Scarlett Collins

About Scarlett Collins

Posts by Scarlett Collins:

Purpose

⋅

The purpose pillar in the fashion business school refers to value proposition, why are the tangible and intangible benefits by a brand to their consumers, to provide pleasure and entertainment to a consumer. Purpose is about the sharing economy opening opportunities to everybody and is becoming an increasingly bigger part of our lives.  An example is Air BnB, their idea is rather than owning an asset behaviour has shifted more convenient rental agreements, available on-demand and with less commitment. Juniper research shows sharing economy is expected to reach $20bn globally by 2020. Strategy comes into brands purpose which is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term achieving an advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations. (Johnson et al 2011)

A graph to represent a sharing economy https://bmtoolbox.net/patterns/sharing-economy/

Why is brand philosophy (mission, vision, value proposition) important?

Brand philosophy is so important when trying to communicate the brands message to consumers so they’re willing to buy the clothes. It is the distinguishing factor between companies who’s demographic audience is in the same marketplace. It is the set of ideologies and principles such as revenue, benefits, leadership and community involvement that establish the brands vision. (www.marketing91.com/brand-philosophy) 

An example of a brand philosophy is Havianas who offer low cost, well produced flip flops in a variety of colours. They focus on sustainability and being ‘people and planet free’ finding innovative solutions rethinking logics from raw materials, production and transport to the final disposal and new life cycles. 97% of their sandals are produced with around 40% reused rubber. Havianas also take their brand philosophy into practice to better the planet such as running ocean clean ups, coral reef conservations and there recycle scheme where once your done with you flip-flops you send them back and they will be reused. The practice of their values makes consumers buy products as they are using their philosophy with initiative. 

Havianas brand philosophy from their website
Havianas recycle policy

How do brands communicate to gen z? 

The most influential way to communicate to gen z is prodominently through social media, in particular tik tok and influencers. The aim of influencer marketing is to try and convert as much audience as possible and is based around the corporative principle; Influencers share a cooperative principle when they interact with their followers. They’ll paraphrase content so that their audience understand the message being relayed. The Cooperative principle helps influencers efficiently convince their followers to purchase products for the brand they are representing.(blog.media.io/influencer/what-is-influencer-marketing-theory) Some brands, such as Ryan air, use tik Tok to humanise their brand as if they were a person to become relatable creating a corporate identity not taking themselves too seriously. Gen Z buy into this as they find it amusing and then use their resources because of. Luxury brands tend to use influencers in a more structured setting to keep their luxury appeal. Brands such as Kate Spade and Lacoste used social media influencers, Sophia and Cinzia, to promote their brands by inviting them to their studio and dressing them in their brand wearing the clothes to their events. Kate Spade at a fashion show and Lacoste to Wimbledon. The brands then ask them to film this and put it on social media to communicate their brand through popular figures that Gen Z associate themselves with. 

blog.media.io/influencer/what-is-influencer-marketing-theory (the corporative principle)
Liked Liked
No Comments

Profit

⋅

The profit pillar in the fashion business school discusses economy being less about monetary value and more about it being a series of systems through which humanity provisions the requirements of life and society. The economic components are known as actors, made up of individuals and households, human-made, being goods and services and lastly, planet-made, such as plants and animals. Capitalism is also discussed within this which is an economic system using finials, human and planetary resources to produce goods and services to supply the demand of consumers. The fashions industry’s current size sits at $1.7 trillion in 2022.  The global fashion industry’s profit is expected to fall by 93% in 2020. Globally the fashion industry has been valued at $2.4 trillion (McKinsey state of fashion). (https://fashiondiscounts.uk/fashion-industry-statistics/) 

Mckinsey State of Fashion 2017 graph on the economic changes in fashion

According to Forbes May 2020 report on the world’s largest apparel companies, luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy has the biggest market value of $194 billions making it 73rd largest publicly traded organisation in the world. Sportswear company Nike finished is ranked 244th largest publicly traded company in the world, with Adidas ranking among top 400 with more than $25 billion in sales and athelisure brand Lululemon ranking 1209th with nearly $4 billion sales. (https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/)

