American Fashion Podcast

In Pursuit of Luxury

Behind the scenes with the panelists and organizers as LIM College hosts a conference on luxury in partnership with Brooklyn College and The University of Hertfordshire. In Pursuit of Luxury is an academic and industry crossover conference, focused on the luxury products market.

Part One includes Christopher Ferree, the Lanvin brand manager at Bergdorf Goodman; Veronica Manlow of Brooklyn College; and Travis Haglin, former Ralph Lauren executive and General Manager for Burberry.

Part Two includes Shaun Borstrock, Associate Dean of The School of Creative Arts at The University of Hertfordshire in England; Veronica Manlow of Brooklyn College; and Jacqui Jenkins, Dean of Graduate Studies at LIM College.

Highlights:

• “From a market standpoint, we’re going to shift to the brick and mortar being where the entertainment happens, where the emotion and excitement can continue to happen. E-commerce will be able to be kind of for that utility, that quick easy pickup. Something that, ‘I know I want this, but I’ve experienced it in the store. I’m going to make my purchase now.’ It’s allowing for that ability for an aspirational person to go in, have fun, connect with the brand. They might not be ready to purchase then, but they’ll go, whatever time they need to save up for that item, and then they’ll order online because it’s convenient. And then they’ll go back.” – Travis Haglin (7:42)
• “They actually want, whether it’s a young latin guy, young black guy, young Asian kid who’s studying in the States, he wants to come to the store. He looks online. He shops online. They’ve told me that they want to come into the store. They want to buy it in the store. Buying into that dream, buying into that idea of ‘I can go to the boutique, and find it, and have that experience.’ Rather than just the transaction of being online.” -Christopher Ferree (9:13)
• “What I’m hearing is the commodification of luxury has happened, and we’re starting to see the rejection of that in going back to the individual, almost a bespoke process, speaking to the artisanal, the craftsman who put the essence into what made luxury really what it was. Due to our business demands, we’ve, in essence, commodified it.” Travis Haglin (22:15)
• “LIM will be launching a luxury program next year, and for us this was an opportunity to develop really the conversation: luxury from an academic and industry perspective. But more importantly, to identify partners to work with as we go forward in building out our program.” – Jacqui Jenkins (37:16)

References:

• Goods of Conscience
• John Elliott

Author Michael Gross

Michael Gross (website) is the author of a number of books on the subject of elitist worlds, from billionaire condo buildings to model management. His new book is  Focus: The Secret, Sexy, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers, and he is in the studio with American Fashion Podcast to talk about it.

Also in the studio, a guest host: fashion and beauty photographer Stephen Eastwood.

A Great Conversation

Discussion begins with Mr. Gorss expanding on how he came to write this book in the beginning, then turns to Mr. Eastwood’s comments on the transition from film to digital for fashion photography and into the social media space, which is where the book ends. An interesting conversation comes up about whether the golden age of fashion magazines will come back, with Gross and Eastwood on opposite sides of the argument. Are there any magazines that stand as an oasis in the corporate brand management approach to editing fashion? Where is the line between editorial and advertorial? Has it moved?

Gross talks about some of his favorite stories from the book, particularly regarding Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Alexy Brodovitch, and more. He also talks more about the AIDS crisis and the absolute darkness it brought down on the fashion industry’s leading creatives, when “every week there was a funeral.”

The recording includes some commentary on the passing of Bill Cunningham, who is not featured in the book.

Fashion Photography Tips

Stephen Eastwood give some advice on taking photos yourself, for designers who can’t afford a professional photographer yet. The group talks about interference from clients and editors on set, and the difference between people who get in the way with ignorant micromanagement and the people who come in with ideas. Michael Gross talks about his experience watching a massive advertising campaign being executed by a team of 30 technicians.

References

• Public Speaking (film)

Celebrating 100 Episodes

Designer Domenico Vacca welcomes guests from the Open Source Fashion and Fashion Media Center communities at his private DV Club above the new Domenico Vacca flagship store on 55th Street in Manhattan, celebrating 100 episodes of both American Fashion Podcast and Fashion Is Your Business.

As part of the party, Charles Beckwith interviews Mr. Vacca about his new flagship store, which has been designed as a brand experience space. This is not a new concept, but one that is growing in popularity. As e-commerce becomes more prevalent, selling products in a brick and mortar retail store becomes less important than conveying brand identity, so special brands need special spaces and special experiences.

The suitmaker talks about sticking to Italian cuts for his menswear in the US market, and how and why he resisted wholesale pressures to change his approach, holding on to fine stitching and high grade materials. He embraced consumer education instead of bowing to US domestic market pressures.

Milestones

This 100 episodes celebration comes just days after we reached the milestone of 9 terabytes of audio files delivered to our audiences, which would translate to about 670 weeks of continuous listening if someone cared to listen to all the .mp3 files we have served. To date, episodes of our shows have been downloaded nearly 900,000 times.

Both the American Fashion Podcast and Fashion Is Your Business teams want to thank everyone who has spent either one hour or two hundred hours listening to the shows over the last two years, and all of the wonderful guests who have given their time and energy to telling great stories as part of our programs. We keep talking because you keep listening.

 

Fashion Ignores So Many Womem

Our interview with Cindy Weber-Cleary, the former fashion editor of InStyle Magazine and now co-founder of the shopping site Apprécier, which serves the vast number of women over 45 years of age who seem to be widely ignored as customers by the fashion industry.

