Fashion-Focused Networking at Behind the Seams
Social network met old-fashioned face-to-face networking at Behind the Seams, an all-day workshop series organized by Afingo (www.afingo.com) and sponsored by MAGIC International.
The Nov. 20 event, held at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles, drew a who’s who of fashion-industry panelists, including designers Tiffany Tuttle of LD Tuttle and Corinne Grassini of Society for Rational Dress; retailers Cameron Silver of Decades and Michael Segal, chief executive officer of Fred Segal; and Courtney Rotolo, buyer for American Rag.
With workshops ranging from trend forecasting and green business practices to strategies for launching a collection, the Behind the Seams event kicked off with a panel on the importance of social networking, moderated by Emily Heintz, business-development director of the California Fashion Association.
“Facebook and Twitter are a given,” said Macala Wright Lee, CEO and founder of the Fashionably Digital consultancy and the founder of FashionablyMarketing.me digital-marketing magazine. “Everything else comes down to a customizable formula. Are you a small or large brand? Do you have short-term or long-term goals? Depending on your bandwidth, staff and goals, you don’t want to overextend yourself. It takes a long time to establish trust in the community.”
Lee shared a story about luxury brand Burberry’s efforts to build a fan base on Facebook. According to Lee, it took a year for Burberry to reach 1 million fans. That figure jumped to 2 million within six months. Burberry was able to reach 3 million fans after only 30 days.
“Look at Facebook, with half a billion people, as a gated community,” said Rikk Galvan, CEO and founder of the ShareYourselfMedia consultancy. “You need to put an office in that community, otherwise you’re standing outside the gates.”
Kaylene Peoples, founder and editor in chief of online fashion publication Agenda magazine, echoes Galvan’s sentiments, saying, “If you’re not going social networking, you’re not reaching people.”
The panel also included fashion journalist Merle Ginsberg, who discussed the importance of celebrities in marketing a collection.
“Everyone says, ’When is it going to stop?’ It’s not,” she said.
But Lee noted that neither celebrities nor a purely online marketing strategy were enough to secure success.
“You have to create love stories online and off,” she said. “Make them fall in love with you over and over again.”
The group also discussed the impact of social networking on fashion shows and trade shows, noting that in neither case would the virtual world eclipse the real one.
Still, Karalynn Sprouse, vice president of sales for MAGIC International, said the use of social-networking tools such as Twitter and technology such as streaming video is becoming more prevalent at the trade show. At the upcoming MAGIC show in Las Vegas in February, Sprouse said, there will be Tweeting from the show floor, as well as teen bloggers covering the show and live streaming video from the show floor.
“I love MAGIC because I love walking the floor and seeing who’s there,” Lee said. “There are retailers using Twitter and Foursquare. People were checking into the booths on Foursquare.”
And while Ginsberg noted that in September, Burberry made headlines by inviting consumers to watch its Spring 2011 runway show in London via a live stream—and gave them the opportunity to immediately place orders for the collection, the panelists agreed that there’s no substitute for the energy of actually attending a fashion event.
Social networking provides a new way to connect with the end consumer, Galvin said.
“When there’s a trade show or a fashion event, social networking enables manufacturers and designers to engage their customer in real time,” he said.
Afingo is an online community of designers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers that merges social networking, fashion-industry sourcing and an e-commerce marketplace in one venue. The website was co-founded by apparel-industry veterans Liza Deyrmenjian and Kristian Giambi with professional baseball player and entrepreneur Jason Giambi.
Afingo plans to continue hosting Behind the Events in New York and Los Angeles with events scheduled for March and April 2011. For more information, visit www.afingo.com.—Alison A. Nieder
