ns Fashion and Design Collective and Esse Studios. Kirsty Ghahramani, Afterpay’s director of in-store, said the concept of the store was born out of wanting to create a way to support the independent fashion brands that have struggled throughout the pandemic, and create an easy way for people to buy their goods.  “It’s all about supporting physical retail and emerging Australian brands,” Ghahramani said.  “After our first year of being Australian Fashion Week’s title sponsor, we really wanted to be able to create that one-of-a-kind, easy digital retail concept store that was all about the future of retail tech.” Ghahramani added that the goal was to create a unique physical space that catered to a minimalist visual merchandising style, while also generating a more personal connection with customers.  “The lighting, the smell, every part is a contributing factor [to this], but the technology is crucial,” said Ghahramani. A focus on the cutting edge In The Edit store, gesture-based interactive mirrors are installed in each changing room to show customers what the pieces look like on them and receive other product recommendations to complete the look – potentially improving turnover. In addition, each product is marked with an eTale chip, which records how customers interact with them, offering brands detailed information such as which pieces are most popular – as well as where they are being taken, what items customers paired them with and how the store could be merchandised to boost sales. Simon Molnar, co-founder and CEO of retail tech company eTale (and brother of Nick Molnar, co-founder of Afterpay) told Inside Retail the chips could have a major impact on how stores function. “We can see the entire lifecycle of each item in the store,” Molnar said.  “Traditionally, a visual merchandiser will go into a store and use their own understanding of the industry to merchandise that store – they’ll use their own experience, or their perceived knowledge of the customers. “We can tell retailers which parts of the store are performing the best, which are performing the worst, and can provide merchandising recommendations to the retailer [based on actual data].” For example, if an item hasn’t yet been sold, some retailers may be led to believe that it’s not popular. However, if it was recorded that the item had been tried on 100 times, but that it never makes it to the checkout, it’s fair to think that it is popular, but that the fit is wrong. This allows retailers to use that data to make more informed decisions moving forward, rather than simply thinking something failed and moving on. And trying on clothes has been something shoppers have dearly missed.  Afterpay’s recent Liberation in Lockdown report revealed that 66 per cent of Gen Z and Millennial customers miss being able to touch and feel products in-store, while 55 per cent miss being able to physically compare products. During lockdown, 55 per cent also missed trying on clothes before buying them – something the explosion in online retail doesn’t allow. “It’s a great opportunity to be opening this store just in time for Christmas,” said Corinne  Barchanowicz, head of brand, marketing and experience at Vicinity Centres. “Customers are coming back down into physical stores to see what’s new, what’s emerging, and really craving some of those connections.” The Edit is also part of the future of fashion as seen by the AFC, according to founding director Kellie Hush, who said the AFC’s focus post-pandemic is on finding new ways to support emerging fashion brands in Australia. Each of the brands at the store was selected for their contribution to sustainability, mindful creativity, innovation, diversity and inclusivity. “I love the brands we have involved because they launched with [sustainability]. I’ve been in the industry a long time and the big companies are [trying to] catch up. The great thing about the innovators in the fashion industry at the moment is they’re starting with sustainability and circularity. It’s part of their branding.”