Many retailers who have started their business online find that offline experiences are key to their growth. Consumer appreciation for the meet-the-maker experience has been expanding in recent years. As such, candle company type.lites and menswear brand Indochino have both turned to the pop-up shop as an easy way to develop their physical presence.
By Briana Palma
Semhar Woldeyesus is writer whose primary reporting interests include design, music and culture.
David is an East to West coast Canadian currently skulking through the streets of Vancouver.
Erin hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, but has called Madrid home for the last four years.
Cristina reports for The Genteel from Rome. She is a professional freelance journalist with ten years of experience.
Alina is the editor of frank by The Genteel, freelance writer and occasional portrait painter.
Mona is founder and CEO of Geeky Chic, Inc. and Editor in Chief of The Genteel.
Grace is Associate Editor at The Genteel and a contributing writer from London, where she has recently graduated with a First-Class degree in English from Loughborough University.
An East-coast girl by nature but a European at heart, Julia is a Toronto-based freelance writer and editor obsessed with the fashion, culture and art scenes from Montreal to New York.
With a Bachelor's degree in Biology, Alexandra Sarabia accidentally ventured into fashion when she took a summer class at the Fashion Institute of Technology on Ethical Fashion. She hasn't looked back since.
Chere contributes lifestyle editorial to The Genteel from Paris.
Certain traits are passed down through generations - things like hair colour, height and stubbornness. But for the Metrick family, their most outstanding inherited trait is a love for home furnishings and a business that has seen this love last for 95 years. Tara MacInnis speaks with the founder's great grandsons to find out more about the diverse threads that unite Elte Home and Carpet.
Window displays are our first glimpse at what a shop has to offer. They can draw us in, or turn us away, making the people who decide what they contain invaluable to the success of the store. But what does it take to effectively capture our attention? The Premium International Fashion Trade show has discovered a woman who knows - Mercé Soler, winner of the 2013 window dresser award.
In recent years, fashion trucks have sprung up from LA to New York and everywhere in between. Despite offering businesses the benefits of low overhead costs and self-employment opportunities, these mobile trucks have their own set of challenges to conquer. Now, some mobile retailers are wondering if their fashion trucks are in fact better off integrated with brick and mortar operations.
Political instability, a humanitarian crisis and an influx of refugees spilling over from the Syrian civil war has meant financial resources in Lebanon are tight. Cultural institutions and, notably, the country's fashion industry has suffered as a result. Cristina Fei speaks with local designers to find out how they have managed to keep their businesses surviving in Beirut today.
New York City's deteriorating manufacturing infrastructure has made it difficult in recent times for an emerging designer to produce a line locally and cost-effectively. But fashion incubators, such as Manufacture New York, aim to help those designers by offering the mentoring and resources needed to sustain their businesses during the current economic climate.
A new Canadian tailored clothing company, Surmesur, is trying to persuade more North American gentlemen to follow the custom-made route. Combining tradition with technology, entrepreneurs François and Vincent Thériault, are offering an original shopping experience in which you participate and design each aspect of the garment.
The Genteel unearths the forces shaping global fashion and design through the lens of business, culture, society and best kept secrets.
A worldwide collective of contributors currently form The Genteel. On a daily basis our team dispatches thought-provoking and insightful articles from the streets of Oslo, Toronto, Beirut, Moscow, United Arab Emirates, Seoul and beyond.
