A brand’s purpose relates to their values and core reasoning for existence beyond making a profit. The purpose pillar also relates to the term wellbeing, especially eudaimonic wellbeing fundamentally meaning the do-good factor. For example, the brand tentree plant a tree for every item they sell, promoting the brands values of sustainability and their overall purpose.

Brand philosophy is important as it helps individual brands differentiate itself from others and be unique in order to flourish, helping gain customer loyalty and repeat business. Without it brands will just be seen as the same and have no unique purpose in existing. A brand philosophy is made up of a mission, vision and the brands values. A brands mission is why the business exists, for example Nudie Jeans which is Swedish based ‘employs a variety of approaches to reduce the environmental and social impacts of its products, from making the production processes of a product transparent to providing advice and services that help consumers extend the life of their Judie jeans’ (Gwilt, A. 2014). This is particularly important especially due to the fact it takes up to 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce a pair of jeans (Barbara and Twitter, 2018). A brand vision is where they see their selves in the future and their ambitions. Having a vision can enable a brand to grow, not just in terms of size but it may help them to grow in terms of how they operate or how they contribute to the environment and being sustainable. Lastly a brands value proposition is what a business believes is important. Strong value proposition is all about the customer’s needs, ‘it outlines the benefits they will receive when buying your product or service. A good value proposition is about making the connection between customer needs and the seller’s solutions’ (Thacker, 2019).

A sharing economy can occur in any industry, from transport, for example uber, to clothing such as renting between individuals. An example of a clothing renting brand is Girl Meets Dress, where you can hire dress for an occasion and send it back afterwards, contributing to a more sustainable circular economy and limiting fast fashion, especially when people will order a dress for an occasion and never wear it again. 

Brands mainly communicate their purpose to gen z through social media as it influences consumer behaviour especially to the younger generation who use social media the most. Brands will collab with popular influencers in order to promote their clothing as they know gen z will be inspired by the outfits their favourite influencers are wearing. ‘97% of Gen Z consumers say they now use social media as their top source of shopping inspiration’ (Kastenholz,2021). 

Reference list

Barbara, U.S. and Twitter, T. (2018). How Many Gallons of Water Does It Take to Make . . . [online] Treehugger. Available at: https://www.treehugger.com/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make-4858491.

Gwilt, A. (2020). A practical guide to sustainable fashion. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Kastenholz, C. (2021). Council Post: Gen Z And The Rise Of Social Commerce. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/17/gen-z-and-the-rise-of-social-commerce/?sh=483a140251d0 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].

Thacker, M. (2019). Council Post: How To Create A Successful Value Proposition. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/07/15/how-to-create-a-successful-value-proposition/?sh=7e36c0e025d5 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].

user (2018). Here’s Where We Plant Your Trees. [online] THE ENVIRONMENTOR. Available at: https://blog.tentree.com/where-do-we-plant-your-trees-these-are-the-countries-where-we-plant/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].

‘Purpose’ is the last of the four pillars of sustainability.  A brands purpose is their reason for their creations beyond for making money.  A purpose for a brand is very important because it shows the buyer the ethics, morals, and reasons behind a brand.  A purpose tells the buyer more about the brands values, for example, if a brands purpose was to help children who are less fortunate and cannot afford to buy clothes, it would show the client the core values of the brand and make people more likely to buy from them.  

Brand philosophy is important for the same reason that a brands purpose is important.  There is Mission, Vision, and Values.  The mission statement tells the customer why a brand exists.  The vision statement tells the customer what the brand wants to accomplish in the future.  This is very important because the buyer will want to know what to expect moving forward from the brand.  Values show what is important to each brand and how they want to work moving forward.  For example, Tess Whitford is a designer who’s brands mission statement says, “strives to create clothing that doesn’t harm people, animals, or the environment while maintaining her signature edgy streetwear style.”  This shows the customers that they can stust her brand to be sustainable while still having an edgy style that is shown in figure 1. “Designers can develop a new garment by reworking existing clothing or working with unwanted stock and/or surplus materials” (Gwilt, 2014). This is something that Tess Whitfort does and that works for many brands.

