Multifunctional wardrobe set to drive athleisure market, says GlobalData

It seems that the popularity and influence of the athleisure trend will continue as our favourite fashion choice, as we seek multifunctional clothing more than ever before, driven by the demand for comfort, performance and style.

Li-Ning, SS20 - Paris Men's Fashion Week.

According to GlobalData, a data and analytics company, 20% of UK consumers purchased sports clothing specifically for leisure activities and free time in the last two years, not to exercise in.  Also 68% of consumers who purchased sport clothing for exercise also wore such items for leisure activities and free time, eating our or shopping.

Consumers are purchasing more consciously and reducing spend on fast fashion, playing into the hands of those retailers and brands that can showcase the versatility of their items, as well as the durability and quality.

GlobalData forecasts that the global athleisure market will rise 9.0% in 2019 and will continue to outperform the total clothing and footwear market beyond the company’s 2023 forecast period.  

Athleisure fashion pushing boundaries.

A catwalk show at Pure London,

July 2019.

Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Honor Strachan, Principle Retail Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Over the next five years, the sportswear market will be one of the leading retail sectors. Activewear brands are selling consumers a lifestyle, and fashion retailers are leveraging their style credentials to produce affordable fitness ranges to sell alongside core casual and formalwear collections."

Strachan explains: “This willingness to pair sportswear with core wardrobe pieces has opened sportswear brands up to new audiences and allowed them to diversify into new product areas, boosting their share of the global clothing & footwear market.”

Moreover, increasing consumer appetite for comfort has also fuelled sales of activewear and trainers with brands utilising their technical expertise in ensuring products offer freedom of movement, aid temperature and sweat control, shape the body and provide support. These qualities have filtered into consumers’ everyday wear and not just when they are at the gym.

Adoption of the athleisure trend in much of Asia has been slower, so international and national brands are leveraging social media, third party selling platforms and brand ambassadors to sell the appeal of having a sports and street influenced wardrobe.

Strachan concludes: “Chinese brand Li-Ning has exploited its credentials as a sports manufacturer to produce high fashion casualwear which can be worn for training or leisure, while Nike’s instore and online outfit styling provides inspiration on how to wear pieces for multiple uses encouraging consumers in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to incorporate sportswear into their everyday wardrobes.”






Photos above and left are from Chinese sportswear and fashion brand Li-Ning's catwalk show staged in June 2019 during the Paris Men's Fashion Week.

Furious Goose launches new "the Planets" collection

In a year when planet Earth celebrates the 50th anniversary of Man landing on the moon, Brighton-based British accessories brand Furious Goose launches a new collection called simply "The Planets" to celebrate the "majesty of the solar system and planetary science in geometry, colour and pattern."

The collection of unisex cosmic scarves will have sci-fi fans and futuristic fashionistas getting all excited, featuring celestial themes ... from Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system to the auroras of Jupiter, right down to the individual statistics of each celestial body.  Made in the UK, each design was developed through pen and ink sketches, then digitally and meticulously drawn and then refined with bright colours achieving double-sided print.  Each scarf is available in 100 cm in fine Merino Wool and in 65 cm in silk twill, and also in 42 cm square allowing one to use them in a variety of ways, from silk pocket squares,  to neckerchief and headscarf, or for wrapping around a handbag's handle.

Furious Goose was founded in 2016,  created by fashion and graphic designer Patrick Morrison.

UK INDEPENDENT RETAILERS JOIN GLOBAL BRANDS IN ONLINE “FLASH SALE”

Payments innovator Clearpay - UK arm of global payments innovator Afterpay Touch Group - holds first online discount event on three continents 

Independent retailers on local UK high streets are to reap the benefits of global e-commerce this week, offering exclusive online deals alongside top fashion and retail brands in a “flash sale” for UK shoppers, according to a press release from Clearpay.

