Jenny Hong

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Purpose

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The Purpose pillar is also one of the four pillars of fashion business school. The purpose behind each business model could potentially drive the success of, or the failure of a business. All businesses and organisations should be transparent with their consumers, which means that brands should be honest with their customers. The goal of increased transparency could allow brands to ensure sustainability, as an increasing number of people are recognising the harm that the fashion industry can do, thus understanding that there should be a collective effort to reduce the issues surrounding global warming. 

There may be purpose-driven business leaders who seek to maximise customer satisfaction rather than profit. A good leader would do more than lead their company to a profitable quarter, by emphasising the business’ values, morals and purpose (Herrington, 2021).

Prioritising the purpose of a business may result in heightened economic opportunities for everyone. By means of this, society would benefit from decreased exploitation from profit-driven companies, thereby enhancing societal wellbeing. 

The WorldGBC’s Health and Wellbeing Framework, 2022

Brand philosophy refers to the set of values, code of ethics and principles of a given company. It can assist in distinguishing between the companies in the same marketplace, enabling the company following ethical principles to be at the top of the market, the premium position (Bhasin, 2019). Brand philosophy is very important as the ideologies may be introduced in future generations. Therefore, a company with a positive and ethical vision for the future is likely to flourish. 

For example, ASOS’ 2030 strategy involves refreshing their commitment to their earlier strategy, Fashion with Integrity. This strategy was launched over a decade ago and has helped ASOS have a drive to be a responsible company that delivers positive benefits for people, whilst minimising its impact on the planet (ASOS, 2022). It has been said that ASOS will be striving towards their 2030 goals under the two pillars, planet and people. This conveys that their brand philosophy is to prioritise the wellbeing of our planet and our people. 

ASOS, 2022 Fashion with Integrity

Brands can no longer ignore Gen-Z and the impact that Gen-Z may have on the forthcoming future. The use of social media has been of wide use even before the outbreak of COVID-19 as it was a source of connecting with people in micro-communities and private messaging. Thereafter, a way in which brands can communicate their purpose to Gen-Z is through social media which could then be shared around the internet by those who support the brand’s mission and values. This enables the brand’s purpose and its importance to be relayed onto consumers much rapidly. 

REFERENCES

ASOS, 2022 Fashion with Integrity Progress Update 

https://asos-12954-s3.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/9316/4974/2308/Fashion_With_Integrity_-_Progress_Update_-_120422.pdf

Bhasin, H. 2019. What is Brand Philosophy? Importance of having a Brand Philosophy [online]

https://www.marketing91.com/brand-philosophy/

Herrington, E. 2021. What is Purpose-driven leadership? [online]

https://sidecarglobal.com/organizational-culture/what-is-purpose-driven-leadership/

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Profit

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The Profit pillar represents the idea that consumers continue to purchase products at an affordable price, whilst suppliers continue to make the product at a cost which allows them to make a reasonable profit. It is very important for suppliers to consider the state of an economy when pricing their products. When there is an economic boom, this signifies the increasing level of consumer confidence in an economy which allows suppliers to obtain higher profits in relevance to the laws of supply and demand. 

One of the biggest contributors to a healthy economy is the fashion industry. The value of the fashion industry was $1.55 trillion in 2021 and the global fashion industry’s worth is expected to reach $1.7 trillion by the end of 2022. Although not the biggest industry, due to the existence of life and health industries, the fashion industry is known to be the biggest e-commerce industry in the world (Radonic, 2022). 

With the growing use of technology, it is expected for the fashion industry to seek approaches to online creativity and commerce. Some brands over the past year expanded into the digital metaverse, introducing virtual stores, gaming and digital events (Mckinsey, 2022). This is an example of how fashion businesses should adapt to changes in the operational infrastructure that supports the business to seek the maximum amount of profit and returns (Longdrigan, M. Jenkins, 2018). 

Selfridges is a good example of how art and commerce conjoins. The department store enables the exploration of art and culture, balancing it with the consumption of goods. This USP may also attract more customers, resulting in good sales. 

Art at Selfridges

A brand must maintain the engagement from consumers during uncertain economic times. Consumers behave in a rational, logical and predictable manner, therefore, during tough times, the level of demand is likely to decrease. When this occurs, brands should attempt to remain competitive in the market, otherwise it may face a huge loss. For example, the fashion industry was affected severely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many fashion retailers temporarily shutting down. This resulted in many staff losing their jobs, or having to be furloughed by the government (Auld, 2021). 

