Retail Spotting: Hugo Boss Re-opens in Soho

What makes a store manly?

 

In light of the re-opening of the Hugo Boss store in Soho, it somehow jerked the question of how men's brands make their stores appealing to men. Although there's a growing number of men-shoppers, retailers still are very careful, if not safe, when it comes to designing their men's wears stores.

Just makes you wonder why...does it always have to look soooo...industrial?



5CM store



or is it really just a man thing?

Seeing double?: Prada or Zara

Is it right for fast-fashion retailers to copy designer wear?


Where do you think we should draw the line? Is this a growing problem of lack of creativity?
Although we looooove Zara, is it right that we support their tendency to copy off the designs previewed in Prada's runway?

Runway pictures are from the Prada runway, while the clothes are spotted on Zara clothing racks

thing is, its also not the first time (or designer):

Fashionista.com reports their side of the story.

How do they do it?

How do you wear $2,000

using a 50 dollar bill?

Your first response would possibly be: "yeah right". 

But really and fact is: Yeah (you actually can do it), right.

Lending a memory and if memory serves right, this has happened to many of us more than once. You skim through the most recent Vogue issue and there's this beautiful, perfectly hemmed, looks-like-the-right-kind-of-fit dress thats just staring back at you.

Kind of like this:

WELL, good news. That fresh-off the runway dress is yours for $50. Catch? One night.

Before listing down all the reasons why you wouldn't want to rent a dress, here's why maybe you should:

We keep buying from "fast-fashion" chains that sell decent looking dresses that can be worn for 1 ocassion (and one ocassion only). Say, if you buy a Zara version of the dress above, you'd spend around $60-$80 on it, good news is you'll own it.

But the truth is, the fit, fabric, and fabulous feeling wont be the same. Besides, it saves you the worry of running into someone who picked out the same dress from the same retailer in another branch.

In essence, this is how RENT THE RUNWAY was conceptualized and its also the same reason why this NY-based web company is doing so well. How they do it? "Rent the Runway buys designer clothes wholesale and rents them out, charging between $50 and $200 for two days. That may not sound cheap for a rental, but these are current and recent-season dresses that mostly cost between $400 and $2,000 at retail. Generally, rentals are priced in the neighborhood of 10% of the retail price." (read more here)

It literally is "dressing for less"- 'dressing' here being the operative word and in other words, STYLISH.

and in the lack of a better analogy- its a cinderella story. Wear it for the night, return it. But remember, you dont always buy clothes to own them, you buy them because you think they make you look good. and for an important social event, looking good is 50% bulk of your reasons to even be at an event.

Need another angle? Why would you prefer to buy a Apple laptop over a Toshiba or Acer?

think about it.

Wish upon a brand a day

There are always so many rumors about H&M coming to Manila,

and if they actually are coming in by 2011- 

The truth is simply (and it is a fact) that it probably wont be happening soon.

So for now, this brand will have to stay on our wish list..

Just a thought though, if H&M does come to Manila,

which of your current brands will you give up/ replace the big retailer with?