At a time when many UK high street retailers are seemingly struggling to compete with the growing popularity of online shopping, Clearpay is holding a UK flash sale this Wednesday and Thursday when discounts of up to 60% are on offer to shoppers who pay with Clearpay, and consumers can spread the purchase price over two months in four debit payments.

The UK sale will run alongside Afterpay Day in the US, Australia and New Zealand – making this one of the first exclusive online shopping events with global brands to run across three continents, with over 30,000 retailers and four million consumers.   

Clearpay is an entirely new way to pay, being interest free, quick and easy to sign up and requiring only a debit card. Since launching in the UK two months ago, a host of UK retailers have adopted it for their customers, with almost all the biggest names joining, said Clearpay.

#ClearpayDay will be a 36-hour online sale for retailers offering Clearpay to customers, including many big names like Urban Outfitters and Boohoo. Deals on offer will typically give between 25% and 30% off, but some are much higher – with Pretty Little Thing offering 60% off all Clearpay transations and Nasty Gal discounts of 50%. 

UK shoppers will also find deals from local stores and boutiques via Down Your High Street, an online marketplace for independent retailers.  Down Your High Street is offering a discounts on all purchases made with Clearpay at over 600 small high street shops.  

“This is an innovation which levels the playing field in e-commerce, giving smaller independent retailers the same opportunities as top global brands to reach millions of consumers online with great deals,”  said Carl Scheible, CEO of Clearpay. “#ClearpayDay is game-changer – the first step in making the benefits of global e-commerce available to all.” 

Clearpay’s UK roll-out is part of a rapid international expansion by Afterpay Touch Group, working with a host of global retail partners. The group’s online store directories, more established and much bigger in Australia and the US, have become a shopping destination in their own right, says the Group, referring new customers to brands using the service, adding that both referrals and overall retailer sales are boosted by its flash sale events. 

Its ambition is for consumers to buy goods from any retailer in the world on its platform. Cross Border, launched in March, allows customers to pay in their local currency, for products then shipped from oversees by the retailer. Currently on trial in Australia and New Zealand, the intention is to roll this out internationally.   

Bex Parkin's new silk scarves in tropical style

One can never have too many scarves, especially when packing for a summer get-away, so I welcome British artist Bex Parkin’s beautiful new collection of 100% silk scarves in her tropical illustrated style.

A selection of 100% silk scarves by Bex Parkin.

Bex is well known for her prints of exotic jungles and animals, often with botanical elements, using luxury fabrics with her bold, colourful illustrations.

Bex Parkin's "Prickly Pear" 100% silk scarf.

The idea for the new collection came from wanting to provide an alternative to traditional scarves with fun patterns juxtaposed with quirky images, sometimes seemingly random patterns, other times in symmetrical arrangements.

Bex Parkin's Circus silk scarf.

Bex Parkin's "Cheetah" silk scarf.

As a freelance illustrator and designer, based in rural Staffordshire, Bex had previously worked in various artistic jobs in London but it was her work sourcing vintage and antique textiles for the fashion industry that really sparked off her love of print, pattern and colour.   Bex is also happy to take on commission work.

Each scarf is made in the UK and measures 63cm square and comes in a gift box with a giclee print of the design inside, all available on her website. 

A Botanical Leopard giclée art print by Bex Parkin is shown here.

Memorabalia from The Shining on show at Stanley Kubrick, The Exhibition at the Design Museum

Apollo 11 jumper - the original worn by Danny Lloyd who played Danny Torrance, the young boy in The Shining, the thriller  directed by Stanley Kubrick.  Descriptions at the Design Museum exhibition credited the sweater to American director Lee Unkrich, who lives in Kentfield, California.

Photo by Lucia Carpio.

CafePress has 2019 adult versions in sweatshirts and Tees, named after Danny, currently available on Amazon. 

