By Ali Cudby
Lingerie Fashion Week is a celebration of independent brands showcasing their perspectives for the press. There’s nothing like a fashion show to let designers tell the world what their brand represents via garments, styling and attitude.
For retailers, the runway shows are entertaining, but at the end of the day, only the product matters. When the goods arrive, there are no glitter-strewn models and carefully selected tunes. The merchandise must stand on its own.
Assessing the product for what it is and what it offers retailers is the lens I used at Lingerie Fashion Week. From that perspective, the clear takeaway is the sheer range of options being featured for a wide array of bodies.
Petite to full figured.
Bella Petite
Tia Lyn Lingerie
Floral to feminine to fetish.
StephieAnn
Secrets in Lace
Love Cage
Motherhood to gender-bending.
You! Lingerie
Play Out Underwear
Lingerie Fashion Week showed clearly that there is something for everyone under the “lingerie” umbrella.
When there is something for everyone, it’s even more vital to speak in a clear voice to your customers. For retailers, it means that understanding your ideal client is imperative. You have the opportunity to buy and merchandise your business to target the people you most aspire to serve, and if you miss that opportunity it’s easy for your voice to get lost in the mass of messages out there.
The only question you need to answer is – who is that ideal client?
And by extension the question becomes, who are you?
These questions are easy to ask, but not always easy to answer. As planning for the holidays rapidly approaches, it’s worth taking some time to reconsider how you want to be perceived. When you don’t take steps to clearly define your message, before the market defines it for you.
