Jean Touitou, CEO of France's A.P.C., disputes the 'see now, buy now' principle

By

Chenu Alexis

Published
Feb 19, 2016

Burberry, Tom Ford, Michael Kors and other labels such as Vêtements etc., announced at the end of January that they want to change the whole traditional show calendar by cutting down the number of shows and selling their collections directly after the shows. Meanwhile, Jean Touitou, the CEO of Atelier de Production et de Création (A.P.C., or Production and Design Workshop), told New York magazine Fashionista of his scepticism for this new course which is supposedly meant to be a rethinking of fashion's economic model.

Jean Touitou was in New York to present A.P.C.'s latest collection, and a new collaboration with Outdoor Voices, a brand of sports ready-to-wear apparel in which he is an investor, and he has disputed the 'See now, buy now' principle.

"I don't care about what these labels are doing, he explained to Fashionista magazine. They have no idea what they are talking about, and this 'see now, buy now' principle is above all mere headline hunting. "

According to Jean Touitou, major fashion labels are first of all victims of their "utter disorganization" and of their inability to "be willing to take risks."

In his opinion, the new 'See now, buy now' principle would "work for one season only, perhaps two, and then, once stocks will be too high, fashion labels will find another idea to make headlines."