When Perfect Moment sought a fresh round of capital last year, it found investors were excited about the brand, but were reluctant to write the small and unprofitable company a cheque.

So the luxury skiwear maker — which generated $23 million in sales in its fiscal 2023 that ended last March — decided to try the public market instead. But the company’s small capitalisation IPO — in which companies are valued on the stock market at less than $2 billion — was delayed by more than a week, indicating the financial markets remain unwieldy for loss-making start-ups.

Perfect Moment’s stock eventually debuted on Thursday at $6 a share at a $93 million valuation. The brand, which sells $990 ski suits and $590 jackets, raised $8 million, which it will use to invest in growing its team and expanding retail distribution. The brand originally set out to raise $15 million, but chief executive Mark Buckley said the company realised that was a lofty goal in the current financial market and that it only needed $8 million to fund expansion plans.

Perfect Moment’s delayed public market debut is the latest example of a DTC brand forced to get creative in finding an alternative to venture capital. In the past year, investors, facing high interest rates, have avoided putting money in unprofitable brands, with venture funding for consumer brands declining 42 percent year over year in 2023, according to PitchBook. These circumstances forced DTC intimates brand Parade to sell to a little-known strategic for next to nothing after failing to raise capital, while others like activewear seller Bandier and apparel brand Something Navy, are scrambling to avoid bankruptcy.

“It’s quite hard to find those strategic partners, especially over the last 12 months,” Buckley said. “We had some great conversations, people love the brand, but a lot of people are sitting on their money at the moment.”

But in going public, Perfect Moment is essentially putting itself in front of a larger set of investors — who have similarly soured on unprofitable companies. Luxury e-tailer Farfetch was delisted after it received a last-minute bailout from South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang late last year. The stock price of sneaker seller Allbirds, which has seen its sales and profits tank after a botched product expansion play, has fallen more than 90 percent since its November 2021 IPO.

Buckley said he knows Perfect Moment needs to start making money for its share price to progress. The brand’s stock price closed 13 percent lower than its IPO price. But it has reason to be hopeful: The company’s sales jumped 28 percent year over year in the first six months of 2023, and its net losses contracted to $2.6 million, from $7.3 million a year earlier. To close the gap on profits, Perfect Moment plans to open up distribution centres in the US to lower shipping costs and increase margins, expand its retail footprint with partners like Selfridges and Saks Fifth Avenue, and pilot new product categories like swimwear.

Investors “will be buying in with upside potential,” Buckley said.

“When we start delivering on our promises, I’d like to think the share price will move in the right direction.”

Finding a New Moment

Founded in 1984 by professional skier Thierry Donard, Perfect Moment was bought in 2012 by former hedge fund manager Jane Gottschalk and her husband Max Gottshalk, who repositioned the company from its focus on extreme sports athletes to a fashion-centric skiwear label. In 2022, it upped its star power by adding Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas as investors and brand ambassadors.

But now, Perfect Moment wants to go beyond the $2 billion luxury skiwear market and sell products outside of the winter months. Gottschalk, the brand’s co-founder and creative director, said this summer Perfect Moment will release a larger assortment of swim and surfwear than it has in previous summer collections. In the colder months, the company will add additional skiwear drops and release lighter items like knitwear in the fall and spring.

The expansion could help lift both repeat purchases and order volume, said Benjamin Bond, a principal consumer growth strategy consultant at management consulting firm Kearney. But Perfect Moment will have to make sure there’s an appetite for its new line of goods with customers, he added. Allbirds, for example, saw its woes worsen after it introduced athletic wear and running shoes that failed to catch on with core consumers.

“What’s important for [Perfect Moment] is to really look at what consumers want from them,” Bond said. “Are customers going to give them permission to be a surf and swim brand?”

Gottschalk is designing the new categories to connect to existing product lines. For example, Perfect Moment’s popular houndstooth ski suit could be reinterpreted as a UV-protectant swimsuit in the same pattern, Gottschalk said.

“You get that automatic link,” she said. “Then you can go into bikinis, accessories, denim, T-shirts, [and] everything that comes with that journey.”

