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Belen Echandia launches diffusion line

August 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

…Big news this week – we are launching a new line!

I’m so excited.  Next Wednesday 8th August 2012 we will launch our new diffusion line, B.E. for Belen Echandia.  We are all so, so, so excited!  Everyone keeps asking me about it and the inspiration behind it – and what the difference is between the diffusion line and our main line and well, I have received a lot of questions so I thought I’d write a quick blog post to share a bit more information.

I have always wanted to design a diffusion line.  I know that in recent years a sort of perfectionism has taken over and we have (among other things) added super polished zippers inside and out, started using some amazing, pretty expensive leathers and included details and add-ons that other brands would edit, edit, edit out (according to a friend who designs for a well-known upmarket brand, virtually all of our main line bags would be considered too expensive to produce).  I know that this has resulted in a fantastic product, but also one that is a bit more expensive than our initial collections and one that is out of the reach of some of our original customers.  I also know that there is demand from even our regular customers for a streamlined bag or two.

Our new line is a pared-down Belen Echandia aesthetic: a streamlined but lovely collection of bags in some fantastic colours.  Prices of the initial pieces range from £30 to £385.  This more accessible collection is actually a collaboration between Belen Echandia and the Italian artisans who hand-make each and every Belen Echandia bag.  Our artisans are the very soul of the brand and this endeavour further strengthens our support for them.

You may have already got the idea that we feel really strongly about using European, family-run artisans who create the most wonderful, beautiful quality bags. The economic climate has caused many accessories’ brands to relocate their production facilities to China in an attempt to slow the squeeze on margins caused by the mass of discounting of the last few years. This has put many European craftsmen out of business.  We are not willing to compromise on the incomparable quality of our workmanship nor to walk away from the loyal, talented artisans that have brought the brand this far. Our ethos is to connect you with local artisans and our new diffusion line, B.E. by Belen Echandia, helps to protect our atelier so that future handbag lovers can experience the quality of a hand-made piece.

The first bags in the new collection include two chic, wearable totes – one vertical and the other horizontal, a smart satchel and a soft hobo with detailed handle in the most fabulous of this season’s colours – an autumnal vermillion, a gorgeous petrol blue, a fiery red and a stunning light gold.  These gorgeous colours are hand-crafted into individual creations by our family-run Italian atelier in leathers such as saffiano textured calf and soft pebbled cowhide.

The main differences between our main line and this one are that this line is streamlined and easier to produce – there are very few time-consuming and expensive details – and that we have used different zippers and linings.  Some of the leathers will be the same – although most will be different – but we have not compromised on the quality of our leather. We hope you will agree that the result is a lovely collection of bags in some stunning colours at a more affordable price point.

Please note that our usual customization options are not available on this line.

If you can’t possibly wait until the bags hit the store for pre-order on Wednesday 8th August 2012, get in touch with Janelle Walters, our Personal Stylist, on janelle@belenechandia.com for more information.
To see all our lovely bags, click here.

Filed Under: BE by Belen Echandia, Behind the scenes, Belen Echandia, Business of Fashion, Fashion, Handbags, Social Responsibility, Things We Love

2012 Trends: Transparency & Traceability

June 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

The other day I posted a link on Facebook to new Belgian website Honest By which puts pricing and sourcing transparency at the top of its agenda.  It provoked a great debate both on and off the page – some liked it and some didn’t, though the consensus amongst the fashion industry people who emailed me was that the pricing transparency could prove to be ‘too much information’ for many consumers.

One designer friend thought that full pricing transparency would lead to more people trying to find out who they know at a company to try to buy items at wholesale price for the simple reason that it is often difficult for consumers who are not business owners themselves to imagine all the costs behind producing and selling a product.  I certainly had no idea before I started Belen Echandia.  If you have a thought about this, let me know in the comments field below. This got me thinking about the relatively new trend for brand transparency and how 2012 seems set to be the year the concept will really enter mainstream consciousness. Several companies have offered up information about their “behind the scenes” for years, Belen Echandia being one of them, and more are set to launch.  I don’t think that this is a passing trend, it is here to stay. Companies are sharing more and more about their processes, their backgrounds, their procedures and even the way their products are made.

