A brand by any other name, is still a brand

We had a couple of interesting discussions with two CEO's of major corporations lately over the question of the value of brand in today's retail environment.

There are two school of thoughts in regards to this issue, on one side, the established view held by the CEOs was that, the brand is everything - if you build the brand, you will secure a connection to consumers that should last forever. On the other hand, our view is that while brand is important, in today's ever shifting retail environment, the rise of internet and mobile has changed how consumers perceive things, and brand will soon become second fiddle to great designs and awesome value.

To understand this, you can simply ask yourself - Which brand out there you would without a doubt, purchase anything that comes your way with its logo on it? In addition, when you buy off the internet, do you decide based on the look of the product or the brand first?

There's no question brands play an increasingly important role with emerging economies, if you buy a name brand purse at its namesake store, the history and quality connected to its brand will undoubtedly give you the warm fussy feeling that it was money well spent, and it's of genuine quality. But with the growth of the internet, it inadvertently trained all of us to be expert buyers, since on a daily basis we flip through hundreds of looks, while scouring globally with minimal time and effort spent, so we no longer depend on the brand to tell us what is good or not.

What this boils down to, is design matters. People will give new brands a chance if they can come up with a designs that stand out. In addition, while having an established brands is great, but having brand recognition is no longer an assurance of its draw power if its products are not authentic or innovative. 

The death of uniqueness and design

As we travel the globe for inspirations, we can't help but to be disappointed at how homogenous the world has become; from London, New York to LA, and Paris, Milan to Tokyo, there is a growing imbalance of retail in general, whereby the haves (chain stores, name brands, department stores), are rapidly eroding the have-nots - the small boutiques that used to be the source of creative energy and genius that spearheaded uniqueness and design.

The reality of what's happening on the marketplace is Darwinian in nature - Big stores have immense buying power, enabling them to buy more things, at higher volume, thus cheaper, which are all factors boutiques are struggling to compete against. So the big gets bigger, and the small gets pushed out.

What is the problem you may ask? Don't we all aspire for more reasonably priced shopping experiences? Isn't this what global economy is all about?

In our view, this results in the slow death of uniqueness and design.

With our reputation as one of the forefront fashion jewelry design studios in the world, a part of what we do, is we are privileged to be entrusted by leading department stores to design and curate their collections for them. The idea behind it is, to harness our creativity to looks that are beyond what we do at Adia Kibur, so the collaboration can fuse new sparks and lead to super exciting products.

Working with big establishments however, has its challenges; when we work on our own collections, there is nothing holding us back, all we do is focus on designs that inspires us, allowing that to be the sole driver of our creativity. With collaborations however, it is not quite as simple. Instead, it becomes a fine balance between what buyers view as fashion forward for their audience, the percentages and numbers to drive sales, and ultimately, cost considerations down to the cent.

As much as everyone involved has the best of intentions, this often result in jewelry lacking uniqueness and design aspirations, since it is no longer looking to those who are fashion forward, but rather, aims right down the middle where the bulk of consumers are.

Inevitably, it is not surprising if you are looking for fashion forward styles on the streets or internet, they are getting harder and harder to come by. Boutiques used to be the champions of designs that take chances, but as they start to face challenges, there is no platform for edgy designs to take hold anymore.

It is not too dissimilar to what's happening to bookstores. In the past, you can wonder into a local bookstore, and discover the most curious of readings because the bookstore owner has his or her own personalities, and the collection is a result of chances taken on writings that may not appeal to the masses. Nowadays, all you have to do is to turn on your Kindle recommended list, and you hardly even go past the top ten list; it is both convenient, and a little startling what we have become in this digital world.

As a design firm, we see it as our responsibility to continue to take chances on uniqueness and design, to push the envelope for those who care about voicing their own independent statements, with the strong belief that, if we build it, they will come.

We are excited to be a part of a great project that looks to preserve this, and we look forward to unveiling it in the coming year to everyone!

Waves of Change

Last week, we had the privilege of working with a wonderful fashion accessories company in New York to assist them with their branding and strategic process, lending clarity to their efforts in navigating the waves of change in today's fashion industry.

