Posts under ‘Retail’

We’ve been talking about brand partnerships at WGSN for a few months now: and by that I literally mean brands who are brave enough to hand over some of the responsibility for shaping the personality of their brand to the customer. Apparel brands and retailers might shiver at the thought - although think about it [...]

We’ve been talking a lot recently about the importance of storytelling and tone of voice when communicating fashion and style messages. The question is, how do you make it come alive in-store? Here’s a great example from The Room at The Bay in Toronto. Bonnie Brooks, chief exec of the company, has always been a [...]

Don’t get me wrong. Everyone at WGSN is crazy about what they do, it’s part and parcel of working in this business. And then there’s Jen Sherrin.
Jen  is National Sales Manager for  Australia and New Zealand and she is particularly passionate about what she does, who she meets and what she can do to help [...]

Posh, such an English word, and for so many years, one that evoked memories of a young Princess Diana and eighties excess. Ruffle neck blouses have been making a sly entry into the market for a while (I will admit to owning a post-modern Uniqlo version), and our menswear team have even been inspired by [...]

Blame it on my being Canadian, but for years I didn’t think London’s Christmas windows came up to scratch. Lack of investment meant that the best people seemed to be able to do was put mirror balls in the windows, change the gels on the lights to purple, or red, and throw tinsel everywhere. Ok, [...]

Retail Safari this morning to Uniqlo’s London flagship to look at the launch of Jil Sander’s new range. By 8am there was a queue at the door as the design obsessed of London turned out to see the first collaboration between two modern design greats. At first glance the combination seems unusual, but Uniqlo’s ability [...]

Amanda Carr, our Senior Editor of Visual Merchandising has come in this morning buzzing about creativity on a budget. Plywood and vinyl are the materials du jour she says: “Let’s face it, visual merchandising budgets were never that big in the first place, so VM staff are well used to being creative on a budget, [...]

The WGSN team have been writing and talking about Merci, the cool Parisian boutique-department store since it opened last Spring. In fact What’s In Store Senior Editor Francesca Muston has never been so passionate about a new launch. I got to see it first hand on Saturday and was knocked out too. My Friday post [...]

Tough market, tired customers, changeable weather, it’s a retailers nightmare out there right now. These days the increasingly savvy customer – and yes this is a global phenomenon - shops the web first, knows to wait for the ‘secret’ discounts that are increasingly prevalent, and if worst comes to worst is willing to wait until [...]

Readers of this blog may recall my passion for Asian fashion and retail. The attention to detail and exquisite femininity distinguish it in the global fashion world… And yet, looking at the first wave of New York shows, there’s no doubt that the wave of Asian/American designers are starting to make their mark on the [...]