CONVERSE X FRA (Industry Project)

As part of my L3 Fashion Retail course at the Fashion Retail Academy, we have been given the opportunity to do an industry project with Converse.

The task was to create a fashion retail store of the future for the retailer Converse. We had to remain realistic and focus within the next five years.

Our main idea was to create a pop up shop which is based around personalisation. We would incorporate technology in our store such as facial recognition, interactive walls and desks, social media, drones and virtual reality.

Here is our presentation which we presented to Converse executives:

CONCEPT:

Converse trainers have been worn as a fashion item over the years. Converse trainers are worn to go shopping, play sports, go to work and have even been seen on the red carpet. Converse allows you to explore your individuality and self-expression.

Our idea is to keep the converse principles of the customers personalising their shoes.

Our Pop Up gives customers a personal and unique experience of using the latest technology in creating their shoes.

The location for the store will be in Carnaby Street because it is quirky, colourful, a tourist hotspot and there are other unique shoe shops nearby.

RESEARCH:

The results we found from our research was that people preferred human interaction in store rather than just digital technology. Therefore, customer service is still going to be important in five years time. Relating back to the in store experience we asked; does negative customer service affect how you shop? With 77% answering yes, we will want to make sure all of our staff are friendly, upbeat and helpful people. We also asked the question; does future technology excite you? With 79% answering yes, we made the decision to add technology within our store.

We got most of our ideas from the Nike store in Oxford Circus, they had interactive games, a DJ, virtual reality headsets in the fitting rooms and Instagram videos and pictures around the store.

EXTERIOR:

The store will look like a shoebox to have a unique design, we will cover it in paint marks to showcase the personalisation.

FITTING ROOM:

Our VR headset experience details the everyday wearing of the Converse shoe from a first person perspective as though you yourself are wearing the shoe in different locations and situations. After this VR experience, you will be given a personal shoe fitting service by a qualified member of staff; completely tailored to finding your specific needs. This will also allow you to decide upon the type of shoe you will be customising. You will have the choice of a low top or high top, canvas or leather style shoe. After this personal service, you are ready to start customising your shoe.

CREATION ROOM:

Our personalisation room is designed to allow customers to express themselves and we feel this is very much achievable through the use of interactive screens. These screens can be directly drawn on, customers can really create something unique to them; from a small and minimal design, to an all-over, vibrant masterpiece. Colour can be altered and chosen as a block colour, or simply used in drawings / designs. The fabric and laces can be changed to suit your preferences, additions can be made in the form of badges, embroidery and patterns/ graphics. One of the main features is the fact that you are able to upload pictures you’ve taken and add these to the shoe, giving a truly personal touch to your footwear!

Once they have completed their converse trainer they can pay for their trainer on the interactive table with facial recognition.

We feel this is a concept which would generate a lot of interest and allow customers to be in complete control of the design of their shoe; giving them a completely personal and unique experience. They can then upload their designs on social media using the hashtag #ConverseXMe

SOCIAL MEDIA ROOM:

We created a social media area where customers can take photos, boomerangs and gifs in front of our interactive walls and share straight to their social media accounts using the #ConverseXMe. This is perfect for while customers wait for their shoe to be made. We also wanted to get a DJ in to hype up customers and create a more vibrant atmosphere.

This room has Interactive walls where they can touch the screens to take images, videos and boomerangs of them in the pop up store. This will then be uploaded to social media with the hashtag #ConverseXMe. Customers will be able to share their experience through this hashtag, allowing others to see what the experience is all about; attracting more interest. Customers will also be able to use this hashtag to upload photos or videos of them wearing their uniquely designed trainers, which will then be played out on the walls of the pop-up on the large LED screens.

COLLECTION ROOM:

Amazons recent experiment with drone delivery and the JD on Oxford Street inspired us to make use of the technology we will become more familiar with in the future. We put in an in store delivery system that brings the finished #ConverseXMe shoes out to a drone that will deliver the shoe to the right customer using facial recognition.

There will be a 3D Printer which will bring their shoes to life. The customers can watch their shoes being created in minutes. When it is complete a drone will pick up the boxed shoes and will fly them to the customer using the facial recognition they used to pay for the shoes earlier in the personalisation room.

Thank you Converse for this opportunity! We hope to see these ideas come to life.