Shopping tool Hukkster hits Time Inc’s top 10 NYC start-up list for 2013

Time Inc has revealed its third annual list of the 10 start-ups to watch in New York City, and… there’s a fashion name in there again.

Hukkster, as it’s called, follows in the footsteps of Fab.com and Warby Parker (in 2012 and 2011 respectively) – highlighted by the Time Inc group as one of the most promising companies to transform the shopping space.

In this instance, it’s a tool that notifies shoppers when the products they want go on sale. Hukkster tracks more than 1,000 popular online stores, allowing any user to add its bookmarklet to their browser and then hit “Hukk It” when there’s an item they want to keep tabs on.

Once the price drops you get an email, a text or push notifications. You can also opt to only find out when it goes down by at least 25% or at least 50%.

According to WSJ’s profile on the start-up in 2012, and its founders Erica Bell and Katie Finnegan, each time a user buys an item they’ve been watching, Hukkster collects a fee for lead generation, using a third-party service that has relationships with more than 18,000 retailers. Its top revenue drivers, back when the piece was written, were J.Crew, Amazon.com’s Shopbop and Macy’s.

Furthermore, in November 2012, the Winklevoss twins led a $750,000 investment in it.

Hukkster appears in Time Inc’s list this year alongside nine other start-ups from a variety of fields. Included in them are ArchetypeMe, Custora, FiftyThree, Fitocracy, Grouper, IMRSV, Klooff, Qwiki and Upworthy.

Red carpet dresses from Met Gala to be sold online via Moda Operandi – will it work?

It’s interesting to hear Moda Operandi is using its sponsorship of next week’s annual Costume Institute’s Met Gala in New York – a foremost date on the fashion calendar – to attempt to monetise the red carpet.

The luxury e-tailer, which started out as a site selling looks straight off the runway, will be making both dresses and accessories worn at the ball available for purchase on its site from the next day. According to Mashable, 10 pieces (in total) from designers including Rodarte, Nina Ricci and Wes Gordon, will be on sale for one week.

This strikes a chord on the one hand – surely there’s a huge market of people wanting to buy looks immediately off the backs of their favourite celebs after they’ve worn them? Ahh, but then you remember the price tag: $5,000, $10,000, $30,000 for the average Met Gala look? Not so conducive to the average online shopper.

But then this is Moda Operandi, the upper echelons of luxury; run, no less, by a team that The Wall Street Journal recently referred to as “society 3.0”. Its customers already spend an average of $1,500 per transaction, with a record single order of $90,000.

There was a great piece about said luxury consumers in The Guardian recently too: “A new breed of fashion obsessed ‘supercustomer’ is challenging retailers’ assumptions about the maximum sums that can be spent at the click of a mouse. Luxury online retailer Net-a-Porter.com is preparing to sell its most expensive ever item – a dress with a pricetag of £32,000. Six of the embellished red dresses by Italian label Dolce & Gabanna have been ordered by Net-a-Porter’s buyers – and the online boutique is confident that all will sell,” it reads.

Ultimately therefore, what all is that different about these pieces from Moda other than the fact they’ve got the kudos of (hopefully) a topnotch A-list star, and if rumours are anything to go by on who wears what, also Anna Wintour’s seal of approval?

As Elizabeth Paton questions on the FT’s Material World blog however: “For starters, are the Moda Operandi A-list clientele – aka women who can drop between $5-50,000 on a single purchase – really the types to be sitting in watching a video live stream on a Tuesday night? I doubt it and imagine (though of course can’t predict) that the sales figures will reflect this.”

She continues: “Secondly, some industry figures say that the ‘celebrity factor’ holds less clout with the 0.1% elite than with the rest of the 99.9% luxury buying masses. In Vanessa’s post-Oscars blog in February, the chief executive of one haute joaillerie brand told her that customers after the really expensive pieces often told staff specifically that they only wanted jewellery that have never been worn before, or even photographed on someone else, which meant they ended up keeping their most exclusive product firmly under wraps. That is to say, in the very upper echelons of luxury spending, there’s no value added from the ‘who wore what’ factor – if anything, it can detract.”

Whether it therefore works next week will remain to be seen. According to Moda’s director of ready-to-wear, Indre Rockefeller, however, a previous similar attempt has already been successful. Apparently the $4,695 Prabal Gurung dress actress Jennifer Lawrence wore to the LA premiere of The Hunger Games, and a dress she wore by the same designer to the 2013 Critics’ Choice Awards were both offered on the site. They attracted interest domestically and internationally, particularly in areas that don’t have access to retail environments that carry those designers, she told Mashable.

