The Interesting Network Dynamics in Fashion
http://www.mensjournal.com/style/shoes/how-axel-arigato-brought-swedish-style-to-sneakers-20150904
There’s an interesting new brand in the shoe market that is taking in sneakerheads’ attention in New York: Axel Arigato, a small Swedish company that started off as a joint hobby between CEO Albin Johannson and creative director Max Svardh recently celebrated its 2 year anniversary since its inception. The company has recently expanded to New York and London, and despite a rather hefty pricetag for the average person removed from the world of expensive shoes (around $250 per pair) Axel Arigato has seen extreme success in New York in 2016.
According to Johannson, the brand is undergoing an interesting shift in its marketing strategy; while the company released a new design every week during its first year, the New York branch has been changing gears into emphasizing certain mainstay designs over creative new ones. The reason? As their company gains brand recognition and rises above the “no-name designer” stage as a fashion startup, it is in the company’s interest to connect the name to certain flagship designs. This move follows a classic network effect where the value of these shoes increases for buyers when more people recognize the brand and the value of its classic designs, and Axel Arigato has seem to hit a critical point where enough people are purchasing their products so that brand name alone carries enough value to merit buying them.
It will be interesting to see how the network dynamics of the brand and its name recognition will play out in the future; if they manage to stay within the sweetspot of well known but not too common to be desirable, the company’s future should be bright.