With the information age, the jewelry industry has gone through seismic shifts; from how accessories are produced globally, to the available distribution channels to the end consumer. With our broad spectrum of work, we are in a fortunate position to have a deeper understanding of what is happening, and offer relevant recommendations when companies are making adjustments to change.  

By chance we found ourselves in the position of consulting; in the beginning, we just love to help others, so we look to offer advice to anyone who found it to be helpful (regardless if they wanted to hear it or not!), but as word of our effectiveness got around, it ended up being an integral part of what we did as a company.    

Most designers dive right into fashion with tremendous amount of passion
(same here!). It usually involves a great idea for a line, or a relentless pursuit for one's talent, but reality will eventually set in, and the daily grind of building a start-up soon becomes the biggest obstacle to the realization of these dreams. Over the years, we have seen great design talent come and go on the scene, not because their products weren't good enough, but as designers (and retailers), we all have customers to tend to, and they will make the ultimate decision whether we can continue doing what we love to do or not. For most, it is really all about understanding who support their products, and how to better serve them, this is where we come in to support.    

With every one of our consulting clients, regardless of their size, we always start with an intensive discovery session to formulate who they are, and what they want to achieve. It is an analytical approach from all aspects of the business of fashion to grasp the company's past, present and future. This process can be quite intimidating, because it is a personal and team oriented journey (we would know because we practice what we preach!). What is fascinating however, regardless how diluted the process begins, the team responsible for the brand would always end up with the answers for themselves. It is not too different from asking for relationship advice; so long as someone is willing to listen, and ask the right questions, you probably already know what you need to do, it is just a matter of getting yourself to come to grips with it with a set of systematic deduction.

As always we really enjoy working with people who have tremendous dedication to what they do, and our best reward as always, is the feeling that we made a difference to their organization, by instilling the belief in themselves.

Of pen and paper

A lot of people ask us when they first got to know our brand - 'How come you don't have a better website? Something that is representative of your wonderful jewelry?'

Carving a small space for ourselves online has always been in the forefront of our thoughts; a place where we can connect with those who have came to learn and appreciate what we do, and a place to convey statements beyond the physicality of our designs.

In spite of our deep inert conscious drive to do so, reality has its way to chip away at our time and energy - Throughout the rapid ascend as a brand and company, with or without our awareness, we were propelled to be the best at what we do, work with the best companies out there, and seemingly fulfill a destiny that so many of us in fashion have fought and strive for.

The fact was, it was not a simple journey we had a blueprint for, nor had much guidance over. Most of the times, we stumbled, only to picked ourselves back up again, and stumble once more; dwelling on an endless string of trials and errors that brought us to where we are today. 

Having worked with the most esteem of clients, physical and digital, we have achieved what we thought we wanted, only to find ourselves scathed, with pieces of ourselves lost along the way. It would seem that we were complete externally, but inside, we were fractured and unbalanced. 

What happened was, along with our growth, we invariably were pushed to excel, not in terms of what we did with designs, but the efficiencies of how we did it. Things we used to care deeply about, details we used to fight over amongst ourselves; one shade of plating here, one more stab at a design revisions there, were gradually replaced with speed, timeliness, and cost considerations.

There is a difference between being happy with what we do, and being in love with what we do. It is our hope that, by carving out a space for ourselves here, it will be the first step to reconnect with our love for jewelry once more. 

The love comes from going back to our beginnings, to what made Adia Kibur special to you in the first place. It is about regaining all the things we used to believe in, and be the champion and critic of our own works again.

Awhile back we realized we hardly sketch with pen and paper anymore; everything that used to be the norm have withered away with the influx of technology. Designing has somehow became something we did on a work desk, as oppose to the cafe table. It is time for us to pick up the pen and notepad again, with nothing on our minds but design, and create the best possible works that are worthy of the heritage and brand of Adia Kibur.

Re-branding ourselves means we take a breather, regroup our focus, and move forward once more. It is a complete new beginning built upon inspired traditions.

A special thanks to all of those who have helped us to re-examine who we are, and who we should become. In addition, thank you, our most valued patron, for your continuing dedication and support to make our statements, yours'.