Profiting Globally

Perfect Moment is also building operations in the US, where it generates around 44 percent of its annual sales, to increase profits.

The company currently ships goods sold through its website from a warehouse in London, and fulfilling online orders in the US drags down gross margins, Buckley said. Perfect Moment will hire a US team this year, including a general manager who will spearhead the opening of a new distribution centre.

The US team will also be responsible for improving relationships with Perfect Moment’s US wholesale partners like Saks Fifth avenue, where the brand is ogling for more square footage beyond its current single rack. Buckley said that having shares to offer prospective staffers should help the brand recruit top talent from companies like Nike and Adidas.

Perfect Moment is also planning to open stores in the US and UK by 2026, though it hasn’t signed any leases yet. In the meantime, the brand is starting with temporary shop-in-shops, opening the first at Fred Segal in Los Angeles last October and another at Selfridges in London in December. It will open a third in Harrods this year.

“That’s given us a good test of water to see the look, the feel, and how we function as standalone retail,” Buckely said.

All these plans, however, depend on how Perfect Moment performs as a public company.

The fact that it’s pursuing a small-cap IPO means there are fewer buyers and sellers trading the stock, and less trade volume can make a stock price more volatile, said Bond. It likely doesn’t help that Perfect Moment was sued by Aspen Skiing Company this month for trademark infringement and false endorsement related to its influencer marketing. Perfect Moment declined to comment on the matter. But many companies that go public have legal troubles, and the strength of Perfect Moment’s financial results will ultimately determine how its stock performs, Bond added.

“If you aren’t really controlling the public perception, you can very quickly lose a significant amount of company value,” Bond said.

At this Sunday’s Super Bowl, the evening’s biggest stars arguably won’t be on the field, but in the stands.

While Taylor Swift — by some measures the most famous person on the planet as well as girlfriend to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — is the most obvious example, she’s hardly alone. Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, has racked up nearly 2 million followers on Instagram; former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo is engaged to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Allison Kucharczyk, the wife of defensive end Isaac Rochell, is a TikTok star with over 3 million followers.

That’s just American football WAGs — an acronym for wives and girlfriends, usually referring to the partners of professional athletes — whose other halves are playing in the Super Bowl. Other notable WAGs include Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, whose husband Jonathan Owens is on the Green Bay Packers and TikTok mega influencer Alix Earle is dating Dolphins receiver Braxton Berrios.

The phenomenon extends beyond football: Tennis, in particular, has seen a WAG-aissance in recent years, with women like Morgan Riddle (girlfriend of top-ranked American male Taylor Fritz), Ayan Broomfield (girlfriend of Francis Tiafoe and a former collegiate tennis player herself) and Paige Lorenze (girlfriend of American tennis player Tommy Paul) are all content creators with hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms. There, they give followers a behind-the-scenes look at the non-stop professional tennis tour, which takes them everywhere from Melbourne to Wimbledon, and of course, share plenty of details on their match day ensembles.

WAGs have long been a cultural force, but in the past, their public image has mostly been out of their hands, the product of photographs in the stands and tabloid chatter. But today, many double as influencers, capitalising on interest in pulling back the curtain on what it really means to be a WAG.

“[These women] were once put into a box as the partners of athletes, but they’ve broken out and are able to connect with the common fan and consumer, which wasn’t possible prior to the influencer age,” said Emily Brown, senior manager of strategy at influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy.

The worlds of sport and fashion have become increasingly linked — look at Hugo Boss’s NFL partnership and LVMH’s Olympics coming sponsorship. And this generation of WAGs, with a public profile and accomplishments that go far beyond their romantic relationships, have emerged as a connective tissue between the two industries. In showcasing the lifestyle elements of sports to a new audiences, these women are making games and matches as much a fashion event as they are a sporting one — and boosting interest in the sports they’re associated with. And with that, they’re attracting major brand partnerships, from the likes of Prada, Ralph Lauren and Uniqlo.

“The [tennis] Grand Slams now are like a fashion show,” said Broomfield. “It’s clicked for brands that if they can’t close dress the players on court, they can dress the girls in the box.”

