Yulin Zhao

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People

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‘People’ is one of the four pillars in terms of sustainable fashion, which refers to both the consumers and society. A successful brand responds to different consumer needs with different marketing strategies and keeps up with the times.

Before the term ‘influencer’ was introduced, young people played that social role by creating and interpreting trends. Now a new generation of influencers has come onto the scene. Gen Z stands for the group of people born from 1995 to 2010 (McKinsey & Company, 2018). They are true digital natives from their earliest youth and have been exposed to the internet, social networks, and mobile systems. That context has produced a hypercognitive generation very comfortable with collecting and cross-referencing various sources of information and with integrating virtual and offline experiences.

For Gen Z, the key point is not to define themselves through only one stereotype but rather for individuals to experiment with different ways of being themselves and to shape their individual identities over time (Tracy and Fernanda, 2017). Therefore, what they are looking for are inclusiveness and uniqueness. To be more specific, consumers receive over 3,000 marketing messages every day on average from brands. It is no longer a competition against just the direct competitors, but against all the messages that bombard people’s lives. In a cluttered market with different products in various sectors, it is significant to create an edge, a unique position to clarify the customer profile. This not only helps establish the brand U.S.P. effectively, but also creates long-lasting recall for the brand (Tina, 2017).

Inclusivity is not limited to the idea and concept of sizing. It also means accessing and building creative spaces, agencies, and platforms that cater to a diverse community from designers, models, photographers, hair and makeup, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community (Thomasina, 2021). For instance, Rihanna’s Fenty brand is championing inclusivity with her vision and passion for inclusion striking a chord with consumers and coming across more authentically. By collaborating with plus-sized models and models of all races, the brand creates gender-neutral products that cater to a wide range of consumers as well as a more expansive and diverse society. ‘We don’t believe in the division. We do not believe in excluding anyone,’ Rihanna said. ‘That’s been our message from day one and it’s not going to change now because everyone is having that realization.’ (Tricia, 2022) The inclusivity and diversity eventually make Fenty Beauty become a successful beauty brand.

In addition, as digital natives, successful strategies of online retail will help brands to attract Gen Z consumers. About 51 percent of UK marketers are already working with influencers. In fact, two well-known fashion brands on platforms like TikTok in The UK are Shein and Pretty Little Thing (Statista, 2021). An effective way for brands to get social media influencer support—whether it happens organically or through a paid partnership-is with an already established presence on social platforms, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. (Jack, 2022).

Bibliography

Jack, S. (2022) ‘Social Media Marketing for Fashion Brands: A Strategy That Works (with Examples)’ Social Shepherd, 21 September. Available at: https://thesocialshepherd.com/blog/social-media-strategy-fashion-brands. [Accessed: 15 October 2022]

Statista Research Department (2021) ‘Marketers working with influencers on multi-platform campaigns 2020, by country’ Statista, 8 September. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1201403/marketers-work-influencers-multi-platforms-campaigns/. [Accessed: 16 October 2022]    

Thomasina, R. (2021) ‘The importance of having a more inclusive fashion industry’CIAFE, 5 October. Available at:https://www.ciafe.org/post/the-importance-of-having-a-more-inclusive-fashion-industry. [Accessed: 16 October 2022]

Tina, N. (2017)‘5 Ways to Make Your Apparel Brand Stand Out’Entrepreneur India, 10 November. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-in/marketing/how-to-create-a-unique-brand-identity/304526. [Accessed: 16 October 2022]

Tracy, F. and Fernanda, H. (2018) ‘‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies’ McKinsey & Company, 12 November. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies. [Accessed: 16 October 2022]Tricia, M. (2022) “How Rihanna’s Fenty Brand is Leading in Diversity & Inclusion,” Indigo Digital, 3 May. Available at: https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/fentydiversityinclusion. [Accessed: 15 October 2022]

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Planet

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The term sustainability is broadly used to indicate programs, initiatives, and actions aimed at the preservation of a particular resource. However, it actually refers to four distinct areas: planet, people, profit, and purpose– known as the four pillars of sustainability.

Planet refers to environmental sustainability, which aims to improve human welfare through the protection of natural capital (e.g. land, air, water, minerals, etc.). Initiatives and programs are defined as environmentally sustainable when they ensure that the needs of the population are met without the risk of compromising the needs of future generations (GBM, 2021).

Though the fashion industry has doubled its production of clothing over the past 15 years, 75% of the clothes consumers purchase end up in landfills and less than 1% are being recycled into new clothing, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Martin Koehring, 2022). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity (UNDP, 2022). 

One of the most important goals for the fashion industry is tackling climate change (SDG 13). In total, the textile industry is responsible for between 4% and 10% of global emissions, according to various estimates, and this could reach 26% by mid-century (Javier, 2022). The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) points out that carbon emissions from this sector exceed those from all international flights and maritime shipping combined. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the fashion industry’s production chain is the third largest sector in terms of emissions, after food and construction (The World Bank, 2019). Meanwhile, the greatest weight falls on materials: the Australian Climate Council notes that two-thirds of a garment’s carbon footprint comes from the production of synthetic fibers, which today account for 65% of all textile materials. The consultancy McKinsey & Company estimates that, on its current trajectory, this sector will miss the 2015 Paris agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve this, it would need to cut its emissions from 2.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) today to 1.1 billion tonnes by 2030.

