Friday 27 November 2015

Lenzing Modal® celebrates 50 years of Softness

Softness, a comfortable fit and skin-friendly materials are among the key elements that consumers look for in innerwear and sleepwear, according to recent studies and they would often find that garments that offer the desirable effect of a very soft hand-feel would carry a hang-tag featuring the Lenzing Modal® brand. 

See video of Lenzing's Modal - 50 years of Softness.  Click HERE.
The Modal® fibre, one of the star products of Austrian company Lenzing, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, which culminated on November 19th, when Lenzing played host to global key customers and friends of the brand at the Lenzing headquarters in Austria.  

Led by Chief Commercial Officer Robert van de Kerkhof, the celebratory day featured a seminar of informative presentations by Lenzing executives and industry experts to highlight the company's new business strategy, the historical journey of the Modal® fibre, its unique DNA based on softness and natural origin.  Very importantly, the event highlighted the original source of Modal® that came from the Austrian sustainable forest and that Lenzing's own uniquely-designed production process that results in recovering and recycling up to 95% of the fibre's chemicals and co-products that can be harnessed to manufacture other products such as "good" sugar for chewing gums, salt produce for the glass industry and biodegradable packing tubes for supermarket fruits and vegetables.



The Modal® celebratory day concluded in the evening at the historical Villa Toscana in Gmunden,   Austria with a gala dinner and a special ceremony to honour their global customers who had flown in for the event from around the world.
Lenzing Group's COO Robert van de Kerkhof (blue tie) and CFO Thomas Riegler cutting the 50th anniversary
cake at the Lenzing 
Modal® gala dinner, which took place at the Villa Toscana in Gmunden, Austria
on November 19th.

Photos supplied by Lenzing AG, photographed by Susanne Kurz.

Thursday 26 November 2015

Idris Elba + SuperDry launched today!

The public profile of British actor Idris Elba is flying even higher this autumn with the launch of his new premium menswear collection in collaboration with cool British brand Superdry.  
The 250-piece collection, launched today in selected Superdry stores and online, was designed by the Golden-Globe-winning actor alongside Superdry co-founders James Holder and Julian Dunkerton.

Note the butter-soft leather racer jacket - the pivotal piece of the range, the down-filled outerwear and the aviator style down parka with fur-trimmed hood.  Attention to detail includes heavy-coated zips, split lining with a jacquard Union Jack flag, and box-quilted or monogrammed lining and internal pocket detailing.  

There are also tailored wool town oats, reversible bombers, mac and trench coats, signature IE graphic jersey sweats, joggers, tees and hooded tops, as well as tailored shirts, merino knits and cashmere jumpers, with subtle branding and intricate detailing, complemented with vintage denim.  



Colours are kept sophisticated and urban-chic, in deep tonal shades: midnight blue, jet-black and graphite greys, with a pop of cobalt blue to lift the range.
The urban signature style of Idris Elba (born in Hackney, London) resonates throughout the range.  "I'm no fashion guru, but I think I know how to dress, and what a man wants to look like." said Idris Elba, "Functionality and durability were key things for me.  It's a 24-hour collection, clothing guys can lok and feel great in from day to night."
Photos by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect
#IdrisElbaXSuperdry

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Super stretch yarns for growing denim demand



Hyosung of Korea has created the new  creora® Fit² fibre - a 4-way stretch innovation in partnership with denim mill Soorty of Pakistan.
As consumers today expect denim to fit better and with more comfort, such innovation would answer the prayers of denim brands to meet the growing demands in the global market.

Click here to read more.


In an intensely competitive market, retailers need to get to grips with new data sources.

Like the American tradition of Thanksgiving which acts as a pre-quel to Christmas celebrations, the so-called Black Friday pertains to give Christmas shopping a head-start and will kick off on 27th November this year, the day after Thanksgiving.   While Thanksgiving is not a tradition in the UK, many UK retailers have since 2011 adopted this American shopping bonanza.  Prior to that, the best shopping deals in the UK were during and after Boxing Day.  Now in the run-up to Black Friday, more retailers are adopting aggressive discounting as a strategy in order to attract customers.  UK shoppers splashed out over £810 million on Black Friday in 2014, websites were crashing and people were fighting in the aisles.
Ideal Home Show at Christmas takes place November 25 – 29 2015 at Olympia, London
presenting Christmas-themed products from 650 exhibitors. 


Projected revenues this Black Friday are over £1 billion, according to digital agency Pulse, setting a new record in retail spending.   
  
Experts predict that this year Black Friday is set to be bigger than ever, and sales over the 24 hour period are forecasted to surpass £1 billion pounds for the first time ever in UK history.  To put that in perspective it means that £11,574 will be spent every second.

