must reads // 01.30
Here are top reads in the world of digital, fashion, jewelry and more:
Winners & Losers: Xiaomi, American Apparel, Malls
Nordstrom is #1 in Digital IQ Index of Department Stores, reinforcing what they are known for, customer service and digital innovation. Also, Nordstrom Rack is tagging products in-store with Pinterest tags, showing whats popular on Pinterest and linking online and offline (image, attached)
Alexis Bittar Fetes 25 Years with Lucite – potential ideas for our 40th
Love the campaign with Tavi and Iris Apfel, which reflects Bittar’s core customer.
Bittar will celebrate his 25th year working with his brand’s signature material, Lucite, with a brand new milestone: his first New York Fashion Week presentation.
The presentation consist of four “vignettes,” one for each of the designer’s core collections: Fine, Lucite, Elements and Miss Havisham. “I’ll show about 10 pieces per collection that really speak to the essence of that collection and who that customer is. I think it will be somewhat of a party,” he said.
Adding to the party atmosphere: four unique art pieces commissioned by Bittar to mark the occasion. After 25 years working with Lucite (the seven-step process includes hand-carving, hand-painting and hand-polishing), Bittar asked contemporary artists Cordy Ryman, Natasha Law, Juliette Losq and Mickalene Thomas to each create their own work of art out of the medium.
“In terms of the fashion industry, we’re selling to women who are predominantly over 35, but we’re showing them images of girls who are 19 and retouched,” he said. “For the campaign, we honed in on the essence of strong women who haven’t conformed. Tavi is so strong and so bright. Iris is kind of like a mother to me at this point and was probably a little bit annoyed that I never asked her to be in an ad (before).”
Justin Bieber Helps Calvin Klein’s Social Status
Since the brand unveiled Justin Bieber as the face and body of its spring underwear campaign two weeks ago, its social channels have added a combined 3.6 million followers.
In the first 48 hours after the launch, the hashtag #mycalvins generated 1.6 million Twitter mentions. That’s five times the number of mentions that Kim Kardashian’s naked Paper Magazine’s cover shoot drew with the #breaktheinternet hashtag.
Paid Influencers Undercut Ads on Pinterest
Not surprising – goes to show influence, and how influencers earn the trust of their followers.
This month, Pinterest rolled out more Promoted Pins in hopes of winning over advertiser dollars. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, companies are still bypassing buying ads and instead employing the help of Pinfluencers, or Pinterest stars with a huge following, to promote their brands. Retailers who’ve gone the Pinfluencer route include Clinique, Tommy Hilfiger, and Nordstrom.
Wearable Jewelry Ringly Raises $5.1 Million
Joining the ranks of Tory Burch, Opening Ceremony, Sony/Will.i.am i.amPULS, Michael Bastian Smartwatch with HP
Ringly is a smart ring that connects to a phone and alerts users to calls, texts and e-mails with a subtle vibration or light. It doesn’t track activity or sleep like many wearables in the market, nor does it have a camera or any other fancy features employed by Google’s Glass, which has been shelved until the next iteration of the device is ready.
Just seven months after its launch, the startup closed a $5.1 million Series A round, led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Highline Ventures Partners, Silas Capital and PCH.
Joining the ranks of Tory Burch, Opening Ceremony, Sony/Will.i.am i.amPULS, Michael Bastian Smartwatch with HP
Jewelry company Richline Group (owned by Berkshire Hathaway) has inked a deal with a San Francisco-based wearables company, Cuff, to incorporate the startup’s hardware and accompanying software into its products.
Cuff is a startup that got off the ground last year and recently raised $4 million from Tugboat Ventures, Tandem Capital and NEA. Cuff’s core product is a small piece of hardware that fits into different pieces of jewelry, all designed by founder Deepa Sood, a former VP of product development at Restoration Hardware. The chip can track activity, buzz when the wearer gets a call or text and, most uniquely, send out an alert to a pre-selected group of contacts with the wearer’s location if she feels unsafe.
The Cuff-enabled Richline jewelry should drop sometime this spring.
Swarovski announced that it has teamed up with Misfit, a California-based maker of fitness trackers, to add its glittery touch to the wearable tech market. Swarovski has basically just glammed up the exterior of an existing device, which syncs with the Misfit app easily.