As we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Man landing on the Moon, it was wonderful to see this hand-knitted sweater - featuring an Apollo 11 rocket - worn by young Danny Lloyd who played Danny Torrance (son of Jack Nicholson's character) in the Stanley Kubrick 1980 thriller The Shining.  It is one of the many exhibits on show at the Design Museum in London, in the magnificent Stanley Kubrick, The Exhibition currently running until 15 September.  The memorable scenes in The Shining feature 5-year-old Danny in the Apollo jumper riding his tricycle in the haunting corridors of the Overlook Hotel when suddenly he encounters the ghosts of twin girls who had been murdered in the hotel. 

Dresses and shoes worn by Lisa and Louise Burns as Grady's daughters, from the Stanley Kubrick Archive, University of the Arts London.
Picture taken at an exhibition at the Design Museum, featuring original costumes used in
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and all of the great director's great movies.

Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Further research revealed that according to British actor Leon Vitali, who was personal assistant of Mr Kubrick at that time, Danny's sweater was knitted by a friend of award-wining costume designer Milena Canonero, who had worked with Kubrick on a number of movies including The Shining.  Vitali said in a 2017 interview in The Guardian that  Canonero thought the jumper was "just the sort of thing that a kid that age would have liked."

Tom Dixon to launch "TouchySmellyFeelyNoisyTasty" hub during London Design Festival in September

Between September 14 and 22 2019, one of London's foremost shopping and cultural destinations at the regenerated King’s Cross will be an official London Design Festival (LDF) Design District and is set to be one of the top destinations during the festival with an array of exciting events and activities open to the public.

British designer Tom Dixon, whose headquarters is in the distinctive Coal Office of King's Cross (shown above), will be introducing what he calls "TouchySmellyFeelyNoisyTasty" as he turns his hub into a multi-sensory lab with a series of talks, workshops, events and parties taking place in the shop, factory, restaurant and gallery.  While sight is not included in his headline, it is a sense that is implicated through the design of the products that will surely enrich our life experiences.

Tom Dixon briefing members of the press at his headquarters in July, introducing his new range of fragrances.
The scents have been crated to capture the essence of travelling, trading,
and the nostalgic past within the future of British life.

Tom Dixon will be launching new products to his vast range of interior designs, among them two new fragrances: Underground and Alchemy, the latest additions to the bestselling Eclectic collection, a range of fragrance started a few years ago structured around the exotic smells of London, Royalty and Orientalist.  

This year, they refresh the vessel form with an elegant, new slim "waisted" metal container formed of copper, nickel and brass, and have added two more refined perfumes under the names of Underground and Alchemy.

The range will be on display in the ‘Perfumery’ Arch in September. 

The candles will be available in a range of new sizes, including mini ones in a gift set. 

A talk and workshop led by Tom Dixon's fragrance partner, International Flavors & Fragrances, will take place in the Perfumery and will offer an insight into the processes behind creating the new scents and the inspiration behind the ingredients.

‘TouchySmellyFeelyNoisyTasty’ will take place from the 14th – 22nd September at the Coal Office and will be open to the public with free entry. Private events will be by-invitation only.

Photos © Lucia Carpio 2019

Sailor Jerry X Bad Monday collaboration is now Live!

Congratulations to Sailor Jerry and Bad Monday.  Their collaboration Tees, sweats and hoodies have only recently launched and they are selling well.  

British brand Bad Monday teamed up with Sailor Jerry rum to design a capsule collection for this summer, which is inspired and designed with sketches reminiscent of a by-gone era with a twist of Bad Monday.  

Many of the sketches for the prints call to mind the work of an American tattoo artist Norman Keith Collins, who was known for his sailor-themed tattoos.

As for Bad Monday,  founded by Mark Avey and wife Alice, they have made their name by working with and evolving the “traditional” tattoo style on their Tees, featuring eye-catching, colourful and blocky designs, while their slogan “Inspired by Ink” leaves scope for adaptation in design genre leaving them plenty of room to evolve and expand as well.  The brand was started in their garage in leafy Hertfordshire, UK.  

All products can be found on Sailor Jerry's website.  Just make sure you are of the ripe old age.