Has online shopping changed how women over 45 dress themselves? Do affluent women seek bargains? What has happened to brand loyalty? Why are so many magazines still failing?

references:

• Suite 1521
• Shoppable
• Gary Graham
• People Style, Fashion e-Comm Site Busted for “Confusing” Native Ads (The Fashion Law)

This is part two of the live audience recording with Rebecca and Uri Minkoff.

In front of a live audience, sibling designers Rebecca and Uri Minkoff talk about building a thriving brand in the midst of a chaotic industry with failing systems. Guest host Rob Sanchez from the Fashion Is Your Business Podcast. This is Part One of Two, with the second portion of the interview being on the Fashion Is Your Business podcast.

Ethical Writers Coalition members Kasi Martin (The Peahen) and Alden Wicker (Ecocult) talk about living a sustainable stylish life.

Sustainable Living References:

• Helpsy
• Trash Is For Tossers
• Thrive (book)
• Eco Intelligent Polyester (for furnishings)
• Slack
• Reddit
• Ecouterre
• How To Pitch A Conscious Blogger
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (book)
• Suzanne Rae
• Titania Inglis
• Reformation
• The-Acey
• Kitty Ferreira
• Everlane
• Ecocult Shopping Guide
• The Peahen Shopping Guide

To find more episodes of the series or search for a specific guest, refer to our Episode List page. If you would like to be a guest on the show, there is a Be A Guest page. You can find press coverage of the show on our Press page. There is also a Media Kit if you’re interested in partnering with us or sponsoring the series. Our email address is [email protected] and our voicemail line is 646-979-8709. You can find American Fashion Podcast on Facebook, on Instagram @americanfashionshow and on Twitter @afpod. To sign up to attend our live shows, visit the Live Shows page. Thanks for listening!

Tanya Menendez is the co-founder of the factory index site Maker’s Row. With 10,000 factories and 100,000 businesses cataloged for easy access, it helps designers manufacture clothing and accessories in the United States. In this episode, we talk with Tanya about what she did before, how Maker’s Row came about, how designers and manufacturers can use the site, and where it’s going.

Charles, Seth, and Lisa reflect on the journey to 100 episodes. What did Seth and Lisa think when Charles said “we should do a podcast” back in June of 2014?

interview highlights:

“My curiosity overtook any fear that I had, and I was just excited to be able to learn something completely new.”

“I felt like I was walking into a speakeasy when I walked into my first factory, because it felt like a secret club. They had unmarked doors. You had to learn a new language in order to be able to hang, in order to be competent in the space.”

“What made me really hopeful about the state of American manufacturing was the people and the workers. I met incredible factory owners that cared deeply about their customers, that had survived years of offshoring and had adapted to be able to survive.”

“We can do large batches, and that will happen with electronic cutting tables and a lot of other technologies that are coming in. I actually see large run going away entirely. Large run isn’t even going to be a part of the conversation in the future. I think that people don’t want a one size fits all, and I think that’s why American manufacturing is starting off with small batch, and I think small batch is the future. I am seeing Chinese factories trying to do small batch now. A lot of American factories that used to do large runs are now shifting their minimums because the demand is shifting.”

references:

• SoftWear Automation

We’ve been watching the e-commerce company Betabrand for a long time, and what they’re doing is quite interesting. Designers of any skill level sign up for their platform and submit designs, ranging from just a sketch to full tech packs, and then the site’s users vote on the designs they want to be able to purchase through a crowdfunding model. Then Betabrand makes final selections and manufactures the goods, splitting the profit with the designers, and users get credit for other items if their favorite designs don’t get made.

At the home of dress pant yoga pants, bike-to-workwear, and executive hoodies, Liz Rossof is director of the think tank. She was in town from San Francisco on a recruiting trip and sat down in a friend’s Lower Lower East Side apartment to talk with Charles Beckwith and Rob Sanchez.

Success of design pitches on the platform is largely determined by their story, with the most creative explanations of what a given garment will do for one’s life garnering the most votes.

Betabrand References:

• Lobo Mau
• Melissa Fleis

An interview with Adi Gil, Angela Donhauser, and Gabi Asfour,the designer trio collectively known as threeASFOUR.

What is the place in fashion and New York City for art, life and, spunk? A conversation with three designers known for keeping the flame alive.

“There is a certain type of allowing the heart to come in, or allowing the spark to shine, to give light. So, we allow that to happen. That’s basically a rule that we have. But it’s not a spoken rule.” – Gabi Asfour

Why is their studio in Chinatown? How do they think about technology and science, and why does it show up in their work so often? What is biomimicry? How are they using 3D printing and ideas of chain mail in soft clothing fashion? How did three people from worlds of such unimaginably brutal conflict come together to create such a dynamic partnership? What is so uiversal about geometry, and how has that played into their work time an again?

“We always tell the people that come and work with us, there are times that we have many interns, and we learn from them too. I mean, they come to us and tell us that being with us is the best school, better than their actual school. But then we tell them that we learn so much with them and from them. Sometimes we’ll do patterns together, and I tell them, ‘let’s look at it.’ We learn together. It’s not like I know better. I learn every day.” – Adi Gil

“Most peoples’ goals is to make money on the stock exchange, for instance. Business, you know? Get rich. We would like to get rich on the human exchange. And I guess that’s what it all is, the human exhange. The more you connect with people, the richer you are as a person. To be humans with other humans, and that’s the foundation for everything else.” – Angela Donhauser