The Fabulous Life of WAGs

The WAG fascination goes back decades. The aughts were a high point for the phenomenon with the superstar pop singer and athlete pairing of David and Victoria Beckham. Women like Ayesha Curry, wife of Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry, charted a playbook for turning WAG status into a career, and WAGs like Savannah James, wife of NBA icon LeBron James, sits front row at Paris Couture Week. And in 2019, the UK’s Wagatha Christie scandal — a tale of gossip and WAG in-fighting between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney, the wives of two UK footballers — gripped the public, eventually leading to a libel case in 2022.

The public obsession can be linked to several factors — the connection to professional sports, a seemingly-glamorous lifestyle, the “power couple” factor and more.

“In order for something to go viral, it has to be controversial, enviable, or relatable. If you can hit all three, that’s the type of video that you get millions of views on,” said Riddle. “Being a WAG encompasses all of those things.”

They’re aspirational, but social media makes them approachable, said Mae Karwowski, the founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Obviously. They make videos discussing the difficulties of life on the road and share their skincare routines. They talk about their relationship, and supporting their partner through wins and losses.

Social media has also provided a path to a lucrative — and perhaps most importantly, flexible — career when in previous years, the logistical realities of being a WAG may have cut off those opportunities. Living with a schedule dictated by a professional sports organisation, with frequent travel and uncertainty around what city you’ll be in from week to week (or where you can make your home base), makes holding down a traditional job difficult. Riddle, for example, spent her first year accompanying Fritz on the tennis tour working a 9-to-5 job remotely — dealing with constantly changing time zones led her to taking work calls in the middle of the night or missing important matches for meetings.

“We sit in the box and sometimes it pans to us, but that’s not how you create a business out of this,” said Lorenze. “There’s a difference between being known and then making it into a business.”

Creating content is a seamless fit for a WAG, particularly now that brands are taking notice of their power. Broomfield said that in the past two years, more brands have started dressing tennis WAGs for matches, particularly grand slams — some, she said, are even paid by the brands to wear their wares. Mahomes starred in a Skims holiday campaign, and Riddle is attending the Super Bowl this weekend as a guest of Louis Vuitton.

“It’s really priceless when you can be in the pop culture zeitgeist, because people come and find your business organically,” said Jasmine Okougbo, manager of marketing, product and partnerships at Hidden Crown Hair Extensions, who did Mahomes’ hair for the Super Bowl in 2023 and will again this year.

Changing the Face of Sports

Coverage of WAGs has always been tinged with misogyny, and even amid the current resurgence, that’s still the case. Just look at the number of angry NFL fans on social media who fume every time Swift flashes on the screen.

But the fact of the matter is that WAGs are bringing a new audience to the sports they’re associated with. The NFL has seen its highest levels of female viewership since it started tracking data, according to NBC Sports, with a 53 percent spike in teenage female viewers. Women in particular are a demographic that the NFL is trying to reach, said Xaimara Coss, the NFL’s director, consumer products and retail marketing.

“I’ve had so many girls come up to me at tournaments saying ‘I would never be here if I didn’t watch your videos,’ or ‘I’m dressing up for Australian Open this year, your content made me want to dress up for it,’” Riddle said.

The leagues themselves are starting to recognise their power. Kristin Juszczyk, a clothing designer who is married to 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, recently nabbed a licensing deal with NFL Fashion — her jersey puffer jackets went viral after Swift and Mahomes wore them to a Chief game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Christmas Day.

Last summer, Wimbledon tapped Riddle to host a web series called “Wimbledon Threads” that spotlighted attendee fashion. Lorenze said she’s planning to work with a number of the tournaments this year in an official capacity.

“These women are powerful,” said Kyle Smith, NFL Fashion content strategist. “It would be bad business for us not to engage with that and leverage them to expand our reach.”

Today, traditional components of the global fashion industry continue to perpetuate legacy strategies and seasonal consumption patterns. As fashion weeks receive even greater attention from global audiences, the culture of consumption that underpins them must be continuously examined — particularly as these objectives are increasingly at odds with the goals of international regulators, most prominently in the European Union.

