DESIGNER OVERVIEW Ryan Lo is a womenswear knitwear designer from Hong Kong. He studied at London College of Fashion and also taught himself how to knit from the use of YouTube videos. He is best known for his pink frocks and love for the colour pink. Ryan Lo showcased his spring’ 13 collection with Fashion East earlier this year. Ryan Lo creates a childlike fantasy theme that the inner girl of a woman would love. His collections are often associated with the theme of ‘Romantic Fantasy’. He uses bright colours experiments with different fabrics; and his collections are based on fun, girly-ness, eccentricity and playfulness. His collections symbolise the woman that never let go of her inner child.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
• Presented his S/S 13 collection at Fashion East. Winning the women’s-wear Fashion East award; it allowed him to gain further brand recognition. The Fashion East event was sponsored by one of the most successful fashion high street retailers; Topshop. This allowed him to get recognition from Topshop who play a big part in helping emerging designers come to the fashion scene. • Has a distinctive style in the way he works. He understands the direction of the brand.
• Ryan Lo currently has no stockists. This means he is missing out on profit and is not targeting to his audience.
OPPORTUNITES
THREATS
• Showcased at Fashion East and won the womenswear award this allowed him to gain recognition • He took part in the ‘London Show Rooms’ which is one part of the British Council’s support and mentoring scheme.
• Ryan Lo does not have RTW range, the brand only have a catwalk collection (S/S 2013) • Online presence. J W Anderson is a great example of a good online presence., with social media sites such as Facebook and twitter. J W Anderson’s website is simple to use and has all the information the viewer will need.
• He has no great online presence. As an emerging designer the Internet should be used to the fullest to promote yourself and the brand as it is a free way of advertising. Social media sites reach out to millions of people each day. Ryan Lo’s social media networking sites such as; Facebook and twitter are poor and near enough to being ineffective.
BRANDING
Unique Selling Points; • Crafts designs with his self-taught knowledge • Mix of super lux and super cheap fabrics • Specializes in knit-wear (Sourced from the Ryan Lo website) The niche of the brand is defined by the use of knitwear that Ryan Lo incorporates in to his designs. However, the knitting that he produces is a niche itself, as it isn’t as commercial or wearable compared to knitted collections from other designers.
Images are sourced from http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/s tyle_bubble/2012/08/lo-fifeminine.html
FUNDING Ryan LO showcased his womenswear S/S 2013 collection at Fashion East this year, alongside Maarten Van Der Horst and Claire Barrow. Fashion East originated back in 2000, and has helped to showcase young emerging designers such as Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, and Louise Gray. These UK designers have now grown to establish their own fashion houses and are highly recognisable within the fashion industry. Funded by Topshop/Topman, the event is held at the old Truman Brewery in East London, Brick Lane. Three emerging designers are picked to showcase their collections to global buyers and press. A short application is needed to apply followed by an informal interview, which enables the emerging
designer to show off their portfolio; otherwise known was ‘submission of samples’. Lulu Kennedy (Director of Fashion East) Fashion East and Man panels will then correlate and discuss who has been successful or not. Emerging designers should be UK based, have a menswear OR womenswear and also have been in business for less that 3 years. An established designer that has grown immensely from showcasing at Fashion East is Marios Schwab; who won with his A/W 2006 and S/S 2006 womenswear collections. After successfully showcasing at Fashion East, he has gone on to apply and win other funding opportunities.
Moving forward from Fashion East, Marios Schwab then went on to apply for BFC NEWGEN. Originating back to 1993, it has become one of the world’s most recognisable starting points for young designers. NEWGEN doesn’t have a specific amount of chosen winners, seeing as showcasing collections varies from; Catwalk, Presentation, Installation and Exhibition. This is then shown at both A/W and S/S LFW. After winning twice as Fashion East, he successfully went on to win a staggering 6 times and showcased his collections through the different areas that NEWGEN consist of;
Exhibition – S/S 2006, A/W 2006, S/S 2007. Catwalk – A/W 2007, S/S 2008, A/W 2008. Marios Schwab has successfully progressed to win different prizes such as Fashion Forward and Vogue Designer Fashion Fund. These prizes seem way out of reach for Ryan LO at the meantime. Seeing as Ryan LO, is not quite ready to move up the ladder regarding funding opportunities. Looking at how far Marios Schwab has grown from showcasing his collection with different prizes and grants will influence Ryan LO’s decisions of future funding projects.