So let’s face it, even if just one or two of the items sell post Met Gala, at those sort of prices it’ll be a worthwhile return on extra investment, if not for the additional publicity it will also generate, which is, after all, the entire point of their sponsorship.

Note: The Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibition is open to the public from May 9 until August 14. Moda Operandi is also releasing a capsule collection on May 2 tied to the punk theme, as shown in the video below.

Digital snippets: Dove, Versace Versus, Hussein Chalayan, DKNY Jeans, Google Glass

A round-up of recent stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital:

• How those Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketch’ ads went viral [Business Week]

• But… Dove’s got a new viral video, is it enough to sell soap? [AdAge]

• And… the perfect parody of Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches… for men (as above) [AdWeek]

• Versace aims for younger, digital-savvy consumers with Versus rebrand [Luxury Daily]

• Hussein Chalayan debuts line on a holographic catwalk [PSFK]

• DKNY Jeans expands social media presence [Fashionotes]

• Robert Scoble review: I just wore Google’s glasses for two weeks and I’m never taking them off [Business Insider]

• The click clique: the ladies behind Moda Operandi [WSJ]

• Farfetch’s new retail plan could revolutionise e-commerce [Fashionista]

• What the heck is P-commerce? [Mashable]

An inspirational note: fashion needs to take risk

Despite the significant number of start-ups there are in the fashion space today, the propensity with which the fashion industry in its more ‘traditional’ sense – its brands namely – is open to taking risk, remains very small. There’s a lot to be learnt from the tech world’s “failing fast” mentality to ultimately achieve reward.

So here’s a friendly reminder for the weekend. A touch of inspiration from poet Christopher Logue:

“Come to the edge
We might fall
Come to the edge
It’s too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
And he pushed
And they flew”

As told by Steve Zades, creator of the Odyssey Project on Imaginative Intelligence, during a talk on the role of technology for the future of apparel at the Museum of FIT’s tech syposium in New York this week.

 

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!”

ThingLink’s interactive images expand to Facebook, again key for fashion

You might remember this piece about ThingLink - a tool that lets you tag any image, with any content, making it instantly interactive. I wrote about its potential relevance to the fashion industry when it launched embeds in Twitter, demonstrating it in action with a Burberry image (as above in a non-interactive format) that to this day is still getting regular “hovers” over it week to week according to my email alerts.

News now has arrived of its integration with Facebook. When you share a ThingLink-enabled image to your Timeline, much like with how it worked on Twitter already, fans are able to experience the content inside the image without leaving the page.

An example has been released from Médecins Sans Frontières to demonstrate it. But this once again this has enormous application for fashion brands trying to share more than just a still shot of their collections. Their videos, show music, e-commerce pages and more.

As referenced previously from Mashable: “That single photo, in essence, just became a platform of its own.” Armani is an example of one designer officially using it, and already doing so on Facebook.

On a similar note, TechCrunch has just reported on rival tool Stipple’s new social commerce element called Stipple Shopping. This allows photos to be placed on Facebook and Twitter that users can explore, compare and now actually buy from too, likewise without leaving the image. Single photos that instantly become stores therefore.

It’ll be interesting to see what cut-through these tools might have. While increasing interaction and engagement is a worthy aim, whether they can actually impact commerce is another question.

Check out the video below…

Kmart #shipmypants ad goes viral

 

If there’s one brand grabbing the viral video headlines at present, it’s Kmart. The US retailer has released an ad that plays on the phrase “Ship my Pants” to tout its new free shipping service for loyalty members when items are out of stock in store.

The 30-second spot, created by agency DraftFCB Chicago, sees a series of characters situated in store stating the fact they can “ship my pants”, “ship my drawers”, “ship my nightie”, and “ship my bed”. Say that a few times over and you get the joke. Accordingly it has nearly 13m views on Youtube in the week since it was released. One in nine viewers are reportedly sharing it. It’s also being pushed with the hashtag #shipmypants.

The ultimate ingredient for viral video success is proven once again to be comedy.

Despite a handful of protests toward it being inappropriate, overall response to the ad has been extremely positive. The Huffington Post called it “puerile and pure gold”, while Mediapost.com’s Barbara Lippert says you should “never underestimate the power of a doody joke“.

It might be true schoolyard humour, but we’re all in on it.

On your reading list: Influencer Marketing

If you’re anything like me you constantly have a backlog of links saved in a ‘to read’ folder in your inbox, in an app on your iPhone and in a variety of reader tools on your web browser. I even have word documents with multiples of them pasted in for when I can’t get online during a flight, and numerous printouts just in case I get caught out some other how and can use the time to finally catch-up with what’s going on in this ever-evolving world.

