Fashionista-at-Law is having a makeover!

All fashion brands know that having good product is vital. With this in mind, Fashionista has been overhauling her blog and is working on a new improved site. If you have any feedback or suggestions for improvements, please let Fashionista know by emailing her at fashionista@olswang.com. Her new look will be revealed soon - so watch this space!

High Street Blues: online growth is bad news for landlords

It was recently reported in the FT that the recent trend of browsing the high street and then making purchases online (using the benefit of the numerous voucher code discounts on offer) is a cause of concern to institutional landlords, who operate our many shopping centres.

One of Fashionista's friends (who knows about all things property) has explained that many landlords have granted 'turnover rent' leases to retailers in recent years when trading conditions have been challenging. A 'turnover rent' lease operates differently from a market rent lease in that the basic rent is at a reduced rate (commonly 80% of the market rent) with the retailer paying an additional sum each year based on an agreed percentage of its gross turnover from the store in question.

This means that landlords who have let premises to multi-channel retailers are potentially losing out on rent where this is calculated only on basis of revenue taken in-store (and reduced by online returns). Savvy landlords are taking steps to ensure that their turnover leases are drafted to expressly include income from in-store internet terminals where orders are made online and to exclude any returned product which has been purchased online. However, even with improved drafting, landlords cannot capture all internet sales made several days or weeks after a visit instore. Plus it makes it harder for landlords to monitor the tenant's gross turnover used to calculate the rent.

Fashionista hopes that this trend will not lead to the high street withering to become a showroom for internet consumers, but given the continuing growth of e-commerce, who is to say?

LFW showcases British talent

Fashionista is very excited that LFW is now underway!

Fashionista was privileged to have received a much sought-after invite to Holly Fulton's show this morning, and it delivered beyond expectations. Vogue's report said "Her fabulous art deco jewelled dresses appeared at first in generous yellow and black tweed, tasselled and beaded, and then in geometric panels of yellow satin with black leather detailing with shaggy sheepskin cream skirts beneath". Fashionista loved the "Snakeskin mini dresses of pale cream and turquoise with hardy metal rivets at the neck and around the hem".

Hopefully Holly's order book is now bulging particularly since the BFC confirmed that they have a record number of US buyers attending LFW this year "Barneys and Saks fifth Avenue, regular visitors to London Fashion Week, are being joined by  Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus and boutiques such as Opening Ceremony and H. Lorenzo, who are attending for the very first time".

For those who haven't got tickets, you can watch the shows streamed live via the BFC's London Fashion Week TV. Take a look, and let Fashionista know who your favourite designer was!

Drama over costume collaboration

Like most young girls, Fashionista dreamt of becoming a ballerina, but for anyone who's seen Black Swan, the reality of a dancer's life is somewhat distant from those childhood ambitions. While Natalie Portman scooped the BAFTA for best actress at the weekend, it may be a relief that the film didn't win the "best costume" BAFTA given the spat that has broken out between the official costume designer Amy Westcott and the design duo Rodarte. The Guardian reported that the film's nomination for best costume had left the Mulleavy sisters (the duo behind the Rodarte label) feeling snubbed - they were upset not to have been credited for their creation of a number of key looks used in the film.

Fashionista doubts that the row will overshadow the film's box office success, but it does serve as a good reminder that when designers engage in collaborations, they should agree in advance who will own the IP rights resulting from the work produced and agree the level of credit and acknowledgement they can expect, and get the position recorded in a written contract. Collaborations are only successful when both parties' reputations are enhanced by the partnership - the question is: will Rodarte's work on the film reap rewards in terms of new orders from their A/W 2011 collection?  

"There's no such thing as a free lunch"

You may have heard about the arrival of the new Bribery Act which has been ruffling feathers since its publication last year. Well, not to worry if you're not totally up to speed with its implications just yet - the Ministry of Justice announced this week (as reported in the Telegraph) that the Act's planned April launch has been postponed to give companies more time to prepare.  So what's it all about?  And why have people been getting so hot under the collar about this particular piece of legislation? The concern stems from the fact that the scope of the new Act is really very wide indeed.