One example is the IOU Project, which aims to show the whole process behind its products, from the Indian weaver who weaved the fabric, to the artisan who worked on the product, to the final consumer. The IOU Project’s blog describes its initiative like this: “The IOU Project produces unique, handmade apparel based on fabrics handwoven in India. Because each textile is unique, we provide end buyers with the ability to trace the production process from finished goods right back to the weaver that hand-wove the fabric. The stories of how that item was created, of the people involved, of the customers who purchased them, are the essence of the the e-commerce social network which The IOU Project has built as a meeting place for a community that shares our brand values of authenticity, transparency, uniqueness and both social and environmental responsibility.” Another project that caught my eye is Sourcemap.

Jennifer Sharpe used Sourcemap, a free online tool which traces supply chains from manufacturer to consumer as part of her master’s thesis at Parsons.  In order to test the platform in a real-life setting she worked with John Patrick, the designer behind Organic. “I explained my work with Sourcemap, and my focus on clothing traceability, and John was completely receptive in allowing me to document and source-map his supply chain,” Sharpe told Ecouterre in a recent interview.

Sourcemap is a revolutionary fashion tool which allows you to track the production of everyday products from cradle to grave. According to Sourcemap itself:

“Consumers use the site to learn about where products come from, what they’re made of, and how they impact people and the environment. Companies use Sourcemap to communicate transparently with consumers and tell the story of how products are made. Thousands of maps have already been created for food, furniture, clothing, electronics and more.   Behind the public-facing website is a revolutionary social network-based approach to supply chain management.

Sourcemap works with organizations to increase visibility into their supply chains through a new generation of web-based software for traceability, monitoring and risk management. The lightweight, real-time social networking platform makes it possible to gather information from all of the stakeholders in a global supply chain so that – one day soon – you’ll be able to scan a product on a store shelf and know exactly who made it.”  Source: www.sourcemap.com (no pun intended).

Belen Echandia began showing the production process to customers a few years ago. We decided to set up a blog to show bespoke bags being made.  At the other end of the spectrum, we allow our customers to post pictures of themselves with their bags on our website.  In the coming weeks we will be turning our long-loved concept into a story board on our website. Which brings us to the next instalment and one of our absolute favourite 2012 trends:

STORY TELLING – Coming soon!

 

Filed Under: Behind the scenes, Business of Fashion, Fashion, Fashion Trends

2012 Trends in Pictures: European/Local Production

June 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Merchant Fox – Made in England

Belen Echandia: Made in Italy

V.C. White Menswear – Made in Manchester, UK

Albam Menswear – Crafted in England

Hard Graft – Made in Germany

Filed Under: Behind the scenes, Belen Echandia, Business of Fashion, Fashion

Fashion trends – do you take them or leave them?

June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Trends are fascinating things.  I think of them as stories, starting out as an idea that grows and builds as different people take hold of them and fashion them in different ways.  They tend to morph from one idea at the beginning of a season into something completely different at the end, leaving all but the most dedicated and the most creative struggling to keep up with the pace.

Trends tend to recur more often than we realize, making them more of an investment than they may initially appear.  Think about the number of times you have avoided buying something because it would date rather quickly, only to find that it carries over to the next season and a year later it is back on the trend radar again.  Animal prints are the perfect example of a trend that comes and goes, but never really goes away.

So how do you decide whether to spend your money on a fashion trend?  Since trends tend to get recycled very regularly, whether or not I buy into a trend has little to do with the fact that it is a trend that will quickly pass.  Instead, I base my buying decisions on other factors.  Is it flattering? Will it wash well?  Do I feel great in it? Will it blend into my wardrobe or does it need a whole new wardrobe of its own?

I believe that it is a mistake to be a slave to trends by buying into them just for the sake of it.  Your body is a blank canvas and what you dress it up in matters, because it reflects your personality.  So the most important factor in a buying decision for me isn’t what label it is, or whether it’s trendy or in fashion, it is whether it makes me feel good and I can pull it off with confidence.  One more thing – wearing a trend head-to-toe is never a good look.

 

Filed Under: Business of Fashion, Fashion

Pop-up stores with a difference

May 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In this article I wrote about the convergence of offline and online retail.  Now pop-up stores, which were once the territory of small companies, are being used in a new way by multi-channel retail brands seeking to obtain an advantage over their competitors using the latest interactive technology to reduce the risk of opening stores.

Online fashion sites Net-a-Porter and MyWardrobe have both employed “virtual shopping windows” to create a physical space for their brands. In January, Net-a-Porter promoted the launch of its new venture with Karl Lagerfeld by opening reality pop-up shop windows in New York, London, Berlin, Paris and Sydney.  The purpose was to create a buzz around the launch, but the pop-up concept can be used in numerous ways.