The latest research from IRI Group has significant ramifications for retailers in the run-up to the all-important Christmas season. The findings show that over half (54.6 per cent) of items sold in the UK are sold in sales or as part of deals such as ‘buy one get on free’.  Following on from dispiriting Consumer Confidence statistics in October, the picture is bleak for British retailers ahead of the crucial December period.

Consumers are increasingly using mobile and eCommerce channels in order to find the best deal, with retailers being forced to respond by ramping up the amount of sales or special deals on offer. This trend has been amplified by the fact that ‘mega-deal’ days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday are beginning to have a greater impact and forcing retailers to adapt by offering ‘super sales’ in order to remain competitive.

Experts say that this trend is not the path to growth but rather will leave many retailers struggling to survive, unable to distinguish through a pricing strategy alone. The constant discounting of products is likely to further compound retailers’ post-Christmas struggles, continuing the trend of January bankruptcies from the last few years. Since 2013, over 150 have gone to the wall with figures expected to rise.

Instead of constant discount sales, the customer experience across a range of channels is the key to better engagement. The growth of mobile devices has meant that customers are able to research the cheapest option at the touch of a button, regardless of where they are. This in turn has meant that increasingly the mobile customer experience is becoming the critical factor in attracting high customer numbers. With mCommerce now accounting for 40 per cent of all online sales, the mobile is ‘the second shop front’, requiring retailers to focus on providing a unique customer experience to build customer loyalty.

Dan Wagner, veteran eCommerce expert and CEO and Founder of Powa Technologies says: “It is staggering that the vast majority of customers who walk into high street shops are still anonymous to businesses. Retailers have no idea who they are, what they need and how to appeal to them as individuals. An aggressive discounting strategy is not going to cut it – it’s not a path to survival and growth but to destruction. The industry’s future depends on forming a much deeper engagement with customers and this can only be done though data. Forward-thinking retailers are already relying on a wealth of in-depth customer information with every transaction, including age, gender and location of purchase, providing real-time geo-located insight into consumer behaviour. The ones that aren’t are simply being left behind.”
The rise in smartphone usage means that almost every customer on the high street today can comparison shop in seconds, so price-wars are a strategic dead-end. However, smart retailers regard the ability to connect to customers through smart devices as an incredible opportunity to actively connect with them on an experiential level. By using PowaTag, shoppers have the power to complete transactions in seconds anytime and anywhere, utilising triggers including scanning print material, Bluetooth beacons, audio tags and social media.

Dan of POWA Industries continues: “Using the deep-dive data generated by these digital customer interactions, retailers can move way beyond large impersonal campaigns and reach each one of their customers on an individual level. Retailers finally have the ability to bring the science of ROI to offline advertising methods such as billboards and newspaper adverts as captured data is instantly updated when a product is purchased. This allows for a whole range of engagement opportunities such as personalisation, timely cross- and up-selling opportunities and location-based promotions. The current status quo, where retailers are surviving on scraps of useful customer engagement data regarding the effectiveness or impact of their multi-million pound marketing campaigns is untenable. For any business looking to survive in such an intensely competitive market, getting to grips with these new data sources is essential.”

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Christopher Bailey along with Victoria Beckham are patrons of Graduate Fashion Week

Christopher Bailey of Burberry, and celebrity designer Victoria Beckham have been named as patrons of the UK charity - Graduate Fashion Week - for it’s 25th anniversary year.  The announcement, made by chairman Mark Newton Jones at the launch of the anniversary celebrations, was received by esteemed industry guests at the Houses of Parliament last Thursday alongside a catwalk presentation showcasing the best of Graduate Fashion Week 2015’s graduates. 


Bailey was the first winner of what is now established as the prestigious Graduate Fashion Week Gold Award in 1991. During his speech, he stressed the importance of supporting our future talent, adding, "I was extremely fortunate to have won the first Graduate Fashion Award over 20 years ago. It became a fundamental stepping-stone in my career, giving me a platform that allowed me to pursue the incredible opportunities that I have experienced since.  It is a true honour for me to be able to support the next generation of exciting design talent in the UK, during Graduate Fashion Week’s very special 25th anniversary year."

 On joining the charity as a patron, Victoria Beckham adds: "It is so important to support and mentor young people, and GFW provides an essential platform for them at this important time in their life. I'm delighted to be joining Christopher Bailey working together on such a worthwhile project." 


The event, held in association with Barracuda Search and the UKFT brought together CEOs and HR directors of some of the world’s leading retailers and industry members to launch Graduate Fashion Week’s 25th Anniversary year celebrating past and future graduates of the world's leading event celebrating the creativity of students and graduates within fashion.