There are four basic offences under the new Act: (i) bribing someone else (ii) being bribed (iii) bribing a foreign public official and (iv) - the offence which is causing the most sleepless nights – a corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery. The Act goes beyond your straightforward brown envelope payment and catches any form of "advantage" (so not just money) which is offered, accepted, received or which a party agrees to receive - which constitutes or induces the ‘improper performance' of a business activity. The test for "improper performance" is an objective one based on what a reasonable person would expect in relation to the performance of that activity. Expectations are judged by UK, not local standards. The performance must breach an expectation of good faith or impartiality, or a position of trust.

The first three offences apply to acts of bribery committed in the UK by any person or corporate; or acts of bribery committed outside the UK by a person or corporate which has a "close connection" to the UK ("close connection" meaning broadly UK companies, partnerships, citizens or individuals ordinarily resident in the UK).

So what about the corporate offence - how does an organisation commit the offence of failure to prevent bribery? If a person associated with an organisation bribes another intending to retain business or achieve an advantage for that organisation – that’s an offence. Crucially, the corporate offence is what's known as a strict liability offence - the associated person may have paid the bribe without the knowledge, authorisation or involvement of anyone else in the organisation.

This means effectively that a foreign company with only a branch office in England can be guilty of an offence (and have its officers imprisoned and/or receive an unlimited fine) for an act of bribery they knew nothing about that was committed by a joint venture partner operating in Russia, China or any other foreign jurisdiction. So for those of you with offices abroad, you'll need to think carefully about who you work with, and where, and what corruption risks you might consequently be exposed to.

What about defences? The only defence available to an organisation charged with the corporate offence will be for it to demonstrate that it has adopted, applied and enforced “adequate procedures” to prevent bribery. The MOJ was due to issue guidance on the meaning of “adequate procedures” early in January; its non-appearance to-date is one of the main reasons for the delay in the Act's implementation. The MOJ has recently confirmed that the Act will not come into force until 3 months after the guidance is published.

A final point to mention is the vexed issue of corporate hospitality. In principle, all gifts or other types of corporate hospitality may be caught by the Act, if they are given to gain financial advantage with an improper intention. Now of course the natural reaction is to ask, well what is an improper intention? Is it improper to invite someone to a concert, for a spa day or even for a swanky lunch in the hope of securing a large contract? Well, unfortunately, we do not yet have any guidance what is or is not ok. So it's all a bit vague at the moment, and has been widely criticised - by the Law Society among others. While we wait for the official MOJ guidance, Fashionista suggests applying a common sense test of "Would your competitors think that this gift/day out is unusually lavish?

Celebrating green fashion

As the grand finale to Olswang's Green Week, and a first for the firm, we showcased some of the best green fashion brands around in Friday's 'Eco Fashion Show'. The day started with the firm being given a taster of what was to come with mannequins on the 7th Floor dressed in the designers' clothes. As the evening grew closer preparations heightened, the room was set and the models put the final touches to their look, with the help of ethical-stylist Lupe Castro.

With nerves increasing it was time for the show to begin. The breadth of designers, including Eloise Grey, Goodone, People Tree, Stella McCartney, Elena Garcia, Christopher Raeburn, and By Stamo, created a showcase of varying styles and affordability. From ball gowns, to rain macs, tweed coats to party dresses, the models strutted down the runway doing their best Kate Moss impressions.

The 'green' theme varied from designer to designer; People Tree provided fair-trade clothing, Goodone demonstrated up-cycling and Stella McCartney gave the audience a glimpse of high end organic cotton attire. The show most definitely proved that eco fashion is high fashion.  Fashionista would like to thank all the designers for taking part and to River Island for the loan of their mannequins.

A lot of organising, creativity and fun culminated in an incredible evening of fashion with a conscience. The question is can London Fashion Week compete?!

ARmchair shopping

Augmented Reality (AR) is tipped to transform the consumer experience. AR, also known as "interactive video technology" is on the rise. The FT cites predictions from marketing group ABI Research that the AR market in the US alone will grow to US$350m by 2014, from US$6m in 2008. Indeed a number of fashion and luxury brands are already getting involved:

• Tissot ran an AR campaign with Selfridges in May 2010 enabling shoppers to virtually try on its watches using a screen in Selfridges windows.
• eBay has recently launched an AR app which can be used to digitally try on sunglasses by superimposing the glasses design over the user's face.
• Back in November 2010, H&M launched an iPhone app with GoldRun which allows shoppers to try on outfits virtually.
• Hawes & Curtis have launched a virtual fitting room on its website in collaboration with FitsMe, who have developed an adaptable mannequin to ensure you get the perfect fit for your shirt or suit.

