Ellena Thompson

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Purpose

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The purpose pillar is important because it focuses on the strategy and core of a business or fashion brand. The purpose, or brand philosophy, is an important part of a business because it’s a key part of why a consumer buys from a specific brand. The brand mission can focus around ideas of climate change, social justice and other world issues that compel consumers to feel comfortable buying from the brand. Having a clear brand mission is key to having a successful fashion brand. 

Brand mission is important because consumers like to buy branded products to display that they identify with the brand and the connotations that the brand represents. An example of this is Louis Vuitton, known for being high end. Consumers buy products with its name and label on to symbolise that they relate to the luxury lifestyle and that they experience a luxury lifestyle themselves, which allows them to afford the products. (JamesHillman, 2021). A brand mission allows consumers to identify with the values that the brand stand for. This is important because consumers of today are becoming increasingly interested in what a brand stands for, especially if that relates to issues surrounding climate change and social justice. If a brand does not have a clear mission consumers may feel less inclined to purchase from it as they do not know its values and what they will be showcasing when they wear it. Therefore, brands should focus on clearly communicating their brand mission in order to allow consumers to understand it and feel compelled to buy from the brand.

Brands communicate their purpose through strategic marketing of their items in accord with their ideal brand philosophy and desired market. Different brands will use different types of marketing to display their brand philosophy, for example Mitterfellner ,O (2023) says that ‘luxury brands will differentiate between the end consumers of these products and tailor it carefully and accordingly’ this is to ensure that the consumers understand and are happy with the brands mission, this is so they are more likely to purchase from that brand in the long-term. When considering how brands communicate this purpose with Gen Z social media and other similar marketing tactics are key, due to this being the main content consumption by gen z. According to McKinsey and co (2020) gen Z are adaptive shoppers, they shop over an array of formats including instagram and tiktok. This is supported by the growth world of influencers, so in order for brands to present their mission to gen Z they must consider going through influencers that will share similar values are the generation.

References

Mitterfellner, O. (2023). Luxury fashion brand management : Unifying fashion with sustainability. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAL/detail.action?docID=7260416#

Mckinsey, O.(August 2020). Meet Generation Z: Shaping the future of shopping.https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/meet-generation-z-shaping-the-future-of-shopping#/ . Retrieved 28th October 2023Hillman, J. (February 2021). How to create your fashion brand identity.https://www.jameshillman.co.uk/blog/2021/2/1/how-to-create-your-fashion-brand-identity . Retrieved 28th October 2023. 

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Profit

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The profit pillar focuses on the economic side of the fashion industry, specifically on achieving economic growth responsibly. (Coolset, 2023). It looks at how we can increase our economy in way which is sustainability to not only other industries but the smaller sectors of the fashion industry. 

The fashion industry, specifically, the apparel and textile industry are the 4th biggest industry globally. It’s estimated that around 3,000 billion textile and garment companies are entering the market daily, a large degree of these are unknown to the majority of consumers but still thrive in their own circles and communities. (Vilaça, J. 2022). These companies continue to grow and contribute to the economy. 

When considering the performance of the individual sectors in the fashion industry, the luxury fashion sector is likely to excel and certainly outperform the rest of the sectors, due to having wealthier shoppers, who are expected to continue to travel and spend, as their desired market. Therefore, the luxury fashion sector ‘[will] remain more insulated from the effects of hyperinflation.’ However, the fashion market excluding the luxury sector is expected to struggle to grow significantly throughout the duration of 2023. (Mckinsey and co, 2022)

Brands are being encouraged to employ different tactics in order to remain competitive in uncertain economic times. For example, utilising the power of social media, specifically vlogging/blogging. According to Mitterfellner (2019) Blogging follows the two-step process, the two-step flow of communication, created by Lazarsfeld in 1944. It suggests that it is possible to achieve a certain reaction of a large group of people by first influencing the opinion leader and pre-calculating how they will re-distribute the information. This can be applied to blogging in which the opinion leader is the blogger, and the large group of people are the people that follow that specific blogger. This tactic is likely to help brands stay competitive in an unpredictable and uncertain economic market. 

Brands should also consider how they’re bridging the gap between creativity and commerce. This includes considering the consumer and their desires as well as still designing creative and new items of clothing that clearly display and accentuate fashion as an art form and stick to the brands ideals about the apparel they produce. Therefore brands need to think about the marketing they’re producing and making sure it fits their desired market including the pricing they are setting their items at. 

References

Vilaça, J. (February 18th 2022) Fashion industry statistics:The 4th biggest sector is way more than just about clothing.Fashinnovation. https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/ Retrieved 22nd October 2023. 

Mckinsey and Co (November 29th 2022) The state of fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion . Retrieved 22nd October 2023.

Mitterfellner, O (2019) Fashion marketing and communication: Theory and practice across the fashion industry. Chapter 5: Social media, blogs and opinion-leaders. Taylor & Francis Group, Milton. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=5981798.

Coolset (August 7th 2023) The three pillars of sustainability: people, planet and profit. https://www.coolset.com/academy/three-pillars-of-sustainability Retrieved 22nd October 2023

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People

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The people pillar is an important pillar as it focuses on not only consumers but also those who produce fashion items. It focuses on what consumers desire, adapting to changing social dynamics between generations and appealing to the target audience in order to produce successful businesses. However, it also focuses on the rights and well-being of those making the clothing items.

