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Alice Elliott-Barney, Craig Ford and Mark Batista reveals what drives Jacket Required

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Everything we do is driven by our visitors. Therefore we are constantly searching for mid to high end brands that our visitors are going to find relevant for their stores.

It is not solely about price or product type: what we look for is brands that are the best at what they do, brands that have real integrity, brands that have a history and a story to tell. In essence, we are taking the same approach as buyers and putting together a well balanced selection where everything has a point of interest.

We’re working with the best British and international stores with whom we have always had a very close relationship: we really understand what they are looking for and whatever we do has to be relevant to them. Therefore we don’t necessarily have to change our approach as much as some of the larger or more mainstream shows.

For years now, every brand and every retailer is having to work harder to have an original point of view in an increasingly homogenised marketplace because in tough economic times differentiation becomes even more important. Currency has obviously been a big talking point over the months since the EU referendum, so even at our level price is something which brands and retailers are going to be looking at more closely this buying season. As is always the way with free market economics there will be winners and losers. The winners will emerge leaner and stronger.

We feel that the most important trends for Spring/Summer 2017 are technical sportswear and luxury streetwear, both still very much on the rise. The sportswear giants are all still expanding their fashion-related collections and further developing their partnerships with designers or with fashion brands. It’s not just fashion-meets-fitness, which is what’s grabbing a lot of attention in womenswear. For our sector it is a complete blurring of the lines among performance-wear, sportswear, fashion.

Technical elements, such as innovative fabrics, real craftsmanship, interesting dyeing techniques, distinguishing functional features, are really appealing for Autumn/Winter 2017. The technical content of brands like NemeN, Acronym, 7L is at the pinnacle of that market right now and the end consumer is educated enough, and enthusiastic enough, about great product to seek those labels out.

Developing this interest further, this season Jacket Required is playing host to a not-to-be-missed installation of iconic pieces selected from the Massimo Osti archive in Bologna including items designed for brands such as Chester Perry, Stone Island, CP Company, Left-Hand, Boneville, Navy Arctic, Massimo Osti Productions.

Productions.

http://www.jacket-required.com/

by Peppe Orrù

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