The trick to successful fashion retail is exclusivity. Traditionally, large stores sought to entice shoppers by securing limited-edition colourways and shapes from their designers’ collections. Browse the websites of Net-A-Porter or Bergdorf Goodman and you’ll find countless mainline products proudly branded “Exclusively Ours!” But delivering something novel has become increasingly challenging in the current retail environment. With fashion being presented on the catwalk months before the clothes go on sale, everything is seen online or in print months before it arrives in store. By the time products drop, shoppers are often already bored. So, to offer some element of surprise, retailers are now working directly with labels to produce one-off capsules and collaborations that sit outside the main seasonal calendar and are unseen anywhere until they arrive in store.
行之有效的時裝賣點就是突出其唯一性。一般說來，大店鋪吸引買家的招數，就是強調其獲得的是旗下設計師打造的特定顏色與外形的限量版時裝。諸位瀏覽一下Net-A-Porter與波道夫?古德曼(Bergdorf Goodman)的網店，就會發現數不勝數自我標榜“限量版”的主流時裝。但在當前營銷環境下，推出新奇款式可以說越來越難。時裝上市前幾個月就已在T型臺上亮相，因此在實體店正式銷售前好幾個月，就早已在網絡和時尚類雜志上“露臉”。待正式投放市場時，消費者往往已顯“審美疲勞”。因此，為了達到某種出奇不意的效果，零售商們如今與品牌公司直接合作，推出一次性混搭系列與合作款式，這些時裝并不參展各大時裝秀，待實體店正式上架時才露出“廬山真面目”。