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Cameron Russell Speaks Out About Changing the Culture of the Fashion Industry
"What does it mean to be a model? i-D has always believed in the power of speaking out. Today, the voices of models are more vital than ever. Here, Cameron Russell, Adwoa Aboah, Dara Allen, Christy Turlington, Anja Rubik, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Teddy Quinlivan, Paloma Elsesser, Liya Kebede and Doutzen Kroes champion their passions, causes, fights and beliefs."

via: i-D

As Young Chinese Get Hooked on Hip-Hop, Streetwear Sees a Boom
"CLOT was arguably the main event. A number of prominent influencers came out for the show, or walked in it. Had the event happened just a few years ago, though, it’s questionable whether CLOT would have been asked to show at all. Streetwear has been around in China for some time: CLOT’s show—its New York Fashion Week debut—doubled as a celebration of its 15th anniversary. But it hasn’t been a major force in Chinese fashion until much more recently. Young Chinese are quickly discovering it, in large part because of the sudden rise of hip-hop in China—another meeting of East and West."

via: Quartz

Is The Scandinavian Street Style Bubble About to Burst?
"But, it's true — street style, fashion, whatever, moves in waves, and this particular aesthetic may be reaching a saturation point. Maggioni admits that at WGSN, they're beginning to notice a shift toward more occasionwear-driven pieces, like suiting. And if only judging from the sheer amount of suits seen on the streets of New York Fashion Week, we'd have to agree. "While sneakers and jeans are still going to be around — we've grown used to being comfortable! — we're seeing a rise in tailoring, and also heels, making a bit of a comeback," she says. Blazers and tailored trousers are key contenders to take over from bomber jackets and tracksuit pants, and they're already going strong across editorials and, according to WGSN, even increasing at retail. "

via: Fashionista

Meet the Top 20: The LVMH Prize Announces Its Semifinalists
"The shortlist is in. After reviewing 1,300 applications from 90 countries, the in-house committee behind the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers has revealed its selection of semifinalists."

via: Vogue

American Manufacturing Doesn’t Have to Die
"Politicians, particularly our current president, love to talk about American manufacturing. Donald Trump tried to make the deal he struck to save factory jobs at the Carrier HVAC plant in Indiana a synecdoche for his professed concern over the welfare of the American worker. The deal didn’t stop jobs from moving to Mexico, and when a union leader complained that the arrangement hadn’t improved the lives of the employees as much as it had garnered positive press for the new president, the commander in chief bashed him on Twitter. Between the election and January of this year, the president made 31 claims of adding or saving jobs by intervening with companies; ProPublica found that 90 percent of those jobs were not saved or never materialized. But while the scale of these claims was questionable and the results were missing and the actual effect was actively pretty bad, nearly everyone was able to agree that, in a vacuum, saving those jobs would be a nice thing. More American manufacturing: good. And yet, there is less. Twelve-and-a-half million Americans worked in manufacturing in 2017, down from 14.1 million 11 years earlier. There’s been some growth since the sector dipped to its lowest point in 2010, as a result of the Great Recession, but American businesses are rarely moved by the common public sentiment to make the change and bring their supply chains (and all the jobs they represent) to the US. "

via: Racked

Logos Are Back, and Retailers Must Respond
"Hip streetwear brand Supreme has helped make the logoed look feel exclusive and fresh again. High-fashion houses including Oscar de la Renta and Balenciaga are putting logo-stamped pieces on shelves, signaling their credibility to the influencer crowd."

via: Bloomberg

The View From the Front Row: A History of the Fashion Show–Photo Essay
"Most fashion shows last less than 10 minutes, but have the power to transport an audience to another world. There’s an intensity to a great show, a distillation of a designer’s extraordinary vision. Once upon a time, though, things were a lot humbler. The intimate salon shows of Chanel in the 1950s bear no resemblance to Karl Lagerfeld’s fully-stocked supermarket in the vast Grand Palais in 2014. The main change is scale – along with location, set production, and budget. From John Galliano’s historical dramas at Christian Dior, to Hussein Chalayan’s theatrical impossibilities and the late Alexander McQueen’s gothic, heart-stopping wonders, we chart how the fashion show developed from low-key to king."

via: The Guardian

Why Fashion Is Key to Understanding the World of Black Panther
"This chatter wasn’t so much about cosplay—or dressing up as characters like the titular Marvel hero himself, T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), the antagonist Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), or the special-forces operatives Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Okoye (Danai Gurira). Many Black Panther enthusiasts seemed to want to dress like everyday Wakandans: to delight in this fictional African nation and transform their local theaters with brightly colored mixed-print ensembles, a playful call-and-response to the larger-than-life black characters on the big screen."

via: The Atlantic

Meet Marc Dolce, One of Adidas's Biggest Weapons in Its War With Nike
"It’s impossible to talk about The Sneaker Wars between Nike and Adidas—the prolonged period of aggressive competition between the two brands, with the Three Stripes making up unforeseen ground on the Swoosh—without talking about Marc Dolce. From 2005 to 2014, Dolce was the global director of Nike Sportswear, overseeing its football and basketball divisions, and in that time was credited with designs like the Nike Lunar Force 1 (and updated version of the classic Air Force 1). In the industry, he's just one of a handful of sneaker designers with actual name recognition, alongside guys like Nathan Van Hook (the man behind the Nike Air Yeezy 2) and Tinker Hatfield, the godfather of almost every classic Nike sneaker in existence. But when he decided to leave Nike, his exit was messy and litigious. In late 2014, he and two other designers working in Nike’s “Innovation Kitchen” jumped ship to Adidas, citing a “repressive” attitude at Nike, and in doing so set the cutthroat tone the rivalry has taken in recent years."

via: GQ

Adidas: A German Company Built a “Speedfactory” to Produce Sneakers in the Most Efficient Way
"A couple of years ago, the top minds at Adidas decided this clunky, inefficient model was too limiting. “That’s why we looked into the technologies available and decided, ‘Hey, if we want to be faster and more flexible in doing what our athletes want and need, then we have to rethink the way we make products,'” says Gerd Manz, the head of technology innovation within Adidas’ Future team, which looks ahead three to seven years to set the company’s course. The innovations Adidas has since put in place largely converge in the Speedfactory. It’s a pioneering concept that concentrates the sneaker-production process in a single space, and in the market where the shoes are sold. At Adidas’ Speedfactory in Ansbach, Germany, robots do most of the work. Compared to the months it can take to make a sneaker in the traditional supply chain, Speedfactory completes production in a matter of days."

via: Quartz

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