profit
Profit within business usually means the income earned after subtracting the costs from the total revenue. However, many businesses are now basing their profits not just on the financial side but also by meeting their KPI’s within the company. This can also link to their business goals which many fashion brands post on their websites and could link to environment or standards. This means that there is now more than one way to measure success rather than looking just at the financial side of a fashion business we can see how they are operating and profiting the people and planet.
The fashion industry has grown an expediential amount since the 60’s where more people began to experiment and then in the 90’s and 2000’s where online shopping began and shops such as Zara and H&M where born, where people could buy the latest fashion trends. The industry is expected to rise to $1.7 trillion in 2022. (Radonic, 2022) within the UK alone the industry is up to £6.1 billion (fashionunited.uk, 2022) due to the increased availability though online business and the decrease of garment prices due to price competitiveness.
There are many different sectors within the fashion industry including design, marketing, manufacturing, and retailing. Design and manufacturing are usually seen as the most harmful to the environment. Which has led many brands to change their manufacturing processes and design elements to more sustainable materials. Retailing and marketing also link together and are the causing factor of the design and manufacturing line. Due to the high demand of fast fashion, brands will have a quick turnover of advertising products then quickly sell these products and move onto the next trend. This has caused a huge environmental impact with 92 million tonnes of textiles going to landfills each year worldwide. (Beall, 2020) This means all sectors within the industry would need to co-corporate in a much more sustainable way for consumers to consume less and recycle more.
Within economic uncertainty brands can stay relevant by talking out about global issues and ways the brand can help. This can be used to the brands advantage by causing a positive image, creating a positive view of the brand leading to increased sales in the future. This can be done on social media where it can be seen by millions of people and where the company can support followers online. This was done during the George Floyd case where many companies, such as boohoo and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, supported online by doing #blackout Tuesday. (Hanbury, 2020)
Commers and art have always overlapped like, Piet Mondrian creating innovative styles for Yves Saint Laurent in 1965 stemming from the 1929 painting ‘Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow’. (Jelen, 2021) These have now been placed into museums. These pieces of art create thought prosses for brands to innovate their styles and push new fashion trends and highlight world issues though different garments.
Reference list:
■Radonic, D. (2022). The Most Important Fashion Industry Statistics in 2022. [online] Fashion Discounts. Available at: https://fashiondiscounts.uk/fashion-industry-statistics/.
■fashionunited.uk. (2022). UK fashion industry statistics. [online] Available at: https://fashionunited.uk/uk-fashion-industry-statistics.
■Beall, A. (2020). Why Clothes Are so Hard to Recycle. [online] BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle.
■Hanbury, M. (2020). Major brands and retailers join the ‘Blackout Tuesday’ movement with some closing stores and urging employees to protest peacefully. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/major-brands-and-retailers-join-blackout-tuesday-movement-2020-6?r=US&IR=T.
■Jelen Greta (2021). A Look Back at Yves Saint Laurent’s Piet Mondrian Collection – Piet Mondrian Modern Art Fa. [online] Available at: https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/artist-piet-mondrian-yves-saint-laurent-dress-history.