Digital snippets: Burberry, Donna Karan, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Sephora

As a final post for 2012, here’s one last round-up of stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week.

We’ll be back in January, as previously mentioned with a very exciting update… Until then, happy holidays!

• Square to announce payment trial with Burberry, its first luxury brand partner [TheNextWeb]

• Donna Karan launches new celebrity dressing app (as pictured) [WWD]

• Chanel strengthens digital brand experience via site relaunch [Luxury Daily]

• Oscar de la Renta taps social media to recruit focus group [L2 Think Tank]

• Sephora wins digital innovator award in prestige category [WWD]

• Dream memes: fashion gets funny in 2012 [Fashionologie]

• The 20 biggest brand fails of 2012, featuring Harvey Nichols, Gap and La Redoute [AdWeek]

• Fashion 2.0: amongst promises of a perfect fit, what fits and what doesn’t? [BoF]

• Shopping sites open brick and mortar stores [NY Times]

• Retail display plays product demo when customers select various items [PSFK]

• How Stylistpick used personalisation to increase conversions by 33% [Econsultancy]

Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Nike+, Nordstrom, Elle UK, Woolmark

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Alexander Wang releases autumn/winter 2012 Confessional Series video featuring Shalom Harlow (as above) [Alexander Wang]

• Nike+ Kinect Training launch will mean virtual personal trainers in your living room [Mashable]

• Nordstrom teams up with GQ for e-commerce push [WWD]

• Watch Elle UK’s behind the cover video of David Beckham [Elle UK]

• Woolmark Co sets social media campaign [WWD]

• This start-up pulls in top pins on Pinterest and crossreferences against 250+ e-commerce sites [Business Insider]

• Some 15% of luxury goods sales are directly generated by digital media [FT]

• Square doubles its retail presence, now in 20,000 outlets [TechCrunch]

• Can social breathe life back into the high street [Guardian]

Why retailers should know Jack Dorsey

I’ve just read the profile of Jack Dorsey, the man credited with creating Twitter, in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair.

It’s inspiring. At 34, Dorsey’s life has been insanely productive – everything from program writing to botanical illustration student, alongside a brief flirtation with fashion design in between.

Now, still chairman of Twitter and second majority shareholder, he’s also the CEO (and co-founder) of Square, a service that allows anyone to easily accept credit card payments via their smartphone by attaching a small square-shaped device. As author David Kirkpatrick writes: “Square can make anyone a merchant.”

For retail at every level, this is undeniably something to watch. The surge of m-commerce and the role of mobile payments are in heavy discussion at present; no one has nailed it on the head just yet, which is exactly why it makes for such good debate.

Dorsey’s plans for Square are big. Where Twitter became the new communications tool, this, he says, is the future payments network.

Sean Parker, of Facebook fame, comments: ““Maybe Square can become for Craigslist what PayPal is for eBay.” A big shout, but if Dorsey’s past experience is anything to go by, no doubt an achieveable one.

Dorsey’s ambition is to make life easier for people, the article explains; something he’s seemingly facilitating one invention at a time.

Add to that his devotion to design – the result of a childhood obsession with maps – and commitment to echoing this throughout his company, and I for one am sold.

I urge you to read it: Twitter Was Act One