While running as a bi-annual fashion showcase like its counterparts, Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) is an organisation prepared to disrupt what fashion weeks look like, who they serve and what their lasting impact could become. Since the Autumn/Winter 2023 season, the event — spearheaded by CEO Cecilie Thorsmark — has enforced 18 minimum sustainability requirements for showing brands, which span six key areas across the fashion value chain: strategic design, material choices, working conditions across the supply chain, consumer engagement, set design and show production.

To complement this framework, the organisation has invested in a talk programme of panels and discussions to a live audience, running alongside its showcase and aiming to address and unpack some of the fashion industry’s most pertinent issues, from supply chain complexities to championing next generation talent.

To further its efforts in this space and amplify the cultural impact of fashion weeks, CPHFW partnered with BoF to host an executive roundtable for its Autumn/Winter 2024 season. It gathered fashion leaders, insiders and experts to ask how fashion weeks can not only future-proof themselves as pressures mount from both regulators and consumers, but also propel the fashion industry toward a future benefitting brands and consumers, while respecting planetary boundaries.

“While fashion weeks captivate and inspire, the culture of consumption that they enforce must be addressed,” said Thorsmark, in her opening statement at the event. “It’s our responsibility to foster conversation around how we celebrate fashion in new ways and inspire industry action to do better.”

Held at Soho House Copenhagen, and moderated by BoF’s Robin Mellery-Pratt and Alice Gividen, the event assembled industry leaders, designers, strategists and cultural change-makers from across the industry, including: Omoyemi Akerele, founder and CEO of Lagos Fashion Week and Style Files; Ana Andjelic, global chief brand officer of Esprit; trend consultant, Sam Trotman; designer and founder of Mother of Pearl, Amy Powney; author and sustainability strategist, Alec Leach; founder and 1 Granary editor-in-chief, Olya Kuryshchuk; fashion designer Henrik Vibskov; and chair of the Danish arts committee for craft and design, Anni Nørskov Mørch.

Conducted under the Chatham House rule, below we share condensed, anonymised insights with the BoF community and wider industry.

Optimising the Digitisation of Fashion Week

“Today, consumers really enjoy the peer-to-peer engagement that new channels bring. This is markedly different from reading reviews on Vogue. Fashion weeks have more responsibility today to be much more democratic — speaking to an audience in a way that is much more understandable and digestible,” said one guest.

“We have to ask, ‘what is the actual meaning behind what we’re doing? What is the cultural context?’ Younger audiences today have such a thirst for knowledge, especially if they haven’t come from a fashion background. Let’s make it accessible for them.”

Another guest highlighted the fashion and luxury industry were focusing on digital channels, but opportunities exist to optimise the impact of fashion week activations.

It’s not about simply those 10 minutes of a show, or those three hours of a party. It’s about content and how that endures.

“To use the example of Louis Vuitton. [I believe] they measured the success of the show in YouTube views and in impressions, not in how many buyers were there, or how many people actually bought that collection after we just hit the stores. [...] Even with millions spent, it can excite culture for one second. What [the next generation of hybrid community culture is] is the exact opposite of that: creating a lot of signals that synchronise and create something meaningful that can be heard. It’s the opposite of having one big moment when you spend a lot of money.”

“Today, virality and cut-through on the internet is achievable, but building community and lasting cultural moments that live on is more important,” said another attendee. “Content should capture the atmosphere of the event, the moment — whatever you’ve created — to involve a much greater audience. Give them something to connect with.”

Expanding the Dialogue

Major brands must now be present on a multitude of digital channels, which in turn has increased customer expectations around both the cadence of channel-specific content from brands and how authentic it is. “Because of the digital extensions brands can employ today, storytelling has to be the central focus,” said one participant. “It’s not about simply those 10 minutes of a show, or those three hours of a party. It’s about content and how that [endures]. What is the narrative? Why are we doing this?”

