THE DRG STYLE INDEX: Shinola, Michael Kors, Fenwick
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…
1. SHINOLA – ACTING SMALL, THINKING BIG
Shinola’s been in the news a lot lately since it opened its rather lovely little London store on Newburgh Street. What’s most enlightening is the quietly savvy strategy behind it. For instance, who knew that the brains behind it all is Tom Kartsotis who also founded the mass market watch retailer, Fossil? His approach of creating a story around the manufacturing and people of Detroit has helped imbue the two-year-old watch-and-accessories brand with a romance that really resonates with customers. Having quality products (the watches have Swiss movements but are assembled in Detroit), excellent design and a Bruce Weber-lensed campaign help too, but it’s the ‘Made In Detroit’ provenance and storytelling elements that seem to be hitting the mark.
2. MICHAEL KORS LAUNCHES SHOPPABLE #INSTAKORS
Michael Kors is always one of the first to try out any new social media initiative. So it’s no surprise to hear of #InstaKors, the shoppable Instagram enabler that lets its (highly engaged) followers shop from the app. As with Marc Jacobs, it’s a landing page on the Kors site that customers can register on, then when they ‘like’ a particular Kors Instagram featuring the #InstaKors hashtag, they get an email alert allowing them to shop. Not all brands’ Insta followers want to shop, but as the Kors feed is heavily product-centric, I can imagine a huge number of Kors fans will…
3. FENWICK AIMS FOR EXPANSION
Fenwick is my secret little retail haven in the West End. Its relatively small size and spacious layout means it’s more manageable than the likes of Selfridges and it has a genteel, unhurried vibe to match. Plus the buy is brilliant at the moment with plenty of Sofie D’hoore (remember I discovered it in this very store?), Jil Sander Navy and Paul Smith to satisfy my inner gentlewoman. Latest news is that profits are (slightly) up and the store is looking at UK expansion, starting with the relocation of its Bentalls store in Bracknell to a new three-floor location in 2017. First though (one hopes), a fully transactional ecommerce site…
WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
SHINOLA IMAGE: Jamie McGregor Smith
