People
People. The stitches that bind innovation and creativity together to form the fashion industry. While fashion is often colloquially dubbed an “art form” (Castro, 2023), in its roots, it’s a business. Because successful businesses rely on people to function, understanding all those involved is a key part of what drives the fashion industry. This foundational pillar of “people” dovetails with the contemporary landscape where Gen Z consumers have taken to the main stage.
Gen Z, short for Generation Z, are people born between 1996 and 2010. Transparency, sustainability, and a brand’s unique narrative are amongst the top things Gen Z value in companies, as they look “beyond tangible products” and attempt to understand “what makes the company tick” (Finneman, 2020). For them, not only garments direct their spending, but the journey leading up to the shelves as well. 9/10 surveyors on a McKinsey study believed that companies had a responsibility to address environmental and social issues, and 73% of Gen Z reported trying to purchase from companies they consider ethical (McKinsey, 2023). And for companies that meet these standards, Gen Z consumers are “willing to pay a premium for sustainable garments” (Rahilly, 2020).
Although transparency amongst companies has become a luxury, as the “rarest thing in fashion today is 100% traceability” (Castro, 2023), many brands have begun sharing their “cost-breakdown of products and manufacturing processes” (Kim et al., 2020) to meet this demand. For example, Everlane, an American retailer, started engaging in “Radical Transparency”, breaking down components of production costs, publishing chronicles detailing field visits, relationships with vendors, and more (Kim et al., 2020). With this initiative, Everlane saw a $150 million increase in revenue over a span of 3 years. Similarly, outerwear brand Patagonia’s “Footprint Chronicles” shared information about its supply chain, featuring clips of their textile mills and fabric companies, and was recognized as the “UN Champion of Earth”, the UN’s top environmental honor (Kim et al., 2020).
Transparency isn’t the only “people” skill needed for success in fashion. Caryn Franklin highlights “authenticity” as another factor, as “bias is learned, but authenticity is who you are separate from the learning” (Franklin, 2023). Linking this to Gen Z consumers, one-way authenticity can be discerned is through what Becker-Olsen and Potucek describes as ‘greenwashing,’ which refers to the “practice of falsely promoting an organization’s environmental efforts or spending more resources to promote the organization as green than are spent to actually engage in environmentally sound practices” (Adamkiewicz, J. et al., 2022). This phenomenon acts as a litmus test, distinguishing genuinely authentic brands from those adopting sustainability merely in response to market pressures.
Citations:
(2023) What is Gen Z? [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/mckinsey%20explainers/what%20is%20gen%20z/what-is-gen-z.pdf (Accessed: 10 October 2023).
Adamkiewicz, J. et al. (2022) ‘Greenwashing and Sustainable Fashion Industry’, Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 38, p. 100710. doi:10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100710.
Castro, O.D. (2023) ‘The Z to A of Happiness: A Gen Z Guide’. London: UAL , 9 October.
Franklin, C. (2023) ‘Diversity, inclusion culture and equality’. London: UAL, 9 October.
Kim, N.L., Kim, G. and Rothenberg, L. (2020) ‘Is honesty the best policy? examining the role of price and Production Transparency In Fashion Marketing’, Sustainability, 12(17), p. 6800. doi:10.3390/su12176800.
Rahilly, L., Finneman, B. and Spagnuolo, E. (2020) Meet Generation Z: Shaping the future of Shopping, McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/meet-generation-z-shaping-the-future-of-shopping (Accessed: 09 October 2023).