PRODUCT Ryan Lo produces dresses, knitwear and skirts. He likes to experiment with different fabrics and mixes these within his knitting. He uses a variety of cheap and luxurious fabrics. He first taught himself how to knit by watching YouTube clips and incorporates knit in to his collections to give his garments a slight twist such as; “girlishness and femininity and sexy and not sexy”. He creates garments such as jackets, tees, dresses and lace skirts; and layers these elements together effectively. Fabrics that Ryan Lo use’s; Chiffon Tulle Mesh Knit Mohair
CATWALK
RTW
Initially looking through the Ryan LO website, which stated previously shows minimal information of the brand and none of either sales or stockists. To my believe, displaying no information of how to purchase garments from the brand shows that they unfortunately to not have any stockists yet. However, looking at the garments, which were shown at S/S 2013 for Ryan LO, to a certain extent, they are neither sellable nor wearable. Seeing as Ryan Lo is relatively a new brand and only just showcasing his S/S 2013 collection sponsored by Fashion East, buyers will now be in contact in order to stock his collections in their stores. A technique, which will help Ryan Lo to interest possible retailers will be to simplify his collections. In regards to simplifying catwalk collections, we see here Meadham Kirchoff, the design duo take aspects from their recent collections and incorporate the main idea in to a more wearable range. This image here, which was taken from the Net-a-Porter website (9/11/12) the aesthetics are their but are dramatically different to the creativeness which is explored within their catwalk shows. This has helped to gain stockists such as;
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Seeing as discussed above, Ryan Lo includes knitting in his collections another brand that does the same is Sister by Sibling ‘We like mutating classic, traditional knitwear designs or techniques so the Knit Monster Scare Isle comes to mind’ Strengths -Stockists not only in UK but worldwide – Global awareness of the brand has been identified Europe Russia Japan United Arab Emirates Hong Kong South Korea Australia Taiwan Online -Social Media; they have a well communicated Twitter account with 6,869 tweets and 3,744 followers (Twitter account @WEARESIBLING – 21st November 2012) the language used on the twitter page is very informal, as they use twitter slang terminology and interact with followers in a friendly manner. Weaknesses -Website is not accessible yet (due to refurbishment)
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Price Level - £180 - £430 (Selfridges Website 26th November 2012) Product Range – Womenswear ranges from knitted jumpers, cardigans and scarfs. Brand Ethos – ‘expect colour, humour, sparkle and that everything will be knitted’ (Sourced from British Fashion Council website – 26th November 2012)
Similar to Ryan Lo in the aspect of knitting, the brand Sister by Sibling focuses on a different use of knitting incorporated in to their garments. It is a lot neater and polished whereas Ryan Lo uses his creativity to knit incredibly pleasing crazy knitwear, which is not so neat but are very interesting. In regards to Social Media, both brands are very similar in use of language and friendly banter, which is, showcased throughout their twitter pages. Facebook pages both add content of editorial and online press and also one line conversation started, excellent technique to communicate with followers. Ryan Lo could learn a vast amount from Sister by Sibling, due to their success in gaining International and UK stockists, which Ryan Lo is yet to succeed.
TARGET AUDIENCE As Ryan Lo is a womenswear designer, his target audience are 100% females. She would be; a strong, independent woman who has many sides to her. She would have an innocent side, sweet side but also her naughty Lolita side. The woman would be headstrong and incredibly powerful and confident. She would be a girly girl at heart and loves pink. Fashion defines who she is, he mood and character for that day. Name Selena Thims Age 25- 35 year old female Country of origin Hong Kong/Japan Profession A creative career. She likes to express herself through her clothing.
What she identifies with? She is fun, playful, sweet, and innocent with a naughty and cheeky side to her and she would have mixing components. The woman would have two sides, her good girl side and her bad girl side. What Ryan Lo’s collections offer her? She feels comfortable and confident in her clothing. She feels empowered and strong. She feels strong every time she wears his garments. She feels a connection to Ryan Lo as their personalities and likes would be similar.
MARKETING Ryan Lo has taken part in ‘London Show Rooms’ which is set up by the British Fashion Council and is part of their support and mentoring scheme. This helps emerging designers to promote themselves. The sponsors are the European Union and Great Britain and is supported by the ‘UK TRADE AND INVESTMENT’. Social media the easiest and cheapest way to promote yourself as a brand, and to engage potential audiences. Ryan Lo has his own Facebook page which goes by the name ‘Ryan LO Studio’. It has 1,443 likes (as noted on 09-112012). He posts images of his collections editorial and media coverage he receives. By him having a Facebook page and posting a few images, media coverage and by having a small but very basic introduction to his brand (which is copied and pasted from his website; it engages the audience and allows them to see what he’s getting up to. However Ryan Lo’s Facebook page could be used more as he is not using it to his full advantage. As a young emerging designer, a social networking site can be time consuming, however, it is a cheap and easy way to interact with the people who are interested your brand.
