Internet Fashion

How it all began

The Telegraph online has just published a story about how the Fashion industry first took on the Internet. It all began with photograpers of the shows having to sign a declaration preventing them from putting their photos on the Internet that could be viewed by copycats in Asia. First View was the first to break the rules. Read the Article Here

firstVIEW.com

But it's interesting how they assumed the Internet will never catch on for fashion. The reporter Marion Hume points out that "The word “exclusive” really translates as “we’re still sorting out the website”."
So how did it become so popular? Why did the fashion industry suddenly give in to allow all the copycats in the world access their images and create fakes? Personally I believe that one brand did it, and no one else wanted to be left behind. It was seen as the future, and no brand wanted the image of being stuck in the past who can't 'get with the times,' especially seeing as those brands who did have websites didn't actually change fundamentally.
Nowadays, brands are going online to access more people than before. It's proving more successful in terms of advertising than print ever was due to the number of people you could really access.
Designer brands are currently suffering as their loyal customers are, forgive me, dying out. In France, mothers would tell their girls to save up for a Chanel bag, whereas in the UK, mother's are saying, "there's a recession, go get a fake remake in Primark."
Without using the Internet to contact the new generation that's not aware of designer, many high end fashion brands and especially lower luxury brands will be lost in dust.