Live streaming runway shows from Fashion Week has become a cost-effective marketing tools for fashion brands and retailers. Brands can reach multiple audiences, both consumers and business, around the globe.

Last week, brands  sounded off on their adoption of digital streaming. Whether they’re using their own websites, integrating the shows into Facebook or partnering with a publications digital outlet like Livestream, collection availability and consumer demand are at the center of the debate on whether to stream or not to stream.

For WWD, industry experts sound off:

Ralph Lauren
“With Rugby, business increased tenfold when we did the virtual show when the product was in the stores.”

Donna Karan
“Pre-fall shouldn’t exist, I’m sorry. Wrong. Let’s start there. We’ve got to bring clothes into season…”

Stella McCartney
“…you’re always looking at a frustrating delay from what the consumer sees to when they get it — that’s just unavoidable. But there are definitely new and different ways of approaching it and different ways of playing with that, and that’s exciting.”

Narcisco Rodriguez
“A big company can produce a lot and pick and choose from a warehouse what they’re going to send down a runway when it’s showtime. What about young designers? What about smaller companies? Who can afford to do that? …Timing is a tough one. It’s the problem and the wonder of the Internet”

Carla Sozzani, owner, Corso Como 10
“…why not just do one show [each season] as in the past and hold it between June and July?”

Diane von Furstenberg
“The world is changing, and you have to adapt to it. But I don’t think we should emphasize [showing to consumers] in advance of the season.”

Ed Filipowski, president, KCD
“This is the biggest dilemma: How do you find the balance between fashion purism and the new technology?”

Lazaro Hernandez, Proenza Schouler
“What’s the point of showing these clothes so early on and having them on Style.com and having them on the Internet and having them worn by celebrities and this whole thing so quickly, when you’re promoting a product that’s not even available to buy?”

Kate Mulleavy, Rodarte
“I believe in change. It’s just that I think it can cause problems, possibly sacrificing craftsmanship, which is intrinsic to the business as a whole and is the cornerstone of luxury.”

Natalie Massenet, founder and chairman, Net-a-porter.com
“We need to rejig the schedule in order to market products the consumer can buy now.”

Thakoon Panichgul
“It’s almost like everyone is already…[live streaming] and it feels kind of old already. It might become one of those things, like you need to do a look book, you need to live stream.”

Read The Complete Article on WWD:  “Streaming the Future”

Photo Courtesy of : Coutorture

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