Mckinsey State of Fashion report 2017 sates ‘Companies are adapting to new consumer priorities, and digital is providing a nexus for growth’. In order for a brand to stand out remaining competitive it needs to establish a strong identity that is shown to be consistent throughout the brand. Customers are beginning to factor in sustainability into their purchasing as reports such as UNECE 2018 on sdg’s (unece.org/forestry/news/fashion-environment) shows that 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions come from the fashion industry. Reports such as these have made consumers more aware of their carbon footprint and therefore are wanting to shop more sustainable where they can; therefore in turn may search for a brand with sustainability values. 

Charles Frederick Worth who is known as the grandfather of haute couture aggressively marketed himself and the clothing revolutionising women wear for everyday use. He was the first to use real life models in his studio for fittings, recognise the use of magazine marketing and began to sew his signature into clothing as if it was a piece of art.



Worth, caligraphy label on a cotton waistband, c.1910

Virgil Abloh, the creative director of ‘Off White’ bridged this gap by representing the importance of youth culture. Abloh took normal objects and transferred them into a fashion accessory. HIs collaboration with Nike in 2017 used an everyday item of a zip tie on the shoe naming the date and creation of the product. Creative directors must look at the cultural economy to gain a profit.

Virgil Abloh collaboration with Nike Air Max using ideas from street and everyday objects into fashion

As John Hawkins observes, “creativity is not new and neither is economics, but what is new is the nature and extent of the relationship between them, and how they combine to create extraordinary value and wealth.” The idea of a ‘cultural economy’ into which these activities and personas exist, provides a ’critical tool for grasping the dynamics between art and commerce.’ (Slowinska, 2014: p 239 – 241). Creative directors must look at the three capitals discussed by Pierre Bourdieu 1993 (Richardson, J., Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education) Cultural, the knowledge of culture acquired through upbringing and education as breaking that down into fashion capital of your knowledge in the fashion world, Social, who you know and your social networking groups and economic, how much money you have. 

A template to show the ‘Three Capitals’

References 

Mckinsey state of fashion 

unece.org/forestry/news/fashion-environment

Slowinska, 2014: p 239 – 241

Richardson, J., Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education

fashiondiscounts.uk/fashion-industry-statistics

Liked Liked
No Comments

People

⋅

The people pillar in the fashion business school is the idea that only one type of look is valued in the fashion industry and we as humans strive to be valued and therefore fit ourselves around the idealistic value. Historically fashion marketing loves women’s insecurities and thrive off it to make sales by capitalising off insecurities. Dr Taeyon Kim explored the double eye lid surgery “surgically altering slanted eyes became a mark of good and trustworthy Asian”. Surgery is a personal choice but it’s difficult to imagine this procedure without eurocentrism. 

Gen Z are people born from 1995-2010 and have been exposed to internet networks since youth. Gen z is described as “hypercognitive generation very comfortable with collecting and cross-referencing sources of information” (Mckinsey 2019 ‘True Gen’) The generation is known to be highly influenced by the media and by others, “young people have become a potential influence on people of all ages and incomes, as well as on the way those people consume an relate to brands” Francis & Hoefel (2018) quoted from Mckinsey 2019 ‘True Gen” 

The generational chart

Brands have bought into this idea of Gen z being a highly influenced generation by using popular figures in the media to promote their brands which in turn soars their sales. For example, PrettyLittleThing takes the popular figures from the media and creates clothing lines with them therefore making the people of Gen Z buy the clothing as they’re ‘influenced’ to fit into the idealistic value. Francis & Hoefel (2018- Mckinsey 2019 ‘True Gen’) suggest three key applications brands should consider to attract gen z; consumption as access rather than possession, consumption as an expression of individual identity and consumption as a matter of ethical term. 

