I have a confession! I’m got a severe case of Refinery-itis! I need my daily fix and I seem to die a little inside without it! This online fashion site just begs to be bookmarked with its distinct edge and point of view and has gathered some major momentum of late. I was fortunate enough to interview Phillipe von Borries (one of the co-founders) who is visiting Australia as part of the Portable Content presents Refinery 29 east coast tour. The Melbourne seminar is part of LMFF and held at Penthouse Mouse.
1. Refinery 29 has really hit a niche in the saturated fashion online market. What do you owe the popularity too? Luck, timing, specific strategies?
We’re just breaking through a 1,000,000 visitors a month and the site is among the leading fashion/shopping/style sites in the US. It’s bigger than Lucky Mag, Barneys and a range of other power players in this space. The success of it is due to a number of factors. Adaptability has been very important. We’ve tried out different things again and again to see what our audience responds to. Innovation online is key and it’s critical to challenge yourself and your audience over and over. We also got into the space at a critical juncture four years ago when there were very few players, which allowed us to foster very unique relationships with fashion most exciting new designers. Lastly, we engage our audience. We know fashion is not a one-way street and we make sure every day to build a relationship with our readers. That is the most important part of digital fashion media today.
2.We are currently experiencing a significant shift in the fashion media industry with the power of the consumer, social networking and street style blogs etc. What do you think will happen next in the online space in fashion?
I think consumers will own the space more and more. Fashion used to be about limits and restrictions. Today it’s about access, transparency and immediacy. Readers/consumers etc want to be part of the creative process. Look at sites such as polyvore.com which allow readers to collect tidbits from around the web and build scrapbooks that you can share and even shop from! It’s all about personal expression these days.
3. Your “How to get snapped by the Sartorialist” diagram was a viral hit. It’s a great case study of how viral communication operates in the current landscape. Did it inadvertently bring you new subscribers, new traffic and a new kind of notoriety?
Yes and yes. That story was the most successful we ever published and our editorial team is incredibly proud of it. It’s a great example of the creative power of our staff as well as our ability to always innovate. The format of the feature was an infographic, which is very engaging and entertaining. We know the importance of our readers simply wanting to be entertained. Fashion is about having fun. It’s not serious and that’s an important part of our editorial standpoint every day. The Sartorialist feature received over 100,000 unique views, it was republished in GQ South Africa, Italy and Russia and picked up by dozens of blogs.
4. What do you think of the Australian fashion industry? Who has caught your attention and what do you think makes up the Australian style?
We love Australian fashion. We are HUGE fans of Australian designers. Australian fashion is kind of a cross between LA and London. It’s casual but still accessibly glamorous. These are women who love fashion but they’re down to earth too.
5. What are some of your favourite Australian and international blogs/sites?
Lover, Sass & Bide, Karen Walker and Chronicles of Never
No comments:
Post a Comment