The trick to successful fashion retail is exclusivity. Traditionally, large stores sought to entice shoppers by securing limited-edition colourways and shapes from their designers’ collections. Browse the websites of Net-A-Porter or Bergdorf Goodman and you’ll find countless mainline products proudly branded “Exclusively Ours!” But delivering something novel has become increasingly challenging in the current retail environment. With fashion being presented on the catwalk months before the clothes go on sale, everything is seen online or in print months before it arrives in store. By the time products drop, shoppers are often already bored. So, to offer some element of surprise, retailers are now working directly with labels to produce one-off capsules and collaborations that sit outside the main seasonal calendar and are unseen anywhere until they arrive in store.
行之有效的时装卖点就是突出其唯一性。一般说来，大店铺吸引买家的招数，就是强调其获得的是旗下设计师打造的特定颜色与外形的限量版时装。诸位浏览一下Net-A-Porter与波道夫古德曼(Bergdorf Goodman)的网店，就会发现数不胜数自我标榜“限量版”的主流时装。但在当前营销环境下，推出新奇款式可以说越来越难。时装上市前几个月就已在T型台上亮相，因此在实体店正式销售前好几个月，就早已在网络和时尚类杂志上“露脸”。待正式投放市场时，消费者往往已显“审美疲劳”。因此，为了达到某种出奇不意的效果，零售商们如今与品牌公司直接合作，推出一次性混搭系列与合作款式，这些时装并不参展各大时装秀，待实体店正式上架时才露出“庐山真面目”。
In the past year, online and boutique retailer Matches Fashion has released more than 15 exclusive capsules, with brands ranging from established luxury groups such as Balenciaga and Nina Ricci, to cult young labels Mary Katrantzou and Marques’Almeida. “Exclusive collaborations are a powerful way for us to offer our customers a sense of discovery — either digitally or physically,” says Matches buying director Natalie Kingham. “We’ve found it particularly effective to work with brands on delivering collections at points in the season that aren’t always catered for, such as high summer exclusives in May and June, when the customer is looking for newness.” In today’s cluttered fashion landscape, finding something no one else has is the true luxury, and it’s this exclusivity that savvy shoppers seek.
过去一年中，Matches Fashion网店与精品店推出了超过15款的限量版混搭装，从巴黎世家(Balenciaga)及莲娜丽姿(Nina Ricci)等知名品牌到玛丽愠祓灲婑(Mary Katrantzou)及麦奎斯奥美达(Marques’Almeida)等年轻人青睐的品牌，应有尽有。“无论是在网店还是实体店，稀缺版合推款式是满足消费者淘宝心态的有效方式。”Matches采购部负责人娜塔莉金厄姆(Natalie Kingham)说，“我们发现：与各时尚品牌在时装季空档期（如每年五、六月）推出盛夏限量版混搭款式后，市场效果非常好，因为此时消费者正到处淘寻新奇款式。”在如今群雄逐鹿的时装界，淘到限量版时装才算真正奢侈大气，而它们正是精明消费者苦苦追寻的爱物。
Dover Street Market, Comme des Gar’ Rei Kawakubo’s concept store (which has spaces in London, Tokyo, New York and online) has always made exclusivity its point of difference, working closely with designers on pop-up installations, window displays and one-off products from day one. Today, its model is the norm but back when it opened in 2004, with stock that included an exclusive furniture collaboration with Hedi Slimane and a Lanvin collection made entirely in white, the practice was revolutionary. “We are simply interested in creating exclusive products whenever we can,” says Adrian Joffe, president of Comme des Gar International. “It could be a celebration, a collector’s item, or a capsule. The idea is to share the spirit of the store and work closely with our brands.”
