Technology

Retail reset: is Nike’s House of Innovation the answer?



Vogue Paris Nike by Geordie Wood

While it’s doom and gloom in the world of retail (Selfridges is letting 450 staff go), I can’t help believing that there’s still life in the physical retail model. And now is the perfect time for some fresh thinking.

Nike has just built its new Paris flagship, a ‘House of Innovation’ (below) serving as a temple for its most loyal worshippers. As it moves away from the wholesale model to focus on selling directly to these loyalists from its own stores, its goal is to focus on full price products that die-hards don’t mind paying for. (more…)



On digital fashion weeks, craft and context



Loewe SS21 menswear

I’m catching up on the ss21 menswear collections that designers have been producing during lockdown.

An early trend is for three-dimensional or heavily crafted pieces and those with intricate surface decoration. Collaborations with artisans are another ‘thread’ to a brand story that designers can weave, showing support for their craft, or putting the spotlight on their own pattern makers.

Two standout videos I’ve enjoyed – Berluti and Loewe. (more…)



So how did Digital London Fashion Week go?



Nicholas Daley AW20

Digital LFW was overall a bit of an anti-climax. Unlike many, I don’t ridicule the British Fashion Council for it. I applaud them for trying in #unprecedented times. The main criticisms of the new ‘digital hub’ format were that the content wasn’t exciting enough, there were too few new collections, the panel discussions were too focused on the same topic (Covid) and panellists were ‘the usual suspects’. (more…)



Elevated oral care: the Quip overnight toothbrush



Annemarieke van Drimmelen

Jonathan Margolis at How To Spend It is my tech critic of choice, and it turns out he’s also become its unofficial toothbrush critic. If he says this Quip toothbrush is good, then it must be. I usually use an Oral-B or ION-Sei electric toothbrush but don’t want to carry all that bulk if I’m travelling or doing an overnight stay. So then I usually take a bog standard toothbrush but feel it’s doing a substandard job. Quip solves this problem. It’s slender and fuss-free and works with a simple AAA battery to get the required power-brushing I like, without the chargers and plugs. Buy it here*. (more…)