 MyWardrobe of the “Everyday luxury” fame used a virtual shopping wall in Oslo to launch its online business in Norway. The window display was the first to be powered by Microsoft’s Kinetic technology, which is often used by gaming companies.  The storefront became an interactive version of My Wardrobe, which shoppers controlled.  Customers could browse the site just by waving their hands in front of it.  The new industry darling, QR codes, were then used to send shoppers to the Norwegian mobile site to buy online.

Kirsty Glenne, head of Scandinavia at MyWardrobe, says the initiative brought a new dimension to its online shopping experience. “It gave a taster of the brand and it made the website jump out and become real. It was really important for launching in a new market”.

Most interestingly of all, the window display was temporary but the offline store remains in Oslo as a showroom to enable MyWardrobe to supplement its website with a click-and-collect service.

Department stores John Lewis and House of Fraser have launched similar click-and-collect initiatives in the past year, which John Lewis’ marketing director Craig Inglis says will be its “most multichannel service yet”.  He thinks that combining capital streams (on and offline) is the way of the future.

Storytelling

Although the opportunities offered by technological advancements give retailers virtually unlimited opportunities to reach out to new audiences, and increase engagement, there are other options.

Online shoe retailer StylistPick used a more traditional approach in Westfield’s White City mall when it opened its first pop-up store in February.  Its subscribers complete a style questionnaire and StylistPick then uses this to select a  personalised accessories collection, which its members receive each month.  The brand used the temporary installation to extend its reach, inviting members to meet its stylists face-to-face and browse its range, which included Cheryl Cole’s exclusive shoe collection.  Cole was present during the event, hosting an in-store evening so that members could meet her in person..

The temporary installation was created to give Stylistpick the opportunity to meet its customers and form relationships according to Juliet Warkentin, StylistPick’s chief creative officer.  Originality was key and storytelling was the main theme – communicating product messages in a new way.”

Whether it involves bringing an online brand into the physical space temporarily or captivating new audiences with new and unique stores, expanding in new ways through a mixture of channels the current trend and the one companies are banking on to make them stand out from their competitors.  This could be a genius idea if well-executed with the right budget, but it may be risky territory to hold so many balls in the air, for those who are operating on a shoe-string.  The most important factors (in my humble opinion) are likely to be the size of the budget, the ideas brands prioritize and the partners they select.

For more articles and fashion inspiration visit our Facebook page.

To read reviews of our bags and more about the background behind our brand as well as fashion and more, visit our Online Magazine.

For more of my thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects, please subscribe to my updates – Jackie Cawthra.

 

Filed Under: Business of Fashion, Fashion

2012 Trends – Eco fashion trends Part I

May 15, 2012 By

This blog post is part of a series of blog posts on new trends for 2012.

Jackie and an artisan in Otovalo, circa 2006

1. Local Production & artisan craftsmanship

Artisan production has long been important as a brand value for Belen Echandia but 2012 is the year when bigger brands embrace it as a trend, both in marketing and advertising efforts and as inspiration for clothing and accessories.  The big question for me is do they really mean it or are they doing it as a marketing exercise?  It is lovely to see Chanel bags made in an atelier in France, but to what extent does this tell the whole story? This remains to be seen and we are interested to see how it unfolds.

2. Sustainability

As consumers want to know more and more about their purchases – how and where they are manufactured and by whom, the fashion industry is moving towards a model of greater transparency and sustainability.  Consumers are buying less and less, but better quality.  They want to know that companies are paying a living wage and the careful use of precious resources.

More and more companies will incorporate environmental checks and display these in a transparent
 way. More companies will become Carbon Neutral.  There will be an increase in social enterprises which address a social objective, such as The Supply Change.  This company connects artisans in developing economies to the global marketplace.   Other such projects include Afia, the IOU Project and Suno, which work with traditional craftspeople in a modern, fashion-forward way the same way Belen Echandia does.

The Demise of Fast Fashion

Amy Dufault, the managing editor of Eco Salon, sai in a recent interview  “I see the trend of fast fashion slowly (very slowly) waning as more well-researched stories are published on it and mainstream consumers can see in a new light just what the implications of fast fashion are.

I hope in my heart of hearts that we are good humans who want to support fair trade, women’s rights, and smaller carbon footprints and not slave labour and catastrophic environmental degradation. That we can garner a conscience and even a little more creativity in how we present ourselves to the world clad in our personal, daily costumes. That despite the world going to hell in a hand basket, there is always the drumming of a band of young men and women designers, artists of the cloth, who want to make a difference as to how those clothes make it to you, how they make an impression on you, and that you accept and support them.

