The State of Retail For Independents In 2021: Digital Event
LONE DESIGN CLUB LAUNCHES THEIR FIRST DIGITAL SUMMIT, TALKING THE STATE OF RETAIL FOR INDEPENDENTS IN 2021
Date: Thursday 4th February 2021
Time: 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm GMT
Retail has certainly been through its highs and lows in the past year, affected more than most with the effects of a global pandemic shutting down high streets worldwide with 6,001 net store closures in the first half of the year. This number was a record high compared with 3,509 closures in the first half of the previous year and is rising.
There is no doubt that change was on the cards even before the pandemic. So where do we see the future heading for retail both on and offline? And how can independent designers find their way to the forefront in this ever-changing landscape?
The State of Retail For Independents 2021 will be a two-part panel discussion, designed to address these questions. Offering support to independent brands of all sizes to share a vision on the retail renaissance and implement tangible strategies for 2021. In conjunction with The LDC Accelerator, a programme that aims to support brands by giving essential information for running a successful business, LDC’s CEO, Rebecca Morter, explores this topic alongside other thought leaders, industry experts and
established independent brands.
What to expect:
Panel 1. Digital + innovation
Speakers: Lauretta Roberts, CEO of The Industry. Fashion and formerly of WGSN and Drapers, Matthew Drinkwater Founder of Fashion Innovation Agency, Muchaneta Kapfunde Founder & Editor FashNerd.com and Vogue Business contributor and Jonathan Chippindale, CEO Holition
Panel 2. Brand, Retail and Consumer
Speakers: Laura Hartnett Former Director of Digital Project Selfridges, Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka, Founders of House of Aama, Adebayo Oke-Lawal, Founder of Orange Culture and Sophie Benson, Freelance Journalist focusing on sustainable fashion, the environment, and consumerism published in The Guardian, The Independent, Dazed and Refinery 29.
Together, the panels will cover, brand positioning, the importance of a robust digital presence and how to stand out in a saturated market. What bricks and mortar retail will look like moving forwards, pop-ups, changing consumers’ needs and wants, brand messaging, transparency, sustainability and much more.
LDC CEO Rebecca Morter comments “2020 was undoubtedly a bumpy ride, after nine months of some extreme challenges; the constant on and off of physical retail, no locals tourists and no footfall at all at many major selling points of the year. For small, independent brands 2021 will really make or break. An omnichannel, digital response is most certainly required, but what will this look like once experimentation and reaction subside and it’s time to take a proactive approach to growth post covid and into the much anticipated “retail renaissance”.
With all this said, we've seen positive movements emerging and incredible opportunities opening up. As customers got behind local brands, worried that our precious high streets supporting independents wouldn’t make it if they didn't. Shoppers have understood issues around sustainability and transparency within the fashion industry at an accelerated rate and started seriously thinking about how they could shop better for people and planet. Small brands have experienced utter chaos and incredible success with many of their e-commerce sites now booming.
It has been a year of the sublime to the ridiculous, so now it’s time to come together as industry, customers and brands - to reflect on the past months of turmoil and opportunities and set a precedent for how we can win and thrive through 2021 and onwards.”
Join us - RSVP, mccluskeypr@gmail.com
Follow @lonedesignclub for speaker updates
and other exciting news.
For more information, press appointments, images or interviews, please contact:
McCluskey PR- Laura McCluskey
+44 7572 549 363
HOST:
Rebecca Morter, Founder + CEO Lone Design Club
Rebecca officially launched Lone Design Club in 2018. The aim was to offer an alternative to the traditional wholesale model, giving sustainable independent brands a direct route to the customer, focusing on community, experience and storytelling. Over the last three years, Rebecca and the LDC platform have gone from strength to strength.
Named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30, Rebecca regularly speaks on topics around the changing face of the retail, ethics and sustainability within the industry. The LDC platform has garnered attention far and wide, featured in numerous high-profile media outlets such as The Times, WWD, Stylist and BBC. Most recently being named as the winners of the Fashion Districts: Retail Futures 2020, highlighted for their innovation in retail, connecting their physical and digital platforms.