Tess Whitfort upcycling design, (Gwilt, 2014)

Brands communicate their purpose to Gen Z through their mission, vision, and values statements.  These are usually found on a brands website and they show the customer all about the reasons behind why the brand does what they do.  One way that will really get through to Gen Z is by social media.  With an active instagram account with a good balance of posts and quality content any Gen Z-er will be interested and give the brand a follow.  Tik Tok is also a way to get Gen Z’s attention as the app has 2 billion downloads with over 60% being from Generation Z (Fanbytes, 2022). Brands should post their purpose on their social media bios so that people can see them from their instagram or tik tok because many generation Z citizens do not even know that brands have a purpose statement.  

References:

Fanbytes, 2022 Gen Z Tiktok: What the rise of TikTok says about generation Z (2022) Fanbytes. https://fanbytes.co.uk/gen-z-tiktok 

Gwilt, A. (2014) University of the Arts London weblogin. https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350067059&tocid=b-9781350067059-chapter7&pdfid=9781350067059.ch-007.pdf 

Pillars

Fashion is a business, so profit is one of the crucial pillars for fashion companies to consider, remaining the normal commercial running and connecting to the company scale.

The size of the fashion industry、

The scale of the fashion industry is remarkable in terms of both economic value and practitioner in the industry worldwide as the fashion industry accounts for 2% of the GDP(Ariella,2022).

With referring to statistics, the size of the global apparel market in 2021 wealth 1.5trillion dollars (Smith,2022）and 430 millions Labor force worldwide in 2021(fashion united,2022).there is a different scales of fashion marketing and production in different regions, United States and China are occupied the majority of garment requirement and both producing ample higher revenues comparing to other countries. 154billion dollars’ worth of apparel were exported from China, with US is second only to the EU in the value of apparel imports.

How a brand remains competitive in uncertain economic times;

In recent years, with the continuous changes in the global economy, consumers’ consumption behaviour and habits have changed accordingly. Brands need to strive to maintain brand competitiveness under such circumstances, optimizing from ‘supply chains and assortments to way of working(Sidebar,2022).in accordance with McKinsey‘Ten theme across three categories will be critical for the fashion business in 2022’, logistics gridlock is definitely an issue making an incredible impact on the supply chain, with logistical logjams, rising shipping costs, and shortages of many kinds of complexity, companies must reconsider their sourcing strategies while implementing cutting-edge supply -chain management, building in greater flexibility to keep products flowing with customer demand in the year ahead (Sidebar,2022).luxury brand should realize the customer shifts in the majority of the offline flagship store and due to travel restrictions in some countries, according to Mckinsey(2022), international tourism is not expected to fully recover until between 2023 -2024. Luxury players should engage more deeply with domestic consumers and invest in clienteling for local e-commerce channels. Statistics from many fashion information websites show that in 2021-2022, consumers are increasingly concerned about the social responsibility of brands, the sustainable technology adopted, and the management of brand recycling programs, so the brand has an accredited sustainable model and advanced recycling and reprocessing technologies will be more competitive .increasing the investment on the technology of circular textiles to let closed-looped recycling system starting to be rolled out at scale is necessary for a brand to developing and consolidating market. Besides, with more and more people raising their sustainable consumption behaviour, the pre-loved and vintage market is thriving， however, along with the concern about the counterfeit problem, so many luxury brands use new technology to launch their chip–product passports, get rid of the authenticate card, confronting the fake product phenomenon in second-hand market.

How do creative directors bridge the gap between creativity and commerce?