MARKETING A similar designer who has a better online presence on facebook is Fred Butler. Fred Butler has 2,697 likes on facebook (as noted on 09-112012). Fred Butler updates his facebook page almost every day without fail. Links are posted promoting their short fashion film, press coverage, any events that take place in which they are involved in. They show their latest collaboration with SWATCH and post any celebrity endorsements of celebrities in the Fred Butler brand. Celebrity endorsements are a great way of not only reaching out to your own audience but to reach out to that celebrities intended audience. This could be seen as being double effective as you are reaching the celebrities fans too.
MARKETING Fred Butler is very good at using Facebook to the best of her ability. She understands that she can reach out to his target audience at any time and always keeps them informed and updated as to what he is doing. Ryan Lo needs to do the same and use his facebook page as a way of interacting with his audience. He needs to build a relationship with them as well as communication what he is up to and keeping them interested and involved in the brand.
MARKETING
She posts regular updates including pictures captioned as ‘Today I’m wearing’, her tweets about any interesting news such as the collaboration with SWATCH and even adds a personal feel to his twitter page; tweeting about X Factor. ‘#XFactor’.
The presentation of his twitter page is more impressive than his Facebook page. It has an image from the Fashion East presentation room as his twitter background. We can see the effect the glittery backdrop has in the background and we see a close up of the model who is wearing Ryan Lo clothing. Her hair is styled in a ‘Kung fun bun and is wearing minimal make up with red lipstick. Just by looking at his background the audience can slowly start to see the brands ethos and style coming through. However his twitter page is less interactive than his Facebook page. With only 230 followers (as noted on 09-112012) Ryan Lo yet again fails to tweet on a daily basis and when he does it’s a repetition of everything on his Facebook page. The content needs to be boundary pushing and something that engages people in the brand. Fred Butler has 7,501 followers (as noted on 09-11-2012) and similarly to Ryan Lo she uses a visual that promotes the brand and has an example of the Fred Butler brand ethos.
Ryan Lo needs to engage his audiences more into his brand and use social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter to draw his audiences into his brand. Fred Butlers likes and followers are increasing daily. She is using the platform to get interacting with her followers. The more recognition the brand has the better they do as you can see with Fred Butler. Good brand promotion has lead to good press coverage, celebrity endorsements and a number of various collaborations. It’s important that Ryan Lo uses this opportunity to enable the brand to increase press.
MARKETING This is Ryan Lo’s website. The content is near to being useless and has no direction or drive to attract the audience into exploring more about the brand. He simply states his collections and the press coverage he has received from his spring’13 collection. (This is his most active collection and the only one which has been revealed and seen). Although it states that you can request a look book for his Fall 2012 collection, when requested we did not receive one. This shows false promotion and he is missing out on the promotion of his Fall collection.
MARKETING Other than the press coverage Ryan Lo has received from his spring 13 collection this is the only form of content his website has. The writing is not presented in a professional manner and hyphens are used. By using hyphens this shows the laziness and unprofessionalism in his website. A website should interest the audience and make them want to come again to feel updated with your brand. The information Ryan Lo states is basic and minimal. It is not presented in a creative way which in some respects could show his lack of passion and originality.
WEB CONTENT
MARKETING – JW ANDERSON WEBSITE J W Anderson’s website The site is simple to navigate and includes all the information the audience needs. When you hover around each option a drop down menu comes up which takes you to the area you want to see. Everything about this website is easy to use and most importantly simple to follow. All the information is on the website and the content is interesting and doesn’t just bore the audience. To improve Ryan Lo’s brand in terms of marketing he needs to re create his website. He needs to come up with a website that is boundary pushing and something that shows off his brand ethos which is; fun, sweet and playful. The internet is competitive enough and it’s not enough to have a basic facebook/ twitter and web page. There is no point in posting content with no meaning. The information posted needs to gain attention and make the audience feel a part of the brand and involved. As a young designer, Ryan Lo does not have a big team to be in charge of his social networking and online presence however he needs to upgrade his website to something that shows off his skills and work as a designer.
