25/10/2016 – MarediModa
"The shock of the new"
This is the title of the unmissable speech by Mr. David Shah and one of the most expected event of the 15th edition of MarediModa, Cannes
The end of the boomers and the arrival of millennials. How the changing of the guard is affecting business - the forum, scheduled on Nov. 8th at 4:30 pm., will be about the present confrontation/clash between generations, the push of “millennials” and the subsequent implications in the fashion industry.
“Involving”, “exciting”, “intriguing”, ”astonishing”, “enlightening”, are some of the adjectives pronounced by the audience to describe Shah’s past speeches.
It’s time to make yourself comfortable, feel relaxed expecting the unexpected.
David Shaw: "Well, boomer that I am, always on top of the hill and never over over the hill, I never thought the day would come when we would have to give way to another generation. We have talked about it for ages, but, finally, the Millennials have arrived and massive change is upon us - not tomorrow, but now, today! Are you ready for it?
All this polarization and the arrival of a new generation taking control of things will lead to monumental changes in the fashion system. We are moving from fast fashion to products with purpose , buying for emotion rather than status, designing not for the sake of something new but for an experiential economy.
The capital of influence has moved from New York to Oregon from fashion to space travel. How do you think like “The Big Short” and not “Wall Street”.
It’s not a five minute world anymore, but a five second one. We’re talking instant versus planned, spontaneous versus structured. You can see how the fashion world is busy with speed to market - the fashion world re-booting to be in touch with reality. “Seen now, buy now!” easier said than done, but there are solutions!
Their new ways of doing things will bring a new sense of life, individuality and rebellion to the market. We are all going to have to learn a new set of rules from marketing to design where the irregular is the regular and the unfamiliar the familiar. We’re never too old to learn as generational differences all start to merge.
Whose side are you on? Are you a “Kadashian" or an “Emma Watson”? What does empowerment mean to the Millennial woman - tweeting a naked selfie; being Miley Cyrus; being Gwyneth Paltrow; looking at advertisements; watching TED Talks; owning their feminism; disowning their feminism…
Millennials are just not in the position to invest in later, when they don’t know what they will be doing in 18 months so how does that effect their buying attitudes and what they aspire to? Is that why we are moving from a ‘trend’ dominated world to a ‘cult’ driven one?
Where do brands go as we move into a circular design world based on repair and recycling, where the imperfect is perfect and goods are no longer have a sell by date but are built to last - T-shirts and jackets guaranteed for 30 years and jeans you can never destroy?"