London – Not one to be left behind when it comes to embracing change, Tommy Hilfiger
has announced plans to transform its current New York Fashion Week show,
starting from September 2016, into a “multimedia broadcast runway
production” centered on consumers as all products shown will be immediately
available for sale.
The US fashion designer’s announcement comes days after similar news broke
from the likes of , , and , who aim to break away from the
traditional fashion week schedule in order to appeal to consumers see-now,
buy-now demands and align runway shows with their retail calendar.
As of the Spring 2017 New York Fashion Week season, Tommy Hilfiger aims to
shift its catwalk show to align with the in-store drops by debuting its
fall 2016 collections together with a “full-scale” fashion show for both
consumers and members of the press. Following the show, the collection
will be immediately available for purchase across all of the US retailer’s
sales channels, including wholesale and online, through its global retail
network.
“I founded my brand to be accessible and inclusive, and I’ve always
considered the consumer to be the most important aspect of our business,”
said Tommy Hilfiger on the decision in a press release. “In the past 30
years, we’ve paved the way in fusing fashion and entertainment. This
philosophy has always been a part of my dream to connect our global
consumers to inspiring, unexpected fashion experiences. We’ve been building
towards this for a long time, and the natural progression of this approach
to democratizing the runway is to make the full excitement and energy of
NYFW directly accessible to our consumers in a globally impactful way.”
In addition, Tommy Hilfiger’s show in September will also mark the public
debut of model Gigi Hadid’s with Tommy
Hilfiger as the fashion house aims to unveil the entire collection of
TommyXGigi during a runway event. This presentation will also feature a
series of exclusive looks curated from Tommy
Hilfiger’s womenswear collections.
Following the show’s transition for September, Tommy Hilfiger will go on to
debut its womenswear Spring 2017 collection next year February to
consumers. Not to shun its wholesale buyers and long-lead media, the brand
will host a private showing of its upcoming Spring 17 collections this
September to selected partners. The new fashion show launch this fall will
be supported by an integrated global advertising campaign to ensure it
reaches its core, target audience and will be promoted through an
international multi-media broadcast network, highlighting the brand’s
ongoing fusion of fashion and entertainment.
A video posted by Tommy Hilfiger (@tommyhilfiger) on
Feb 10, 2016 at
9:00am PST“As one of the world’s most recognized American lifestyle brands and most
visible shows at NYFW, we have a unique opportunity to take a leadership
role in moving the runway closer to the consumer,” added Daniel Grieder,
Chief Executive Officer for Tommy Hilfiger. “In line with our vision to
become more consumer centric, it’s important that we channel the incredible
visibility and engagement that our shows generate into the moment when the
product launches. This is the next step in our journey to shorten the
development cycle and balance our approach to meet the diverse needs of
consumers, buyers and media. We are committed to working in a new way with
our business partners and the industry to achieve this goal.”According to a press release from the company, the change to it’s
womenswear fashion show “reflects the company’s commitment to the global
growth of its womenswear business” and highlights a its potential for
additional growth across its women’s categories. Tommy Hilfiger has yet to
reveal any plans concerning its menswear fashion week show, but will share
further information concerning its catwalk format in the lead up to
September.