Moncler scraps catwalk shows for the social media generation

By Rachel Sanderson in Milan

Luxury fashion group to target millennials with 'flash' events and online collections

Moncler, the luxury goods company behind 1,000 puffa jackets, is closing its twice-yearly catwalk shows as smartphones revolutionize the industry with consumers clamoring to see new fashions more frequently online.

The decision by Remo Ruffini, founder and chief executive of Moncler, who in 10 years turned Moncler from a bombed-out French skiwear brand into a company with a market value of near 6bn, also will result in the exit of designers Thom Browne and Giambattista Valli.

In an interview with theFinancial Times, Mr Ruffini, 56, said the pair had done 'an amazing job' in the past eight years but consumers' changing shopping habits meant he needed 'a new and different energy'.

After ending the Gamme Rouge and Gamme Bleu catwalk shows following this winter's collections, Mr Ruffini said his biggest stores would become the venues for more frequent launches of new designs, as often as every two months.

Instead of fashion shows, Moncler will stage one-off spectacular events that target social mediaSource: Reuters.

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'I believe in creating a new energy for the consumer at the sales points and communicating as fast as possible,' said Mr Ruffini at Moncler's newly opened flagship store in Milan, which is designed to feel like an Alpine chalet.

Instead of fashion shows, Moncler will stage one-off spectacular events that target social media. The group is holding a 'flash art' event in Hong Kong this week, which will see 12,000 Moncler mascots in different locations around the city. The event has been organized with Instagram and other social media in mind.

Mr Ruffini said he was also considering plans to create the 'kind of energy' found in upscale multi-brand stores such as Los Angeles-based Maxfield and London's Dover Street Market, 'where you find designers one next to another'. Nonetheless, he denied market speculation he plans to acquire luxury rivals.

Mr Ruffini, a university drop out, built Moncler's success by spotting the trend for luxury casual wear. 'Casualisation' is one of the main trends driving growth in the 250bn luxury industry, according to Bain & Company. The move by Moncler follows a week of C-suite turmoil across the industry as brands seek new managers to adapt their businesses to millennial and Generation Z shoppers, who it is estimated will make up nearly half of luxury consumers by 2025. LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group, last week announced the exit of Sidney Toledano, longtime chief executive at Dior, to bring in Fendi chief Pietro Beccari; at Italy's Tod's, billionaire founder Diego Della Valle handed over operational management to former LVMH and Bulgari manager Umberto Macchi di Cellere; and Swiss group Richemont elevated Jerome Lambert to chief operating officer and named Emmanuel Perrin, a former director at Cartier, as head of distribution for its watch brands.

Mr Ruffini says one of the biggest tests for the industry is adapting to the Chinese social media platform WeChat, where shopping is integrated within the chat platform. If technology in the US and Europe is moving fast, 'in China they are going incredibly fast,' he said.

Source: from 'Moncler scraps catwalk shows for the social media generation',Financial Times, 13/11/17 (Sanderson, R.).

Discussion questions

1. Why is Moncler closing its twice-yearly catwalk?

2. What have been, and are, the implications for the Company's resources?