Alessia Bartolomei

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Purpose

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Purpose can be defined as the reason for which something is done, created or why something exists. (Van Volkinburg,2023). A way in which you can demonstrate the purpose of yourself, or something is through the model Ikigai. It shows the reason for being, as well as allowing you to question why we exist? , what motivates you most in life? , and if you can earn money from it? (Van Volkinburg,2023).

The philosophy of a brand is important as it shows to the consumer its main purpose as well, it’s key values. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important within showing the brand’s philosophy as it “refers to companies taking responsibility for their impact within society”. (Londrigan & Jenkins, 2018). Stella McCartney successfully demonstrates this. Within the company’s website it displays the centre of their work ethic. Communicating that showing responsibility and honesty when making decisions helps to have “an eye towards the future”. (Londrigan & Jenkins, 2018). Highstreet brands also engage with CSR, for example Asos. Illustrating their mission and vision on their Fashion with integrity page. Their mission tends to focus on people and the planet. The vision in relation to people is to be ‘transparent’ and ‘diverse’. In relation to the planet is to be ‘net-zero’ and have more of a circular economy by 2030. (Asos, 2022). An example of the company being transparent is in March 2021, they announced they were ‘committed’ to publishing the supply chains of their ‘newly acquired brands’. As well, in January 2021 they announced that they are now allowing customers to merge numerous returns into one parcel, helping reduce emissions. (Asos,2022). The concept of brand philosophy is therefore important to the consumer, as they would like to see changes within a company to demonstrate their responsibility. In fact, 76% of a group of GenZers said they would consider purchasing from a company which is up to date with current issues and is supportive. (Curry,2020).

Brands want to consistently have Gen Z’s attention in order to demonstrate their purpose; a main way is through authenticity. Spagnuolo (2020) expressed that if there are aspects within a brand’s story that isn’t authentic, “its going to be exposed immediately”. Tiktok is a main way for companies to do this, as they create trends allowing the consumer to get involved. Mattress company Simmons  created a hashtag on tiktok called #snoozzzapalooza, it encouraged viewers to use their bed as a stage and to ‘stage dive’ onto it. The hashtag was a success and received “more than 6 billion views”,  and the brand’s website saw “a 104% increase in traffic”. (Wilson, 2021).

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  1. khaled: good

Profit

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Profit is an important aspect within a business as it tends to demonstrate how successful the brand is currently doing. It shows the brand how much money has been earnt in relation to how much money has been spent.

The fashion industry continues to grow and develop its size each year, with being the 7th largest economy in the world. The global revenue pre-covid 19 was between $1.7 trillion and $2.5 trillion. However, there has been an estimate 6.1% growth between 2022-2023 to $1.95 billion. (Fashion United, 2021). The luxury sector of the industry appears to be performing relatively well, with a predicted increase of between 5-10%. (Mckinsey, 2022). The Lyst Index demonstrates that many luxury fashion houses are thriving. For instance, within the Q1 Lyst index Moncler has had a +25% revenue. As well, within Q2 it demonstrates that Valentino has had a 10% rise in annual sales, (Lyst Index, 2023). Nevertheless, when excluding the luxury sector there has been a struggle for growth, with low sales within Europe, it is expected to shrink between 1 and 4%. This could mostly be the blame of inflation as well as insecure currencies. (Mckinsey,2022).

In fact, within these uncertain economic periods, it is essential for brands to remain competitive. A way in which this could be done is if a brand has a celebrity or an influencer as an ambassador or even promoting their products. This allows the brand to gain engagement from the right consumers in return. (Mitterfellner, 2019). A way in which this has been successful is with the brand Glossier. Within the pandemic in 2021 sales started to decline 22%. This was at a cause of multiple things, like bad publicity, failed brand strategies as well as the resignation of the chief executive Emily Weiss. (Financial Times, 2023). Nevertheless, her replacement Kyle Leahy has aided the brand to regain its momentum, by reopening its flagship store in New York as well as opening multiple in various locations. In addition, they have appointed singer Olivia Rodrigo as their brand ambassador allowing consumers to emulate with her, the brand’s marketing department stated that there are “many parallels between Glossier’s ‘come as you are’ ethos and Olivia Rodrigo’s songwriting nature”. (Vogue Business,2022).

The late Karl Lagerfeld would bridge the gap between creativity and commerce within his large and extravagant fashion shows. Some examples are when an airport was created in Paris’ Grand Palais for the S/S 2016 show, as well as a giant rocket for the Fall 2017 show. (Mitterfellner, 2019).

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People blog

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The business pillar, people tends to concentrates on the way in which people are treated throughout the fashion industry. For instance, whether employees are being treated ethically and fairly, if diversity is being upheld and, helping to improve the lives of workers and their consumers. One particular company which does this is the shoe brand TOMs, they have a policy where “every purchase, TOMs will help someone in need”. (Londrigan and Jenkins, 2018).