Demna Gvasalia is an example, He was the rebellious icon of the fashion industry in recent years, giving Balenciaga’s catwalk show full of theatrical and full of storytelling, the AW2018 Balenciaga show a powerful and poignant new direction for Demna, the set of the show against a giant snow mountain, scrawled with graffiti messages that read ’think big ‘,’ the power of dreams, ’no borders’ and ‘you are the world,’ and the first time he introduces a set to his work. The show combines scenery, model performance, and the brand’s new quarterly ready-to-wear, which is called the designer’s artistic language output. the collection of hoodies, T-shirts, bum bags and baseball hats that appeared in the Balenciaga AW18 collection all emblazoned with the WFP logo with the slogan ‘Changing lives, saving lives（Shackleton,2018). .it was a kind of It is expression of the designer’s own art form due to Demna’s own childhood experience of being helped by the WFP. ’Fashion and art have historically shared a parasitic and independent relationship’ (Stevenson,2019）.In recent years, Demna has filled Balenciaga’s fashion design style with critical, exaggerated, absurd and solemn design language, combined with the show scenery similar to contemporary art, establishing the image of a pioneer artist. The brand Balenciaga serves as a medium for him to express his artistic form. This has contributed to Balenciaga’s success in recent years. as Nancy Troy(2003, P27) claimed that the artistic image which been built by the designer is also kind of a marketing strategy, potentially helping the brand media promotion as a signal of the brand.

Drucker encourages us to view contemporary artworks as vague fields of reference that ‘resonate profoundly through our shared cultural knowledge base.’( Stevenson,2019)

Art nowadays no longer exists independently of mediatized representations of reality。 So it’s normal for the creative designer to express the form of art or merge a kind of concept in their work. However, at the same time, the designer should focus on the promotion of their creativity and storytelling about their new concept to let the customers better accept the design. For example, a brand runway show is a good place to express and describe more representational of the meaning behind the creative by the An allegorical and directional setting. The designer should make sure that whatever they produce, which needs to face marketing, it’s necessary to be accepted by their target customer, they should consider the brand followers ‘ feelings, and the index of expected sales, letting the business keep going.

https://fashionunited.com/global-fashion-industry-statistics

Smith.T(2022) Global apparel market – statistics & facts. Available at:

https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/#topicHeader__wrapper

(Accessed atOctober 22th, 2022)

Sidebar(2022)Sate of fashion 2022:A uneven recovery and new frontiers.Availablet at:

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion(accessed at:October 22th,2022)

Shackleton. H(2018)how Demna Gvasalia is changing the world.Available at:

https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/mb4xyy/how-demna-gvasalia-is-changing-the-world(Accessed at: October  22th,2022)

Stevenson. C(2019)(I was there) when it  all went down”, Cronberg, Vestoj press

Every brand has a purpose, examples include raising awareness and promoting wellbeing. Brand purpose is particularly important for customers, especially Gen Z. This is supported by a Forbes repOrr that found that Gen Z are so conscious of brand ethos now that they are actually willing to spend “an incremental 10 percent or more on sustainable products” (Forbes, 2020). Brands have to adapt to these shopping patterns of Gen Z and acknowledge that customers are willing to boycott companies that don’t practice ethcial behaviours. The demand for an ethcial purpose is rising and brands are now expected to communicate their purpose to their customers.

An example of a brand that has entirely embraced the demands of an ethical purpose, is Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. The foundations of Rare Beauty is embracing your individuality and uniqueness, ”Rare Beauty can be more than a beauty brand. […] You’re not defined by a photo, a like, or a comment. Rare Beauty isn’t about how other people see you. It’s about how you see yourself.” (Glamour, 2020). As well as this Rare Beauty established “The Rare Impact Fund” which has pledged $100 million for mental health services to individuals in underserved communities. In order to achieve this, Rare Beauty is donating 1% of all sales to the fund. 

