Published
Feb 15, 2017
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Fast Company announces most innovative fashion brands

Published
Feb 15, 2017

American business magazine Fast Company has announced its annual innovations ranking, with a handful of fashion and beauty brands earning top honors. Kenzo and Glossier both made the magazine's "The World’s Top Fifty Most innovative Companies" list.

Adidas, Tom Ford, Gucci, Adidas, Coach and Cole Haan all placed on the top ten list for the style section of the rankings, with Kenzo taking the top spot. 

Gucci ranked highly for its hero products - © PixelFormula


Fast Company’s annual innovations report releases a list of the top 50 most innovative companies in the world, along with top 10 lists in 36 sectors. Amazon topped the list, “for offering even more, even faster and smarter," as stated by Fast Company.

Beauty start-up Glossier made the number 24 spot “for collaborating with customers to create cult cosmetics.” Founder Emily Weiss asks customers to review every single product, alongside suggest new products, in the Glossier brand via her beauty blog Into the Gloss. It’s no surprise given the successful year the New York-based cosmetics brand has had – it launched its first retail store in November and launched in Europe via Net-a-Porter in September.

Kenzo was just behind Glossier, ranked number 25, with Fast Company citing Kenzo’s ability to ‘rip up the seams of fashion marketing’, through Creative Directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon's pop-culture centric campaigns and collaborations as the reason.

In the retail category, TJ Maxx, Ulta Beauty, and Hypebeast all made the top 10 list, with Amazon taking the top spot in this category as well. TJ Maxx was credited with creating a relevant offline experience. Hypebeast, an editorial and e-commerce platform targeted at sneakerheads, made the number 6 spot for successfully capitalizing off a very niche market. Ulta Beauty earned its spot through its app offerings and its innovative in-store experiences.

Hypebeast has grown from a platform for sneaker reviews to a burgeoning e-commerce site, using the fan base the site accumulated from its discussion boards to launch a successful shopping platform full of cult-followed brands. Where other brands have stumbled, TJ Maxx has seen a 5-7% increase in sales over 2016, mainly because of the limited stock kept in stores that drives customers to come back again and again.

In the style category, Kenzo continued to reign, taking home the number 1 spot. Gucci ranked number 3, thanks to Michele’s use of eye-catching hero products to bring the brand back from a slump. Adidas was given the number 4 spot, ‘for outfitting the post-athleisure world.’

Tom Ford’s see-now-buy-now innovations earned the brand number 5 spot, with Cole Haan following close behind in number six. Coach’s efforts throughout its 75th anniversary year, like the opening of its New York "Coach House" flagship and through several high-profile campaigns, such as the recent announcement of new face Selena Gomez, earned it the number 8 spot.

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