Gen Z consumers are consumers born between 1996 and 2010 and are characterised by having strong values they’re often referred to as ‘digital natives’ (McKinsey and company, 2023) due to being brought up in society where internet is used frequently throughout daily life. Gen Z view their content through online social media apps like Tiktok and Instagram. They are known to have strong values regarding sustainability and racial justice. However, when relating to fashion the generation tends to chase trends at an alarming rate. This leads to increased buying from fast fashion brands. This can clash with their strong values of sustainability.

Gen Z do still desire fashion brands that push for sustainability and therefore for a brand to attract Gen Z it must have a strong sustainability plan. Whilst the generation are not immune to the draws of fast fashion, their wardrobes are a mix of fast fashion as well as vintage/thrifted items. Clothing styles from Y2K and the 90s are popular with the generation. Therefore, a brand desiring Gen Z consumers must have a breadth of different styles, both vintage pieces and a continuous stream of up-to-date fashion trends. Brands should also consider promoting diversity and inclusivity as this alines with Gen Z’s strong values of racial justice and body positivity.

According to Pixlee Turnto (n.d) the fashion brand Aerie, a sub-brand of American eagle outfitters that focuses on lingerie, has responded to diversity by producing inclusive advertising. Aerie focuses on representing women and have committed to stop editing photos of its models. They also represent women who come from many different experiences. Their website content features women with disabilities, different body types and women of many different races and ethnicities. This promotes diversity and inclusivity as well as responding to consumers desires people that they can relate to. This very well alines with Gen Z social value of diversity and inclusivity. 

For a fashion brand to be successful it needs key social skills. Key skills include having good communication and the ability to build strong relationships with clients as well as having good negotiation skills. This is applicable when considering the need to ‘negotiate favourable terms in agreement with suppliers’ (JamesHillman, 2022). Without these skills a fashion business cannot become or sustain being successful.

References

McKinsey & Company. (2023, March 20). What is gen Z?. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z

Pixlee turnto. (n.d). 4 Brands Embracing Diversity in Their Content. Retrieved 15th October 2023.

https://www.pixlee.com/blog/4-brands-embracing-diversity-in-their-content

JamesHillman. (24th January 2022). The fashion entrepreneur skills you need in 2022. 

https://www.jameshillman.co.uk/blog/2021/1/24/the-fashion-entrepreneur-skills-you-need-in-2022

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zero waste t-shirt, with logo in the middle

Planet Blog

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The fashion industry is one of the world’s biggest contributors to climate change and pollution. In order for the industry to continue thriving whilst also protecting the planet it must take into account the triple bottom line. This is a term coined by John Elkington, he describes it as “focusing on economic prosperity, environmental quality and – the element which businesses prefer to overlook – social justice.” (Elkington,1997). These are also known as the three pillars and are crucial to sustainability in an industry. The environmental pillar, also known as the planet pillar, focuses on creating and developing an industry which does not negatively affect the planet. In order to help the UN developed 17 sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in 2015, these are described by the UN as “a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.” (United Nations, n.d,). A key SDG is responsible consumption and production, goal 12. This goal is about ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, which is key to sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations. (United nations, n.d). This requires the industry to consider waste and the impacts of fast fashion and a linear economy. These aspects of the fashion industry are harmful as they lead to large amounts of textile products being disposed of in landfills. However, the Industry did once follow this goal. Linda Welters shows that in the 1600-1700s consumers were far more conscious about responsible consumption and production due to textile materials being scarce and labour being expensive. Therefore, consumers would mend and reuse clothing items rather than disposing of them (Welter, 2015). This approach is far more in line with the sustainability goal.

Sustainability is the idea of meeting the needs of the current generation without negatively affect the ability of future generations to meet their needs. In fashion this means the industry needs to make changes in the way it functions. It needs to embrace new methods in order to reduce the waste it produces. Gwilt states, the industry is attempting to keep up with society’s obsession for consuming fashion goods which leads to an enormous growth in mass-produced fashion, in particular fast fashion. (Gwilt A,2020). This leads to an increase in textile waste going into landfill and producing greenhouse gases as it decomposes. In order for the fashion industry to be considered sustainability it needs to develop and embrace techniques such as the circular economy. 

A circular economy is an alternative to a linear economy, in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible. This limits the amount of textile waste going into landfill as items of clothing are kept in use and not disposed of as frequently. This decreases the the idea of fast fashion as consumers buy less and brands produce less. Therefore, limiting both pollutions produced by making the clothing items as well as the pollution produced from it decomposing. 

References 

Elkington, J. (1997). The triple bottom line. Environmental management: Readings and cases, 2, 49-66.

UN. (n.d). Sustainable development goals. Retrieved October 7, 2023, fromhttps://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

UN. (n.d).Responsible consumption and production. Retrieved October 7, 2023, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/

Welters, L. (2015). Sustainable Fashion: What’s Next? A Conversation about Issues, Practices and Possibilities, chapter 1.

Gwilt, A. (2020). A practical guide to sustainable fashion, pgs 10-21 

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IMG_0874

My Favourite Brand

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A top fashion brand for me in Christian Louboutin. Louboutins are one of the most recognisable brands in Europe, if not the world. They are highly sought after and signal luxury and wealth. I love the story behind the brand and the inspiration Louboutin drew from. His fascination with Egypt which then eventual led him to finding out his biological father was Egyptian is reflected in the products the brand producing. You can see how the style and creativity develops over the seasons and I think that’s a great thing to be clear in fashion brands.

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