It’s well-known. When you suddenly happen to find yourself in a situation that drives you out of the famous “Comfort zone”, you have two choices: either to panic and break down or to go through our endless resources which we may even be unaware of. The global situation created by Covid has mortified many businesses, like the restaurant industry but not only. I will speak here especially about a sector dear to me, which I have been interested in very much since I was a child: the textile industry. Many Made in Italy brands have been stricken hard, together with a big number of fashion retail traders. But Italy, this rich country and a land of genius, often has unexpected resources and these wonderful shopkeepers have known how to be creative offering on Instagram their shop windows by way of pictures but also, through learned and ironic videos, which, for the most part of us, I mean fashion fans, have become unmissable weekly rendez-vous, also after the reopening of all shops. I would like to quote here three examples in three different cities: three different ways to present sumptuous prêt-à-porter collections of Made in Italy, beloved by fashion addicts.
The shop BeFree, owned by Mara, a beautiful enthusiastic but also ironic and outspoken woman, especially during her tapes, is located in Alba, a small city of around 30.000 residents, also famous for the international fair of white truffle, in the province of Cuneo. Mara has come up with brands such as Souvenir, So Allure, Luminia, Please among many others and she is fond of her women customers. In many videos that she posts more than once in the week, during an appointment called “Aperitivo da BeFree” she presents new arrivals that she improves with additional feeds and recommended matchings. Then, she enriches her offers by making available to her customers a colour professional who suggests the best colors to enhance them.
https://www.instagram.com/befree_abbigliamentodonna/
The shop Nikita in Milan. Sabrina, the owner, is always available for her remote shopping, she knows very well how to organize everything. Since she reopened after the confinement, she’s been able to keep in touch both with local customers and the far away ones, those that she acquired thanks to social networks, giving many details and pictures in reply to their several specific requests. She frequently shows the new arrivals, sometimes with music or explaining and recommending outfits. She proposes garments affordable for everyone.
https://www.instagram.com/nikita_norasabrina/
The shop Story Campo Marzio in Rome is led by Orly and supported by a young model Martina, who sometimes dresses in a few outfits. Orly carefully presents her colored new arrivals, explaining her choices. I have to say that Orly, together with her team, has good tastes and is an expert in harmoniously matching clothes. In spite of the Covid’s crisis, she wins a challenge: to open a new shop in another district of the town. Courtesy mixed to an aesthetic sense are, partially keys to success of this shop. They too recommend many important brands of prêt-à-porter, always exclusively made in Italy, whose value-for-money relationship doesn’t have to be proved.
https://www.instagram.com/storycampomarzio/
Personally, I really was a big fan of Fast Fashion’s big brands without mentioning the name but I’m sure you guess whom I’m talking about. However, I have to say/tell this new way of working has won me over and, during the few months of confinement, I have lost some of my enthusiasm for these big brands and I got fond of these wonderful Made in Italy. ambassadors Even if they recommend items sometimes just a little more expensive, they are able to persuade that “less is more”, about the importance of quality best than quantity. But especially, in spite of this period which forces us to live of virtual relationship, they have been skilled to build a strong and proactive bond with permanent and potential customers who, in many cases, have become, in a short time, distant but loyal buyers. Furthermore, what struck me, is their real passion for their job, for fashion and each customer or fashion addict, can’t help noticing it and in this way, they will be carried away by this flow of this.
Laurence Deschamps