The good news is I just had a great occasion all to myself to do so (namely a long haul journey during waking hours). While you likely won’t appreciate me adding to your own reading list, there’s a couple I had to share on the off-chance you haven’t yet got to them yourself. The first is this story on dispensing with the division of church and state, or editorial and advertising in the fashion media business, written by Jeremy Langmead of Mr Porter in a guest post for The Business of Fashion. This one on Facebook’s shifting marketing strategy – a mega read from Vanity Fair – is another example.

But if I can implore you to read any, it’s this one about influencer marketing by Macala Wright, published on PSFK in March. The title reads: “Why influencer marketing is failing in retail”, which is actually a little misleading. This piece isn’t so much of a downer on why the retail industry isn’t nailing its strategic partnerships with today’s bloggers, but a fabulous insight into how to go about getting it right for your brand specifically.

It was written soon after Suzy Menkes’ piece on The Circus of Fashion Week – a story that sparked a boatload of comment from other heavyweights in the space. But it takes a more strategic route, stepping beyond debates on ‘gifting’ for instance, and looking directly at “redefining and compartmentalising how to leverage influencers in long-term brand and marketing strategies”.  It points out basic, but all-important arguments on quality (smaller people or influencers with cult followers) versus quantity (number of followers, views, and impressions), and rounds-up with nine key points to consider for success.

Check them out here: Why influencer marketing is failing in retail

Third Wave Fashion launches database of fashion tech start-ups

There’s no denying we’re in one of the most lucrative times for fashion and tech start-ups. As reported by The Business of Fashion recently (in debating whether there’s a fashion tech bubble), large sums of capital have been pouring into young companies over the past couple of years, including Moda Operandi ($46 million), Nasty Gal ($49 million), ShoeDazzle ($66 million), BeachMint ($75 million) and Gilt Groupe ($236 million). The latest news in Farfetch’s $20 million and Rent the Runway’s $24.4 million can both be added to that.

Keeping abreast of all this, not to mention the multiple others entering the space on a seemingly daily basis, however, is a heady task. Have you ever wondered just how many there actually are in total for instance? How many of them last past their first year, let alone make returns for their investors? And how many of them are truly relevant to you directly?

Fortunately someone’s been keeping tabs. New York-based consultancy company, Third Wave Fashion, has been tracking the space for two years, and is set to launch a database listing over 650 fashion-focused tech companies in order for us to try and get a handle on it.

Available for paid subscribers, the site is searchable by over 30 different business categories, including image sharing, content-and-commerce, subscription commerce, virtual closets, pre-orders, marketplace and more. These can then be cross-referenced with some 50 tags such as B2B, beauty, luxury and mobile. It also includes listings for 350 investors and 800 founders.

Third Wave Fashion founder, Liza Kindred, said: “The database is a culmination of nearly two years of monitoring the industry. We began tracking companies so we could have a comprehensive view of the landscape, and quickly realized that this information would be valuable to many other people as well.”

She pitches it as a “trusted resource for interested parties such as fashion brands, investors, entrepreneurs, journalists, and emerging designers searching for new platforms for distribution”.

The database will continue to grow as the industry does, but also feature that all-important RIP category for those failed start-ups too.

Further reading: The State of Fashion Tech, a keynote by Liza Kindred

Digital snippets: Nike, Bloomingdale’s, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Armani, Sephora

A round-up of stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

• Holographic ad gives live demo of Nike shoes on the street [PSFK]

• Bloomingdale’s installs body scanners to help you find jeans that fit (as pictured) [Mashable]

• Michael Kors releases limited edition sneakers to celebrate reaching 500 million fans on Facebook [Web & Luxe]

• Marc Jacobs to dress famous Japanese holograph, Hatsune Miku [Fashionista]

• Armani touts brand personality in latest Frames of Life eyewear campaign [Luxury Daily]

• How Sephora differentiates in digital [Digiday]

• The Business of Fashion is nominated for a Webby Award [BoF]

• This Bond No. 9 ‘digital fragrance’ is only sold via QR code [Styleite]

• Tavi Gevinson creator of The Style Rookie is the next big media mogul [AdWeek]

• Menswear e-tailer FreshCotton creates drug cookbook to promote Stüssy’s spring line [Campaign]

• Fashion e-commerce flowers in the Middle East [BoF]

• Japanese luxury market evolves to keep up with digital generation [Japan Daily Press]