Saturday 14 November 2015

The Sock Club London x The Superior Labor – Bag Collaboration

The Sock Club London may be all about socks to its loyal members, but for the second year running the British brand has collaborated with Japanese company The Superior Labor to produce a limited edition of exclusive hand-made canvas bags which will be available only on the Sock Club London web store.

Two bag styles are offered:- the SCL Canvas Bag – a good alternative to the usual man-bag, and the SCL Triangle Pouch – perfect for keeping socks and extras, both constructed with natural materials that can only improve with age and use.  

Made mainly in natural heavyweight canvas, the SCL Canvas Bag  is available in black and features an additional overlay of duck hunter camouflage fabric on the handle straps and the base of the bag. 

With a roomy interior, the bag has deep open pockets on either side. One side features a logo made of bronze which depicts The Superior Labors mantra. On the reverse side the pocket has Sock Club Londons circular logo hand printed in white.






The coordinating SCL Triangle Pouch is also constructed from natural heavyweight canvas, and is available in black and featuring an additional overlay of duck hunter camo on the base and sides of the bag. 







The pouch can be closed with a heavy-duty Waldes branded brass zip, with leather zip pulls. 
Side brass rings are affixed by leather and brass rivets; and the camo is finished at either end in a triangle shape and held in place by additional brass rivets. 

The well-designed and craftily made Canvas Bags and Triangle Pouch are both great looking bags - just in time for Christmas.  

Founded in 2007 The Superior Labor operates out of a former schoolhouse, in the hills
of Okayama in Japan, which has been converted into a workshop. Here they make some
of the best utilitarian products out of natural materials such as cotton canvas and leather. 

Sock Club London which recently celebrated its first anniversary, has gained a loyal following since its inaugural product launch at the "Made in England" event in September 2014 and continues to keep its members informed of exclusive events and product drops via its website, blog and instagram account.  In addition to its own brand, the club also features those from partner brands. 

Monday 9 November 2015

Jolly T-shirts - great alternatives to the Christmas Jumper!

Talking about being jolly for Christmas, for those looking for a lighter alternative to the classic woolly jumper, these retro Christmas T-shirts may be the answer.



The retro-styled fashion label Jolly Clothing offers a range of cotton Christmas T-shirts in a rainbow spectrum of colours – from bright red to purple, blue and funky pink, or even glow-in-the-dark versions for that special fun spirit of the season, for men, women and children.  




They come in a selection of designs covering all the classic favourites - reindeer, snowflakes, snowman, Xmas tree ...







“Our Christmas t-shirts are printed using eco-friendly water-based ink for an embedded soft feel on a super-soft 100% cotton t-shirt. They are fun, stylish, fashionable and can be worn dressed up for a night out or simply with a pair of jeans for a great casual look,” according to Jolly Clothing, a family-run business in Monmouth Wales, headed by Melvin and Helen Green. 

















The festive t-shirts are designed in Monmouth, locally printed in Cardiff, labelled, packaged & dispatched in Wales. 

Tis the season to be Jolly indeed!




Saturday 7 November 2015

Knitted Festive Jumpers are for Christmas!

As we gradually step into the heart of November, and with Halloween out of the way, no doubt soon we will be thinking of Christmas.  Just look at all the festive decorations in the city that get us into that celebratory mood.
In terms of wintry fashion, nothing sums up Christmas more than the classic jumper especially when the temperature starts to tumble and we need something to make us feel warm and cosy all over.
Superdry women's Ombre Brushed Fairisle Knit jumper featuring a Fairisle inspired pattern, a ribbed neckline and a Superdry Mountain logo patch on the sleeve. 
Now there was a time when Christmas jumpers were just a novelty – often too jolly for everyday wear.
But the ones on show here are nothing but desirable and trendy, now available from that very cool British brand Superdry .
An embellished Fairisle Crew Neck Jumper featuring a fairisle pattern across the chest and shoulders, with layered embellishment across the front and sleeves, finished with a Superdry Knit Co logo patch above the hem.

Superstar knitted jumpers with all over festive print featuring metallic thread detail, ribbed cuffs and hem and finished with a Superdry logo patch on the right arm.

Two versions of knitted jumpers featuring the polar bear.   (left) A crew-neck fairisle-style jumper featuring a polar bear design running across the chest and back with a subtle metallic sparkle thread.  (Right) A super soft, brushed knit jumper featuring a Superdry polar bear pattern with hints of metallic detail and a ribbed neckline. 


There’s no prize for guessing which one is my favourite.  All left to add is a mug of hot chocolate.

All product photos by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.