When Covid-19 hit, fashion week was well under way in Europe. Buyers, publishers and industry professionals have started to skip showings and sales appointments for fear of coming into contact with the virus. The upcoming season and fashion month have become almost entirely virtual due to the spread of the pandemic. Despite Covid-19, the fashion industry had questioned the rigorous and fast-paced fashion program for years. Was it really sustainable for brands and designers? For buyers and journalists? What about small foreign brands in countries like Brazil, with so much artistic ability that it is not discovered through global stores just because of their lack of access? This was a query made through Manoela Amaro, former LATAM Airlines marketing manager before launching the BLANC virtual wholesale platform in 2017. “Every time I traveled I wondered why it was so difficult to locate Brazilian women’s brands abroad”, Amaro explains. “In short, it aroused my interest in externalizing Brazilian brands in a professional and efficient way. ” This led her to launch BLANC, a virtual platform that allows buyers and industry professionals to search for emerging Brazilian designers and view trends virtually from the comfort of their home or office. Array Virtual change has become more realistic and sustainable given the cases. from recent events, and many industry insiders expect virtual fashion weeks to continue beyond the pandemic for this reason. Next, we spoke with Manoela Amaro, a leader in this field, to discuss her technique with BLANC.
MM: Explains BLANC.
Manoela Amaro: BLANC was born in 2017, consisting only of Brazilian brands, now we paint not only with Brazilian brands, but also with foreign brands from all over the world, we are an interactive virtual platform for the fashion, home and beauty industries. it is a brand portfolio control tool and an interactive marketplace for buyers. Most of the brands we set up come from Latin America and especially now, with travel restrictions, our purpose is to make the connection between buyers and brands more fluid and efficient. Weekly virtual marketing campaigns that show and explore our database of 16,000 qualified buyers in 90 countries. The business style also accompanies brands by providing a personalized human sales force and foreign fashion week capsule display rooms. Rather, it is a “boutique” platform that is to help brands and buyers have a more holistic view of the wholesale process.
MM: What demanding situations did you face in the industry that drove you to start the business?
MA: Many other industries have gone from indirect promotion to direct promotion that employs generation. Fashion is one of the biggest exceptions, as the industry relies on a very physical and non-public procedure of seeing, touching and feeling to perceive the product or logo. Although virtual platforms began to appear on the market more than 10 years ago, the industry has not yet changed absolutely. When we first introduced BLANC, we stayed in beta for 1 year to collect feedback from a very professional and varied database. I have noticed that buyers are reluctant to use the platform (any platform), because they find the language and interface to be complicated or have features that nobody understood to use. However, the most important and reliable data, which was vital and key data about the logos, was not yet in the system. It would be the virtual edition of what showroom staff are used to doing to interact and do business that can only be done in one-on-one meetings. We think the physical component will be there. While our generation itself is incredibly undeniable and undeniable in use, we contextualize logos in the environment of your own logo with key data, designed for buyers. It’s much less complicated to notice and know everyone’s logos from your table or beds!
MM: While buyers had to take a break from their wholesale purchases, how did Covid-19 have to rotate their business?
MA: While some buyers have suspended their wholesale purchases, others have much more time and are much more open to understanding virtual platforms, as this is the only way to keep up. Last year, too, it has the only way for brands to prove it, which has allowed us to build our number of brands by more than 100%.
MM: Although you’re a virtual enterprise, has Covid-19 helped you drive the basic adjustments in your business that you’ll make once the pandemic is over?
MA: Yes, of course. This has brought many business opportunities, for example through organizing industry exhibitions and other showrooms and helping them create their own organizing environment, which has made us a very dynamic company.
MM: What is the long term of BLANC?
MA: We are evolving towards a 360 degree advertising solution for wholesale and retail trending brands.
I’m a New York-based editor who specializes in fashion and lifestyle. My paintings have appeared in US Vogue, Vogue MX, Travel Leisure, Architectural
I’m a New York-based editor and an editor specializing in fashion and lifestyle. My paintings have appeared in US Vogue, Vogue MX, Travel Leisure, Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, Departures, etc. Previously, I was a fashion editor, in Vogue, GQ and Glamour.