Comme des Gar创办人川久保玲(Rei Kawakubo)打造了时尚概念店“丹佛街集市”(Dover Street Market)，一直推限量版时装作为自己的制胜法宝，它从一开始就与设计师们紧密协作，推出快闪版、橱窗展示版以及一次性款式时装。“丹佛街集市”如今在伦敦、东京、纽约以及网上都开设了门店。该模式如今大行其道，但2004年开业伊始，它实属开天辟地之举，当时上架的货品还有与艾迪斯理曼(Hedi Slimane)合作推出的限量版家具以及与朗万(Lanvin)合推的纯白色时装。“我们就是对推出限量款式乐此不疲，”Comme des Gar International总裁阿德里安约菲(Adrian Joffe)说。“合推款式既可能是周年庆版、藏家青睐款式，也可能是混搭系列款。我们的意图就是与拥趸共享门店之时尚精髓以及与各大时尚品牌紧密合作。”
This notion of a collector’s item is central to the trend. All retailers want to make shoppers feel like their products have been created just for them. And retailers have realised that exclusivity can come from pushing prices. That’s the thinking behind Harrods’ current “Made with love” campaign, a two-month promotion offering limited-edition products and bespoke personalised services. Harrods works with designers on special garments or one-off pieces which can be sold at higher price points than those brands usually occupy.
推藏家青睐款式对于流行时尚极其重要。所有零售商都希望买家觉得所推时装只为其精心打造，而且所有零售商都认识到高价位可造就稀缺性。这正是哈罗德百货当前推出Made with Love活动的理念所在。这场历时2个月的促销活动推出了大量限量版时装以及提供个人定制版服务。哈罗德百货与设计师合推专款式或一次性时装，其售价往往高于同类品牌的正常价位。
London designer Alice Temperley was drawn to the project because of its focus on higher prices — for her pieces, around 10,000 (most stores want dresses within the 800 to 1,000 range). “We designed a small collection featuring three exclusive eveningwear designs for Harrods,” she says. “The high price point meant they were lovely to work on and not something that fitted in our ready-to-wear plan.”
伦敦设计师艾丽丝映伯丽(Alice Temperley)喜欢上了这种合作模式，原因是它专注于高价位————就她设计的款式而言，价位约为1万英镑（多数时尚门店理想的价位是800-1000英镑）。“我们专为哈罗德百货设计了由三套稀缺款晚装组成的小系列。”她说，“高售价意味着设计师在设计时身心愉悦，但它们并不包括在正常的成衣设计计划中。”
Fellow London store Selfridges has made a niche of quirky themes and often invites designers to produce special items based around topics: “Agender”, for example, launched in March as a celebration of gender-neutral dressing, sparked much coverage in the fashion press — exactly as planned.
哈罗德的同城竞争对手塞尔福里奇百货店(Selfridges)则专门细分出了以怪异款式为主题的专柜，并且时常邀请设计师就特定主题设计专款：比方说，今年三月推出了颂扬男女无差别服装的“Agender（无性别）计划”，曾引发时尚媒体大肆报道，完全符合原先预期。
For exclusive lines, such as high-street retailers’ collaboration with high-fashion labels, sales alone are not the end game: press attention and social media awareness are other important components. And the attention generated elevates the rest of their stock. Topshop has collaborated with designers from JW Anderson to Marques’Almeida, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner. “These exclusive collections allow us to capture the energy and aesthetic of the brands we are partnering with,” explains Mary Homer, managing director of Topshop.
大型零售店与高端品牌合推限量版，销售并非最终目的：平面媒体关注度与社交媒体认可度也是重要参考因素。更高关注度会进一步促进店铺其它产品的销售。Topshop与设计师（从J德森(JW Anderson)到麦奎斯奥美达(Marques’Almeida)）及名模肯达尔(Kendall Jenner)与凯丽礠娜(Kylie Jenner)姐妹进行了全面合作。“限量版可以让我们乘势获得合作品牌的市场影响力以及借鉴其时尚风格。”Topshop总经理玛丽霍默(Mary Homer)如是解释道。
When Matches Fashion teamed up with Mary Katrantzou this spring to launch a 26-piece set of handbags (575 each) each marked with a letter of the alphabet, it made sure to utilise her social media presence — she has 264,000 followers on Instagram alone. Alongside the release, it hosted six events across London, LA and Dallas and encouraged attendees to share their “initial” online. The project reached 40m unique users and most of the alphabet had to be reordered within 24 hours.
Matches Fashion与玛丽愠祓灲婑今春合作推出了26种款式构成的手袋系列（每件标价575英镑，每款标识各对应字母表中的一个字母），这无疑利用了玛丽愠祓灲婑葩社交媒体影响力————她光在Instagram上的粉丝数就达26.4万。除发布会外，Matches Fashion还在伦敦、洛杉矶以及达拉斯举办了六场造势活动，鼓励参与者分享首次网购该系列手袋的心得体会。这项活动吸引了4000万用户参与，不到24个小时，大多数字母对应的手袋不得不再次订货。
But while the stores benefit, keeping up with the demand for such products can be tough on designers, especially when it comes to production. Temperley admits, “When you already work on about 500 items a year it’s a lot of extra work, and when working with small units you have to bend suppliers’ arms.”