Like Rare Beauty, ’Wellbeing’ is a concept often prioritised by brands. While it is such a widespread term it can often be hard to describe. According to the American Psychological Association (APA) ’wellbeing’ is “A state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life.”. While some brands, like Rare Beauty, have communicated their purpose without distracting from their products, other brands such as Goop have fully commercialised the concept of wellbeing by heavily endorsing ’wellness’ products. Goop has marketed wellness products with false and unreliable scientific claims to Gen Z audiences by claiming that it will improve their wellbeing. One of their most notable controversies is the infamous ‘Rose quartz egg’ that claimed to ‘balance hormones and regulate menstrual cycles’. In 2018, Goop suffered a $145,000 (£112,000) loss for making these unscientific claims (BBC, 2020).

According to the CFI, the sharing economy can be described as “an economic model in which goods and resources are shared by individuals and groups in a collaborative way such that physical assets become services” (Corporate Finance Institute, 2021). The sharing economy is relevant in today’s climate as it eliminates waste and the need for people to own all of their possessions. For consumers, the sharing economy is particularly beneficial as it makes everyday costs more affordable. “The basis of the sharing economy is simple: by using the internet to expand our networks, the needs of one consumer can easily be met by another community member.” (IE University Driving Innovation, 2020). In practice, Uber is a good example of this. Uber drivers can work as much or as little as they choose to, by providing consumers near them the service of a taxi for a reasonable cost.

Reference List:

Allure (2020) Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty Line Is Coming Soon, and We Got to Try It Early., Available at: https://www.allure.com/story/selena-gomez-rare-beauty-makeup-line-interview-review (Accessed: 28/10/22).

BBC (2020) Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop series on Netflix slammed by NHS chief., Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51312441 (Accessed: 28/10/22).

CFI (2021) Sharing Economy., Available at: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/sharing-economy/ (Accessed: 28/10/22).

Forbes (2020) Sustainable Retail: How Gen Z Is Leading The Pack., Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2020/01/31/sustainable-retail-how-gen-z-is-leading-the-pack/ (Accessed: 28/10/22).

Glamour (2020) Rare Beauty: Selena Gomez’s Beauty Line Is Finally Here., Available at: https://www.glamour.com/story/selena-gomez-rare-beauty-line-details (Accessed: 28/10/22).

IE University Driving Innovation (2020).,Available at: https://drivinginnovation.ie.edu/what-are-the-advantages-of-the-sharing-economy/ (Accessed: 28/10/22).

Figure Reference List:

Allure (2020) Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty Line Is Coming Soon, and We Got to Try It Early., Available at: https://www.allure.com/story/selena-gomez-rare-beauty-makeup-line-interview-review (Accessed: 28/10/22).

Goop (2020) Rose Quartz Egg., Available at https://goop.com/goop-wellness-rose-quartz-egg/p/ (Accessed: 28/10/22).

IE University Driving Innovation (2020).,Available at: https://drivinginnovation.ie.edu/what-are-the-advantages-of-the-sharing-economy/ (Accessed: 28/10/22).

Profit is one of the 4 pillars of the fashion business school, It is one of the most important as it encourages the industry to prosper as well as develop . The fashion industry statistics show that the apparel and textile sector is the 4th biggest in the world (Major, J.S. and Steele, V. 2018) resulting in an increase in the industries profit. Especially after covid, and the mass amount of online shopping done resulted to Ecommerce growing fast, the pandemic pushed even more U.S. consumers online and pushed to spend frequently. Digital Commerce 360 estimates the pandemic contributed an extra $218.53 billion to ecommerce’s bottom line over the past two years. In 2020, the coronavirus added $102.08 billion in U.S ecommerce, and it added $116.45 billion in 2021, according to Digital Commerce 360 . Therefore majorly increasing the retail industry due to customers being forced to stay indoors a lot of people shopped within their free time. However due to the high demand of products there would have been a mass amount of over consumption resulting in mass production as well as wastage which is not sustainable, this would be taken into account when consumers make decisions on their purchases.

