From trendspotting to brand collaboration. LPP explores the skills shaping the future of fashion at POWER ON

How can brands anticipate trends, translate them into visual communication and build brand collaborations that make sense both creatively and commercially? The fifth edition of the POWER ON conference, which wrapped up on Sunday, offered a practical look at the skills shaping the future of the creative industries – from the creative process and working with imagery to business, technology, wellbeing and relationship-building. LPP and Reserved, strategic partners of the event since its launch, once again welcomed participants to Gdańsk for a behind-the-scenes look at the teams that shape fashion brands and bring their communication to life.

From 2 to 4 October, Plenum in Gdańsk once again became a meeting point for creatives from across the industry. The conference is organised by Crane, with LPP and Reserved as strategic partners. As in previous years, POWER ON centred on the skills of the future, with a programme spanning design, photography, music and video, creative direction and branding, as well as marketing, education, fashion, career development and wellbeing.

For LPP, the conference is an opportunity not only to share expertise but also to highlight the wide-ranging role creativity plays in fashion today. Designing collections is only one part of the picture. Creativity also means spotting change and interpreting trends, working with imagery, building coherent brand identities, and bringing different perspectives together in joint projects.

– We’ve supported POWER ON since its very first edition because helping the creative industry grow is also in our own interest. The skills we discuss at the event are exactly the ones we need in our teams. If we can help young creatives develop those skills earlier, and do so here in Gdańsk, we are investing not only in them, but in the entire local creative community – says Sławomir Ronkowski, Director of Corporate Communications and Community Relations at LPP.

From trendspotting to visual communication

Some of the most practical skills could be put to use on Friday, 2 October, at a series of workshops held as part of the conference’s free open day. In the ‘Future of the Creative Industry’ session, participants took on the role of trend researchers, analysing current shifts and exploring how trends might develop in the future. The workshop was led by Jagoda Bartczak, Head Designer at Sinsay, Agata Doraczyńska, Senior Trend Researcher at Reserved, and Jakub Gnojewski, Junior Trend Researcher at Reserved.

During the ‘Visual Communication in Styling’ workshop, participants went behind the scenes of e-commerce photography and took part in a live shoot with a model. The session was led by Mariola Wawrzyńska, Style & Beauty Team Leader at Reserved, and Karol Pisarski, Model Photography Team Leader.

Both workshops showed different sides of the same process: bringing a product to the customer takes not only a good idea and an eye for aesthetics but also the ability to analyse the wider context, interpret change and translate it into clear visual communication. Friday’s programme also included meet-ups with Weronika Targońska (‘In the Lion’s Den – on the Cannes Lions Scholarship’) and the We’re All Together platform, a speed-friending session with the Niepodzielni Foundation, and a talk by Ola Stube, delivered in partnership with the Foundation, entitled ‘Balancing Ambition and Wellbeing – How to Build a Career on Your Own Terms’.

When two brands come together

This year’s edition featured thirteen talks by leading voices from across the creative industries, spanning video and photography, design, architecture and fashion. One of the themes was how brands can build successful partnerships. In Saturday’s panel entitled ‘The Success of Brand Partnerships: How Are Strategic Collaborations Redefining Modern Marketing and Brand Image?’, Anna Matraszek and Joanna Górecka from Reserved, Paulina Pyszkiewicz from LEBRAND, and Karolina Limbach discussed the making of the LEBRAND x RESERVED collaboration. Rather than focusing solely on the project’s end result, the conversation centred above all on the process behind it – finding a shared language for two different aesthetics, experiences and business objectives.

– A successful brand collaboration starts long before the jointly developed product launches. What matters most is identifying the area where two different perspectives can genuinely create new value. That takes openness to the other side’s ideas, mutual trust and a willingness to move beyond familiar ways of thinking. This kind of exchange of experiences is increasingly becoming a source of new ideas in marketing and brand building – says Anna Matraszek, PR & Digital Manager at Reserved.

Throughout the three-day event, LPP Creative Lab also provided a more informal space for sharing ideas and experiences. Designed by Dagmara Gałecka, Art Director of Window and Interior Display at Reserved, the space was created from elements normally used in shop-window displays. It was complemented by a selection of books and magazines on fashion and design. Between workshops and during breaks, participants could also speak to LPP representatives about career opportunities and roles within the company, making the event space itself a showcase for the creative expertise of the company’s teams.

A space for sharing knowledge and experience

This year’s POWER ON combined workshops, talks, meet-ups and networking, bringing together people at the start of their careers in the creative industries with experienced professionals from across the sector to share perspectives and experience.

– Over five editions, POWER ON has evolved considerably, both in the range of topics it explores and in the community that has grown around it – says Dominika Koliszewska, Project Manager at Crane Agency. – Each year, we adapt to the changing needs of the creative industries, looking not only at the creative process itself but also at the business, technological, social and psychological realities of working in the sector. Today, POWER ON is much more than a three-day conference. It is a place to exchange knowledge and experience, build relationships and spark new ideas and projects, which is why networking is woven into the event itself. Through workshops, meet-ups and speed friending, we create opportunities for people to talk, connect and make new contacts. We want participants to be more than passive recipients of content; we want them to be an active part of the whole experience.

For the Gdańsk-based company, the conference is not only an opportunity to share expertise with the creative community but also a way to connect with people who are just starting out in their careers. It is also part of LPP’s broader approach to attracting new talent and opening the fashion industry up to new generations of creatives.

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LPP is a Polish family-owned company and one of the fastest-growing fashion companies in Central Europe. For 30 years, it has successfully designed and sold its collections and accessories in Poland and abroad. LPP manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay, with their product ranges now available in stores and online in 47 markets worldwide. The company operates a network of more than 4,000 stores with a total floor area of more than 3 million m2 and distributes its products across three continents every year. LPP also plays an important role in job creation, employing nearly 63,000 people in offices and retail operations in Poland and elsewhere in Europe, Asia and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the WIG20 index and is included in the prestigious MSCI Poland Index.