Tag Archives: fashion retail

Pimkie’s site documents changing color trends on city streets | VIDEO

Just as sites such as Brayola have used the crowds to help women find recommendations for bras, now a new site is providing hints at the most popular color choices in three European cities. The Pimkie Color Forecast analyzes webcam footage to provide infographics detailing current trends in Paris, Milan and Antwerp.

With the help of interactive artist and software developer Pedro Miguel Cruz, France-based fashion retailer Pimkie has set up webcams in the “most fashionable” areas of the three cities, the images from which are then put through a computer program. The program isolates the pixels that represent people by monitoring their motion over time – the environment stays still but people move across the image space. The color of these pixels is then logged and the data is organized and presented in an easy-to-understand way to visitors of the Color Forecast.

Users can watch the live feed, see the most popular shades at different times of the day, week or month (in bar chart or pie chart form), or check Pimkie’s clothes recommendations for each city based on its most popular color.

These recommendations can then be purchased through the Pimkie store. The video below explains more about the process behind the site:

The fashion industry is full of opinions on the latest trends, but the Color Forecast provides digestable information based on actual data from the street, as well as providing a unique way to engage customers for the brand. Retailers, could you take inspiration from Pimkie’s lead?

via Fashion site documents changing color trends on city streets | Springwise.

Fashion Retail: is Green cool? A IUM research insight

A new research carried out at IUM shows that “green fashion” is more appealing to North Americans than to Europeans. This is largely due to North Americans’ perception that green fashion consumers are young, trendy and self-confident and not unsophisticated, as Europeans see these same consumers.Gear Patrol: green fashion is not just a colour

Researchers found that environmental protection, health impact and ethical concerns most motivate consumers to purchase green fashion although the interest is merely moderate.
 
“Although consumers are ready to pay a premium to purchase organic food, they do not yet see the interest in organic fashion,” said Sandrine Ricard, Vice-President of IUM and part of the research team. “There is a need to better inform consumers about the nature of organic fashion and to continue ‘glamorizing’ both the communication and the products.”
 
Researchers found that North Americans perceive green fashion more favorably, in part because eco-clothing brands have been launched by celebrities, such as the brand, Edun, run by Bono and his wife. North Americans associate green fashion with a woman in her 20’s, simple but sexy, who wears organic shoes and clothing.
 
On the other hand, European respondents perceive organic fashion consumers as unglamorous. A typical consumer would be a simple woman in her 40’s, wealthy, having a healthy lifestyle but unsophisticated. Because organic products are more expensive, Europeans associate organic with social status and showing-off.
 
The research team also concluded that the concept of green fashion is not clear to the majority of respondents. Consumers seem lost in the exact meaning of green fashion and lack information on norms and processes. In Europe, green fashion must become more attractive to the young generation to be a viable consumer option. (Image courtesy of  Gear Patrol blog)