Retail concepts

House of Holland launches pre-tail



Roland Mouret in 2007, Burberry in 2010, Moda Operandi in 2011. Is 2012 the year that pre-tail goes mainstream? Henry Holland has just launched pre-tail for the first time with selected AW12 looks available for pre-order directly from his House of Holland website. Customers pay 50% up front with the balance payable just before delivery a few months later. The thinking goes that by asking customers to pay in advance, designers get a heads-up on which pieces will sell best thus avoiding wasteful over-production (not to mention easing cashflow). While Moda Operandi doesn’t give refunds if you receive your item and decide it’s a nonstarter (you can only get ‘store’ credit on the site – a bit jammy, non?), Holland operates the same 28 day refund policy as for his other online sales.



On Gap’s virtual stylist and Topshop’s ‘Spotted’ feature




Some may say that Gap is widely missing the mark with its Styld-by site but I think it’s rather inspired. Enlisting the individual style of its media partners Lookbook.nu, Refinery29, Rue, Who What Wear and MOG, it features outfits styled on non-models using Gap mixed with their own clothes. (more…)



BRITISH DESIGNERS COLLECTIVE: FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH PREEN



Preen’s Justin Thornton is talking me through their design research process. It involves books, mood boards, deconstructing their archive and a veritable blogroll of online resources. “We photocopy from books and create mood boards from that to focus where we want to go. An element of the mood board might be a detail, or else it might just be an attitude of a woman,” says Thornton. (more…)



What the appointment of Harper’s Bazaar’s Lucy Yeomans as Net-a-Porter editor-in-chief means for the industry




Today has been a day of breathless retail-meets-media news. Net-a-Porter announced Harper’s Bazaar’s Lucy Yeomans as editor-in-chief of the etail site starting in April, with Jenny Dickinson (currently deputy editor of Elle) taking over her role as acting editor of Harper’s Bazaar. A few hours later came the news that fashion director Amanda Brooks is to leave Barneys New York due to a move to the UK with her husband and family. (more…)