Yo - Rong Lin

About Yo - Rong Lin

Posts by Yo - Rong Lin:

Purpose Blog

⋅

Purpose is one of the most essential core pillars for a brand to operate. It represents the unique ways of how a company can create different values, and how that affects its consumer behaviours. Most importantly, the purpose of a brand can directly affect whether it is going to be successful or not. Purpose guides a brand in all different circumstances, such as brand image, fashion style, target customers, and more. Trying to have multiple strategies that can reflect the purpose.

Brand philosophy is important especially within the fashion industry for a following of reasons. First of all, the value and proposition it holds should reflect on its products. For example, the fashion style of a brand could be affected easily by the cultural background of the designer. Different techniques, designs, or fabrics could interfere therefore attracting specific consumers’ interest in the product. In more detail, specific consumer groups may be more likely to support brands that use reusable fabrics in their clothing.

In addition, brands could have similar missions or visions related to other global organizations. For example, one of Stella McCartney’s aims is to create a better and more equal world, which is strongly related to one of the UN’s sustainable development goals. Some strategies that could be developed from this major goal could be fundraising for the people who need help. This is a way of demonstrating and communicating their purpose with the world, which can further attract consumers to support them.

Furthermore, consumers might be more interested in brands or designs that could represent their identity. Both above situations demonstrate how a brand could build up a connection with the consumer by sharing similar values, and this could lead to a more supportive attitude of consumers. This part is specifically related to Gen Zs, as this generation group are more desperate to show themselves. Their unique fashion styles have naturally become one of the ways they use to show their identities, which is why there tend to be multiple different clothing in their wardrobe. They tend to have clothing with a collection of multiple different fashion styles. This is also why fast fashion brands are becoming more popular among Gen Zs.

References:

Chan, E. (2023). ‘We can replace bad business with clean business’: Stella McCartney shares her hopes for the fashion industry in 2023. Vogue. https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/stella-mccartney-sustainable-fashion-2023

Mitterfellner, O. (2023). Luxury Fashion Brand Management: Unifying fashion with sustainability. Taylor & Francis.

“Sustainable Clothing: Ethical Fashion: Stella McCartney UK.” Sustainable Clothing | Ethical Fashion | Stella McCartney UK, www.stellamccartney.com/gb/en/sustainability/sustainability.html

Liked Liked
No Comments

Profit blog

⋅

Profit is the ultimate goal for every existing industry, the major reason for people to run businesses, and this is the same for the fashion industry. Based on Fashion United, up to 3.45 labor force is related to the fashion industry, creating 16,300 dollars in GDP per capita. Based on these data we could conclude that the fashion industry can always cause a massive impact meaning the profit flow would affect a large population.

An interesting topic that people commonly discuss is the purpose of fashion, there is fashion for art and fashion for business purposes. It is important for the commerce part to occur, as it provides a great channel to promote fashion. However, it is still important for creators to display their work without connecting with any commerce. Therefore, in fashion shows the organizers will separate the catwalk show area from the commerce exhibitions to clarify the two types of fashion. (Bourdieu, 1993)

There are a few different sectors within the fashion industry, and each of them is indifferent to progress and status. For example, the luxury sector is currently in a great growing phase and is expected to have another 5-10% increase within 2023 (McKinsey, 2022). On the other hand, the fast fashion market is undergoing a decreasing trend. This reflects that the ability of basic customers is decreasing, and the industry needs to take action to change its strategies.

Impacted by economic uncertainties, consumers are likely going to adjust their spending habits and buying preferences, possibly opting for cheaper items or buying less frequently. Therefore, brands can conduct more market research to investigate the changes in consumers’ preferences and launch discount programs to increase consumer satisfaction and undercut the competition through lower prices.

Moreover, brands can focus more on areas with less economic uncertainty because the consumers there are likely going to have a greater ability to buy fashion products. A brand can be affected easily by its economic status, one of the related factors can be its geography. Different cultures and values will differ in fashion in certain areas, the well-known international fashion is mostly led by Paris, London, Milan and New York (Godart 2014). These places are also the areas where there are more target consumers who would purchase fashion products.

References:

Balchandani, Anita. “The State of Fashion 2023: Holding onto Growth as Global Clouds Gather.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 29 Nov. 2022, www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion.

“Global Fashion Industry Statistics.” FashionUnited, fashionunited.com/global-fashion-industry-statistics.

Overdiek, Anja. “Fashion designers and their business partners: Juggling creativity and commerce”https://intellectdiscover.com/docserver/fulltext/infs/3/1/infs.3.1.27_1.pdf?expires=1697814281&id=id&accname=id22589229&checksum=28B937975F74EEA6C4B34C0871B1B80F

Liked Liked
No Comments

People Blog

⋅

Within all industry worldwide, human labor is the main part that keeps the production line running. The pillar that will be discussed in this piece will be the idea of people within the fashion industry, both in terms of consumers and employees. In modern society, Gen Z is growing and starting to take the lead over the world. Gen Z is the generation specifically targeting people born between 1995 to 2010. They are unique as they are the first group that got in touch with technology since birth. This has also made them have more diverse values and interests, which can also be seen in their behaviour in terms of their fashion styles.

