With shows for AW16 fast approaching, this week’s post looks at the changes in store for Fashion Week and we mention the rebellious stance taken by Burberry – we love a non-conformist!

The BFC

The British Fashion Council is keen to increase consumer engagement during London Fashion Week. As part of their strategy the BFC has partnered with Ocean Outdoor, a media company that specialises in digital billboards.

Inclusive Brits

Next week’s LFW shows will be streamed live to the general public via 60 outdoor screens. These will be located not just in London but across the UK with the aim of reaching 35 million people. This is nothing new to Ocean Outdoor, which broadcast the AW15 Hunter show and introduced the UK’s first shoppable billboard for Topshop a year ago.

The BFC has also teamed up with sponsor American Express, to enable speakers such as Gareth Pugh and Sølve Sundsbø to engage with all those hungry for some Fashion Week action!

There’s even a series of podcasts from Topshop

Topshop alone has made huge efforts to connect with its customers and is showcasing a podcast series featuring NeGen designers such as Ryan Lo and Danielle Romeril, who will talk about what has inspired their recent work – check it out!

NYFW v LFW

Compared with the big apple, which has been selling fashion week packages in excess of $5,000, London wants to give people outside of the fashion industry an opportunity to experience shows first hand. Designers such as Emilia Wickstead and Holly Fulton are to showcase their wears to consumers on a non-selective basis. In addition, there’ll still be lots of Fashion Weekend tickets available to the general public from as little as £20 – you can’t say fairer than that!

Rebellious checks!

Interestingly, the likes of Burberry, Tom Ford and Vetements have declared they will no longer conform to the traditional fashion calendar, with Burberry and Tom Ford releasing new-season items for sale immediately after the catwalk and Vetements showing its collections in January, well before the customary first shows of Paris Fashion Week.

FTL verdict

So what’s going to happen to the fashion industry over the coming years? Will we continue with the traditional catwalk system, or will we move further into a more consumer-friendly showcase, perhaps via social media? Will the BFC’s consumer fit and individual brands initiatives break the rules of the customary fashion calendar and therefore open the floodgates to those wanting a slice of Fashion Week? Who knows, but perhaps we’ll have a better idea once the curtain falls on the AW16 shows.

Watch this space…

Roll up roll up, here’s an event you just can’t afford to miss!

Ever wondered what intellectual property rights you might own and how to protect them? Bamboozled as to what intellectual property rights actually are and how they might be valuable to you? Or even wondered what all of the fuss is about and why people like me bang on about intellectual property rights so much?! Well look no further…

Next week I’ll be giving a free training session on all things intellectual property related at We Work in Soho, London on Tuesday the 16th February starting 6pm sharp.

The event is hosted by Osmond Desilva of Tech City Coffee and having been to many of Osmond’s events in the past, this is one not to be missed!

Here’s a comment from Osmond giving an insight into what Tech City Coffee is all about and how it could benefit you:

“Tech City Coffee is a provider of quality events to the burgeoning tech centre in London. The focus of each event is to help start-up founders and teams  with their business development and management needs in the format of an educational seminar, followed by networking.

The “Intellectual property for start-ups” seminar is aimed at educating founders on how they can protect their intellectual property rights.”

As homage to the great district of Soho the images in this blog post give you an insight into FTL’s favourite Soho haunts – check them out!

Back to the subject at hand…

Join Louisa Dixon and me, FTL, for a talk covering IP basics for start-ups. We’ll be focusing on:

• patents;
• confidential information;
• design rights;
• trade marks;
• copyright;
• database rights; and
• moral rights.

We’ll also be asking for audience participation to guess what IP rights are in a well known tech product at the end of the presentation to see if you’ve been listening! If you’re lucky, there might be some edible prizes on offer!

So pop down to We Work in Soho on Tuesday the 16th February at 6pm to hear all about IP rights for start-ups.

There’ll also be a chance to network with other like-minded delegates (75 of whom have signed up already) and plenty of opportunity to speak to Louisa and me afterwards if you have any burning IP related questions.

To book your free place on the event click here.

Hope to see you there!

Until Tuesday, over and out, FTL.