Fashioning People and Place: December 2013

Imran Amed, The Business of Fashion

The Business of Fashion started in 2007 without a clear direction of content or purpose, other than to please its founder, Imran Amed. Imran teaches at CSM and is also a consultant.

Imran states that he needed to “just do” in order to gain a vague idea of what he could achieve on his website. The first web address of BoF was surprisingly: uberkid.com. Imran didn’t imagine that BoF would become so successful, so his first draft of the website was expectedly naïve, perhaps unprofessional but always honest.

Imran Amed started working in fashion only six years ago, before this he worked with a management consulting company called Braxton. When he worked with Braxton he developed an interest in fashion as an analytic and wanted to apply his ‘left brain’ skills into creativity. Imran suggested that creativity hadn’t been nurtured in 2004 to 2005 and in 2006 fashion blogs weren’t as prominent as they are now. He recalls Diane Pernet as one of the original fashion blog pioneers. Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist and Susie Bubble’s Style Bubble is mentioned shortly afterward.

“People were talking about the façade and the surface of design and style at this time.”

“Today we’re inundated with media; it’s possible for anybody to join in the conversation... but in order to be successful and gain a following you must have a clear point of view.”

As Imran never studied writing or journalism and only started blogging for himself he’s confident to suggest that the internet is the most powerful tool for communication in business today for creative people, as formal training isn't necessary to some extent. He suggests that it’s easy to gain a following as long as a creative voice and an opinion is dominant.

Brand Identity: By 2008 BoF had changed and the following was growing. There were roughly 1,000 new followers signing up to read content each month within ‘08. Imran was able to recognise some of these names too, such as celebrities or fashion designers.
The uberkid.com web address had to be changed at this point in time.
Imran states that he’s embarrassed at most of the content/style of the website in its early stages, although the honesty of the site is also why it has been so recognisable and lovable; working in its favour.

With this change in 2008 came a new design. The typography had always been an important aspect of the now, digital newspaper. The creativity of the banner changes often to represent the site’s creativity; the ‘O’ for ‘of’ being the most important feature.

By 2009 BoF was holding interviews with Giles Deacon and NET-A-PORTER.

BOF aims to join every discipline as a community. The website has become a destination for everyone to have a conversation.

2010 involved the famous Fashion Pioneers interviews which were streamed live online. The interviews between the host and the guest were intimate ones; this style isn’t usually portrayed in fashion media, as Imran states, most fashion interviews might only care about the designs, perhaps not the designer. These digital experiences led to learning and educating between the host, the guest and the audience. Another important aspect to BoF aside from educating is the community and sharing.

Right now is a very exciting time to be within the fashion industry; the most dominant areas within fashion buying and communicating according to Imran are video, social media and mobile phones.BoF operate as & are considered within:

- Business and Trade Media: Authoritative voice, opinionated

- Fashion Blogosphere: Dialogue and conversations, accessibility and authenticity

- Premium Fashion Magazines: Story telling, high aesthetics and aspirational

BoF listens to feedback making them popular among fellow bloggers.

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Bruno Pieters, Honest By

Bruno Pieters opens his talk with a very open and honest account of how he founded Honest By. The company is very honest in all media so he didn’t speak of unknown facts.
After working for around ten years within the fashion industry, including working for Hugo Boss, Pieters had to take a sabbatical as he wasn’t happy. Pieters didn’t see a purpose of just making clothes and making money, he needed something to believe in. Bruno experienced a lot of corruption within the industry during his time as a designer for various companies and the lack of transparency within the business bothered him. The corruption bothered him to the point that he eventually decided he should do something about it and he created his own transparent brand.

All aspects of the design process is contained within the Honest By website so if any customer should want the information it’s there – “if they’re willing to pay that price point” Bruno admits. Included in the open-source information is: material information, manufacturing details, price calculation and carbon footprint.

“Heritage is a synonym for past; knowing about the provenance of things is important.”

Bruno says that it’s a great fact to be recognised as the first transparent company in the world, although to him he says that’s also a reality.

Bruno speaks from a place of peace; he speaks calmly and honestly about his experiences and thoughts. “It’s important to work in the present moment, although the future is now, there’s no need to think of this way of dressing as future ideals as the future is here in this present moment. We are creating our future.” He also quotes Gandhi… “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Bruno argues that if we buy from companies that sell fast and cheap fashion then we are paying these companies to not be sustainable. As child labour is continuing to grow, it is our responsibility if we choose to buy into these cheap fashion products or not. “We are responsible – grab that responsibility.”

“Freedom is almost a synonym of being irresponsible, although freedom should be about being responsible; the reasons you are free should be your privilege.”

“We can solve the problems through consumption as the problems are all about consumption – and the way we consume.”

Key points that Bruno raised:

- Classic fashion system is terrible

- Honest By is exclusively online

- Honest by – purity and simplicity fitting with its name

- They’re mostly about transparency and they are not ‘eco-fashion’, they’re good fashion

- Not based on seasons, they don’t create seasonal collections

- Their loyal consumers want something with depth. Their brand is a lifestyle more than something pretty. The loyal consumers want more for their money.

- The biggest loyal consumers are in the

, within Europe and then the

USA