Brands

On brands, video blogging and he-tail



Last Wednesday I was very lucky to be invited to a super-special event organised by Arcadia. The company that owns Burton, Topman, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Sefridge and Wallis hosted a dinner to bring together fashion bloggers, online fashion press and print media to show that all are equally important when it comes to working with its brands.

What an inspired initiative and I think everyone got something out of it, whether it was just putting faces to names of fellow bloggers (hello 00o00), engaging with press and Arcadia PRs, or understanding each other’s media. I also loved that we were gifted with Flip cameras, a great way of highlighting the fact that with blogging and social media, video (I’m sorry, I refuse to say ‘vlogging’) is the next stage in the journey. And there were tech support peeps from Flip on hand to show us how to edit and upload the videos. (Yes, it may be simple but it’s still helpful to have a demo.) Other PRs please note, bloggers love having tech experts at blog events!

Aside from hearing some top-secret Arcadia plans involving hi-tech consumer interaction, I also learnt that the UK menswear blog sector is booming. We all know Style Salvage but there are lots of other good menswear blogs and male bloggers emerging. Just in time for the menswear retail (he-tail?) revolution – welcome MrPorter.com, from the Netaporter stable…

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First look: Louis Vuitton London Maison





When I mentioned the opening of the Louis Vuitton UK flagship to D (aka Mr Disneyrollergirl) on Tuesday, he didn’t hide his disdain. “I’ve seen it. I passed it yesterday, it looks like something out of Dubai airport via Stanstead. Deeply tacky,” was his damning assessment. He may have curled his lip. (more…)

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What Jack Wills did next




Jack Wills is a brand I am endlessly intrigued by. To the uninitiated, Jack Wills comes across as a nice, polite brand peddling British preppie-wear aimed at posh teens who aspire to Abercrombie & Fitch. Jack Wills hate being tarred with the Abercrombie brush, but to the average person, that’s how they come across.

What else do I know about them? They are intensely private, know their onions and have got a hell of a brand game plan up their brushed-cotton sleeve. I was privvy to a tiny slice of information when I met one of their reps last year, which involves a plan to make much more of social networking on their site – “we believe we are onto something that is going to genuinely redefine how a brand speaks and interacts with audiences,” I was told. Wow. Last week I learnt that Venetia Scott had styled some of their shoots. Venetia Scott – only one of the most influential stylists on planet fashion! Sheesh, what other secrets are they keeping?
There is a stack of cash to be made from the UK wannabe-preppie market. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the launch of Johnnie Boden’s new venture, Johnnie B which is the new teen offer from the Boden camp. Clearly aiming to snatch up a chunk of Jack Wills’ profits (it’s certainly more affordable), I had worried for a millisecond that Jack Wills might come unstuck but ooh no, they don’t need to sweat as they have bigger fish to fry. Because Jack Wills is not just about clothes. One more nugget of info I picked up last week is that Aubin & Wills (the older sibling arm of Jack Wills) is opening its first destination store on May 20th on Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street. The 7,500sq. ft ‘concept space’ will include a gallery and a cinema, which will be run in collaboration with Shoreditch House. Well if Ralph Lauren can have a restaurant, why shouldn’t Aubin & Wills have a cinema? Like the clothes or not, the Jack Wills brand stable is only going to grow.

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