Four Pillars: PEOPLE
The subject ‘People’ is a very crucial part of the fashion business. We as people are what obtain the fashion business. Customers for stores, models for companies, workers for brands etc. As people, we keep the fashion business running.
When we think of people we think of Diversity, leading to ideas of involvement and inclusion. Diversity allows us to welcome different cultures and lifestyles into our daily lives. It enhances creativity leading to better decision making and problem solving. “Diversity can improve the bottom line for companies, leading to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations.” (K.W Phillips, Greater Good Magazine, 2017)
The involvement of Diversity is where anyone can feel empowered. We meet new people everyday, each of us has a different background and history. As suggested from K.W Phillps, new knowledge and creative views can lead to “unfettered discoveries and breakthroughs”. This suggestion is vital for businesses within the fashion industry to explore with a variety of ideas, experiment with new materials and to learn the histories within different cultures.
Fig 1:
Breakthru Beverage Group. (2018) Diversity and Inclusion: Delivering Change in the workplace.
Figure 1 suggests the whole idea of inclusivity and involvement of individuals from anywhere, creating change and a safe space for anyone from any type of background, creating change in their daily work environment and creating a better workspace.
A topic which is very important within the focus of the subject ‘People’ is Gen Z. Gen Z are ourselves. They say the age group range for Gen Z is from the years of 1977-2012. “Gen Z in particular differs from the generations of shoppers before them: they are the first to grow up as digital natives – surrounded by technology and the internet all their lives.” (Graeme Moran, Drapers, 2022)
This idea indicates the ease Gen Z has with new technologies and developments compared to millennials, how they have grown up relying on this fast speed network way of living. The birth of fashion through social media currently is probably the biggest way for brands to promote themselves.
“Do they prefer to shop online or in stores?”, “Do they actually care about sustainability”- Moran, associate editor, Drapers, 2022. Editor Graeme Moran has suggested these ideas about Gen Z. A lot of ecommerce brands have a persona of not being sustainable. However, there have been contributions of these brands starting to become more ‘sustainable’ and ‘ethical’. But, the truth that lies behind these ideas, we may not know. PrettyLittleThing have created ‘PLT Marketplace’. As shown in figure 2, this is a place where people can buy and sell clothes. This network focuses on the 3 R’s of reselling, re-wearing and reusing. As the generations go onwards, following certain trends has become a lot more popular, this could be anything from watching certain tv shows, to fashions choices and lifestyle habits. Love Island’s very own Indiyah Polack, has become the newest ambassador for the PrettyLittleThing Market Place. By incorporating popular influencers into these ethical brand choices, this will bring the attention of Gen Z alongside other generations to start making more organic and sustainable choices within fashion and purchase preloved and recycled items.
Fig 2: PrettyLittleThing. (2022) PrettyLittleThing Market Place
Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel ‘Snow Crash’ introduced us all to the Metaverse, an idea which since has highly developed and progressed within everyday life. The metaverse is almost like a second life, a digital world combined with our normal life. The creation of virtual reality and the internet have made this possible. “61.1% of Gen Z say they are familiar with the concept of the Metaverse compared to 39.5% of millennials.” Moran, associate editor, Drapers, (2022). The Metaverse is such a big opportunity for brands, as figure 3 displays ‘Fortnite x Balenciaga’. By 2024, the Metaverse is estimated to be an $800bn (£627bn) market opportunity.