Generation Z (Gen Z) are people who are born between 1996-2010 and have grown up with the internet and developments constantly around them. Gen Z love to express themselves through fashion, and in fact tend to feed into the fast fashion concept, especially with the constant development of new trends, this is particularly supported by the fashion brand Shein (adding up to 6000 new products a day). (McKinsey & Co, 2023 a). Nevertheless, a lot of Gen Z enjoy thrifting and tend to have wardrobes consisting of a mixture of cheap fast fashion and older vintage pieces. In fact, Gen Z as consumers have started to buy products with a matter of ethical concern (Francis & Hoefel, 2018), and 73% have started to try buy from brands they consider ethical or even buying second hand. (McKinsey & Co, 2023 b).

In order to attract more Gen Z consumers, companies use a number of different techniques to draw in more customers. Some main examples are collaborating with other brands or celebrities. However, only a small number of brands use technology to attract customers. Lifestyle brand Zalando has developed a technology which determines a customer’s size based on two images of the client wearing tight fitting clothing. This may well attract more Gen Z because of the convenience of the technology. (Trend watching, 2023).

Rihannah’s lingerie brand Savage X Fenty is diverse in everything that they produce. Their marketing, the shows and the products always show different types of people, whether it is down to their race, gender, size, and age there is always a person that can relate to the customer. In fact, Rihannah herself mentioned that it is important “to create a line that women can see themselves in”. (British Vogue, 2018). In addition, when people see a model similar to them, purchases increase 300%. ( Franklin MBE, 2023).

Because of the rapid ongoing technological developments, brands need to invest in employees with “programming and computing skills” (Stollzoff, 2018), as the future of fashion will primarily be online, therefore employees should have skills and experience in e-commerce.

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Planet Blog

Planet Blog

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Planet, one of the 4 pillars behind the Fashion business school, it really focuses on the ways in which business and companies can be more sustainable in regard to their designing, making, and distributing. It allows the businesses to rethink their decisions as well as aid them into making more concise and conscious choices in favour of the environment. A way in which businesses can help this fight for the environment is through using the Circular Economy. This is a diverse model in comparison to the regular linear model, where garment’s life spans are maintained and prolonged, as well as reducing waste and pollution. This is mostly done through repairing, upcycling, reusing fabrics and fibres, and regifting the garments. Throughout the pre-industrial world this concept was widely used because clothes were considered a luxury. The common people would “adapt their dresses” to demonstrate the changing of trends, as well as repairing and fixing the clothes in order to “extend their wear”. (Hethorn & Ulasewicz 2015). The world has gotten used to the idea of overconsumption of clothes, and there is a big problem with the amount of fabric and resources wasted,  85% of textiles are sent to landfills this is 21 billion tons a year. (Rimarcikova 2023). In addition to this waste, synthetic fabrics cannot be broken down, it takes 600 years for a fishing net to degrade. Overproduction and consumption within the fashion industry is ruining the planet , in fact 1.2 billion tonnes of Co2 gas is emitted annually by the fashion industry alone. Nevertheless, big brands and companies such as Fibersort and Worn again technologies have been developing and creating new fibres which can be recycled. They are named biofibres, some examples are Pinatex made from pineapple leaf fibres, orange fibre made from citrus by products and Microsilk, which is created from spider silk threads. (Gwilt, 2020). Indicating that some organisations within the fashion industry are to understand the consequences and are trying to correct them. Furthermore, the sustainability battle has been overshadowed by the United Nation’s 17 Sustainability Development Goals. Goal 12: responsible consumption and production is the most relevant in regard to the fashion industry. The predominant example is exhaustion of the world’s natural resources and the high levels of wastage produced.  Although, in relation to this goal some manufacturers have started to use the concept Just in Time (JIT). This means products can be manufactured 30/40% quicker, and there being no unnecessary stock. (Gwilt 2020). Reducing waste as well as emissions from production levels.

Hethorn, J., & Ulasewicz, C. (eds). (2015). Sustainable Fashion: What’s Next? A Conversation about Issues, Practices and Possibilities. New York: Bloomsbury

Rimarckiova, K. (2023) Planet, Earth and Fashion (assessed 2nd October 2023).

Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion.

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My favourite fashion brand

My favourite fashion brand

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Dolce and Gabbana

Dolce and Gabbana first came about in 1985, when the duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana met 2 years earlier. Their first show was in Milan a year after their establishment. They really started to gain popularity in 1993, when Madonna chose them to design costumes for her Girlie Show World Tour. Since that moment many big names started to also choose the designers. Throughout their collections they tend to really show their Italian heritage and loudly demonstrate their love for their country. This was particularly shown within their Spring summer 16 show. This was nicknamed Italia is love. Within this, many of the garments were heavily embellished and printed in bold and colourful patterns, as well as quotes from old Italian films and printed monuments onto the pieces. However, in the more recent years, the brand has also been quite controversial, because of backlash from an advertisement showing a Chinese lady struggling to eat pizza with chopsticks. This caused a decrease in total turnover from 25% to 22% in Asia. The designers then asked for “forgiveness” in a video posted on Twitter. (FoB ,2019). In aid to salvage their public perception they collaborated with Kim Kardashian where she “curated” the entire Dolce and Gabbana Spring summer 23 collection. The collection consisted of archived D&G pieces that all have a ‘memory’ attached to them. (Vogue Business, 2022). Kim was able to put her finger on the essence that enabled D&G to survive countless crises and scandals throughout the years.

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