Fingers crossed (again).”

I also hope that 2012 will be the year when consumers really get behind the independent brands that truly care about artisan production and quality and not just profits.  Here’s to that!

Coming up next week in Part II:

  • The trend towards sustainable materials
  • The growing demand for handmade, vintage and recycled fashion
  • The Human Element; and
  • Quality triumphs quantity

For more articles and fashion inspiration visit our Facebook page.

To read reviews of our bags and more about the background behind our brand as well as fashion and more, visit our Online Magazine.

For more of my thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects, please subscribe to my updates – Jackie Cawthra.

Filed Under: Belen Echandia, Business of Fashion, Fashion

Bonobos + Nordström = the fashion innovation of the future

May 7, 2012 By 1 Comment

Andy Dunn – Picture Source New York Times

Andy Dunn was involved with the founding of Bonobos five years ago. One of his main aims was to shake-up the retail industry with a men’s wear brand only sold online.  But a new innovation is emerging in the land of luxury fashion, with brands like Bonobos forming strategic partnerships with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Nordstrom, the 111-year-old department store.

Both parties describe the deal as symbiotic.  Nordström wants access to Bonobos’ online marketing expertise and Bonobos will get $16.4 million of Nordströms cash and more than 100 stores to sell its clothes.

“We’ve been thinking about where growth is going to come from across all retail over the next 10 years,” said Jamie F. Nordstrom, the head of Nordstrom.com and the great-grandson of the company’s founder to the New York Times. “And certainly square-footage growth is not where that growth is coming from.”

As more and more consumers shop online, brick-and-mortar retailers and fledgling e-commerce sites realize that they can form strategic partnerships.  The pace and landscape of retail is changing and what may surprise many is that traditional retailers, with all the resources in the world, just haven’t managed to keep pace with the innovative mentality of internet start-ups. At the other end of the spectrum, Internet companies are starting to see the benefits of teaming up with well-established marketing partners with substantial resources and distribution networks.

Nordstrom has been among the most successful retailers online. Last February, it paid $180 million for Hautelook, the first of takeover of a sales site by a traditional retailer. The retailer is also changing its main website, introducing same-day shipping and placing 6,000 mobile hand-held devices in its stores to enhance the customer’s shopping experience.

The company will invest $140 million on e-commerce this year, a 40 percent increase from 2011.  Over the next five years, it intends to devote almost $1 billion, or roughly 30 percent of its capital expenditures, on boosting e-commerce growth.

Nordstromwas initially interested in a typical distribution deal with Bonobos, a brand bought by well-to-do professionals who like crisp plaid shirts and red chambray pants. But the retailer found a greater interest after examining Bonobos’s operations and how it engaged with its online audience. Mr. Nordstrom was particularly impressed with Bonobos’s mail-outs which included customized elements and links to quirky You Tube videos, which appealed to Bonobos’s male clientele.

Nordstrom’s new online strategy has already reaped rewards for the company.  In the last year, the company has improved the personalization and targeted customer emails, mirroring efforts by HauteLook. This has increased engagement “pretty significantly,” according to Mr. Nordstrom. The executives at HauteLook, along with the team at Bonobos, will also help the company design new applications for mobile devices and Nordstrom.com.  The new relationship could be equally advantageous to Bonobos, which is dealing with rising competition online.

In its early years, the business grew fast, supported by word-of-mouth marketing. But as Bonobos grew it began to spend more money on advertisements to attract new customers. By 2011, the company was devoting about 20 percent of its revenue to marketing, about double the previous year.  Finding new clients became more and more difficult.

Bonobos’ hope is that teaming up with Nordström will help Bonobos gain new clients, particularly those who don’t usually shop online. Although Nordstrom may cannibalize some of Bonobos’s existing sales, Mr. Dunn, the company’s chief executive, said any loss in direct sales would be offset by the marketing benefits.

“It was foolish to contain this brand in one channel,” he said. “For so long we were operating like we were so different from store-driven retailers, but we are more similar.”

For more articles and fashion inspiration visit our Facebook page.

To read reviews of our bags and more about the background behind our brand as well as fashion and more, visit our Online Magazine.

For more of my thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects, please subscribe to my updates – Jackie Cawthra.

 

Filed Under: Belen Echandia, Business of Fashion, Fashion, Things We Love