Manolo Blahnik to align collection drops with seasonal changes

London - Manolo Blahnik is the latest brand to shift its business model and delivery times to better align with the seasonal calendar.

From January 2017 onwards, the luxury footwear brand will unveil four main collections per year: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, with each collection featuring a mixture of styles. This shift sees Manolo Blahnik dropping its pre-collections and separating its Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter collections into different ranges.

The move aims to ensure that the footwear label's offering is current with consumers' seasonal needs, so that shoppers can buy sandals when it is warm, and boots when its cold. “We find the fashion industry’s naming conventions counter-intuitive to the consumer needs and patterns", said Kristina Blahnik, CEO of Manolo Blahnik in a statement.

"Traditionally the spring/summer collection is delivered from January, and autumn/winter from July, but in the Northern Hemisphere we are not seeing a demand for linen sandals when it’s snowing, or fur-lined boots when its 30 degrees (Celsius) outside," she added. "By renaming our collections to be naturally accurate and logical, we feel we are focusing our own offering more appropriately."

The luxury footwear brands believes the new business models will help ensure its shop floors offer relevant merchandise to consumers. The move sees Manolo Blahnik's Spring collection being delivered in January/February, its Summer collection in April/May, Autumn in July/August and Winter in October/November.

Kristina added that the label has taken the global locations of its store locations and their seasonal calendars into account as well as its "volume of distribution, and consumer patterns" to make sure they offer the right styles to consumers at the right time. "In our opinion, the luxury customer has changed their shopping habits, they have an expectation of instant fulfilment that is symptomatic of our current social climate and our new model also addresses this."

The shift does not affect Manolo Blahnik wholesale campaign dates, which are set to remain the same, but sees the luxury footwear brand hosting four press presentations for the collections a year.

Photo: By Peter Szanto, via Flickr