#SXSW Interactive in prep: a fashionable playing ground for 2013

If there was one thing I learnt from SXSW last year, it was that I absolutely had to go again in 2013. On top of the fact it’s the place to hear industry leaders  give expert insights, the place to learn about new innovations and source fresh inspirations, and the place where trends and directions for the tech world break… it’s also a breeding ground for incredible networking.

For anyone working within the fashion-meets-digital space, this seems especially the case this year, with more attendees headed to Austin from our industry than ever, as well as a host of relevant events to go with it.

Fashion’s Collective is hosting one of them, known as the Fashion Brain Bar on Monday, March 11 (as pictured above). It’s aim is to provide a bit of respite from the insanity of the festival, but also a space for everyone to meet the people they need to meet and have “the conversations that will play a key role in the advancements we’ll see over the next few years”.

Industry experts on hand will include Raman Kia, executive director of integrated strategy at Condé Nast through to Dave Gilboa, founder of Warby Parker. The full list can be seen here, as well as a space to submit questions to them in advance.

Another fringe event planned is called The Neighborhood. Created by AvecMode and 2nd Street District, it’s a move on from the Style X event of previous years, which brought a fashion focus (complete with runway shows) to Austin nearer the end of the festival. This time plans are in place from March 11 – 14 with a bit more of an industry edge. There are pop-up stores still, but also Q&A sessions with pros from the likes of Neiman Marcus, Michael Kors, Lyst, Refinery29 and more, as well as highlight interviews with menswear designers John Varvatos and Billy Reid.

The main SXSW schedule does of course feature a number of fashion-specific events too, including this one with Nina Garcia focused on the democratisation of high fashion. And this one featuring New York’s “digital it-crowd” in Aliza Licht, Cannon Hodge, Erika Bearman and John Jannuzzi (that’d be DKNY, Bergdorf Goodman, Oscar de la Renta and Lucky Magazine).

Fashion’s Collective has also published a survival guide to the whole five days, including must-attend events (lots of them non-fashion which I would highly recommend, there’s nothing like being inspired from outside your normal remit), as well as a handful of food and drink recommendations (indispensable).

I also love this guide from Andrew Hyde, called Ditch the Marketers, Find the Makers, it sums up the rest of the experience beautifully (be friendly to everyone, sit down when you can, put down your tech and look at people – yes really).

On that note mind you, if you’re going, drop me a line over Twitter. Assuming I can connect, I’d love to meet you.

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

Warby Parker runs Google Hangouts on site at Social Media Week

It might have been all about Topshop’s big partnership with Google during London Fashion Week, but at Social Media Week (SMW), it’s Warby Parker we’re talking about.

The eyewear brand, a long-time social media enthusiast, has set up an installation at SMW’s New York HQ that allows visitors to gain feedback on which frames to choose via a Google Hangout.

A shelf at the stand is filled with glasses, encouraging users to try on different options. Rather than just looking in the mirror, they can log in to a live session where various experts are waiting to share their professional thoughts on which ones to go for.

Those on hand throughout each day include celebrities, influencers, fashion experts and members of the Warby Parker and Google teams, according to a post on SMW’s blog.

Each Hangout is being screened on site, as well as live-streamed on Warby Parker’s G+ and YouTube pages. See a couple of examples from today below.

SMW runs from February 18-22.

 

Digital snippets: Chanel, Hugo Boss, Warby Parker, My Flash Trash, CES

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

 

• Gamines and a godson star in Karl Lagerfeld’s new Chanel film [Telegraph Fashion]

• Hugo Boss bolsters runway live-streaming via mobile, Spotify [Luxury Daily]

• Warby Parker’s latest annual-report infographic is a sight for sore eyes [AdWeek]

• My Flash Trash wins second round of investment [Professional Jeweller]

• 12 fashion forward tech accessories from CES [Mashable]

• What can we learn from the top five retail brands on Twitter? [Econsultancy]

• Hearst to host technology event during NYFW [WWD]

• UK retailer woes laid bare as web prompts fashion foray [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]

• Fashion, innovation and lessons from Silicon Valley [Brand+Commercial]

And as bonus, here’s an incredible deck on social, digital and mobile stats from China. It’s bulky, but well worth the read: [We Are Social]

Warby Parker: style x tech perfection

“Geek chic” might be somewhat of a cliche, but it’s an appropriate term in more ways than one when describing eyewear brand Warby Parker.

The US-based company not only has stylish (and affordable) glasses for today’s hipster set absolutely nailed, but it’s a model example of a company using digital and technology to successfully market itself.

I actually only became truly familiar with the brand at SXSW where it hosted a “Citizen Circus”, a 1920s-themed space filled with live music, vintage clothing stalls, food trucks and of course the brand’s own product. During Internet Week New York this week, it then held a party with Refinery29 called “Style, Specs + Tech”. Both events left me wanting to learn more.

Fortunately that wasn’t too hard. Provide a check-list of top social media sites, and Warby Parker is present across them all: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram. Each is done brilliantly; tapping into the brand’s stylish existence, storytelling and building dialogue, while always looping back to a focus on exceptional customer service.

On that note, take its second YouTube account as an example. Here, short quirky video responses are posted to individual consumers. Some of them suggest which style to choose, other just say thanks for ordering (see below)… It doesn’t get much more personal than that.

In fact, ensuring satisfaction is seemingly seeded throughout the company’s business model. A wealth of innovative tech functions on its website help decision-making; rotating model shots for instance, or better yet, a virtual try-on tool.

And there’s also a service that enables shoppers to order five pairs of glasses to try-on for free at home. That may not seem about marketing directly, but the delivery encourages users to post photos of their options to Facebook. According to co-founder Neil Blumenthal, the average post then receives five comments, helping to publicise the products further.

The company is also tapping into the physical vs digital world in quirkier ways. Tomorrow its taking its love of Instagram onto the streets with a photo walk around New York. Following the success of a similar event held in January, it invites consumers to join for an “afternoon photo scavenger hunt beginning at Washington Square Park at 3:30pm, ending at our headquarters with Imperial Woodpecker Sno-balls”. Contest categories include ‘signs of summer’, ‘hotdog’ and ‘looking up’. Should make for some great Instagram content, not to mention further affinity with its fans.

If you still weren’t sure whether this is a good company to learn from, they also support a Buy One Get One model – for every pair of glasses sold they provide a pair to someone else in need, check it out. And why not order five pairs to try while you’re at it; I just did.