Column: New austerity challenges retail – or?
1 Sep, 2007
An intense weekend on the Milan trade fair made the trend even clearer: Recycled and low-key design was seen everywhere. The design guru Tom Dixon displayed his products on old white-stained loading pallets and the furniture company Establish & Sons whole showroom consisted of stacked boxes that acted as walls, shelves and communicators. The new buzzwords are “Smart”, “Cost Effective” and “New Applications”.
Viewpoint Magazine, possibly the word’s best (and most expensive) trend magazine calls the trend “Nu Austerity”. According to their surveys, 21% of UK’s population will spend less the following year. While financial worries and rising interests may trigger this response, people feel that it’s cool and smart to have control over their money. People are simply tired of over-consuming. It does not feel very smart to constantly buy new clothes at the discount chain that become outdated a month later.
H&Ms new concept COS – Collection of Style – confirms the trend that there is a market pull for non-throwaway fashion. The COS collections are trans-seasonal which means classic cuts and less trendy designs. The high quality of the brand makes the garments more expensive but provides better value for money since you hopefully will use them longer.
Over designed and luxurious flagship stores like Rem Koolhaas Prada in New York feel out of fashion, almost vulgar. The new trend is to recycle and preserve the location’s origins to arrive at an unpolished almost “anti-designed” feel. Urban Outfitters tried this by shunning the classic monumental staircase in their new Stockholm store. Instead they preserved the former cinema theatre’s architecture. However, I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t keep more original details and that the result still felt a bit over designed.
A better example is Comme des Garcon’s guerrilla stores. The latest one has opened in an old garage in Glasgow. They just cleaned the place and kept the existing furniture and storage facilities. Expensive clothes are now displayed beside crowbars and old tires. The result is exactly the smart and slightly bizarre hybrid that feels new and fresh today.
I like the “let’s use what we got” mentality and totally agree with the person that coined the phrase “Happiness is not getting what you want; it’s wanting what you have”. While many retail professionals may be slightly sceptical to this trend, just look at what mighty H&M does: Turning the new austerity into a possibility that perfectly fits the needs of the modern consumer.
Caroline Björkholm is retail and trend analyst at Bas Brand Identity. For more info please contact caroline@basbrandidentity.se
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