Why the Market Appointment Is Still A Powerful Tool in a Digital Fashion World

After months of trade shows and runway presentations, the fashion world heads into market season, a time when for several weeks editors attend one-on-one appointments with brands, schedules running from early mornings to late nights. These brand-specific market appointments give fashion editors a chance to re-see collections for the upcoming season.

In addition to a close-up look at products, the appointments also provide an opportunity for an editor to open direct conversation and build relationships with designers or press contacts. For Turner, our press previews are pivotal for our team and our agency-wide events garner close to 100 attendees, including print and digital editors, freelance writers, stylists and bloggers.

With the rise of digital media, Who What Wear raised the question last week— Are Market Appointments Still Necessary in a Digital Fashion World?

After the site polled a list of top fashion editors from both the print and digital space, the decision was unanimous: regardless of the format content is published in, market appointments remain a vital tool of the fashion industry. These appointments not only provide the opportunity to learn about the feel of a jacket’s fabric or the weight of a pair of shoes, but also offer a direct connection to a brand or designer to learn about seasonal inspiration and trends.

Since the media landscape is changing and editors are seeing upwards of 10 brands per day, it is becoming increasing important to make each appointment special and to provide digital-friendly assets. Gone are the days of printed press kits in folders and rows of garments on rolling racks. The experts recommend enhancing the press preview experience, and as we begin to plan our press preview at Turner, we are keeping the following advice in mind:

Ensure merchandising helps tell the brand story or seasonal theme.

As Christina Holevas, associate accessories editor at ELLE, notes in the article, great merchandising not only makes a statement, but it helps ensure an editor will remember your brand. When Proenza Schouler introduced a tropical print collection in a room packed with tropical plants, she kept the association top of mind.

Create a strong digital press kit.

Develop a digital press kit with press releases or one-sheet on seasonal direction, lookbooks, linesheets, hi-res flat images of key products to keep up with the shifting media landscape.

Good photography goes a long way. 

With editors on tight deadlines— especially in the digital space— access to hi-res product images on a clean white background will increase the likelihood of coverage. As writer Jessica Schiffer points out, “there’s not a magazine today that doesn’t need imagery like this— that, you might say, doesn’t thrive on imagery like this."

To learn further insight on market week from top fashion editors, head over to Who What Wear to read the full article.

Save-the-Date!

The Turner PR Spring-Summer 2016 Press Preview will be held on Monday + Tuesday, October 19 + 20, 2015 at Stollway in New York City.

Formal invite to follow. For updates, please visit Facebook.com/TurnerPR.