June 30, 2020
Fashion Ideas Forum by Modaes
We interviewed Pilar Riaño, CEO at Modaes, in a key moment for the fashion industry on the occasion of the Fashion Ideas Forum
Fashion Ideas Forum 2020 was born with the aim of bringing light to the fashion industry right now. A forum with top-level panelists that will be 100% virtual from June 30 to July 3.
Modaes launches with new normality a new event format: Fashion Ideas Forum. What can we expect from this event?
Modaes.es professional conferences and meetings are always aimed at generating value for our public, made up essentially of professionals and managers from the fashion industry. After going through a process as complicated as that of the state of alarm, the objective of the Fashion Ideas Forum is to generate ideas for the beginning of the reconstruction of a sector that has naturally been and will be strongly affected by the confinement and economic crisis that will follow. then.
For this we will have an exceptional panel of fifteen national and international experts, both from companies in the sector, such as H&M, Mango, Tendam, Bestseller, Adolfo Domínguez or Desigual, to experts from entities such as Interbrand, Euromonitor or KPMG, with whom we will try to generate a brainstorm around the future of the sector.
There will be three days of presentations, about 30 minutes long, and a last session on Friday the 3rd, in which we will summarize the ideas raised by the experts and a final round table, by way of conclusion, with which we want to land. all that, always looking to the future of the sector.
The goal of the Forum is ambitious and hopeful. “Shout Eureka! …” 2020 will bring many changes, we have already begun to see them … Are we ready (companies and consumers) for a renewed industry? (more sustainable, for example).
It seems clear that the Covid-19 crisis is going to have a transformative character of society on many levels, probably also in terms of consumption. I am confident that some of these changes, such as increased awareness and concern for sustainability, will be positive, while others may go in the opposite direction, as a certain reversal of globalization in recent decades. Despite the fact that in the short term the environment will undoubtedly be negative, I have no doubt that the fashion sector will be strengthened after this crisis. Until now fashion was already losing buyers and dimension in mature markets in favor of other industries and spending groups (travel, technology) and this crisis may be a boost for a necessary transformation in which, in essence, fashion must achieve recover part of the lost value in the eyes of the consumer.
Renewed or die. Betting on the digitization of processes, the importance of online commerce … But … Is digitization only available to the greats?
The incorporation of new technologies always requires investment, but not only that, but also cultural changes that are sometimes more difficult to implement. Undoubtedly, large companies have more financial capacity to incorporate technologies, but it also usually costs them more to incorporate new processes into their organizational culture, their processes, etc. Startups, on the other hand, have little of the former (money) and much of the latter (the ability to do things quickly and without inertia). In short, there are no excuses for anyone.
If you had to give advice to a young designer…
I would dare to give two tips: first, I think it would be good for anyone to have experience in a large multinational in the fashion sector, to learn from the leaders. Second, market orientation.