Ready-to-buy: François-Henri Pinault perplexed, Paco Rabanne tempted

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Feb 23, 2016

A lively debate is taking place in the fashion sphere following big changes around the runway calendar. More and more brands have engaged in a race to reduce the time between runway show and clothing sales as the current system is believed to be a “dated idea that makes no sense”, by big guns like Burberry and Tom Ford, and François-Henri Pinault is also reflecting.
 
Making a collection immediately available after a runway presentation “kills the dream of luxury”, says the CEO of Kering to the American media, Bloomberg. According to him, making the consumer wait six months actually “creates a desire”. 

“For some brands a runway show is an event for communication,” he explains. “Burberry without a doubt believes to have made the best decision. What we will decide will suit are brands and our vision of luxury,” he concluded.
 
For many designers, the runway is an integral part of creating. Many runway pieces which will never go on to sale, are often the pieces that dictate future trends.

“To anticipate four to six months of production in order to make clothes available to the market as soon as they are presented, would be a commercial choice that would detriment creativity. By creating advance orders, we would have the tendency to take less risk and at the time of presentation, the runway show would present the items that sold the most,” says the president of Camera della Moda, Carlo Capasa.  
 
Not to mention, that sometimes it takes time for new creative ideas to be embraced and integrated by the public. How many collections have ben criticized on the runway, only to be acclaimed once arrived in store?
 
Just look at Gucci for a recent example - Kering group’s flagship brand. Artistic director, Alessandro Michele, first runway presentations received a lot of criticism before the designer and his creations were deemed the ‘coolest’ of the moment.
 
On the other hand, Paco Rabanne, is ready to experiment with ready-to-buy. Right after its runway presentation taking place March 3, in Paris, the comic brand by Julien Dossena will put four looks on sale in its Parisians boutique on the Street Cambon, as well as online and through American retailer, Barney’s.