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In a special edition of the Glossy Podcast, Danny Parisi, senior fashion reporter, and Jill Manoff, editor-in-chief, review the year in fashion news.
2021 was eventful for fashion, to say the least. There were high-profile acquisitions, groundbreaking runway shows, notable deaths and abrupt executive departures. In this episode, the pair discuss three big stories from the year, toughing on all the interesting bits of news that fit those larger themes. They include: the growing dominance of resale in fashion; the rise of digital fashion, crypto and NFTs; and the new willingness for traditional rivals in luxury fashion to work together.
On resale prevalence
Parisi: “It took a while of saying brands are on the verge of accepting resale, but this year it finally did happen. There was an avalanche of brands either working with a resale platform directly or setting up resale in-house. It exploded this year. ThredUp was a big mover of that. Crocs, Adidas, Farfetch and Fabletics all launched resale with ThredUp. Others worked with places like Trove. This was the year that everybody finally got on board.”
Fashion goes into the metaverse
Manoff: “The metaverse was in 2021 what TikTok was in 2020, in that — particularly when it comes to our coverage — brands are really interested in learning about what other brands are doing in the space: Should I be getting into the metaverse? How do I get there? A lot of our stories last year were all about TikTok. Everyone was reading it. Now everyone wants to read about metaverse.”
“I talked to Christine Wootton [vp of brand partnerships] at Roblox, and she called out Gucci as somebody who did it right. They brought the Gucci Garden to this space. It was an opportunity to explore the brand and buy skins. They teamed with Roblox creators. It had 20 million people visiting in the two week period. They’re always forward thinkers with this stuff.”
Strange bedfellows
Manoff: “Luxury’s walls are coming down. Streetwear has a huge influence here. As luxury brands emulate streetwear, they’re much more open to collaborating. They’re teaming with everyone, from kids cartoons to [seemingly] random brands. There’s no stuffiness there.”