Other guests suggested that brand storytelling could be used as a tool to educate end-consumers. “We have a responsibility to send a message out to wider viewers that fashion weeks and, by extension, the fashion industry, isn’t simply about glamour, shows, influence and front row culture, but a complete, diverse set of aesthetic-based things and conversation-based things.”

The whole system has become super squeezed — timelines, materials and logistics are extremely compressed. It’s almost impossible to produce a collection, at scale, within a six-month time frame.

“Think about what Coco Chanel was doing in the 1920s. Yes, she had her show, but her customers were so aware of her craft. Her shows — which were, in effect, shopping events — had everything to do with the quality and craftsmanship of her work. The conversation was one. Why are we separating them today? It is a divide that will just continue to perpetuate a disconnect between craft and shows.”

“There is a lot that fashion could learn from materials-based artists. Take ceramics or furniture — the whole production process forms part of the brand storytelling. It’s not an additional layer of context that comes later, or an add-on to help market the product. It’s actually core to its identity and is often a real point of difference for consumers.”

Indeed, other attendees argued that the different mediums available today meant that storytelling had to become an enduring focus.

Rethinking Seasonality

Attendees stressed the importance of challenging the seasonal churn of product. Globally, fashion waste is estimated to be approximately 100 million tonnes annually, with the equivalent of a truck full of clothes ending up on landfill sites every second, according to the Ellen MacArthur foundation.

“The whole system has become super squeezed — timelines, materials and logistics are extremely compressed. It’s almost impossible to produce a collection, at scale, within a six-month time frame. I believe designers need a longer runway. It’s strange to have a show if the buyers sitting there can’t buy it. Designers may only have a two-month window — if they’re lucky — to get their products in-store at full price before it goes on sale.”

“Consider artists in other disciplines — they don’t have shows every six months. When something captivates them, when they feel as though they have something to say, only then will they put on an exhibition,” added one attendee.

“Perhaps, one season, designers could show, then the next they come back to host an important conversation or tell a story in a different way. We need to give designers a chance to break perpetual cycles. Missing a show should not signal to the industry and to consumers that their business is failing.”

Offering Greater Support to Emerging Talent

“The Fashion Week system should evolve further to create space for emerging talent, almost like a graduate programme. There should be a way for young designers to gain experience and build momentum without the pressures of churning out collections,” suggested one attendee. “We should be asking, ‘is there a way to walk them into the fashion system, rather than throw them in and hope it sticks?’”

“The current system is like musicians being told they have a good voice, then having to go and immediately perform at Wembley,” added another guest. “But I think young designers feel as though they have no choice but to show up, if they want to create long-lasting impact. Typically, there isn’t another obvious route to becoming a recognised designer.”

“A lot of young designers feel that’s the only way to do it, and it’s quite a toxic culture. You spend so much time just looking around at everybody else, ‘What’s that designer doing? What’s that designer doing?’ You’ve actually not spent any time focusing on what you do, what you believe, what’s authentic to you.”

Outside of shows, it’s important to consider how we keep the conversation going and hold people’s attention.

However, one attendee countered with the idea that designers were pressured into showing each season to drive impact. “I think we infantilise designers and make them the victim of someone else’s actions. It’s a privilege to start a brand, to connect with customers, to build a community. Fashion weeks, in their current format, launch careers and businesses. This platform shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Building Presence in ‘Off’ Weeks

The discussion turned to the role of fashion weeks outside of their bi-annual showcases.

“Fashion weeks have the potential to foster real communities around our industry, to have collaborative conversations and encourage showing brands, editors and even consumers to take action to foster positive change,” said one attendee. “Outside of shows, it’s important to consider how we keep the conversation going and hold people’s attention.”

“Instead of thinking about Fashion Week because of consumer-facing moments, how can we get together to talk about how we actually create [products] better? I was speaking to a brand just this week who said, ‘We keep it old school. We just ring up retailers and say, “Do you need more jeans?” We’ll ship them ten more pairs, if they are needed,’” added another attendee. “The independent brands are struggling, the independent retailers are struggling, so why don’t we use Fashion Week as a way of solving that?”

