On the 10th of March Startup Disrupt, in cooperation with Footshop and others, organized an event Fashion Disrupt: Streetwear. The event was moderated by Pavlína Louženská, a mentor of Google for Startups. As it’s clear from the title – we spoke about streetwear and also about its sustainability, design, reselling, and trends.
The whole event was divided into three parts:
- a panel discussion on Streetwear with Tomáš Velický (exVF), Peter Kováč (Footshop), Peter Hlavička (Flace) and Michal Mucha (Addict).
- a panel discussion on Sustainable shoes with Sebastian Thies and Eliška Horčíková
- a pitch session with two startups (Public Fibre, RePack Posse)
Almost half of the fashion executives think COVID-19 and the economic crisis will be the biggest challenge of 2021 for the business of fashion. The digital environment will be more and more around us in the next months and e-commerce will probably be the only possibility to be in the market for some brands – even traditional luxury brands like Dior and Channel are suddenly entering the digital space, even when they were first opposing it.
Customer’s behavior has changed – brands need to shift to being digital and local.
Reselling and communities
It’s not just about hype and having fresh stuff – it’s way deeper than that. Let’s talk about reselling! About 20% of luxury brands’ customers have used resale platforms in the last 12 months, 50% more likely among trendsetters. Reselling of streetwear, and especially sneakers, is investing. Even before the COVID pandemic, there were millions of people, which were buying sneakers because they knew that they’ll profit from them.
People are spending money on new apparel and a big part of them defines themselves by their clothes – the product is a part of their identity. One of the defining subcultures of streetwear is for sure the community around skateboarding. Tomáš Velický, one of our speakers, said that he found his way to the world of fashion and streetwear through skateboarding. The authenticity of the brand is important. The lifestyle or community that the product is surrounded by, is as important as its design. It’s really important to be relevant for your focus group or target audience. Being relevant as a brand is defined by many factors such as brand communication, being influential, and how bold are you in your campaigns.
The key product is sneakers, but that’s not the only streetwear piece to care about. Petr Hlavička said that there’s no more streetwear in 2021 because it evolved into internet wear. People aren’t in the streets, aren’t showing off their new and fresh stuff – they’re now just taking pictures of the clothes and posting them on social media.
Petr Kovo from Footshop shared information about Footshop and surviving the dropping sales because of the global COVID-19 crisis. Footshop recognized a few drops but they managed it really quickly. He agreed with Petr Hlavička – internet wear is a thing because people are home and taking pictures of the new clothes they own.
Sustainability
Footwear and sustainability. It should be everyone’s responsibility to work in a more sustainable way, but some companies aren’t doing it right. It’s definitely important to find the right mix of sustainability and design.
Sebastian Thies shared for example really interesting information about being audited for being sustainable and Eliška Hořčíková showed us the differences between working on a bigger brand and working on your own brand as a designer. Are you interested in learning more about the topic of sustainability? Check out our Fashion Disrupt: Streetwear event!
What to read next?
If you are interested in starting your own fashion business, the brand is the first thing you’ll have to deal with. Think forward and get sufficient legal protection for your brand. The fashion industry is often the target of copying and stealing ideas. Read the whole article about starting your own business in fashion from a legal point of view here.