Designers and retail chains are teaming up with fashion bloggers to promote their products. Not only is this great for the bloggers who are extremely passionate about fashion, but also for the brands themselves.
One of the biggest fashion communities is on the blogging site Tumblr. According to Mashable,”The blogging platform recently hired Rich Tong, the founder of social fashion site Weardrobe (acquired by Google in mid-2010), to serve as fashion director. His first big project? Sending more than 20 bloggers to New York Fashion Week next month. Eight bloggers are already stationed in New York; the rest will be flown in for the nine-day series of shows and parties, which run from February 9 to 17. Tumblr is fronting the costs for all participants, including flights, hotel accommodations, transportation, meals, etc., and handling all of the invites to fashion shows.”
Tumblr’s goal? “More than anything, this is just to build awareness around the fashion community on Tumblr because it’s one of those communities that we [at Tumblr] have noticed but not everyone in the [fashion] industry has,” he explained.
This will give bloggers a chance to showcase their work and prove their credibility as legitimate reporters. Tumblr’s initiative is also a great way to raise the designers’ awareness on the benefits of inviting bloggers to their shows.
By creating a blog, fashion designers can also showcase their work in a more interactive format. Not only can users comment with their thoughts and opinions but the designers can instantly upload photos and videos, giving fans a sneak peak at their latest products and designs.
Kate Spade, Oscar de la Renta, Alexander McQueen, and Ann Taylor have already established a presence in the blogging world. “We wanted to be blogging because we knew it was relevant; that’s what smart, stylish woman do these days: they blog or read blogs,” Julie Fredrickson, Ann Taylor’s digital marketing manager, says of the latter project. “We wanted to get our voice out there in a way that wasn’t contrived, that was as natural and beautiful as we are as a brand. Tumblr has been good for telling the holistic story of who Ann Taylor is,” she says.
According to Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp, approximately 180 of the top 1,000 Tumblr blogs are fashion-related. And fashion-related Tumblr posts are re-blogged on a much greater scale than general Tumblr posts, Tumblr Fashion Director Rich Tong says, suggesting that “there’s a huge capacity for fashion content to go viral on Tumblr.”
Using blogs to highlight fashion merchandise and trends is a step in the right direction. People interested in fashion look to the internet for the latest tips and advice, rather than waiting for a monthly magazine to hit newsstands. By providing an instant look at what’s new and “hot,” designers can get ahead of the competition by building a reputation as a trendsetter.
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