However, one guest countered that the cultural impact of fashion shows remained the most compelling draw of fashion week for both the showing brands and their audience. “Shows are the celebration of many months of hard work. It’s about celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, creating an arena for a brand’s vision to be brought to life.”

“Fashion Week — and the press — carry a year-round responsibility. Everyone who broadcasts, who reviews, who has that power and holds a degree of influence — how they behave and what they say — has impact.”

“It’s continuity that we should all be working towards, not just isolated events,” concluded another guest.

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Copenhagen Fashion Week as part of a BoF partnership.

The impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries is a subject that has prompted widespread anxiety about job losses and the death of imagination, and the world of fashion is no exception.

But this month’s London fashion week, marking the event’s 40th anniversary, will showcase a host of AI-generated outfits and industry insiders have expressed a growing optimism about what the technology can do for the sector – from improving diversity to shortening the path from design desk to shop floor.

The head of London College of Fashion’s Innovation Agency, Matthew Drinkwater, believes AI will prove a “hugely beneficial tool” for creative processes and for the industry as a whole.

“It has opened the door to non-traditional pathways into the fashion industry for people who couldn’t get into it before because, let’s face it, the industry can have a perception of feeling quite elitist and quite exclusive, and an expensive industry to get into,” he said.

“But these tools are allowing people from very different backgrounds to begin to have a foothold in the industry. And for me, that feels really new and exciting,” he added.

Brands such as Heliot Emil, Zara and H&M are already using AI to control supply chains, which they say promotes sustainability by reducing overstock and waste. Many brands are also using AI to help the design processes, with images of clothes generated from typed prompts, visualising different materials and patterns. This allows designers to make informed decisions before physically producing clothes.

The consultancy McKinsey predicted last year that generative AI – the term for technology that can produce convincing images, text and audio from simple human prompts – could add $150 billion to $275 billion (£120bn to £220bn) to the operating profits of the fashion and luxury sectors within the next three to five years. Predicting future fashion trends and creating virtual try-ons using AI are also predicted to be just around the corner.

Drinkwater has been working with his team to look at how AI could change the industry, testing generative AI’s ability to create clothing for years. “We were scraping websites to try to get lots of data so that we could create dresses from more than 40,000 images. It was actually really hard work to do four years ago but now we open our laptops, even our smartphones and start generating images very quickly,” Drinkwater said.

A collaboration between VFX and AI artist Atara and the Fashion Innovation Agency at the London College of Fashion in March 2023.

“So typically, we take stuff which is maybe three to five years away from commercialisation and begin to show those research projects around where the future of the industry might move to,” he added.

In April last year Cyril Foiret’s generative AI studio, Maison Meta, hosted the first AI fashion week in New York, which included a competition for aspiring designers to use AI to create a fashion line. The winners were able to have their collections physically manufactured to be sold online with retailer Revolve. As in other industries, AI has come to be associated with job redundancies and critics argue creative artistry could be wiped out. But Foiret argues that there is little to fear.

“AI is such a powerful tool that is amplifying creativity. People thinking jobs are going to reduce shouldn’t think like that. We all just need to get accustomed with the tools, but if it is just a tool without a person behind it, it’s of no use,” he said.

Arti Zeighami, a former chief data and analytics officer at H&M and now senior adviser in AI for consulting firm BCG, agrees that AI can be used as a force for good within fashion. “Being transparent about AI helps people to not be afraid and allows them to be comfortable and still feel in control, it’s the transformation of the mindset of the human that is important,” he said.

“The AI will evolve as a technology either way we need to evolve alongside with it, but we haven’t come to the terminator stage not yet, at least.”

The TUC’s AI lead, Mary Towers, said AI could be a useful aid for workers in the creative sector, but that it shouldn’t be hijacked to replace human creativity.

“We need new laws to ensure that all workers in the arts – including fashion – are consulted and properly compensated if their work and intellectual property is used by AI,” she said.

“We have already seen performers in the UK having their image, voice or likeness reproduced by AI technology without their consent. We can’t afford for this to become the norm in other industries too. That’s why we urgently need fresh regulation to protect workers’ creativity and copyright.”

By Nyima Jobe