FASHION QUOTES Archives | FASHION CROSS FUNCTIONAL

November 7, 2016

It’s About Feelings

Hi Guys,
Last week the fashion business club I run organized an event. The theme of the event was how to operate a career change by creating a fashion brand. We invited four great fashion entrepreneurs from Paris who succeeded and shared their success formulas. It was very interesting. Above all, the four of them used different techniques to reach their success. And at some point of the event, it became very technical.

A variety of techniques but what does really matter to make sales?

You can interview hundreds of potential customers on the street, make a crowdfunding campaign, use a fashion blog specialized in your niche with a high number of viewers or apply growth hacking techniques… There are numerous ways today to validate the adequacy of your product with your target customer. There may be some solutions that would fit better with your personality but it doesn’t really matter which one you pick.
So what does really matter?

Have a strong vision, make people experience and feel your fashion brand

What matters first is your vision and what you have done so far to share your vision with your customers.
You have a dream. But what is it? Channel the Martin Luther King in you and answer this question: what is your dream?

via GIPHY
What is the concept of your fashion brand?
How should your customer feel when seeing and wearing your pieces?
Have a look at your collection. Do the pieces you designed really express your fashion DNA?
Have a look at the photos you put on your website. Do they reflect your vision?

And what about your website? Does it convey the image you had in mind?
Or maybe worse…you don’t even know exactly what the concept of your fashion brand is. And you probably think it’s good to target everybody on this planet. Wrong!!!!!

Here is your exercise for today

Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down what your vision is about. What symbolizes your brand? Which words would you like your fashion brand to be associated with? How can you translate your dream into a concept your customers would also feel and understand? How can you make your customers experience your brand through your website?

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Wondering how to help your customers experience your brand?

Find more tools to help you through your fashion business, with the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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October 21, 2016

Elegance Is Elimination

Hi guys,
Here we are again, as announced. After a well-deserved short vacation in Barcelona, we took some time off and met the fashion business community there. It was a wonderful occasion to discover their vision of fashion and also find the common fashion denominator. It came down to one fact to which I think all fashioners will agree upon: fashion is about translating a unique vision into a business and for that, image is your key success factor. Image through your design and collection, image through the quality of your website, your pictures and video (as obvious as it seems, it’s always good to remind it) and the image you project while applying your business strategy.

Elegance is elimination

So in the end, it comes back to the Balenciaga fashion rule: “Elegance is elimination”. In order to stand out, a fashion brand needs to find its own voice and eliminate all that visually and strategically doesn’t fit with its vision. We are aware that in the loneliness of their creative moments, sometimes fashion designers twist fabric around their mannequin in search of a revelation…and stop there, maybe in the hope that nobody will notice and still find some beauty in the unfinished thinking process…

What is your core message to the world?

Since you are already designing, take the necessary time to investigate what is your true essence. What is it that you care enough about on this planet that your fashion business would be proud to share to the world?
Once you found what it is, make sure that each detail you add contributes to that purpose. Remember the judges’ faces on Project Runway when they complained there’s too much happening on the same look? That’s what we don’t want!

Project Runway – Michael Kors as a judge

Honor your vision

Honoring your vision means not only by following it but also by providing your brand with the quality website, pictures and videos they deserve…So unless amateur is a part of the spirit of your concept, remember that you are in a very competitive and overcrowded market. Today, any fashion designers need to be able to deliver professional HD material and the lack of budget is not an excuse.
Moreover, when you decide to work with someone who will be deeply involved in your design and strategy, take the time necessary to assess if they understand your creative vision. If they don’t, it doesn’t matter if their services are cheap. They won’t make the cut so move on.

Consistency in taste

Taste is not only being able to match a color with another one or being able to understand the beauty in a designer piece, however conceptual it is. It goes beyond that. It’s a philosophy of life. It’s also about the way you decorate your shop, your e-shop, address your customers and counterparts etc. You can’t say your brand is all about luxury lifestyle and have a cluttered website or make spelling mistakes in your communication. So make sure you remain consistently tasteful.
So for this week, let’s all embrace the wisdom of Balenciaga’s quote and address our fashion accordingly.

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Wondering how to find your core message to the world?

Find more tools to help you through your fashion business plan, with the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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To receive more articles and fashion designer tools, follow us

July 4, 2016

Transform A Yellow Spot Into The Sun

Hi Guys,
Monday’s back, time to analyze last month’s sales.

So how did you do this time?
Have a look at your products…A nice cut, a delicate draping on the waist, the way the fabric flows, the excitement you feel when you unpack your leather bag, the atmosphere in a shop you like spending time into…Is it really what it’s about ?
What makes a customer pick you over another brand? What makes a customer come back?
Enchanted customers want an enchanting brand
The world needs you for your vision and your dream. You have to offer the access to a new universe, something distinctive that corresponds to your sole vision.

And the uniqueness of your voice is key. Your customers will not reward you for being an imitation of other brands. You have to cut out. You have to make a difference.
For that reason, you have to give us a taste of what makes you truly unique.
As a fashion designer, your job is to dream. Your job is to translate your inner world in a brand. Your job is to stir up desire, arouse curiosity, make people happy and create an obsession to reach maximum impact.

Show us the most accurate version of your vision
Pablo Picasso said “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

So be that painter. Be that visionnaire.
Your job as a fashion designer is firstly to get the most accurate idea of your vision. Then you have to find the fullest way to translate your vision in terms of design and business strategy.
Maximum impact is reached through the alignment of vision, design and strategy.

So today, THINK BIG.

How do you want to enchant your Customer?

Happy successful week to all of you!
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How can I transform a yellow spot into the sun?

Find more tools to help you through your fashion business plan, with the number one FXF guide.

Find more tools to help you through your fashion business plan, with the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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To receive more fashion quotes and fashion designer tools, follow us

June 13, 2016

Because It Was Just The Wrong Customer

Hi guys,
exceptionally this Monday, instead of a fashion quote we will talk about a wonderful fashion short movie. “Once Upon A Time…” by Karl Lagerfeld tells the story of Coco Chanel, at the early years of her business, when she opened her first real boutique in Deauville.
The movie starts with two women criticizing and laughing at the hats, calling them awful. Later during the day, you can see Gabrielle Chanel (impersonated by Keira Knightley) and her aunt, leaned on the display case, desperately waiting for customers.
Then later in the movie, one very stylish woman entered into the shop and bought everything.

So for this Monday, I would like to remind you that there are critics and…critics. The only ones that matter for your fashion brand are the latter, as in the ones given by your actual customers.
Stay true to your brand identity and your own voice. Don’t follow trends, advice, strategies for the sake of following them, without having tailored them to your own codes (something that Coco Chanel was very meticulous about) and ask yourself if they apply to your actual target customers.
And remember: every famous fashion designer, even Coco Chanel, once started as you do.
Happy successful week to everyone!

Photo Credit: Paulo Valdivieso – Chanel Barcelona – Creativce Commons
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Who is your actual target customer?

Find more tools to help you through your fashion business plan, with the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

*******************************************************
To receive more fashion quotes and fashion designer tools, follow us