A new models.com survey sheds light on persistent problems.
PARIS — Kering has partnered with global innovation platform Plug and Play for an accelerator that will identify and invest in textile start-ups with the aim of fast-tracking sustainable innovation within the luxury and apparel industries.
The French group, parent of brands including Gucci, Puma, Boucheron and Stella McCartney, is the first founding anchor partner of the Plug and Play — Fashion for Good accelerator based in Amsterdam. The Fashion for Good initiative was set up with an initial grant from the C&A Foundation.
“Via the accelerator, the partners will identify innovative start-ups and support them in scaling up their technologies, methodologies and business models. As such, Kering and the partners aim to stimulate disruptive innovation, transform conventional processes in luxury and enable the widespread adoption of sustainable practices,” they said in a joint statement.
The Fashion for Good center is set to launch in Amsterdam on Thursday with a pitching session where early-stage innovators will present their projects and technologies. The 10 start-ups selected to take part in the three-month mentoring program will be revealed in early April.
The start-ups will focus on three priority areas: raw material sourcing; fabric and garment production, and end of use. Kering and Plug and Play will provide training,
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New start-up Fitz — by entrepreneur Alexandra Wilkis Wilson — wants to be in your closet.
The in-home concept provides for a consultation with two personal stylists who evaluate one’s closet — men’s or women’s — over a three-hour period for $300. The service includes an editing of what’s functional, recommendations on what to resell, donate or tailor, and recommendations on what to buy — with direct links to the specific items — to coordinate with what remains in the newly edited closet.
The vetted stylists are from design schools, media publications, fashion houses and retailers. According to Wilkis Wilson, the team now totals 30 and many have been freelancers at Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman and J. Crew.
Wilkis Wilson cofounded the early-stage concept with J. Michael Cline, a serial entrepreneur who founded 13 firms. She’s known for cofounding flash-sale site Gilt Groupe and as the former chief executive officer of in-home, beauty service app Glamsquad.
The cofounder said she learned a lot from her years at Gilt and Glamsquad, whether it’s about consumer shopping behavior online, impulse buying or setting up a working community of freelancers.
She added that the shift in mind-set that’s focused on services rather than things is led by Millennials
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Jennifer Lawrence has appeared in many ads for Dior since being named a face and ambassador for the brand in 2012. But for the fall campaign, she has a very new look, courtesy of Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri and photographer Brigitte Lacombe.
Jennifer Lawrence in Dior’s fall 2017 campaign.
Lacombe, who also shot the spring campaign, took black-and-white portraits of Lawrence sitting on a simple chair and what looks like a futon pillow and standing against a plain white wall wearing a black Bar jacket over the new Dior logo and statement T-shirts (We Should All Be Feminists; Dior Addict) and jeans. She looks relaxed, understated and comfortable, much more representative of the outspoken, no-filter persona for which she’s known, and is dressed the way that many young women dress today. The new images are notably different from Lawrence’s previous Dior ads, which were more posed and overtly polished.
Chiuri has expressed her desire to appeal to a Millennial consumer, and she and Lacombe began pursuing a more understated attitude with the spring campaign, which featured twin models Ruth and May Bell.
Accessories are a big part of Lawrence’s look in an unfussy way — she wears a choker layered with longer good-luck charm necklaces featuring birds
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NEW DIGS: Christopher Kane is planting a second flag in Mayfair this week with a pop-up shop at 15 Old Bond Street, WWD has learned. Kane’s Mount Street flagship, a 10-minute walk away, will remain open.
The space, which spans 538 square feet, has previously been home to fellow Kering brand Bottega Veneta, and to Tod’s. A Kane spokesperson said the pop-up will stock key pieces from the runway shows as well as commercial ready-to-wear and accessories. There will also be exclusive pieces made for the store, which is set to remain open until the end of the year.
“Mount Street remains our flagship store, and the opportunity to open a second space as a pop-up on Old Bond Street is a wonderful one,” the spokesperson said. “This additional store allows us the opportunity to showcase the brand — and the universe of what we do — to a potentially wider audience of both Londoners and tourist alike.”
The spokesperson said the brand is planning various cultural events throughout the year, including collaborations with different groups and local partners. There will also be product launches and other events.
Old Bond Street, home of other Kering brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Boucheron and Alexander McQueen,
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PARIS — There was zero ivory tower attitude at the second edition of the IME Village, a yearly vocational fair sponsored by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Institut des Métiers d’Excellence, or institute for métiers of excellence, held at Espace 93 in the notorious Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
Founded in 2014, the program is geared at opening up opportunities for kids from the area to discover the group’s métiers across a range of domains and learn about work/study apprenticeships done in partnership with six top French schools in jewelry, dressmaking, winemaking, leather goods, client advisory and retail design. They include the École de la Bijouterie-Joaillerie de Paris for jewelry, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne for fashion and Les Compagnons du Devoir for leather goods.
“We want to develop their employability, and we have needs in our ateliers, in our houses. We are looking for talent to join us, and we need to train them. It’s similar to [LVMH’S] Journées Particulières, where we open our ateliers to the public, only here the aim is to fill the ateliers with the talent potential we are looking for,” said Florence Rambaud, the program’s director.
“We consider that talent has no age and no origin, and we want to
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Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has notified the European Council of Britain’s intention to leave the EU, in a move that has prompted calls for the upcoming Brexit talks to be conducted in a spirit of fairness, and negotiations to be advanced quickly in order to prevent major business disruption.
Inspection and certification firm Bureau Veritas has partnered with the Cotton Egypt Association on an exclusive five-year collaboration to verify Egyptian Cotton at any stage along the supply chain.
Online retail giant Amazon is making its move on the Middle East with the acquisition of Dubai-based online shopping retailer Souq.com.