Profit

Profit is a pillar that focuses on a brand’s ability to increase and maximize monetary gain through the means of providing a product or service, boosting the brand’s market share as a result of this. Profits can either be reinvested into the business, distributed amongst shareholders, or retained by the owner (Kenton, 2022). 

“Fashion is one of the world’s most important industries, driving a significant part of the global economy”, McKinsey (2016) states, and can be supported by statistics displayed by Statista (2022), stating the fashion industry grosses up to  $1.5 trillion USD and is predicted to increase to approximately $2 trillion by 2026. Online shopping is a huge catalyst for this, with an overall market value of 668 billion US dollars in 2021, and an expected value of 1.2 trillion USD by 2025 (Statista, 2022).

Gen Z has a large impact on social change, and the fashion industry is no different. With the second-hand apparel industry expected to grow to a value of 218 billion US dollars in 2026, due to increased demand from environmentally conscious younger consumers (Smith, 2022). We can see brands such as StockX and Goat being highly successful in the resale market due to this fact. Social media can also be seen as a tool brands can utilise to “communicate their social and environmental endeavours” (Peterson, 2015) in order to improve their brand image and in turn, increase profit. 

Creative directors bridged the gap between creativity and commerce. Former Creative Director of Off-White, Virgil Abloh, tapped into a “certain demographic’s sense of culture and credibility” (Ahmed, 2013) by using “artification” to elevate streetwear products. However, the growing accessibility to both fashion (De Souza Crook, 2018) and cultural and social capital has increasingly transformed people into artists, due to the blurring of ideas and knowledge (Crane, 2019).

Figure 1: Virgil Abloh on the Sneaker Freaker website

Figure 3: StockX logo

References:

• Kenton, W. (2022) Profit definition plus gross, operating, and net profit explained, Investopedia. 
• McKinsey (2019) The influence of ‘woke’ consumers of fashion
• McKinsey (2019) ‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies 
• Statista (2022) Apparel – worldwide: Statista market forecast, Statista. Ströer Media.
• Statista (2022) Global fashion e-commerce market value 2025, Statista. Ströer Media. 
• Smith, P. (2022) Secondhand apparel market value worldwide 2021-2026, Statista. Ströer Media
• Peterson, D. (2015) “Social Media as a Tool for Social Change,” in Sustainable fashion what’s next?: A conversation about issues, practices and possibilities. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, pp. 76-99. 
• Crane, D. (2019) “Fashion and artification in the French luxury fashion industry,” Cultural Sociology pp. 293–304. 
• Ahmed, A. (2013) Bridging the gap between art and business, The Guardian. Guardian Media Group
• SneakerFreaker.com
• StockX.com