Gen Zs have some slightly different shopping habits or would admire a piece of clothing more than just because of how it looks. Their fashion style is varied, which has led to the rise of fast fashion brands. They also are obsessed with old-fashioned styles, such as the clothing back in the 90s or the y2k-styles, this has led to an impact on vintage shops and fashion resale. In addition, this generation is more obsessed with celebrities, and K-pop stars and would buy related products as a way of supporting them. In order to satisfy Gen Z’s needs, there are certain people skills that are required for a brand. Unlike job-specific skills, people skills are the techniques that can be used in various careers. For example, good communication skills are basic but important people skills for sales working for a fashion brand.

Fenty Beauty is one of the rising cosmetic brands over the past decade and is popular with Gen Zs. This could be linked to two major aspects of Gen Z. One is the product itself, Fenty Beauty is famous for having various foundation colours as they aim to satisfy customers with all skin colours. This is a way of accepting and respecting diversity between people, which is something that Gen Zs cares about. Secondly, Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a famous singer and is the founder of Fenty Beauty. As a popular celebrity, many of her fans would purchase her product as a way of supporting her career.

As Gen Zs will soon become the major generation of this era, it is indeed a priority for businesses to know what the essential fashion needs for them are.

References:

Saputo, Sandy. “How Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty Delivered ‘beauty for All’ – and a Wake-up Call to the Industry.” Google, Google, Aug. 2019, www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/future-of-marketing/management-and-culture/diversity-and-inclusion/how-rihannas-fenty-beauty-delivered-beauty-for-all-and-a-wake-up-call-to-the-industry/.

Slingo, Laura. “What Are People Skills? Definition and Examples.” TopCV, 16 Jan. 2023, www.topcv.co.uk/career-advice/what-are-people-skills-definition-and-examples.

“What Is Gen Z?” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 20 Mar. 2023, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z.

Liked Liked
No Comments
Planet Blog

Planet Blog

⋅

The fashion industry has always been an incredible business that catches people’s attention. However, the world of fashion is causing a huge environmental impact including water waste, CO2 emissions, and more. The Planet will be the main focus of this blog, this pillar aims to explore solutions to reduce negative impacts on the planet meanwhile staying creative in terms of fashion designs. Topics related to the pillar, such as the circular economy and UN SDGs will also be discussed.

The circular economy is a novel economic modality that enables the regeneration of value and elimination of waste by extracting more value from waste materials like used clothes through things like recycling. It could be linked to the idea of circular fashion, where it is defined as a regenerative system aiming to maintain resources until it has reached its maximum value. By adopting a circular economy, we will be able to reduce waste as textiles are recycled and reused to create more products instead of being thrown in landfills. Another important concept related could be sustainability, fashion directly impacts the earth and needs to change immediately. 

Almost every process related to fashion produces carbon dioxide. Such as textile production, dry-cleaning, or even the material used undergoes CO2 emission. The industry is responsible for about 10% of the global carbon emission (Zurich, 2023). In order to overcome serious global issues, The United Nations has come up with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aiming to achieve all 17 goals by 2030. Goal 12, responsible consumption and production have targets that can be related to the sustainability of the fashion industry. One of the targets within this goal is sustainable management and use of natural resources. Water is a scarce natural resource and up to two billion people do not have access to it (SDG report 2022). Meanwhile the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global water waste (Zurich, 2023). Another target mentioned is responsible management of chemicals and waste. This is strongly related to the material used in cloth fabrics. For example, cotton seems like a natural resource, but it actually goes through multiple chemical process throughout the production. Ending up creating excessive chemical waste that harms the environment.

Overall, the fashion industry is indeed in a desperate condition where immediate action must be taken. Or else the consequences may threaten the environment of the planet.

References:

“Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.” The Global Goals, 18 Apr. 2023, www.globalgoals.org/goals/12-responsible-consumption-and-production/. 

Ro, Christine. “Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?” BBC Future, BBC, 24 Feb. 2022, www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate. 

“The Butterfly Diagram: Visualising the Circular Economy.” The Butterfly Diagram: Visualising the Circular Economy, ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy-diagram.

United Nations, United Nations, 2022, unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/Goal-06/?_gl=1%2A16sf0qw%2A_ga%2AMTE5NTQwNTkyLjE2OTY3MTc1ODg.%2A_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z%2AMTY5NjcxNzU4OC4xLjAuMTY5NjcxNzU4OC4wLjAuMA.

“What Is Fast Fashion and How Is It Damaging the Planet?” Zurich.Com, 2023, www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2021/fast-fashion-5-practical-ways-to-cut-the-carbon-from-your-closet#:~:text=It%20may%20surprise%20you%20to,than%2050%20percent%20by%202030.

Liked Liked
No Comments
My Favourite Brand-Vivienne Westwood

My Favourite Brand-Vivienne Westwood

⋅

One of my favourite brands is Vivienne Westwood, a fashion brand founded by the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. She started her business in 1971 and has made a significant impact on punk fashion history. The brand releases multiple collections of products, including different clothing and accessories. My favorite piece of jewelry from Vivienne Westwood is the layered pearl chocker, and I hope to have it in my collection soon. Another reason why I find this brand fascinating is its special bridal outfits. Unlike the usual wedding dresses with puffy designs, Vivienne Westwood has made the lining of the dresses more outstanding. Creating a more clean, unique style that stands out from other wedding dresses.

Liked Liked
No Comments