Looking back at some of the most prominent fashion trends this past summer we have the Barbie aesthetic which took the industry by storm, as its namesake movie became a massive success and fashion brands were able to leverage the hype in their collections. From Barbie-branded collaborations to pink trend edits, brands rapidly incorporated the aesthetic in their summer pieces.
Considering the considerable influence that collaborations wield in the fashion industry, and their ability to create buzz and tap into new markets, with collections that often sell out in record time, how are leading brands leveraging trends to develop their collaborations? Furthermore, what is the key to nailing collaboration strategies?
AI-powered data has revolutionized how leading fashion brands strategize and excel in brand collaborations, ultimately giving them a competitive edge. In the current economic climate, there is little room for guesswork and error. Therefore, understanding precisely how the market is executing collaborations in terms of assortment range, pricing structure, marketing initiatives and out of stock rates is crucial in pinpointing the ideal collaboration strategy for your own brand. Lectra’s automated benchmarking platform for fashion brands, Retviews, is helping brands do exactly this and has become a brand’s best ally in optimizing strategies.
Decoding Real-Time Data Insights
Amid a surge in collaborations across the industry, spanning luxury and sportswear links to mass market brands collaborating with premium brands, knowing how to approach your own collaboration efforts is essential in order to maximize profitability and minimize leftover stock.
Using AI-driven real-time data allows you to eliminate the guesswork and track when competitors are releasing collaborations and provides an up-close look at exactly what type of pieces are being released, from the category they are found in, to their fabric composition. Automated data allows you to closely follow pricing structures in your competitors’ collections, a crucial factor considering today’s economic slowdown. As brands are releasing collaborations, knowing how to price them in order to maximize sell-through rates and limit leftover stock is key in maximizing margins and limiting unnecessary discounts. Timing is another critical factor here, as the trend cycle is shifting ever more rapidly therefore collections can quickly lose relevancy and leave brands with substantial amounts of inventory. This is precisely where AI benchmarking comes into play.
Accessing the data behind collaboration assortments
Taking the most recent Barbie hype surrounding the movie release, leading mass market brands such as Zara and GAP released Mattel-branded collaborations, and Retviews’ data show the assortment variety found in a collaboration collection, indicating which categories your competitors are opting for in creating their collections. Tailor-made dashboards allow you to monitor specific collections launched by your competitors and enhanced image-labeling enables tracking the smallest details defining a product, thus allowing you to get all the details on your competitors’ assortments. When looking at Barbie collaborations specifically, Retviews’ data show that ZARA integrated its Barbie pieces throughout an extensive number of categories, whereas GAP had a larger focus on more classic categories like t-shirts and sweatshirts.