Luxe.Co x Orange Bay University: NYC Trip Day 6

New York Fashion Week (“NYFW”) unveiled the 2018 Spring/Summer (“SS”) collections to start the bi-annual global fashion season, which showcased the collaborative efforts behind the brands and the gamut of upcoming flowering talent. During NYFW, the Luxe.Co team and students of Orange Bay University took part in a one-week trip to New York City (“NYC”) to gain insight into the US fashion market.

On 12 September, the Luxe.Co team and students of Orange Bay University visited Coach’s flagship store on Columbus Circle in Manhattan and the brand’s Archive located at its headquarters on 34th Street. The group also visited Parsons School of Design, XRC Labs’ Fashion Tech Accelerator, and the Taoray Taoray Static Fashion Show to gather more knowledge about the history of fashion while exploring future possibilities in the fashion industry.

1. Visit to Coach’s Flagship Store on Columbus Circle

Early in the morning, the group walked to Coach’s flagship store located at Columbus Circle. The two-storey space was refurbished in 2015, which reflects the evolution and revolution of this 70-year-old brand. The interior design and decoration of the store mirrors NYC’s changes throughout the years. The store manager presented the history and design concept of the brand in detail. There is an in-house leather workshop, which offers customers the convenience of customization services including leather maintenance and stimulates interaction. Ready-to-wear collections from recent years are displayed on the second floor, which are regarded as an indication of Coach’s transformation to a lifestyle brand.

2. Visit to the Coach Archive at Its Headquarters

The group then stopped at the Coach Archive at the company’s headquarters. The Archive, where Coach has stored classic pieces since its foundation in 1941, is rarely open to the public. All types of the brand’s leather products across its 70-year history are displayed in chronological order. According to the representative of the company, Stuart Vevers, the CEO of Coach since 2013, comes to the Coach Archive to look for inspiration from time to time. Since no photos were allowed, we are sorry that no pictures are available to show how impressive the Archive is.

3. Visit to XRC Labs’ Fashion Tech Accelerator

In the afternoon, the group paid a visit to XRC Labs. The company is a business incubator that provides services to creative technology start-ups in cooperation with the famous Parsons School of Design and Accenture Consulting Company. XRC Labs offers seed investments and entrepreneur training for 10 to 12 projects selected from 500 global applications every year.

The founder and CEO of XRC Labs, Pano Anthos, has officially become one of the teachers at Orange Bay University. Mr. Anthos shared the most updated trends in advanced technology for the retail business in the US and presented XRC Labs’ business model to the group in a lecture conducted at Parsons School of Design.

After the lecture, the group moved to the XRC Labs office to further learn about the incubating projects, such as the application of facial recognition and 3D weaving technology for the fashion industry.

4. Visit to Taoray Taoray 2018 SS Static Fashion Show

Taoray Taoray is a fashion brand created by Chinese designer Wang Tao, who was handpicked to design men’s wear for Junko Koshino, the highly acclaimed Japanese designer. Wang Tao is currently a board member of the Shanghai Ribo Fashion Group. She built the high-end brand Taoray Wang and the hipster fashion brand Taoray Taoray, achieving success along the way.

The models were dressed in the brand’s new collections, which expressed energy and enthusiasm. A number of popular fashion bloggers visited the show as well.