hosted by Timothy Jordan, Google’s senior developer advocate, who showcased third party apps from companies like The New York Times and Path and introduced the tech crowd to Google Glass’ Mirror API. Expect much more on this front.

Google also introduced a talking shoe (that reminds wearers to be more active) in collaboration with adidas as part of the tech giant’s “Art, Copy and Code” initiative. It was prime example of the so-called ‘Internet of Things,’ the trend towards everyday objects becoming networked. Although still just a concept, the trainers feature sensors that track a user’s speed and performance and speak to them directly (via a speaker) or their phones (via Bluetooth) to encourage movement.

Leap Motion, meanwhile, was widely called “the Nike FuelBand of 2013″ in terms of the buzz it generated. A device about the size of a USB stick that plugs into any Mac or PC, it allows users to control a screen with hand gestures alone. Technically, it’s a step on from Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect for the precision it allows. The device can track individual finger movements with accuracy up to one-hundredth of a millimetre. It also retails for only $79.99 and will ship in May.

Collaboration

Amidst all the new technology launches and cross-pollination of big ideas, came a call for greater collaboration. For Elon Musk and Al Gore, that meant fostering collaboration amongst institutions to solve major problems that no single company could address alone. For many brands, it meant embracing their consumer communities.

The team at Lego shared their focus on being “fans of our fans.” With the launch of its crowdsourcing site Cuusoo, the company is empowering their most engaged customers to design their own products, the best of which are actually manufactured. Peter Espersen, head of online communities for the Lego Group, said there was value, not only in listening to your consumers, but setting goals on what you hope to achieve from them.

PepsiCo hosted a similar panel (the company’s fans have helped produce ads for the Super Bowl and create new flavours of Lays Potato Chips). “When you give people a forum to express themselves, you unearth things you never expected to find,” said Jen Saenz, Frito-Lay’s senior director of brand marketing. She addressed the idea of creating a circle of advocacy that could likewise apply to any fashion house: sourcing information, doing something with that information, feeding that back to fans, listening to their reaction and acting upon it.

Not surprisingly, data was a big part of this conversation. In particular, Saenz highlighted the deep level of insight Frito-Lay now has about its customers’ flavour preferences across geography, information it would never have been able to source at such scale using traditional methods.

But despite the focus on crowdsourcing, the importance of powerful storytelling (beyond what the facts, figures and feedback might show) rang throughout the festival. Ultimately, breaking through the noise, said Gary Goldhammer, senior vice president at H+K Strategies, means adding something remarkable and unexpected. “What makes for great storytelling is 1+1=3.”

Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Warby Parker, Gucci, Nars, Ray Ban, J Crew + more

It’s been a little while since one of these round-up posts on other interesting fashion and digital stories sourced from around the web, so there’s far more than usual. Each of them is however, of course, as interesting and relevant as ever…

• Alexander Wang teams up with Samsung for crowdsourced handbag (as above) [Mashable]

• Google reportedly in talks with Warby Parker to design stylish Google Glass frames [Techcrunch]

• Gucci ups mobile conversion 70% via optimised site [Luxury Daily]

• Nars tests Pinterest’s selling potential [Mashable]

• Ray Ban launches real-life ambermatic lens app installation [DigitalBuzzBlog]

• This is personal: J Crew debuts an in-store styling app [Refinery29]

• How John Lewis uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ [Econsultancy]

• Lizzy Caplan’s Viva Vena fashion film is one of the best satirical ads you’ll ever see [Slate]

• The business of blogging: Garance Doré [BoF]

• Shopping in the future: Glasses.com’s augmented reality fitting-room app [AllThingsD]

• Will Apple’s plans for an iWatch herald a new era of wearable tech? [The Observer]

• Farfetch fashion hub: meet the curator of curators [Wired]

• Business Of Fashion gets $2.1m seed funding from Index, LVMH and more for its no-nonsense B2B fashion blog [Techcrunch]

• How your tweets during fashion shows are driving sales [Fashionista]

• Fashion buys into social tools [NY Times]

• Online upstarts explore a new model for fashion media [BoF]

• Why retailers are pinning hopes on Pinterest [Reuters]

• 10 great uses of Vine during fashion week [The Cut]

• And just on the off-chance that you didn’t see it already, here is Google’s How it Feels Through Glass video

British Fashion Council announces series of digital initiatives for #LondonCollections: Men

The autumn/winter 2013/14 catwalk season kickstarts on Monday with London Collections: Men, the second season of a dedicated menswear event in the British capital. We’ve already heard about Topman’s planned interactive 360° live-stream experience, now, and as expected, comes news of a flurry of digital activity from the British Fashion Council once again…

The aim, it says, is to “unite fashion and digital innovation, encouraging engagement with the menswear showcase through social media, live streaming and digital presentations”.

