Uri Minkoff discussed incorporating technology within their retail strategies to students interested in Fashion.
Yunxi Peng, a Fashion MFA Design and Society student at Parsons, slid her fingers over the wall spanning digital mirror touch screen at Rebecca Minkoff’s Soho store for the first time Friday night.
“This is really cool. Did you know that you can change the lighting when you go in the dressing room? And you can see all the colors and sizes”.
Peng and 50 other students were given tours of the stores digital mirror technology, given 20% off all of the stores merchandise and treated to a talk with Uri Minkoff the brand’s’ CEO and co-founder on how to use technology to their advantage when starting and maintaining a brand.
The digital mirror technology used in their Soho store at 96 Greene St covers a wall close to the entry way in floor to ceiling mirrors that with the touch of a finger becomes a digital shopping interface. With a Rebecca Minkoff App anyone can enter the store and the associates will know right away any size or color preferences, any items customers added to their basket online will be added to their dressing room and they receive a 15% discount.
Customers can order green tea at the touch of a finger, swipe through look books, tap to add items to their dressing room and watch the brand’s latest runway show before trying on clothing. A similar mirror is used in the stores three dressing rooms allowing the customer to add more items, change the light settings or request help from an associate without leaving the comfort of the changing room and pay for everything with out standing in line for a register.
The event was organized by The Luxury Society a group at Parsons that hopes to pair older students with sophomores and juniors to create peer to peer mentoring and host events that teach students about retail and luxury business concepts. The President of the group, Advika Aggarwal, is Majoring in Design and Merchandising. The idea for the group came to her when she was enrolled in a course called Luxury Design & Strategy where New School students and Columbia business school students develop creative business strategies for Luxury companies like Chanel.
“I thought that it was a great experience but it’s crazy that only a small group of students in the class can participate” said Aggarwal, “I wanted to make that experience available to the entire Parsons community.”
Rebecca Minkoff debuted her first handbag in 2005 and in 2009 presented her first ready-to-wear collection. Today the brand markets itself as a lifestyle brand offering accessories, wearable tech, athletic wear, and men’s clothing to millennials. Rebecca Minkoff was able to cater to their specific target audience in ways that were successful and sometimes not so successful via technology.
“I don’t really think of Rebecca Minkoff as a luxury brand but they are certainly being innovative with their approach to retail,” said Aggarwal.
Uri Minkoff, Rebecca’s brother, looks after the operations side of Rebecca Minkoff while his sister, the brand’s namesake, looks after creative direction. He said that their combined efforts have increased the brand’s value because they have been able to combine the best of two fields; tech and fashion. This has allowed the to catch the attention of millennial consumers and increase their number of return customers and fiscal growth year to year.
He advised student who can’t partner with a sibling to learn as much as they can about two different fields so that they can approach issues with a unique point of view.
“We wanted to address inefficiencies of shopping in a store,” said Minkoff who said that the brand looked at the Apple Store as a model for how to combine brick and mortar retail with user friendly technology.
Minkoff believes that the future of retail lies in virtual and augmented realities. “The next big step for us would be being able to give the customer the in store experience while at home.” He said that while that type of technology is a few years away the brand will be unveiling two new initiatives this year. he declined to comment on what they were
Minkoff encouraged young designers to harness their social networks and connections to create buzz around their products and create a group of loyal consumers. At one point he even suggested that they hold a dinner party or a picnic and “Snapchat your friends in your clothing, make it a digital fashion show, have a good time and people will connect to that.”
Minkoff ended the 30 min talk by telling the group of students, “For the first time fashion isn’t only about the 5th Avenue store. You have an audience of eight billion people, this is the best time to share your work.”
Ayo Keys is currently earning a dual degree in Fashion Design and Journalism + Design at The New School. Born and raised in West Philadelphia she enjoys thai food, large issues of Vogue, anything rose gold and knitting. She has an obsession with art direction, well designed fonts and hopes to one day become a Creative Director.
