Having worked in fashion for 10 years, Allyson Lupton’s role within the furniture and interiors office team at Office Depot is to ensure that cutting-edge trends tie in with the company’s corporate product and layout offering. Here, she explains how utilising the latest catwalk trends can provide inspiration and keep businesses at the top of their game.
Heritage, bold colours and monochrome are just some of the latest fashions hot off the catwalk at London Fashion Week. For many businesses, ensuring their environment also follows popular trends is as important as staying abreast of the latest fashions, and can help communicate brand values.
After all, conveying the right outward image is vital in retaining and acquiring new customers, especially during tough economic times. Equally as important is the creation of an environment that inspires individuals to be more productive.
An eye-catching trend for London Fashion Week 2013 is the use of block colours to convey a bold, colourful image that blends together seamlessly. This is a style that can be easily incorporated due to the high-impact impression it gives. A space that is current and of the moment in terms of style and layout can help assure customers of a forward-thinking attitude in business. After all, staying ahead of the game applies as much to business as it does in fashion.
Typical brand values incorporate a focus on meeting customer needs – the bread and butter of any business operation. To ensure an outward image conveys this, it is important that a range of styles are used throughout a space to provide something that staff and customers can identify with.
One trend that, in my experience, regularly comes back into fashion is the retro look. Again, this can be easily incorporated into an environment through the use of chairs and seating inspired by the trends of recent decades, for example, the 1960s.
Traditional office furniture also remains popular with many businesses. This look can be updated and complemented with modern, bespoke items linked to heritage trends, helping businesses demonstrate a recognition of current trends and brand individuality.
The catwalk might seem like a world away from fast-moving business and commerce, but it’s this exact quality that makes clothing trends relevant to a corporate environment, and can turn a space into an asset that helps win and retain business.
After all, much of the success of securing new customers can often be attributed to personal factors, such as personality and appearance – and it isn’t just people that can help determine these, but the environment in which they work.
Allyson Lupton is the merchandise manager for the furniture and interiors team at Office Depot – a leading global provider of office supplies, furniture and solutions. The company works with mid to large organisations and the public sector on a contract basis within the UK and Ireland.
