It has been gratifying to witness fashion brands worldwide reach an impact of extreme influence, particularly in it’s success that so many consumers are able to filter a brands style guiding principles to fulfill their respective lifestyle needs. But the world is most certainly a diverse place. In fact, the format of consumer dichotomy proves challenging for fashion brands. In my opinion, understanding balance enables leaders to most effectively lead, accomplish the mission and achieve the target goals. I often hear fashion companies boasting about their leadership; whereas the companies that peak my interest as a consumer, are the ones who know when to lead and when to follow, when to hold the reins tight and when to creatively run forward, when to aggressively maneuver and when to be prudent. Verily, the most challenging aspect of fashion brands today is finding the balance between the fashion business, the social-driven consumer and the product itself. In order to correctly balance these three leadership styles, a decision maker must find the middle ground and pay attention to social influence to reach the maximum potential. Conversely, a good leader must follow and support the chain of command all around. Bridging the gap between fine craftsmanship and social influence equals social confirmation -essentially developing brand awareness while simultaneously driving sales way up north!
In the digital age of social media, the business of fashion has undergone a revolution. In a word, it has democratized and disrupted- even jumped lanes onto a new progressive path forward with no end in site. I must say, most fashion veterans barely recognize the fashion industry today from what it had been in decades past. This great transitional period that we are now experiencing is not only limited to marketing but rather permeates throughout the core of design as well as the brands overall DNA. We have witnessed the tremendous asendency of blogs, influencers and social media as well as the rapid speed of fashion to market. It is also of note to review the cycle of trends within the market sectors. Let’s face it, the traditional methodology with respect to the fashion ecosystem has been living through a renaissance of sorts. Nowadays, the consumers need for immediacy in receiving new and relatable brand ambassadors and cultures continue to shift in the fashion industry. Today, the interest derives from a collective response, globalized with infinite reach of social media. Influence turns into currency when the user possesses something of interest to a target audience. With 800 million users, Instagram is a focal point for most fashion brands. In this new era, one can’t help but notice why it makes sense for a brand to talk directly to their desired audience.
Capitalizing on the power of developing quality-driven and well-designed new product offerings, PARS UNUM has created strong positioning for their technically exacting and conceptually classic bags. A theory fundamental to the PARS UNUM design process, ‘classic’ is not a stationary set of ideas, but rather a sensibility that is continuously in transformation. Referencing late 1980s–1990s sport, the collection presents homage while perpetually musing on the next progression of classic — establishing an ever-evolving design paradigm. By updating styles to adhere to modern consumer tastes, the brand embraces differentiation of their product offerings from others in the marketplace. In fact, these styles are the type of styles that customers share on social media within their social circles. And social proof is validation with respect to the power of social influence. And speaking of social influence, PARS UNUM has now displayed model, mega-influencer and entrepreneur Luka Sabbat for their creative. Mr. Sabbat ( aka; Mr. Fallback) currently maintains a hefty 1.5 million followers on Instagram. And trust me, most of his followers are looking at his mad cool drip or style if you may. In this day and age, behavioral science social proof involves recognizing a point of view that we can relate to as if the person is “part of us” and in return will develop consumer trust. What is important to me is that not only does Luka Sabbat have recognized status in the entertainment and fashion industry but rather he is believable ( to me) in confirming the value of a fashion product. You see, Luka is an of the moment style icon! Moreover, he is the type of person who would only endorse a fashion product if he believed in it. Ultimately, this campaign will only enhance the bond between PARS UNAM and its direct target audience and fans!
Handcrafted in Italy, PARS UNUM is produced by hand at a prestigious family-run facility in a small coastal town in Southern Italy. Led by a master pattern cutter, artisans carry knowledge and techniques from the ateliers of storied fashion houses. Supple Italian nappa lambskin interplays with technical coated polyamide, accented by custom powder-coated hardware and industry-leading luxury zippers.
I recently had the privilege to interview founders Jimmy Rau and Fabiola Pedrazzini about the creative design of the current collection, how consumers are seeking newness and versatility and how the digital design space is almost a subconscious component of anything they do!
Joseph DeAcetis: Talk to Forbes about the brand history, development and overall brand DNA (what are your backgrounds in fashion)?
Jimmy Rau: I come from a graphic and interdisciplinary design background. I’ve worked in freelance for around 10 years with a pretty diverse client base. Since the mid-2000s, I became more interested in style and fashion– especially some of the minimal masterminds of the 90s – Helmut Lang, Jil Sander. My earliest thought to design bags was probably a result of always being mobile– presenting to clients, working from a café, going to the gym – as a freelancer I needed a bag that would take me through all these situations. I began experimenting with some two-dimensional design ideas before really incorporating three-dimensional structure. I applied an invisible grid structure, which ended up informing design decisions like pocket placement and the proportion of arm straps.
