As I’ve mentioned before, prior to my current career in
media, I worked as a fashion buyer. I worked for three major SA retailers, over
seven years. I am well versed in the challenges fashion retailers face when it
comes to balancing fashionability and satisfying the often not so fashion
forward SA consumer. I’ve watched as retailers tried to work on a fashionable
image, whilst only paying lip service to actual fashionability when it came to
merchandise. For good reason too, the fact is that most of the money lies in
trading that unfashionable merchandise.
I left retail a little over three years ago, and I’ve rarely
visited department stores since. I hate shopping. So I could be a bit out of
touch with what is actually happening in retail, but from chatting to friends
in retail it seems that they are still dealing with those familiar issues. Which
brings me to Mr P. As an ex retail person, I’m genuinely fascinated with the
way they have rebranded themselves. These days fashionability is one of the
first things that come to mind when people think of Mr P, more so than discount
ranges, and that’s no accident.
The first Mr P event I covered was three years ago, when a
bunch of us (fashion editors and bloggers) were flown up to Mr P HQ, for a roof
top lunch and an intro to their latest range. It was a generous event, without feeling
like corners had been cut. Things were also put in place to encourage maximum
social media engagement.
Since then, there’s been another joburg lunch which I
featured here, which also brought on board these amazing names from the world
of fashion design, including british designer Henry Holland, and our very own Anisa Mpungwe of Loincloth and Ashes.
Then there was the ELLE & Mr P collabo on the RisingStar Design Awards
Then there was this party in Cape Town, where once again
they gathered together the most influential names in fashion media.
This time around, last week Thursday, they blocked off the coolest part of
Braamfontein’s Juta street in Johannesburg, and they got together some of the
fashion industry and youth culture’s most influential voices for a kick ass
street party to celebrate their denim campaign. A campaign which by the way
uses content freely generated by friends and fans of the brand, including some of the country’s most followed fashion bloggers. You can follow the
campaign on the #MRPdenim hashtag.
I go to a lot of events, and I have a bit of an obsession
with how businesses run their PR. I also listen to feedback from a lot of the
guests at industry shindigs, and no matter how much bubbly they are fed, so
much of the feedback swings from lukewarm feels to straight up negative.
Without sounding like a total sycophant, I must say I always
get the best feedback from people at these Mr P parties. It’s no secret that I
think they are fucking amazing. Like I said, I am no longer in retail, so I
don’t quite follow the sales numbers, except the occasional article in the
Financial Mail. Even then, I’m not great at analyzing the numbers. So I have no
idea how all this affects the bottom line. But I do understand fashionability
and branding, and right now, Mr P is succeeding in that dept.
If I worked in the marking dept of another major SA
retailer, and I was tasked with improving the fashion image, and growing a
youthful consumer base, I’d take a closer look at Mr P, I’d look at these fine young thangs, partying , tweeting , instagramming together with some of the country’s fashion and youth culture voices, I’d pay attention, I’d ask
myself, “Is my brand looking this kinda youthful, this kinda relevant?”
LATER AT THE GREAT DANE, AROUND THE CORNER FROM THE MR P STREET PARTY