但是，尽管各大门店从中大获其利，但时刻满足拥趸对此类产品的需求对于设计师来说是个挑战，尤以生产环节为甚。坦伯丽坦承：“每年推出大约500种款式时，我们就得大量加班加点；因此与小型生产商合作时，就得想方设法讨好对方。”
Often it’s young designers who get hit the hardest. Big retailers will sometimes demand a one-off piece, such as an exclusive T-shirt, but fail to place an order on the designer’s mainline collection, thus capitalising on the buzz of the brand without truly investing.
通常说来，年轻设计师承受的压力最大。大型零售商有时需要设计师设计一次性款式（如某款限量版T恤），但并不订购其主流系列，从而在不费真金白银的情况下利用了该品牌的市场影响力。
“Some retailers would only take on a collection if they could have a separate piece of their own,” says Dominic Jones, who struggled with retailers’ demands when starting his high-fashion jewellery line in 2009. “I also experienced a relentless pressure to sign sale-or-return deals or offer ‘trade discounts’. They knew, as a young designer, it was good for me to sell with them.”
“有些零售商接纳设计师主流时装的前提条件是先给其另外设计专款。”英国设计师多米尼克琼斯(Dominic Jones)说。2009年，他着手设计自己的高端首饰系列时，不得不设法满足零售商的要求。“我因与零售商签下剩货保退协议以及给予批发价优惠而承受了巨大压力。零售商清楚：借助自己的销售渠道大大利于年轻设计师。”
“Typically, at Matches, the cost structure works in the same way as buying the designers’ mainline collection,” says Kingham — in other words, designers cover the production charges while the retailer pays wholesale price for the item and profits from the price hike at retail. Dover Street’s arrangement is less fixed. “It’s a case-by-case situation. We often assist with costs,” says Adrian Joffe.
“在Matches网店，通常情况下，合作款的成本运作模式与购买该设计师的主流产品一模一样。”金厄姆说————换言之，设计师负担生产费用，而零售商以批发价进货，其利润来自零售环节的溢价。伦敦多佛街(Dover Street)的门店与设计师之间签订浮动性协议。“协议视具体情况而定，我们通常在费用上给予一定让利。”阿德里安约菲说。
Retailers are adamant that the benefits of agreeing to do exclusives outweigh the disadvantages for designers. For Kingham, successful partnerships work when the designer is willing to listen and shape a product around shoppers’ needs: “Something that combines the DNA of the brand with our knowledge of our customer. We have our in-house content, communication and event team who can support the global outreach of the project,” she adds.
零售商坚持认为：推限量版时装对于设计师来说利大于弊。在金厄姆看来，当设计师愿意倾听、并根据消费者需求设计时，一种成功的合作关系就建立了：“合推的时装要兼顾品牌时尚精髓与客户特殊需求。我们公司有负责设计内容、沟通以及宣传的团队，能帮助全球市场的推广。”她又补充道。
Likewise, Joffe insists communication is key. Just as the market is already saturated with product, too many exclusives can be time-consuming and costly. There’s no point collaborating for the sake of it, or tapping a designer for a range without having a relationship. Is there a trick? “Good, desirable product, not random gratuitous co-branding,” he says. You heard it here, exclusively.
约菲也强调良好的沟通是成功的关键。由于市场已呈饱和状态，推出过多限量版时装既费工又费钱。只是为合作而合作、或是让并无合作关系的设计师来打造限量版毫无意义。那么合作款是个骗局呢？“必须得推出称心如意的时装，而不是心血来潮、无由头的合作品牌。”他说。诸位听明白了吗？得是限量版。
Case study: Matches x Y-3
个案研究：Matches与Y-3
Matches’ collaboration with Adidas’s Y-3 on a capsule range featuring ink drawings by designer Yohji Yamamoto went on sale in Paris in June during men’s fashion week.
