Amazin and his fashionable challenge

At the end of March, during the last edition of Tokyo Fashion Week, several events attracted the attention of the specialized press from around the world in Japan. During the six days of fashion shows, 59 collections were presented, including twenty young designers. Also their legendary and legendary label collections of Japanese fashion consecration at the international level as Issey Miyake, Undercover and Sacai. But it is the collection of designer Mame Kurogouchi, one of the strongest names of the new Japanese couture, which has aroused more expectations. Beyond the feminine aesthetic of its creations and its growing success in Paris, the Kurogouchi fashion show took place in a place as impressive as it is avant-garde: the new Amazon Fashion Studio Tokyo , a space of more than seven thousand square meters that the American giant of e-commerce used to centralize its operations of its fashion division.

In his book The Everything Store, journalist Brad Stone wrote down a comment that apparently only repeated Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. The quote says, "To be a $ 200 billion company, we must learn to sell clothes and food." Last year, he began filling the last part of his challenge after buying Whole Foods supermarkets. The first part, referring to clothing, is a task in which Amazon is developing. The textile business is complex and, in recent years, has been transformed into a key growth sector, which has led to the hiring of leaders of large luxury conglomerates to create specialized barracks, to ensure that his relationship with fashion goes from being a simple distributor and becoming a reference of style.

The Amazon Fashion Studio Tokyo – a four-storey concrete building, with 16 photo studios, five video studios, a hair and makeup salon, meeting rooms and offices of its executives – it is the fourth division of this type and it adds to those that it has in New York (in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn), London and Gurugram (one of the cities with the highest financial growth in India). Amazon's ambitions to enter and revolutionize the fashion industry began six years ago. Then he created a special fashion division and then opened his fashion studio in London. In 2012, she sponsored the MET Gala, and in 2015 she did the same with New York Men's Fashion Week. Now Amazon Fashion Week is the heritage of parades in new markets such as Japan or India.

Then came the alliances with celebrities and fashion brands. Last September, at London Fashion Week, she launched a unibad collection with Nicopanda – the avant-garde fashion brand created by Nicola Formichetti, former Lady Gaga collaborator and creative director of Diesel. In October, she presented a new collection of shoes that she made with Sarah Jessica Parker: with the actress the previous year, she had introduced a smaller line that was not sold than in the United States. A few months later, he published "Dear Drew", a fashion collection signed by Drew Barrymore. Sales were good, but widespread criticism said it was a mbadive fashion without any close to avant-garde or haute couture.

By the same token, the present company finds., Its first fashion brand for women and men in Europe Designed at the headquarters of Amazon Fashion in London, this line offers a catalog of more than 500 clothes – from shoes to coats – and is divided into two categories: one that uses seasonal patterns and another that focuses on basic wardrobe. Although this is its statement of principles, the brand prefers to stand out from fast fashion, from its price (which starts at $ 20 in the case of a dress) to the rapid turnover of its catalog (which adds new products weekly). In other words, it is in direct competition with distribution giants such as H & M, Zara, Asos or Primark.

Amazon's own brand inventory continued to grow with Iris & Lilly, its own brand of lingerie and Truth & Fable promotions, including dresses, two pieces and costumes. In addition, a few months ago, the e-commerce giant launched the fashion line and accessories Meraki in Europe, in which it offers basic products for women and men. Their prices are a little higher: they start from $ 30, which is related to the proposal of the Japanese brand Uniqlo, which bases its offer on a basic, functional and timeless quality. "Meraki offers easy-to-wear basic clothing, clean lines, timeless cuts, high-quality fabrics and a simple and elegant color palette so that pieces can be easily combined," he says. official version, Glen George, director of Amazon Fashion Private Brands

In the United States, where his fashion strategy is different from the one he develops for Europe, they have other brands who have been very successful, such as Lark & ​​Ro (specialized in and a rather conservative feminine line called Ella Moon.

Given the progressive growth of their fashion brands, it is clear to wonder how they have Defined so quickly what they are, the products that had to develop and the public to aim for.The key is in the database that was built since they started selling clothes in 2002. from brands like Levi's, Calvin Klein, Rebecca Taylor, Adidas and Puma. Although they marketed the designs of others, they managed to accumulate valuable information about the buying habits of their users, not to mention the lessons they could draw from customer feedback, which quickly thought if a garment did not work and what the reasons were. This is precisely the method used with find., Which has been several months on sale before its official launch, which has given them time to refine their features, set the profile of their buyers and improve the quality of their products. A useful, but not very accurate tool in the fickle fashion industry.

Another innovation Amazon Fashion was the establishment in the United States service that allows Amazon Prime partners to try at home up to three items of clothing, shoes, accessories for women , men, children and babies before paying them. The system allows that from the moment you receive the package, the consumer has seven days to test the items at home, return what does not interest you and only pay for the remaining items.

What follows? step? The destination is only one. To succeed in fashion, you must leave behind your image of a more utilitarian web and turn your fashion brands into objects of desire and products to fantasize. That's how it happens in general.