BBC, ShopperTrak, 2021 Huge drop in shoppers due to COVID-19

However, a few brands were able to remain competitive by developing their digital marketing strategies during the pandemic to communicate with consumers online. Therefore, to stay competitive, brands should predict consumption behaviours and act accordingly with consideration of the current state of the economy. 

REFERENCES

Auld, M., 2021. How has COVID-19 impacted the Fashion Industry? [online]

https://www.rguunion.co.uk/news/article/radar/How-Has-Covid-19-Impacted-the-Fashion-Industry/

Longdrigan, M., Jenkins, J., 2018 Fashion Supply Chain Management 

https://libsearch.arts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=1449128

Mckinsey., 2022. State of Fashion pg.18-19 

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/state%20of%20fashion/2022/the-state-of-fashion-2022.pdf

Radonic, D. 2022 The Most Important Fashion Industry Statistics in 2022 [online] https://fashiondiscounts.uk/fashionindustrystatistics/#:~:text=The%20value%20of%20the%20fashion,expected%20to%20reach%20%241.7%20trillion

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People

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The second out of the Four Pillars is People. People generally describe the consumers who build up the revenue for a business, meaning that brands get popular due to the love that they receive from their consumers. 

Gen-Z consumers are people aged between 18-25. They are an emerging consumer force who sets trends, thereby influencing those of the older generation (Qualtrics 2022). Due to this reason they are the main focus of brands, as businesses believe a success strategy would be to prioritise the interests of the generation that’s leading the way of consumer behaviour and the decisions of many. 

In order to attract Gen-Z, a fashion brand could use one of the most effective ways of communicating with people nowadays which is using the media. A brand could promote their products by advertising on social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Tik Tok, which are the largest social media platforms used by millions of people. For example, Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users and approximately 32 million UK users (Statista 2022). The majority of those on social media are made up of Gen-Z consumers, therefore using social media platforms would be advantageous to the brand.

Statista, 2022

It is vital for brands to ensure that every person who may come across their adverts could identify, or feel included in the fashion industry. This means that diversity is another area which the industry needs to increase its recognition on. Many brands have realised the importance of expressing diversity in their brand image, therefore successful, inclusive marketing campaigns aim to change the advertising norms by highlighting minority groups which may usually be misrepresented. 

An example of this is Adidas’ Here to Create advert. This advert included well-known celebrities from diverse backgrounds such as Pharrell Williams, Aaron Rodgers, Lionel Messi and Von Miller. In the advert, the celebrities talk about the interplay between creativity and diversity. “We’re all creators, related by a mindset. It’s not about borders, gender, or race. We’re here to create.”(Refuel Agency 2022). This message allowed Adidas to unite those across different industries, gender, race, sexual orientation, age and ability, setting an example as one of the biggest sports-fashion brand in the market. 

I’m Here to Create, Adidas Campaign 2016-17

Being aware that consumers need a business which recognises their culture and represents how every person differs creates familiarity, thus consumer loyalty. This signifies the importance for businesses to express their support towards diversity and ensuring inclusivity in order for business success.

REFERENCES

Qualtrics, 2022. 9 Things You Need to Know about the Gen Z Consumer [online]

https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/9-things-gen-z-consumer/#:~:text=Gen%20Z%20adults%2C%20ages%2018,higher%20than%20any%20other%20generation’s.

Refuel Agency, 2022. 6 Examples of Brands Who Got Multicultural Marketing Right [online]. https://www.refuelagency.com/blog/multicultural/examples-of-brands-who-got-multicultural-marketing-right/

Statista, 2022. Leading countries based on Instagram audience size as January 2022 [online]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/578364/countries-with-most-instagram-users/

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Planet

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‘Planet’ is one of the Four Pillars of Sustainability which is focused massively in our Fashion Business school. It is vital for people to start recognising the importance of how harmful the fashion industry can be on our planet, and how we would rather benefit from prioritising the health of the planet. This means collectively making changes to the choices we make in our every-day lives in order to be able to prevent further damage from occurring to our planet.