MEET THE SPEAKERS:
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder & CEO fashion industry insights, intelligence and events business TheIndustry.fashion
A business journalist by background, Lauretta has more than 20 years’ experience writing about and commenting on business, many of which have been spent in fashion retail.
TheIndustry.fashion offers daily news, features and insights with a particular focus on fashion retail. The platform also contains a master database of fashion retail, regular consumer behaviour studies, and online events and podcasts. Before establishing TheIndustry. Fashion, Lauretta was the brand director at global trend forecasting agency WGSN before that Editor of Drapers.
Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency
Matthew works at the crossroads of Fashion, Retail and Technology to head up London College of Fashion's Innovation Agency. Using emerging technology to alter how the fashion industry is making, showcasing and retailing, Matthew and his team are building a pathway for truly digital designer businesses. Matthew was named 'fashion-tech trailblazer changing the course of retail' by Drapers, a "Digital World's Influencer' by Stylus for 2020 and a 'pioneer and visionary' by Wired.
Muchaneta Kapfunde: Founder & Editor FashNerd.com and Vogue Business contributor
Muchaneta has worked in the fashion industry for over 14 years. She is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merging of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at events like Premiere Vision, #FashionTech Berlin, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion brands, Muchaneta, a former contributor to Wareable.com, is now a contributor to Vogue Business.
Laura Harnett, Former Director of Digital Projects at Selfridges
Laura is a sustainable business founder (Seep), a board advisor and an angel investor focusing on retail and consumer tech. She is a former strategy consultant (Deloitte, Booz) and Senior Retail Executive (Kingfisher, Selfridges) and a trustee for Edtech charity Hello World.
Jonathan Chippendale, CEO of Holition
Jonathan formed Holition, the venture start-up, over a decade ago to explore the role technology and innovation play to the modern, digital-focused consumer. Over the last ten years, the creative studio has evolved into a synthesis of retail scientists, filmmakers, artists, mathematicians, UX designers and other curious minds, united by digital empathy towards consumer experience.
The part think-tank - part digital studio craft bespoke experiences to introduce a new dialogue with consumers for pioneering brands includes Hermes, LVMH, Cartier, L’Oreal Group, Estee Lauder Group, and COTY.
Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka, Founders of House of Aama
House of Aama explores the folkways of the black experience by designing timeless garments with nostalgic references informed by historical research, archival analysis, and storytelling. Co-Founders Rebecca and Akua wanted to evoke dialogue, social commentary and conversations around heritage, remembrance and to shed light on nuanced histories. House of Aama has received praise from Vogue, Vogue Runway, i-D/Vice, Paper Mag, Fader + more.
Adebayo Oke-Lawal, Founder of Orange Culture
Founded in 2011, Orange Culture is a label, which explores universal silhouettes with an African touch. Designed for both men and women, with an androgynous twist, Orange Culture translates into a heady mixture of Nigerian inspired print fabrics, colour, and contemporary urban streetwear. All pieces are manufactured in Lagos, using ethically sourced materials from local Nigerian fabric makers.
Aside from fashion design, Founder and Creative Director Adebayo Oke-Lawal has a strong editorial background. From Fashion Editor for WOW! Magazine to working on editorials for Vogue Italia, Nataal and many more. A keen advocate for grassroots support for talent emerging in Africa, Adebayo Oke-Lawal launched a CSR project called "Painting your Dreams", which inspires young people through art to believe in themselves. This project has led to him being listed as one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Africa's creative industry.
Sophie Benson, Freelance Journalist
Sophie’s work primarily focuses on sustainable fashion, the environment, and consumerism. Writing for publication such as The Guardian, The Independent, Dazed, and Refinery29, Sophie has a well-established knowledge of the changing wave of consumer opinion around transparency, ethics and brand messaging.