Fabiola Pedrazzini: After working in high-end bag production in Italy, I moved to New York to launch my women’s accessories line back in 2010. I met Jimmy and she showed me his early designs, and we began developing the first collection about three years ago.
JR: We’ve gone through countless iterations, sampled hundreds of skins, hardware finishes, zippers—every little thing. The focus has always been working toward a minimal, function conscious collection made from some of the best materials and processes available. Every essential detail is crafted with elegant simplicity in mind, no fillers needed.
JD: How did Luka Sabbat become the face of the brand?
FP: We both love how Luka mixes classic tailoring with really modern stuff. PARS UNUM is about reinterpreting classic through a new lens.
JR: Luka and I had a couple of degrees of separation so I dropped some samples off at his agency. A dozen phone calls later, we pulled some pieces from David Casavant’s fashion archive and ended up making it happen!
JD: Where is the capital coming from to launch the brand ?
JR: In growing the brand from square one, it’s been entirely self-funded. At times its super crazy and I’m working all hours of the night to get the work done, but it’s an object of passion and that makes the difference. I’m fortunate to have a close knit network of friends who are always supportive and ready to lend their talents to the brand. Seeing all our hours of work come to fruition is incredible.
JD: What is your comparative advantage?
JR: Men are taking more and more interest in their fashion, accessories and style. What’s frustrating is that the men’s accessories space hasn’t really seen much product differentiation in recent years. There seems to be some dichotomy happening here. On one hand, more utilitarian, function-focused bags often compromise on design or fine quality materials. On the other, it’s rare to find any high-end bag options that aren’t marred with logos or maximal elements. Aesthetically clean design and fine craftsmanship can be really challenging to find, much less for under 2K.
FB: We worked tirelessly to find production partners that not only had top of the industry quality, but that also believed in what we were doing and were willing to support us in our early stages of growth. All the bags are handmade from an amazing lambskin in a highly-regarded, family-run factory off the Southern coast of Italy, and that’s nearly impossible to find at our price point.
JD: Talk to us about the current collection.
JR: The past several years have seen a resurgence of 90’s inspired design, and our collection is a classic interpretation of that. We grew up in the 90s, myself in New York and Fabiola in Milan, it’s distilled down into our work. You can see that in the roundedness of the edges, that clean lines of the piping. We’re not a seasonal brand, so we see this first collection as more of an introduction to our core offering. The intention here is to perfect the intersection of function, beautiful materials and careful design.
JD:In your own words, what are consumers seeking in backpacks and bags today?
JR: I think that the modern consumer is tired of shopping purely on a label by label basis. So much is over-designed, overpriced and overhyped. For us, it was about injecting the right amount of design and allowing intrinsic qualities, like the buttery softness of the leather and smoothness of the zipper, speak for themselves. Our customer is someone who appreciates the versatility of a bag that can shift seamlessly from work to the gym to the airport.
JD:What is a typical day like for you?
FP: Well, I usually wake up at 6AM for a Skype check in with Marco, the factory owner and pattern maker, to see how our latest prototype is coming along, check on our production deadlines, talk to suppliers, things like that. Marco’s knowledge and experience is a foundation of our production. Four espressos later, I’m translating our design specifications to Italian. There is no match for Italians in terms of words we have to describe special manufacturing processes.
JD: How has technology (if any) contributed to your business both online and product?
JR: Although our bags are made from natural materials and traditional craftsmanship, we’re digitally-facing when it comes to communicating with customers. Coming from a digital design space, it’s almost a subconscious component of anything we do. We’re actually in the process of rendering our collection in CGI, blending the organic with the electronic, reflecting the pervasiveness of technology within the everyday. We have some very exciting stuff planned for the near future…
JD: Who is one celebrity that you would like to see wearing your brand?
JR: Frank Ocean—personally I’m just a huge fan of his music and his style.
What is your growth strategy?
JR and FP: We hope to build on the early success of our initial launch in the upcoming seasons. Right now we’re developing product for new categories like smaller cross-body and belt bags and small leather goods, as well as some interesting limited run pieces. But most importantly, every product we release has to be absolutely dialed in, and that’s an integral part of our process. At the same time, we’re continuing to expand our online storefront offerings as well as planning to pursue strategic retail accounts in the new year.