Matches与阿迪达斯(Adidas) Y-3品牌合作推出了混搭系列，上面画有设计师山本耀司(Yohji Yamamoto)创作的墨水画，该系列在今年六月的巴黎男装周期间公开发售。
“Our menswear business has doubled in the past year and there’s an ever-increasing appetite for product,” says Damien Paul, head of menswear at Matches, who says men now account for 30 per cent of its business. “Exclusives are often a way of developing a relationship with a brand that we’re seeing a great reaction to. Our business with Y-3 has tripled over the past two years. Pieces were selling out within 24 hours and we frequently have waiting lists for the sneakers. This felt very relevant for us — especially as Yohji was so directly involved.”
“过去一年，我们的男装销售额翻了一倍，而且需求与日俱增。”Matches男装部主管达明保罗(Damien Paul)说。他说如今男装销售额占到了公司总销售额的30%。“推限量版时装是与热门品牌建立良好关系的途径。过去两年里，我们与Y-3合推的男装销售额翻了3倍。产品上架不到24小时，就已售完。而且我们的运动鞋订单源源不断，我们感觉意义非凡——尤其是山本耀司亲自参与设计。”
Case study: Net-a-Porter x Chanel
个案研究2：Net-a-Porter与香奈儿(Chanel )的合作
Chanel made its e-commerce debut in April with an exclusive jewellery line for Net-a-Porter. The “Coco Crush” range featured just six designs — a cuff and five rings — priced between 1,400 and 13,500. In return for the debut, Net-a-Porter’s tech-team created a digital pop-up shop that mimicked the aesthetic of a Chanel boutique.
今年4月，香奈儿首次试水电商，在Net-a-Porter上销售其限量版珠宝系列“Coco Crush”。该系列只推出了6款首饰——一款手镯与五款戒指，定价介于1400英镑-1.35万英镑之间。作为回报，Net-a-Porter的技术团队专门在网上创建了一家模仿香奈儿精品店时尚风格的快闪店(pop-up shop)。
The benefits? Chanel got to experiment with e-commerce and capture some online data, while Net-a-Porter landed the coup of being Chanel’s first etailer — and lots of press. “We felt the exclusive married Net’s pioneering technology within the luxury retail space, along with Chanel’s chic and timeless style,” says jewellery buyer Sophie Quy. “It was a dream partnership and, needless to say, our customers absolutely loved it.”
好处呢？香奈儿开始试水电商并获取相关网购数据，而Net-a-Porter也有幸成为香奈儿的首家电子零售代理商并且获得媒体的广泛关注。“我们认为：香奈儿的限量版首饰、连同香奈儿的新潮和隽永时尚风格与Net-a-Porter的前沿科技在奢侈品零售环节成功实现了联姻。”高档珠宝买手索菲盖伊(Sophie Quy)说。“两者的合作可谓珠联璧合，不用说，我们的客户为此也欣喜若狂。”
Case study: Dover Street Market
个案研究3：“丹佛街集市”
Dover Street Market (DSM) proved itself the original master of the innovative exclusive by getting a “who’s who” of fashion to produce one-off items to celebrate the store’s 10th anniversary last year. Among the items were a Nike tennis sneaker featuring the DSM logo and a Giambattista Valli limited-edition bag.
去年，“丹佛街集市”(DSM)用推出一次性时装来庆祝自己的10周年店庆，从而有力证明了自己就是限量版时装的原创者。在推出的诸多协作款中，就包括了带有“丹佛街集市”标识的一款耐克网球鞋以及一款詹巴蒂斯塔瓦莉(Giambattista Valli)的限量版手包。
Simone Rocha, who offered two silver brogue designs, says it was her opportunity to thank the retailer for its continued support. “It was a special milestone for them and for me because I’m a part of the store. It was like my birthday present to them,” she says. Being smart with quantities allowed her to budget for such an undertaking. “We have only ever done a small run of special limited editions, so our team works with our factories to see if we can push it through with our regular schedule.”
推出两款银灰色布洛克鞋的西蒙娜圠蹿(Simone Rocha)说自己得借此机会感谢零售商一如既往的支持。“对于双方都是里程碑式的纪念意义，因为我如今俨然成了零售店的共同体。这就好比是自己送给对方的店庆礼物。”她说。正是科学统筹生产数量，自己才能合理安排、顺利交工。“我们只是推了几个限量版，所以我们的设计团队与厂家协商，看看是否能在正常生产周期中赶完这批活。”