LOS ANGELES — Fast fashion has taken on a whole new meaning lately, with designer racks rolling into driveways; truckloads of athletic shoes, fitness experts and treadmills, touching down at food festivals; and full-fledged runway shows staged on the backs of flatbed trucks.
Taking a page from the gourmet food-truck playbook, apparel and accessories brands are increasingly opting to barnstorm the highways and byways 21st-century style, putting their products in front of people nationwide, supported by social networking tools that help get the word out and hoping to reconnect with customers where it counts — in their own backyards.
“On many levels it’s the ultimate in customer service,” says fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, whose “mobile style unit” — a converted courier truck that serves as a boutique on wheels — has been on the road for the past year. “It’s more convenient, more immediate and more of an experience than buying online to actually bring the store to our customers.” The concept is hardly novel — mobile shops of one kind or another have been around for years (think of the old milk trucks and dry-cleaner delivery services of the past century) — but so many clothing brands climbed behind the wheel this summer that a sartorial traffic jam seemed imminent.
In addition to Rowley’s rolling storefront, Skechers recently wrapped a 20-city, three-month, coast-to-coast “Shape-Up America Tour.” Fashion designers Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos spent August promoting their Shipley & Halmos label (and compiling a limited-edition photo book) by meeting with customers at Barneys Co-op locations across the country. And women’s contemporary label Alice + Olivia spent the summer touring the southern United States in a revamped Airstream mobile home that served as a combination pop-up shop and makeover wagon.
“It’s an idea that’s absolutely ripe for exploitation at the moment,” says David Wolfe, creative director of the New York trend forecasting firm the Doneger Group. “Shoppers are exhausted by the traditional venues, the whole world is ‘over-retailed’ to beat the band. It’s not like the merchandise is any different, but the setting is unexpected, funky, weird and young. And definitely not serious.” Rowley sees it as part performance art. “It’s an experience,” she says. “I’ve had people tell me they thought it was just cool to be able to buy a fashion piece from a truck.” But to hear Rowley tell it, her inspiration was as much serendipity as strategy, motivated by the announcement that DHL was planning to end its express domestic shipping service.
“I had one of those smack-on-the- forehead moments,” Rowley said. “I’d seen the taco trucks around and thought there would be this plethora of leftover DHL trucks — so why not try to put one to good use?” The New York City-based designer quickly scored one (via eBay) and spent a couple of months tricking it out with boutique touches: cutting a storefront window in one side, laying down a dark hardwood floor, sectioning off a fitting room and adding a sound system, Lucite fixtures and a striped awning.
Somewhere along the way, it could very well pass another merchandise-laden motor home — this one headed from San Francisco to Miami — loaded with limited-edition products from Hello Kitty and friends to celebrate the 50th anniversary of parent company Sanrio.
“It’s going to be stocked with 50 special items to signify the 50th anniversary,” explained Janet Hsu, president of Sanrio Inc. “And being mobile will allow us to be flexible about how we interact with fans. For example, if we hear of a music festival along the way, we can add a stop.” Hsu, who is based out of Sanrio’s Los Angeles offices, said she and her team came up with the idea based on an increasingly familiar sight in the city. “We were definitely inspired by the food truck,” Hsu said. “We saw how they end up bringing together people with shared interests — like a specific kind of food — in a way that is a shared experience. And we thought this would give us a way to really connect with our fans in a way that’s meaningful.”
Wolfe thinks that’s an antidote to the malaise of the current retail landscape. “In a funny way it’s like the old Tupperware parties or the Avon Lady approach. You’re communicating in a very intimate way with customers in a time when shopping has become so impersonal in most places.” Could the mobile format be the next evolution of the pop-up boutique — those temporary bricks-and-mortar storefronts that sprout up unexpectedly — and have a lifespan measured in weeks or months? “Absolutely,” Wolfe said. “For one thing, it’s fun.
The recession has made shopping into a very serious pursuit — even for the people who have plenty of money to do it. The joy and thrill of the hunt is no longer appealing, so I think this strikes a whole different chord and elicits a whole different response from the consumer. Who could resist it?”
Rowley isn’t sure how popular the fashion truck will end up being. “It has to be a good fit for your brand,” she said. Doneger’s Wolfe concurs. “It’s not for everybody. I can’t see Carolina Herrera driving a truck around, for example.” But Rowley, who also uses her mobile boutique as a way to test potential future retail market sites, says her experience has been so positive, she’s contemplating expanding into a full-fledged fashion fleet.
