See Now, Buy Now

 

Back in February, it was announced that Burberry would be combining their men's and women's lines into a 'seasonless' show of clothes that will be immediately available for sale. It was a game-changer. Other designers soon followed suit with Tom Ford and Tommy Hilfiger jumping on the bangwagon.

As fashion month is well and truly under-way, more and more designers such as Ralph Lauren, Thakoon, Topshop, Rebecca Minkoff, just to name a few, have adopted the 'see now, buy now' scheme.

The leaders of technological innovation within the industry, Burberry, was the first to embrace 'see now, buy now' after Christopher Bailey recognised the demand of immediacy from consumers. The brand has managed to revitalise itself by embracing technological change, from live streaming their shows back in 2009 to previewing collections on Snapchat, so it was no surprise that they were the front runners.

The customers are buy now, wear now. We want it now. We don't want to have to wait months until the collections become available because by then we've forgotten what was on the runways.

But what does that mean for the high street? Designers are giving fast-fashion a run for their money by making the real thing available before the more affordable and commerical 'knock-off's' hit the stores. High street retailers are also used to having the time to adapt and create their own clothing based on the latest collections. Will this new initiative have a major effect on them?

 One high-street brand that has adopted the concept is Topshop. For the first time ever, they will make the collection available to buy immediately after their LFW show. They will also host a pop-up market stall open to the public straight after their show in Spitalfields, where shoppers can get first dibs on the collection.

We this revoluntionise the fashion industry and everyone's inner shopaholic shine through, or we will lose the fun of the build up? Only time will tell.