One particularly participatory initiative is its crowdsourcing of street style content again using the #ManAboutTown hashtag. Fans on Twitter and Pinterest can contribute to an ongoing online archive of menswear looks housed on a dedicated pinboard as well as in a Facebook album. The result is designed to present the best of British Men’s Style.

Also on the BFC Pinterest page will be diary-like contributions from menswear designer Lou Dalton and journalist Charlie Porter. Dalton is showcasing inspirations and preparations ahead of her show already, followed by backstage shots and catwalk looks as they hit the runway on Monday. Porter meanwhile, will be creating an online moodboard of his favourite collection looks, street style shots and inspiring moments.

For those in attendance at The Hospital Club in London, the home of LC:M, there are also digital windows to experience. Referred to as a life-sized catwalk installation, they will feature daily video highlights from all the shows when users scan the display with their mobile phones thanks to another partnership with augmented reality app, Aurasma.

In addition to all that, the BFC will also be showcasing behind-the-scenes images over Instagram, live-streaming all the shows from The Hospital Club via www.londoncollections.co.uk/live. and screening a variety of digital presentations and fashion films. Finally, it will also be continuing its Twitter conversations throughout the event – live Q&As will be held on the @BFC account with Tinie Tempah, Toby Wiseman, editor of Men’s Health, and model Oliver Cheshire, using the #AskLCM hashtag.

Cinemagram’s crowdsourced GIF content could prove viral win for fashion brands

Rodarte

There’s no denying the unfathomable appetite online for GIFs at present, or Graphics Interchange Format images to use their full name. Although the simple animated pictures (made up of multiple frames on loop) are about to celebrate their 25th anniversary, they’re being feted across the web now more than ever.

Within the fashion industry, what’s followed of course is bundles of beautifully creative work – pioneered by blogger Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg with their “Cinemagraphs”, as reported here, and since carried on by all manner of Tumblr stars, including the likes of Mr Gif and FashGif.

In fact, on Tumblr, GIFs are hands-down the most successful posts. As Rick Webb, Tumblr’s revenue consultant explained at an event in New York recently it’s these that result in the most engagement actions – likes, reblogs and follows.

Needless to say therefore, fashion brands have cashed in on them too; Burberry, Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein as just a couple of examples. Below meanwhile is a recent tribute to the late Lee (Alexander) McQueen created by Nick Knight, and above another created by Rodarte, both of whom are part of the selection committee for a forthcoming GIF exhibition at Art Basel Miami created by Tumblr and Paddle8 called Moving the Still.

Over the past few months, Cinemagram is a name that keeps popping up in relation to all this. One of a number of apps dedicated to the GIF, it essentially simplifies the whole process for individuals to do themselves by using film, while simultaneously tapping into a sense of community once more (think Instagram for GIFs – grainy filters and all). It launched on the iPhone in March 2012, and reportedly has over two million users already.

Referred to as “a fun and beautiful way to animate your photos”, it has caught the eye of a number in the fashion industry especially. It’s interesting to see who is, or has been, on there already – the usual (largely New York-based) digital crowd when it comes to individuals, as well as the industry’s most tech-savvy brands, including Nicola Formichetti, Bergdorf’s and Rebecca Minkoff.

What seems to be the most interesting part of it, however, is nothing to do with corporations having to manage yet another social media outlet, but being able to use it to crowdsource content from their followers.

Brands such as Red Bull and music stars like Pink and Linkin Park have partnered with the platform to offer users the ability to remix official videos and create their own interpretations of the work. The sharing features built into the app then help spread it.

An original post introducing the “Remix” feature, reads: “For the first time, users can engage, interact, and be creative with official video content in a way that has never existed before. Companies want more exposure for their video content… We view cines as tweets for videos and therefore potentially a unique opportunity for Cinemagram to achieve their goals.” Users were doing it already, now they can do so legitimately, and directly from the source.