Some brands clearly see the benefits of investing in this technology early to further grow their online sales. While Fashionista marvels at the clever wizardry that means she can snap up a fabulous frock from the comfort of her sofa, she wonders whether it can replace the real-life experience of trying on clothes, feeling the fabric and working out if she can justify the price tag on the gorgeous heels to match!

The Tweets They Are A Changing

Christmas may have passed but bells across the social media sector are still ringing following the recent ruling by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) which saw Handpicked Media publicly reprimanded for not clearly stating that published online content that endorsed certain products and brands had been paid for. The failure to disclose this was found, by the OFT, to be deceptive, misleading to the average consumer and in breach of UK fair trading laws.

So what does this mean for the fashion industry, celebrity affiliation with designers and online promotion of fashion labels? Will this see the end of the swag bag or prevent celebrities gushing about the latest must have fashion fad in tweets or blogs?

In short – no. Rather it is all about transparency. Any online blogs, tweets or editorials by the glitterati or the average Joanna, that promote products in exchange for payment or payment in kind must openly disclose these incentives so as not to mislead the public. You can read the Q&As issued by the OFT here.

So you think the latest Jonathan Saunders' Topshop collection is a must have? Well if you post this for any reason other than you are a lover of this Scottish designer - then it needs to be stated. Got a free dress out of it? Then say so. Now how to fit this all into 140 characters – that will be the test for many.

Legal training young upcoming design talents

The Brussels Fashionista Team recently held an IP/fashion law seminar entitled "Protection of creativity in Fashion"  in collaboration with the FFI (Flanders Fashion Institute).

Young upcoming talents attended the seminar with enthusiasm and the Brussels Fashionista Team received a lot of positive feedback.

As a follow up, the Brussels Fashionista Team will organize a second seminar on "The opportunities and threats of online stores and social media" in January 2011. Stay tuned, as Fashionista will post more details soon.

The Katrantzou that got the cream

Fashionista wants to say a huge congratulations to Mary Katrantzou who, according to VOGUE.COM, was last night named the winner of this year's Swiss Textiles Award.

Fashionista was lucky enough to see Mary's collection at London Fashion Week and, in her humble opinion, it is thoroughly well deserved as the collection was absolutely stunning!

Well done Mary and team.

Growth is global...

The domestic outlook is bleak: the government's widespread spending cuts are all over the papers, we are all feeling the cold (literally) and retail sales are down for the second consecutive month in a row. But is the current frosty spell an indicator that it is set to be a long, cold winter?

Leaders within the retail industry gathered yesterday in Berlin for the World Retail Congress. Reuters reports that while most were downbeat about the outlook within the US and continental Europe, many were looking east for growth opportunities and in particular in the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sir Stuart Rose suggested that businesses could use the Internet to test these new markets at relatively low cost.  Drapers confirmed that online is Marks & Spencer’s largest store and that Rose indicated that M&S will use its existing online platform as the launchpad into new international markets. “For international markets the advance guard will go first but we will still open stores,” he told the World Retail Congress.

M&S isn't the only British retailer following this strategy. Drapers reported yesterday on River Island's recent deal with ASOS which will make its trend-led collections available across 170 countries. So, while the UK outlook may be bleak, there are opportunities for growth overseas. Fashionista is looking forward to seeing British fashion businesses make the most of their headstart online to gain entry to new international markets.

"Les Belges" at Paris Fashion Week

The Brussels Fashionista team was excited to have the opportunity to visit the Showroom "Les Belges" at the Paris Fashion Week.

For the first time, the Flanders Fashion Institute (FFI) and Wallonie-Bruxelles Design/Mode (WBDM) joined their forces to offer a common platform to young upcoming Belgian designers including NOOR D*IZAR, Marko Galovic and Schipper/Arques.