Diversity is not only the complete inclusion of all types of people but also putting this idea into practice. Brands such as Fenty beauty, strongly took diversity as a term on board and has been named the most diverse make up brand with 40 different shades making $100 million in the first 40 days (https://jilt.com › blog › fenty-brand-positioning)  

The foundation colour range chart showing Fenty’s domination

Therefore, for a brand to be successful the key skills they need all fit into the idea of diversity. According to Susanne Ricee (2021 – All types of diversity blog from diversity.social) there are 4 types of diversity; Internal, which is what were born with and what belongs to us, External, how people are influenced, Organisation in the workplace ensuring the brands diversity polices are throughout the brand rather than on face value for media purposes. Lastly, world view where the brand understands and practices different cultural, political and historical views. 

References 

  • Mckinsey 2019 ‘True Gen’
  • Francis & Hoefel 2018 (quote from `Mckinsey True Gen’)
  • Susanne Ricee All types of diversity https://diversity.social/workplace-diversity-types
Liked Liked
No Comments

‘Planet’

⋅

A large part of the planet pillar is known as the circular fashion industry which is defined as 

‘a regenerative system in which garments are circulated for as long as their maximum value is retained’ and then in turn the garments will be returned safely to the biosphere when they’ll no longer be in use. The three key principles of a circular economy are firstly, keep clothes in use, secondly, use renewable and safe materials and thirdly, solutions based on upcycling. 

When looking at the planet pillar the question ‘what is sustainability in relation to fashion?’ consistently arises. The fashion industry is a major contributor to world pollution and climate change; for example, textiles produce 1.2 billion tonnes of co2 annually. The UN’s IPCC report (Aug 2021) produced by hundreds of the world’s top scientists and signed off by the government sates that we are in code red for humanity, and we must act fast to avoid global catastrophe “climate crisis ‘unequivocally’ caused by human activities” and concludes that it could get far worse if the slim chance remaining to avert heating above 1.5C is not immediately grasped. Currently in the fashion industry there is a normative practice known as the linear system model, where we take, make, and waste global fibre demand. The fashion industry uses 63% oil-based textiles, 26% cotton and 11% other fibres with polyester being the most widely used synthetic and is predicted to dominate future synthetic fibre growth. 

The fashion industry was responsible for 1,715 million tonnes of c02 emissions in 2015 (pulse of fashion) consuming more energy than the aviation and shipping industry combined (UN)                                The pulse reports a prediction of fashion emissions to grow 63% by 2030. The sustainable development goals link to the sustainability of fashion such as the twelfth goal being ‘responsible consumption and production’. Worldwide consumption and production are a driving force of the global economy that rely on the use of the natural environment which in turn has destructive impacts on the planet. For example, water. Less than 3% of the worlds water is fresh and humankind is polluting water in rivers and lakes faster than nature can recycle and purify. The chemical treatments for dying and garment production directly leaking into rivers & seas together estimating 700,000 microfibres ending up in the sea each year. The simple impact of one t shirt being created uses over 2,700 litres of water.                                                                                                                   

Liked Liked
No Comments

Chanel

⋅

My Favourite fashion brand

Coco Chanel

Chanel is a French luxury fashion brand founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women’s luxury goods, and accessories. Chanel is credited for establishing the idea of haute couture, which is creating custom fitted one-of-a-kind clothing for high end consumers. The items, and specifically the bags, are typically seen as collectable pieces rather than garments to fit a current trend. Chanel holds this name of unconceivable luxury that is out of reach for most of the population and therefore creates a mysterious fascination around the brand keeping them relevant. Chanel has a classic vintage look that centres around the use tweed material creating that vintage feel from the 50s to make female suits allowing the gender wardrobes to collide completely and utterly creating a sense of diversity and power in the fashion industry alongside of maintaining its high-end name.

A person wearing a hat and holding an object Description automatically generated with low confidence
Liked Liked
No Comments