Executives Increase Spending

Well, according to an article published by Reuters, some men’s fashion designers believe those indicators have arrived:

After having seen sales hurt by the global downturn last year, many executives and designers at Milan’s menswear shows said they were looking ahead with guarded optimism.

“We are seeing positive signals. The (sales) haemorrhage seen at the end of 2008 and in the first half of 2009 has stopped,” Gianluca Brozzetti, chief executive of fashion house Roberto Cavalli, told Reuters.

“In certain geographical areas, there is a recovery but we are cautious looking ahead … (Compared to the first half of 2009), I confirm there is some improvement. We hope it stays in 2010.”

After the beating that the men’s fashion industry took in 2009, it is no wonder that many industry insiders believe the only way to go is up, albeit slowly.

“Let’s say that it can only get better after coming from a not very enthusiastic 2009,” Mario Boselli, head of Italy’s National Chamber of Fashion, said.

“The recovery has started but it is still slow.”

Observers say orders for spring/summer have been mixed –at times still weak, and therefore a stronger sales pickup is seen in the second half of the year.

Michele Norsa, chief executive of Florence-based maison Salvatore Ferragamo, said he expected “a small growth” this year, led by Asia, and in particular by Chinese hunger for designer goods.

“It would be a mistake to think that we will return to how it used to be,” he told Reuters. “People are buying in a more attentive way, but the outlook is for small growth.”

Gildo Zegna of Ermenegildo Zegna fame is cautious coming into 2010, but he does forecast a return to positive growth as well.

With the worst supposedly behind us, many customers are returning to build their wardrobes, slowly but surely.  It’s as if the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel has suddenly appeared, the frozen ground is beginning to thaw, and one by one people are pulling out that money they had squirreled away.

• “In five years, 30% of fashion goods will be sold on the internet in America”
• “While most sectors of the economy experienced a downturn in the first quarter of 2009, online sales for 80 retailers rose by an average 11 percent”

These are truly significant figures that very well may have a profound affect on how fashion brands will be deciding on offline retail locations and may also result in a cutback of these brick and mortar stores.

Potential For Small Luxury Niche Players As Well

Smaller niche online only  companies springing up throughout the web are also taking advantage of the new opportunities. ShirtsMyWay.com is an example of how technology is being used to service customers at a whole new level of customization, ShirtsMyWay.com lets shoppers design their own dress shirts using an interactive model while the dress shirts are also made to measure. All this makes the fashion market far more attainable for small businesses.

Fashion Industry Finally Catching Up

• “With new Web ventures like Dolce & Gabbana’s magazine Swide and Burberry’s social network site www.artofthetrench.com, many maisons are constantly thinking of new online tools to woo fans.”
• “It’s marketing as usual, this just happens to be the new thing,” Schuman said.

The internet is red hot with fashion activity, but as opposed to what Schuman states there really isn’t anything new to this. Online marketers having been using these same strategies for years. The news of it all is that the fashion industry is finally catching up.

You can read the article in more detail below.

From catwalk to laptop, fashion houses embrace web

FASHION DOTCOM

Many fashion brands have opened online stores in the last year, including Salvatore Ferragamo and Roberto Cavalli. Hugo Boss, which sells on the Internet in Europe, plans for online stores in Asia and in the United States.

“We try to understand the online shopper in a deep way,” Chief Executive Claus-Dietrich Lahrs told the Berlin conference.

Giorgio Armani has a mobile phone platform for e-commerce, so users can shop for Emporio Armani items from their handsets.

Prada is looking at selling online products that have yet to make it into its stores.

“In five years, 30 percent of (fashion) goods will be sold on the Internet in America,” Prada Chief Executive Patrizio Bertelli was quoted in Italian newspapers as saying, without giving a comparative figure.

When Italian online fashion retailer Yoox launched in 2000, there was a lot of “skepticism about the Internet in general and online sales,” founder and Chief Executive Federico Marchetti told Reuters.

Now it also operates retail sites for brands like Valentino and Marni. Yoox is poised for an initial public offering this week in Milan.

Source: Reuters