In total 14 designers, each with their own identity, presented their collections to international media and potential buyers. The Brussels Fashionista team was able to talk to most of the designers. All were aware that the key to success is not only talent, but a strong business sense - including understanding how best to protect their designs- are essential to make it in the competitive world of fashion. Their major concerns were reflected in their questions: "How can we protect our designs? How can we protect our brand? What are the legal implications of setting up an online store".

To help young emerging Belgian talent, the Brussels Fashionista team
will be working alongside the FFI to offer the much needed legal support to upcoming Belgian designers. Fashionista and the FFI will together, organize seminars for new design talent topics such as "Protection of creativity in Fashion" and "The opportunities and threats of online stores and social media". 

Fashionista is delighted to be working with the next generation of fashion designers on both sides of the Channel, both in the UK and Brussels.



BIBA is back!

Times may be hard, but it's always nice to read a good news story for a change. Fashionista can't be the only person to notice that the legedary BIBA brand has been revived exclusively at House of Fraser. According to the Guardian, despite the current talk of spending custs and recession, the brand's relaunch has been a hit - with sales of more than £500,000 in the first fortnight.

The new range has been designed by Barbara Hulanicki, the founder of the original BIBA store in Kensington back in 1964. In fact the re-launch has gone so well, House of Fraser has suggested that they may launch stand alone stores. Let's hope the resurgence of the brand continues - it just goes to show that  certain brands can live on even without any trade, and be resuscitated with the right product. With the weather on the turn, Biba's faux-fur coats have caught Fashionista's eye!

London Fashion Week - the story so far . . .

Fashionista was thrilled to receive an invitation to see some of the most awe-inspiring and original catwalk shows at London Fashion Week this week. Donning her Jimmy Choos she hotfooted it to see Louise Gray, Mary Katrantzou and Holly Fulton's Spring/Summer 2011 collections hit the runway and came out positively drooling.

The gorgeous patchwork dresses and bottle top decorated skirts from Louise Gray definitely left Fashionista wanting to "Get Some Stuff" (the name of Louise's show) and Mary Katrantzou blew everyone away in the fabulous venue at the Old Eurostar terminal with her amazing digital print dresses and "lampshade" skirts which were so beautiful Fashionista didn't know whether she should wear them or frame them - although Fashionista has of course opted to do the former!

It was then on to Holly Fulton's show where Fashionista was transported to St. Tropez with the glitterati. Holly's collection invoked thoughts of the sun, sand and of course cocktail hour. Gorgeous wide legged trousers and bold prints were the highlights along with the highly covetable necklaces which Fashionista is already saving up for.

Fashionista is happy to confirm that she is not discriminating and will be checking out what the boys are up to at the Tim Soar and James Long shows tomorrow. It's a hard life!

Emerging design talent at LFW

Fashionista is delighted to learn that top city law firm Olswang is providing much needed legal support to some of London’s best new fashion designers as part of its recent cooperation with the Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE), the pioneering business development platform that nurtures emerging fashion design talent. CFE boasts an impressive past roster of high profile names, including Erdem, Peter Pilotto, Richard Nicoll and Marios Schwab, and Olswang is now advising the latest designers on the CFE’s two-year Venture programme as they develop their labels on the international fashion stage.

Designer labels currently on the CFE’s two-year Venture programme include Meadham Kirchhoff, Christopher Raeburn, James Long, Louise Gray, Mary Katrantzou and Tim Soar; all of whom will be presenting their Spring 11 collections at London Fashion Week, having already received international acclaim from fashion buyers and editors alike. Mary Katrantzou and Meadham Kirchoff were recently announced as nominees for this year's British Fashion Awards in the category for "Emerging Talent Award - Ready to Wear".

The CFE's Venture programme was devised to support the growth of designer labels which have already secured an impressive list of stockists, and have created a buzz in the press. The programme encompasses the vital aspects involved in developing a fashion label as a business, and provides mentoring and high growth coaching from experienced industry specialists. In addition, the CFE’s one-season Pioneer programme offers an analytical business review to less mature fashion labels, enabling them to devise a longer term business strategy. Through Olswang's involvement in the scheme, designers benefit from free legal advice on commercial contracts, tax and copyright issues, and attend workshops on IP. As well as working with designers on the Venture and Pioneer schemes, Olswang maintains relationships with the designers post-CFE, including Hannah Marshall whose two year term ended in July. It is good to know that London's emerging design talent is in such capable hands!