MARKETING – JW ANDERSON WEBSITE
J W Anderson’s website The site is simple to navigate and includes all the information the audience needs.
PR In regards to PR, Ryan LO deals with their press inhouse, this is presented on his website. On the home page of the Ryan LO website a brief list of successful press is indicated with highlighted links, which when pressed presents the content of either, editorial, written or blog. The presentation of PR on the website is not displayed to a high standard, as it seems it has just been placed on the homepage. Placing a link on the homepage for press to then direct to a separate web page would be ideal, seeing as placing all information on to one page looks messy. (Fig - ) The press that Ryan LO has received consists of – • • • •
Interview featured in Love Magazine, also a written piece on the Love magazine blog Article featured on Style Bubble blog Feature in Dazed + Confused Vogue website due to his presence at Fashion East
As we see Ryan LO, hasn’t received a lot of press. Although as a brand they may not be able to afford an agency that will directly deal with their press. An analysis of how other emerging designers have successfully benefited from using a PR agency would initially help the brand to decide whether this is relevant now or in the future. A strong suggestion for Ryan LO would be Bloody Gray PR. They have a strong clientele, which mainly consists of young and upcoming designers. They describe themselves as unique boutique representing carefully selected creative brands and projects. Agi & Sam were a brand, which were among their clientele. Agi and Sam is a dynamic duo that incorporates a humorous aesthetic into the brands ethos. Bloody Gray has helped them to gain a large majority of editorial press, alongside interviews with online bloggers. They have moved on from Bloody Gray PR to Exposure @ Edit seeing as they have vastly expanded. However, thanks to Bloody Gray they would not of been able to build such successful brand awareness. Seeing as Bloody Gray’s preference is ‘Creative brands and projects’ Ryan LO fits within this aesthetic. His use of unusual fabrics and influences from his native homeland Hong Kong helps to reflect his outrageous creativeness. Ryan LO should definitely venture out of In-House PR and find a PR agency who is willing to help the brand expand and grow in the future.
Bright Young Things’Selfridges Collaboration Selfridges is one of the most popular and well respected fashion retailers in the UK. Their collaboration of ‘Bright Young Things’ allows fifteen emerging designers in the UK to get the chance to have their own window display in Selfridges. The designers could be involved in any of the areas such as; womenswear/ menswear/ accessories and food. They will each receive a king window and it will stay up on display till late February 2013. The window displays will be up during the busiest time of year, Christmas. With celebrity launches, events, collaborations, tourists, this means that the fifteen young designers all have a great opportunity to be seen and noticed as great young talent.
Ryan Lo for ‘Bright Young Things’Selfridges Collaboration As Ryan Lo has had no collaborations as of yet, this would be great for Ryan Lo to take part in. As he has already won a womenswear award at Fashion East it shows that he has the talent and the capability as a designer. This collaboration with Selfridges could be Ryan Lo’s next big stepping stone.
This will allow Ryan Lo to work by a schedule, gain any stockists that may be interested and to create brand awareness. Selfridges is in the heart of one of the fashion capitals, London. This opportunity would allow Ryan Lo to put on a great presentation of a window display and to show off how creative he is. He is very visual and loves working with bright colours especially pink. He’s excited by new fabrics and all of these factors combined would make an exceptional window display and would give the other emerging designers a run for their money.
FUTURE BRAND STRATEGY Ryan Lo is yet to gain stockists within the UK region, being from Hong Kong this gives an advantage to the brand as he should plan on expanding in the Far East. His main influences originate from his home town which will therefore appeals to the Hong Kong target customer. In order for Ryan Lo to expand in Hong Kong, the brand its self should keep to the original aesthetic and brand ethos which is ‘Hyper-romantic, dreamy clothing line in a super-real world’ (Ryan Lo Studio Facebook Page – 27th November 2012) The S/S 2013 collection showcased at Fashion East would appeal to the Harajuku girl which is shown throughout Hong Kong whereas if he wanted to appeal to a more mainstream market, a RTW range would be ideal but however still keeping loyal to the brands ethos; with a subtle use of pink, knitting and frills.
‘Hong Kong consumers plan to spend an average HK$34,055 on luxury goods in the coming months, compared with an average HK$27,800 in the region’ (WGSN Report – 15th November 2012) This quotation states that the average Hong Kong costumer disposable income has increased in regards to luxury goods. This appeals to Ryan Lo immensely as his designs are of the luxury kind. Branching out to the Far East will effectively enable the brand to create global awareness and will well suit the brand due to the ethnicity of Ryan Lo.