Mugler rethinks marketing model with ‘see now, buy now’ concept

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 6, 2020

Mugler has made a radical change to its strategy. The Parisian fashion house, which was recently acquired by L’Oréal, has thoroughly rethought the pace of its collections and its method for distributing them, by adopting a more pragmatic approach. The brand plans to launch two collections per year, as opposed to its previous total of four, and will market them with the concept of ‘see now, buy now’.

The brand has actually revised this marketing format by terming it ‘see now, buy now, wear now’. In other words, clothes will be sold at exactly the time that they will be worn. This means that clothing must arrive in stores during the season for which they are designed, and at the same time the public first discovers the brand’s new designs.
 
The question arises: how does a brand, which requires such a great amount of prior notice for its production process, orchestrate this upheaval? Mugler, which wishes to move towards greater consistency in its design, production, and distribution schedule, explains that it aims to revise its schedule starting from this year.

Following this new format, Mugler began selling the first part of its spring/summer 2021 collection, a sort of cruise collection, to its multi-brand partners at the start of the year. The partners will begin to sell the collection in stores shortly after it will be revealed at Paris Fashion Week in September. The plan is to reveal to both the media and the public the themes that Mugler’s creative director, Casey Cadwallader, has developed for the summer season, and designs will also be available on the brand’s e-commerce store.
 
As its second step, in December 2020, the brand’s complete collection will be sold under embargo to retailers. They will receive deliveries from March 2021, just after the collection will have been presented with great fanfare at the February edition of Paris Fashion Week.
 
Through this new marketing and distribution schedule, the brand aims to, “reduce the orchestrated obsolescence that is so widespread in the fashion industry,” Mugler said in a statement.