In prior seasons, Fashion Week events around the world were for industry leaders in the fashion and beauty arena – buyers, manufacturers, editors, etc. Now, as we enter NYFW 2015, the reach of fashion week spans far beyond the front row. Social Media has offered a variety of ways for users from around the world to be instantaneously immersed into the latest trends and runway looks as they happen. In September of 2014, there were nearly 1M tweets posted about NYFW and this season we expect that percentage to grow exponentially. As collaborations have been reshuffled (a la Alexander Wang for Balenciaga), we are noticing that luxury houses are looking to get back their design roots while still trying to evolve their image to appeal to new generations. How will they do this you may ask? Two words: Social Media.
Fashion Week events around the world have produced a tremendous amount of UGC, nearly 35% more than branded content. In addition, user-generated photos have generated a 39% uptick in sales when products are embedded in product purchase pages. We predict that the next wave of Instagram upgrades will include native shopping experiences, to help further propel both conversation and reason for brands to jump on the bandwagon. May the most creative fashion house win.
Stay tuned for more coverage from NYFW.