People

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“Fashion matters. To the economy, to society and to each of us personally” (Corner, 2014, p.4)

Fashion is a form of self expression that extends well beyond superficiality: a way to understand individuals. Fashion connects the people of the world, it allows them to communicate their values, beliefs and identities. The ‘People’ pillar explores this fundamental relationship between the fashion industry and the world around it, and how they must grow and adapt alongside each other.

Gen-Z, individuals born between 1996 and 2010 (McKinsey et al, 2023), stray from more outdated practices and values, instead focusing more on transparency and the ethics of fashion within the modern world. McKinsey et al explore how these ‘digital natives’ (McKinsey et al, 2023) utilise the internet as a way to inform and make more responsible purchases, which is due to their overall collective demands for purpose and accountability, including opportunities for all as well as more sustainable and green practices (Mckinsey et al, 2023). It is imperative that brands are able to cater to this new wave of demands, especially since Gen-Z consumers are concerned with not only diversity and inclusivity, but also place a heavy responsibility on companies to ‘address environmental and social issues’ (McKinsey et al, 2023) with the expectation that they are able to back up these claims with real change (McKinsey et al, 2023) . 

Djerf Avenue is a Swedish company who, at the very core of their brand, focus on diversity and inclusivity. They never edit or retouch photos on their social media or website, they employ models from all backgrounds as well as models with disabilities, and their sizes range from XXS to XXL. Through this they are able to subvert harmful ideals and values and embrace diversity within the world. Another brand that openly displays and embraces diversity is Vogue; not only do they display a wide range of diverse models on their covers, such as US Vogue’s September 2021 issue featuring ‘trans and plus-size models of varying ethnicities’ (Ng, 2021) in order to ‘challenge definitions of beauty’ (Ng, 2021), but they also internally display diversity, with Tyler Mitchell being the first black photographer in history to shoot a cover of Vogue (Russo, 2019). 

Brands must keep up with new demands and values of Gen-Z, in order to be successful. Transparency should be at the fore-front; consumers are becoming ever more aware of making more responsible purchases, meaning that if they can easily access and understand the values of the brand on their website, they will be more inclined to purchase from them. Brands also have to be able to adapt and change to new values and practices, particularly focusing on becoming more accessible to the digital market, and Gen-Z consumers. 

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