Fashionable Conversations: WWD & Decoded Fashion

Today in New York the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit wrapped up just as Decoded Fashion's annual NY Summit took off, making me wish I had been able to take time off from work to attend at least one. Last year while in school I did work with Decoded to plan and execute their summit, and it was fascinating to be able to listen to the different speakers talk about all things #fashiontech. This year, I was forced to follow the conversation on Twitter, but was still able to glean some interesting pieces from the conversations.

One quote in particular caught my eye, that of Tim Kendall, Pinterest's GM of Monetization. He said that 37% of mobile transactions are focused on fashion and luxury goods. That to me is very high, and I wonder if the quote was taken out of context - as brands are able to link a Pinterest post directly to an ecommerce link, allow purchase of items on a brand's Pinterest board. Either way, that is very encouraging for the fashion industry, and ties to McKinsey's prediction that luxury's share of online sales will double from 6 to 12 percent by 2020. After working on a mobile commerce/mobile app project with Yoox last summer, I find that area very interesting and clearly ripe for growth. I only wish I had been at the summit to hear in person the full discussion. Kudos to Decoded for driving such interesting conversations.

"But as luxury companies are increasingly forced to acknowledge e-commerce as a driver of sales — it is projected to grow 20 to 25 percent over the next five years, according to the Boston Consulting Group, while the industry as a whole is growing at only 3 to 4 percent a year — digital transformation, still relatively rare in fashion, is going to become more common."

- NY Times