The fashion industry currently consists of four levels, the production of raw materials, principally fibres and textiles but also leather and fur. The production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others; retail sales; and various forms of advertising and promotion. (CBInsights 2021) it is becoming harder for these sectors to perform especially when selling to a market such as generation z who have strong beliefs in sustainability. It is more expensive to become sustainable within a business especially due to covid due to decrease in certain sales therefore making it challenging for brands to afford to be sustainable as majority of consumers within this generation are more socially responsible and are aware of what products they purchase and how their being produced.

Moreover today, fashion technology is growing at a faster pace than ever as technology is evolving it is providing more opportunities for the industry. Robots that sew and cut fabric, algorithms that predict style trends, clothes to be worn in virtual reality, an array of innovations show how technology is automating, personalising, and speeding up the fashion space(,,,,) , this would allow brands to reach consumers specific needs and understand what specifically needs to be produced to meet the needs of the market.

In addition a brand can remain competitive in uncertain economic times by taking inactive and creating a stronger brand image, past crises also show that brands that have the strongest brand positioning and equities emerge stronger during a crises than brands that are mainstream. Premium and luxury sectors tend to perform much better during recessions than average segments, hence the ability to create extreme value is critical for navigating successfully through a crisis. However brands who are non luxury brands would not have the funding to invest into things like marketing as well as developing their products like luxury brands. Some examples of how to adapt through a economic struggle

Nurture and protect employees and give them perspective (e2fashion.com n.d.)

• create extreme value, you need to refocus on brand equity building in times of crisis. The best brands focus on their core values and make sure the brand storytelling is precise, specific, insight-driven, and differentiating, which creates meaningful value for their customers.

• Innovate and become more influential , by adapting to the current issues and seeing how they could make it easier for consumers to buy or wjhat they need such as during covid majority of retail brands took thinner business online as this was how consumers were purchasing products. or even moving their whole business online as it would work out cheaper than having a store

• Transform digitally

• one of the biggest business impacts of The Pandemic is that it’s highlighted just how important e-commerce has become. Luxury brands have been a combination of tradition and arrogance. Luxury thrives on exclusivity; a luxurious in-store experience; and luxury brands are notoriously controlling about their image. But the future is online – which is why LVMH’s latest ‘cabinet reshuffle’ shows how even luxury brands are being forced to sit up and take e-commerce seriously. (DMARGE. (2020).)

For creative directors to engage and bridge the gap to the audience about creativity and commerce, they must market their product in a way that evolves art as well as skill. Many consumers like to purchase products with a story and extravagant displays . Therefore, if brands portray a message of meaning through their products, it is more likely customers would relate and purchase the product. the invention of the Little Black Dress from coco Chanel incorporated comfort as well as creativity. Wearing a fitting black dress might be a go-to for all western-clothing-clad women today. But it was Coco who invented it, removing uncomfortable frills, corsets, and laces from women’s clothing. she was adapting to the trends of the current era emerging creativity and commerce and to this day her work is constantly worn and continues to be adapted to the target market.

Referencing

Major, J.S. and Steele, V. (2018). Fashion industry. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/fashion-industry.

‌CBInsights (2021). The Future Of Fashion: From Design To Merchandising, How Tech Is Reshaping The Industry. [online] CB Insights Research. Available at: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/fashion-tech-future-trends/.

‌www.fibre2fashion.com (n.d.). Brand Strategy: Rules for Uncertain Times. [online] www.fibre2fashion.com. Available at: https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/8630/brand-strategy-rules-for-uncertain-times [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

‌DMARGE. (2020). Louis Vuitton’s Digital Moves Evidence That Luxury Brands Are Finally Taking E-Commerce Seriously. [online] Available at: https://www.dmarge.com/lvmh-taking-e-commerce-seriously [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Roberta, V. (2021). Building a legacy: Chanel’s Luxury Marketing Strategy. [online] TheStrategyStory. Available at: https://thestrategystory.com/2021/04/03/chanel-marketing-strategy/.

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