Burberry today announces the launch of a global, state-of-the-digital-art 'Retail Theatre' concept which will enable invited guests to experience its London Fashion Week spring/summer 2011 fashion show in real-time, and then place online orders through custom-built Burberry apps on iPads.
The space-age concept will be rolled out in 25 flagship stores around the world, on September 21st, with the LFW catwalk show live-streamed onto high-definition, 3x3 metre screens with pioneering surround-sound. Customers can then explore the entire collection on iPads, before keying in their orders.
The designer, Christopher Bailey, Burberry's chief creative officer, and the man behind the Burberry Prorsum collections, said the 'Retail Theatres' would provide simultaneous virtual trunk shows in the brand's global network of stores.
"This concept allows us to broadcast our multi-faceted content all over the world, directly to our stores, creating a modern and pure brand environment. Customers at the exclusive in-store digital events will experience the clothes, the music, the energy and the atmosphere in real time and have the unique opportunity to receive their orders in just seven weeks."
"We are now as much a media-content company as we are a design company, because it's all part of the overall experience. So it's a big deal. It's changing the whole system of buying, and the whole cycle of production. Basically you can buy every bag that goes down the runway and every coat and all the make-up as well."
For several months, Burberry has been developing and testing the custom-designed, digitally-charged 'Retail Theatre' environments, with enhanced acoustics and visual technology, in conjunction with Verizon, its long-term digital solutions partner.
Customers invited to the in-store events receive digital invitations with a personal video message from Christopher Bailey today. This is the fourth time that Burberry will be offering its runway collection for immediate purchase and early delivery since it launched the exclusive 'Runway to Reality' concept in September 2009.
Burberry, a member of the FTSE100, was founded in 1856.
Source: (wateen.net)