The circular economy will reshape the apparel industry, where the value of products, materials, and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimized’ (European Commission, 2015). In a nutshell, the circular economy model proposes the prolonged use of what is taken from nature, in order to reduce future access to primary resources and reduce waste production (Murray et al, 2017; Winans et al, 2017). It is therefore a multi-dimensional concept, which presents different fields of action. First of all, the order of priority in waste management, which sees landfill disposal as an extreme ratio. Then, the enhancement of by-products and the connection of waste with the production and use of new raw materials (end-of-waste). Eventually, the attention to the production phase and the transition to a sustainable economic model in which the raw materials obtained from renewable sources replace raw materials obtained from non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels (Valentina Jacometti, 2019).

Reference

GBM (2021) ’The four pillars of sustainability. Available at: https://gbm.news/en/the-four-pillars-of-sustainability/ [Accessed: 8 October 2022] 

Javier, Y. (2022) ‘How Our Clothes Contribute to Climate Change’, 13 May. Available at: https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/environment/how-clothes-contribute-to-climate-change/ [Accessed: 9 October 2022]

Martin, K. (2022) ‘Inside the circle’ Episod 3: Circular Fashion [Podcast], 9 June. Available at: https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/circular-economies/inside-the-circle-circular-fashion? [Accessed: 8 October 2022]

European Commission (2015) Communication “Closing the Loop—An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy”. COM (2015) 614. Brussels: European Commission. [Accessed: 9 October 2022]

Murray, Alan, Keith Skene, and Kathryn Haynes (2017) The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context. Journal of Business Ethics 140, pp. 369–380. [Accessed: 8 October 2022]

The World Bank (2019) ’How Much Do Our Wardrobes Cost to the Environment?’, 23 September. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/09/23/costo-moda-medio-ambiente [Accessed: 9 October 2022]

UNDP (2022) ‘What are the Sustainable Development Goals?’. Available at: https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals [Accessed: 8 October 2022]

Valentina, J. (2019) ‘Circular Economy and Waste in the Fashion Industry’. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/8/4/27/htm [Accessed: 9 October 2022]

Winans, Kiara, Alissa Kendall, and Huiqiong Deng. 2017. The history and current applications of the circular economy concept. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 68, pp. 825–833. [Accessed: 9 October 2022]

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A Favourite Fashion Brand

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A Favourite Fashion Brand-Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen is a British luxury fashion house founded by designer Alexander McQueen in 1992. The original creative director Alexander McQueen was one of the most celebrated fashion designers of his generation, known for his highly original designs that married artistry with exceptional technical ability.

McQueen’s work was admired for its highly original blend of subversion and tradition, evident from the outset in his ‘Bumster’ trousers, sharp frock coats, corroded fabrics, slashed leather and shredded, flesh-revealing lace. Meanwhile, McQueen’s Savile Row training would inform his career: “Everything I do is based on tailoring”, he said. This background in precision tailoring, combined with the more improvised dressmaking and draping techniques he learned in the atelier (the highly skilled workshops of couture houses) at Givenchy – paved the way for his innovative experiments with cutting and construction.

The exploration of polarities – man versus machine, or nature versus technology – was a recurring theme in his work. His collections often featured fashions that took their forms and raw materials from the natural world, such as the Mussel Shell Bodice from VOSS (Spring/Summer 2001), or the Bird’s Nest headdress developed by Mcqueen’s longstanding collaborators Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane for The Widows of Culloden collection (Autumn/Winter 2006)(V&A, No Date).

As part of the Kering Group, Alexander McQueen reduces its environmental impacts and advocates for social welfare through unprecedented innovation and industry collaboration (Panaprium, 2022). In addition to moving forward in sourcing sustainable materials, energy efficiency in operations, and supplier engagement, Alexander McQueen has pioneered the use of an innovative forensic technology with traceability expert Oritain in a pilot project to verify the provenance of leather and to trace the leather through the supply chain. The project is an important step in supporting a supply chain aligned with Kering Standards, with traceability and integrity and represents the brand’s utilization of innovation and technology to advance its sustainability goals.

The company is also relaunching the brand MCQ as a new business model with an innovative and collaborative platform, integrating fashion and technology, utilizing a unique blockchain which registers each item, allowing consumers to interact and engage with the MYMCQ platform via a tag located in each garment. The new MCQ is aiming to integrate circular economy by promoting the extended life and reuse of garments among a community of consumers to be connected through this MYMCQ peer to peer platform (Kering, 2020).

Citation

V&A (No Date) ‘Alexander McQueen – an introduction’. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/alexander-mcqueen-an-introduction

Panaprium (2022) ‘ALEXANDER MCQUEEN – SUSTAINABILITY FACTS, RATING, GOALS’. Available at: //www.panaprium.com/blogs/i/alexander-mcqueen

Kering (2020) ’SUSTAINABILITY PROGRESS REPORT 2017 – 2020’. Available at: https://progress-report.kering.com/home/houses-in-action/alexander-mcqueen/

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