It's Shoemania!

For those who missed Channel 4 News last night, Fashionista was very interested to hear that she was not alone in having a shoe addiction. The C4 report referred to data from Bain and Company which showed that in 2009 the overall luxury market shrank by 8 per cent, but that sales of luxury shoes only fell by 0.5 %. In addition, for this year, Bain predicts that luxury shoe sales will bounce back by around 5 %, above other categories of goods in the luxury market.  There could be a number of reasons for this: many women prefer to invest in shoes since, although your weight may fluctuate over the seasons, your shoe size is fairly reliable to remain the same. Also, since most women can't afford to dress themselves head to toe in a their favourite label, by teaming a pair of designer heels with a high street dress, they can achieve the glamorous look for less.

The resilient nature of shoes sale perhaps explains the rationale for Selfridges' decision to expand their shoe department, due to open on 16 September. The new retail space covers 35,000 square foot and will display 4,000 shoes from over 150 brands. A dangerous prospect for the Imelda Marcos inside all of us!

Not such a fairy tale ending for Miss Sixty

Fashionista followers will know that regardless of how beautiful she finds a pair of Jimmy Choos, Fashionista is all too aware that it's unwise to skip paying the rent to pay for that classic kitten heel as the landlord always has the final word.

This point will no doubt be ringing in the ears of the Miss Sixty and Energie fashion chain owners. Indeed the landlord Mourant, which owns the 135,300 sq ft Metquarter shopping centre in Liverpool where Miss Sixty occupied a 3,300 sq ft unit and Energie had a 3,089 sq ft store, of which both were on 10-year leases and guaranteed by Sixty UK's Italian parent company, Sixty SPA, has successfully challenged the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) entered into by the retail owners. Mourant has claimed that the retail group and its Italian parent adopted a "cynical approach" to the CVA. During his submissions, counsel for Mourant said that Sixty SPA and Sixty UK were "perfectly aware" that the CVA would not work but proceeded with it because they knew that it would take the landlord around 18 months to challenge the CVA, and would take even longer in Italy.

However, lawyers for Vantis plc accountants attempted to put forward some revisions to the CVA which were refused by the High Court. Vantis argued that the claim by Mourant that the CVA "unfairly prejudices" its interests as a creditor of the UK retail group and that there were "material irregularities" in relation to the creditors' meeting would no longer be an issue if the CVA was amended. The judge refused the adjournment application and ruled that he had seen no evidence of the proposed amendments and was being asked to "to proceed on a wholly speculative and uncertain footing". Further, the judge ruled, the application was made at the "59th minute of the eleventh hour" which was far too late for there to be any prospect of the court agreeing to it.

This demonstrates once again that for retailers, getting landlords (usually the most significant unsecured creditor) on side can either make or break a CVA proposal. By way of a brief re-cap, a CVA is an agreement between a debtor and its creditors which, once it has been agreed by the requisite majorities of unsecured creditors (75% in value of those present and voting) and shareholders (a simple majority in value), becomes binding on all unsecured creditors who were entitled to vote at the creditors' meeting to approve it – even if those creditors voted against the proposal, or did not attend the meeting.

Under the CVA proposed by Sixty UK, the landlord did not have the benefit of a guarantor. Had the company gone into liquidation, the guarantor's obligations under the lease would have continued but under the CVA Sixty SPA can simply walk away.

So when Mourant's counsel roared "Fee Fi Fo Fum! I smell the blood of an unfairly prejudicial company voluntary agreement," during his submissions to the judge this week, the owners of Miss Sixty and Energie may have found themselves quaking in their kitten heels…

Football's fashionable side

Fashionista doesn't often have cause to write about football but, with World Cup fever at its height as we reach the closing stages of the competition, Fashionista has considered with interest the opportunity for mass exposure which the world's biggest, most viewed sporting event lends to fashion brands.

Sportswear brand exposure is a given through official association: Adidas is the official event sponsor, producing the team kits for many including Germany, France and the hosts South Africa; Puma has Italy; Umbro has England; to name but a few. Understandable. Nothing extraodinary there.

Of much greater note is the publicity and widespread advertising reach which association with the FIFA World Cup bestows to less obviously "sporty" brands. Enter high street and luxury retail giants M&S and Louis Vuitton.

