Based in Luxemburg, “Smets Premium Stores (Smets, hereafter)”, carries items centered around the three fields of world fashion, design, and art. The buyer and Creative Director of Smets, Pascaline Smets, who is also the daughter of the owner/founder, Catherine Smets, visited Japan during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week TOKYO 2016 A/W.
Pascaline, being one of the people named in “BoF 500 (The Business of Fashion)”, as one of the top globally active fashion industry people of today, we’ve asked her about Smets, of her impression of having visited Japan for the first time, Japanese fashion, and Fashion Week.

Could you please introduce Smets to our readers?

At Smets, we gather items that are high in creativity, regardless of genre, whether its art, food, fashion, etc., and present them in a way so that the individuality of each will be fully expressed in our shop. Our target is all those people around the world, who agree with our philosophy.
We mainly buy from Paris, but also go to London quite often. London is a must city to visit, to find new upcoming designers, and for market research.

You seem to be placing much value on EC also. Do you feel any changes in your customers lately?

Our EC customers are mainly from China and the United States. Especially in our Chinese customers, we have many VIPs, and these past few years, there numbers have increased prominently.
Recently, I feel that the demand for personal correspondence in EC is growing. Digital will most likely continue to evolve, but at the same time, a touch of humanity within digital is important, such as buying from somebody you know and trust, placing value on whom you buy from. In a way, I think the same kind of customer relationships as in real shops are being demanded.
My buying goes through a similar process. I receive approximately 600 newsletters daily, from showrooms around the world, but because of the tremendous amount, I cannot open all of them. However, when a brand is introduced to me through somebody who knows and understands my tastes, I make it a point to always check the information, and most of the time, I actually end up buying from there.

Did any brand catch your eye at the MBFWT 2016 A/W?

“Tokyo New Age” was quite impressive. I won’t be ordering just yet, but I’m looking forward to their future developments. It was a joint show, so the presentation of each brand was short, but it was an exciting show, filled with a feeling of anticipation that something will arise from here.

In your opinion, what are the attractions, and weak-points of Japanese brands?

I think Japanese designers are unique in their high quality, high level of construction born from a sincerity towards making things, beautiful silhouettes, and these are very attractive aspects. But I think they lack a bit in their ability to appeal.
Especially when they are looking to expand into overseas markets, they should try to narrow down items that will be the ‘face’ of their brand, as much as possible, accentuate it, and convey an easily comprehensible message. This is very important. By keeping the message simple, it becomes a strong message. For example, even if a brand handles both textiles and knits, if they feel slightly more confident in knits, it might be a good idea to publicize visuals and concepts specialized on knits. It’s a challenge, but worth a try. If you try to show your whole collection, the message gets blurred, and does not leave an impression to the buyers.
The same could be said for runway shows. In order to become an international brand, I think the brand will not sell unless you go out on a limb, as if to impress yourself among others as “This is a knit brand”, with iconic items and identities. If you try to announce a whole variety of items with this and that in one show, you end-up overloading viewers with information. And in the end, at best, only 1 or 2 items leave an impression.

Can you name any brands that are apt in such ways of “presentation”?

In the show of “SIMONE ROCHA”, which has been announcing in the Fashion Week in London, they announced 15 feminine dresses, all in different material and length variations, but they made it quite clear that “SIMONE ROCHA” is a brand that is confident in feminine dresses. If the brand’s message is not conveyed clearly to us buyers, we are unable to convey it to our customers. Even if we feel that the design is beautiful, the quality is good, and mark it as a buying candidate, if the brand’s message is weak, in the end, there is a chance that we might pass over it. That is how important a clear message is.