Environmental sustainability aims to improve human lives by preserving the environment and natural capital such as land, water, air and minerals. A business can be deemed ‘environmentally sustainable’ only if they make sure that the needs of the population are met without adversely affecting the long term sustainability of the environment and the needs of future generations (Stringer 2022).

The fashion industry is a huge industry, with the industry’s worth promising to reach $1.7 trillion in 2022 (Mckinsey 2022). The UK’s fashion industry alone is expected to reach $60.1 billion in 2022. Therefore, this gives the industry a title of being one of the major polluting in the world, with its very old fashioned system which is still in practice as of today. Textile production alone contributes to 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually, and with 120 billion garments being made every year, there is an immense issue of waste. 68% of all textiles are made from oil synthetics which are known to be one of the most dangerous materials to use for our planet’s wellbeing. This is an issue which can be solved by our generation, an issue that needs to be brought up to the surface to spread awareness of how such a loved industry could really be the epitome of global warming. 

The UN report last year confirmed that these changes to the planet were caused by us, and that we were on the path to no return. Hence, we are the last generation which can react and do something about it. 

As an increasing number of people take steps towards tackling the climate crisis, fashion should lead the way as one of the major contributors to waste in using its ability to tell compelling stories in order to shape the future ahead of us (Conde Nast).

The fashion industry will not stop producing clothes, but the way in which we go about it can significantly improve the wellbeing of our planet, bettering the lives for many people. The long term vision is trying to get rid of synthetics and microfibres. This is one of the visions for circularity in fashion.

Solutions based on upcycling could be increased also. With upcycling the process also changes, whereby the designer does all their research beforehand for production waste or fabric to be used and then creates their project (D’Alessandro 2022). This in turn overturns the traditional process of creation and implementation of garments that have been engraved in the fashion system for decades. 

REFERENCES

Stringer, P., 2022. The 4 Pillars of Sustainability Explained | Skoot.eco [online] Available at: https://skoot.eco/articles/the-4-pillars-of-sustainability-explained

Mckinsey, 2022. The State of Fashion 2022 Report | Mckinsey.com [online]. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/state%20of%20fashion/2022/the-state-of-fashion-2022.pdf

Condenast.com. 2020. Conde Nast Launches The Sustainable Fashion Glossary [online] Available at:  https://www.condenast.com/glossary/key-elements-of-fashion-and-sustainability

D’Alessandro, A., 2022. Upcycling, One of the Hottest Trend in Fashion Right Now [online] Available at:  https://www.revibe-upcycling.com/blog/news/upcycling-the-hottest-trend-in-fashion

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A favourite fashion brand : Vivienne Westwood

A favourite fashion brand : Vivienne Westwood

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Vivienne Westwood is one of the representatives of luxury fashion with a hint of punk. Quite ironically, the British designer Vivienne Westwood had no intention of becoming a world-famous fashion icon. She was inspired by history books, modernising the designs to fit her own personal taste, later becoming one of the key figures in influencing the 90’s fashion. Westwood had a reputation of having a “rebellious heart”, rebelling against the rules that fit society in the 90’s, and is still inspiring the fashion industry presently.

Vivienne Westwood managed to rise significantly after Sex Pistols’, the band, released “God save the Queen” which became a worldwide success. Vivienne designed her famous T-shirt with the face of the English Queen and this later enabled Westwood to organise her first fashion show in London, which she named “Pirates”.

Since the 2000s, Vivienne Westwood has strongly supported environmental protection. For instance, she worked with the non-governmental organisation Greenpeace on the “Save the Arctic” campaign. A way in which she advocated her care for the environment is her design of a graphic T-shirt which depicted the Earth in the shape of a heart, of which all the revenue was donated to Greenpeace.

“Climate change is my priority, not fashion” – Vivienne Westwood in The Guardian magazine (2014).

Westwood gets inspired by historical eras and uses heavy materials such as wool fabrics, tweed and tartan. Her dresses are often recognised by their lavish use of fabric. Westwood’s designs are distinctive through lush draping, wild mixes of patterns and colours and unusual adaptations of style. The Vivienne Westwood orb, created in the late 1980s, is a blend of the orb and the rings of Saturn and it represents the importance of the past, while being a nod to the future.

Vivienne Westwood certainly managed to impose her vision of fashion regardless of time and trends. She had stuck through with her own personal political beliefs and particular style, earning her the title of British Designer of the Year for three consecutive years! 

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