Fashionista thought the England squad looked oh-so-smart in their 3 piece suit by M&S. 4 years ago, our boys wore Armani. In a bid to be slightly more recessionista and to fly the flag of how great it is to be British, the England squad has partnered with one of our favourite national brands. What no doubt first appeared as a a great way to drive footfall and attract online sales is likely to have been derailed, first when key team members featured in the ad - Theo Walcott - failed to be selected to travel to South Africa, and then, as a result of England's dismal performance against Germany on Sunday.

Louis Vuitton may have escaped M&S's fate, since their World Cup product was only ever going to be associated with the winning team. LVMH were asked by FIFA to design a custom built trunk to encase the 18 carat gold FIFA World Cup trophy so that it could travel in style. The LV monogram is instantly recognisable, and viewers will not be able to avoid clocking the logo as the trophy - in its LV trunk - is carried onto the pitch for the final. The perfect example of a winning brand collaboration.

Whilst Fashionista is a fan of the beautiful game, she suspects that her eye may be on the customised trunk rather than what is inside it come the 11th of July...

New Collections? The Emergency Budget 22 June

It is amazing how fashions can change through the seasons. Fashionista recalls that only a few months ago red was the "in" colour.

One new collection/general election later and it seems that "blue" and "yellow" are now the "in" colours - but which of the two colours will dominate?

Darling is no longer the designer du jour; George & Vince are the new designers on the block.

Everyone expects the cuts in the George & Vince collection/emergency budget to be quite extreme, but just how extreme?

Will they help out their fellow designers and entrepreneurs by granting the "generous reliefs" from the increase in CGT rates that were previewed in the Coalition Agreement? Will retailers be hit by an increase in VAT rates?

As with any collection/budget, there is always a lot of speculation about what will be revealed on the catwalk/in the budget speech, but the level of speculation this year has been unprecedented.

Fashionista, however, knows the best place to enjoy the collection/budget on the day - the Olswang Budget Blog .

Fashionista hopes to see you in the front row!

From "Screen to Door" to "Screen to Store"

The FT report yesterday that ASOS are seeking partnerships with high street retailers as pick-up points has got our friends at eNova smiling. Fellow fashionista, Sophie Albizua, a multichannel advocate, has contributed this post to share her excitement with us. Sophie writes:

"The fact that home delivery can be a barrier to some consumers is no news and solutions such as physical drop boxes or collection store networks have been talked about for years. But no one has taken the click to brick plunge yet in any meaningful way. This might be the catalyst.

Pure online retail, in spite of all the hype surrounding it, possesses one fundamental barrier to growth; the fact that, as those of you who've been waiting around for hours for a parcel or had to rush to the post office before 5pm to get it know, home delivery is not convenient for many people working or leading busy lives. What still amazes us is the number of high street retailers who have an e-commerce arm that acts as a pure play, thus falling in to the same trap. Not that we believe you can’t have a successful on-line pure play, as ASOS has demonstrated.

Let's remember online retail only represents 7% of total UK retail sales and its growth is slowing down to mid teens and soon single digit numbers. We believe that the growth is in multichannel, where the purchase goes through the website but doesn't end there, which we and other market observers estimate will grow at over 20% p.a. over the next 5 years to represent 40% of total retail sales in the UK by 2013.

Fashion retail has ignored this for too long. Will the one that led the fashion innovation on-line, stir the debate once again? We hope that this will act as a call to action to other fashion retailers who have been shying away from click and collect models for too long. If ASOS feels the need for stores, those who already have them and are not linking them to their websites should reflect upon the missed opportunity that this might represent. Here's a crack at the answer for you: in our experience, properly executed click & collect should double your website takings within a year as a starting point.

Having created several of the leading order on-line, collect in store services, including Argos, Halfords and Boots, we suspect there are still a number of bumps that will need to be ironed out when trying to mould a home delivery set up with a store pick up as to not reduce margin. To this end, store based fashion retailers may still have an advantage if they get to grips with the opportunity sooner rather than later. Most importantly, let’s remember customers are the ones driving these developments, which will be the fastest growing part of retail for the next 5 years."

Is "click and collect" going to be the next growth area? Fashionista would love to know your views, so join the debate!