While a number of fashion brands told me they don’t see uploading their own content on Cinemagram to have too much of a future for them, one e-commerce site in particular said they’re excited to look at how to make use of this new crowdsourcing opportunity. Sending snippets of content out to fans and using it is as a teaser for a then full campaign video is enormously appealing, they explained.

Watch this space…

Nick Knight’s GIF tribute to Alexander McQueen

Swarovski to generate content via Facebook and Twitter for store windows

Swarovski is inviting consumers to send in suggestions of how London inspires them to help build creative for its Regent Street store windows.

Part of the brand’s “Iconic London” campaign ahead of the 2012 Olympics, it is encouraging users to participate via Facebook and Twitter using the #IconicLondon hashtag.

Illustrative design duo Good Wives and Warriors will then be transforming the windows with a live art event taking place over two days from the evening of July 16, and again on July 31.

“The store will be magically transformed, from a crystal forest, into a surreal and kaleidoscopic world full of colourful, dreamlike illustrations inspired by London,” reads the write-up.

Fans will be able to discover if their suggestion has become a part of the artwork by watching it come to life online. Their names will also be painted into the illustrations.

The resulting designs will also act as an exclusive preview of Swarovski’s autumn/winter 20112/13 collection, Kingdom of Jewels. Other stores across London will feature a unique creative also designed by Good Wives and Warriors.

Swarovski previously launched a campaign inviting fans to interact with an augmented reality Facebook app.

Calypso and AG invite Pinterest users to determine new denim print

Luxury label Calypso St Barth and denimwear line AG Adriano Goldschmied have turned to Pinterest to find the most popular print for a limited edition pair of jeans.

The two brands are inviting consumers to vote for their favourite of three designs (as shown above and below) – each hand-created by Calypso’s creative director, Elisa Miller, in partnership with AG’s Samuel Ku – by repining from a shared board on the virtual scrapbooking site.

The pattern that ends up with the most repins by June 15, will be created into an exclusive pair of AG jeans sold at Calypso stores this autumn.

“We are known for our beautiful color and signature prints which naturally resonate with visually inspired Pinterest users,” says Rachel Deutsch, vice president of marketing and PR for Calypso. “This is a great opportunity to empower our consumers and connect with them in a more meaningful way, by involving them in the design process.”

Ku added: “We are especially excited to embark on a new way of reaching out to our customers through Pinterest.  In this age of me-commerce, co-creation and increased personalization, we are excited to be able to communicate and cater to the tastes of social media savvy contemporary women.”

Harrods invites Facebook fans to decide Burberry collection buy

Luxury department store Harrods has decided to listen to the voice of its consumer for the autumn/winter 2012/13 season, by handing the buying decision of the forthcoming Burberry collection over to its Facebook fans.

The day after the designer’s show at London Fashion Week on Monday, Harrods will post images of every look on its Facebook page. Those that receive the most likes, will be incorporated into the store’s buy for the season.

It’s an interesting move for a store renowned for its somewhat elitist approach to retail. But crowdsourcing for inspiration (as well as confirmation) is becoming an evermore appealing route for those in tune with successful social strategies.

The argument in this case is almost certainly that it’s common sense those outfits proving the most popular at this stage will end up being the ones that sell once they hit the floor later in the year (though the profile of the Harrods Facebook fan versus the actual Harrods shopper could be questioned).

It’ll be interesting to see how this develops and ultimately, whether it works.

Look out for my forthcoming opinion piece on how this season’s fashion week shows have been about offering full consumer access versus providing press and buyers with new digital exclusives…

Oscar de la Renta crowdsources creative ideas through #theboard

Oscar de la Renta is inviting consumers to become a part of his creative process by launching a virtual pinboard open for anyone to post their ideas to.

In a new take on crowdsourcing, “The Board“, says the designer, is a call for anyone and everyone to help him out with ideas for his next collection.

“Don’t tell me, show me…” reads the tagline.

In an accompanying video address, he says: “Come with us, give us ideas; things that we haven’t thought about that you think will be great… I would love to embrace anything that you have to say.”

The initiative launched following this evening’s autumn/winter 2012/13 show in New York. There are already posts by the likes of Marie Claire fashion director Nina Garcia, Erica Domesek of P.S. I made this, and bloggers Tom & Lorenzo.

It follows hot on the heels of the fashion industry’s love affair with Pinterest.

Those viewing submissions can also share the inspiration of others on their own Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages.