To build the solid brand, fashion brand should contain their own philosophy to maintain their business. Brand philosophy can be specified in mission, vision and value proposition. Then why is it important for brand to have their own philosophy in the industry?

Mission they set, vision they see and value proposition they pursue shows what identity that the brand itself represent. In 2022, people and media are aware of sustainability, diversity and well-being in fashion. Well-being In fashion is how people feel while they are wearing the garment. For example, when people are wearing more artistic clothes, they more feel artist, and when they are wearing uniform, they more feel professional of their job. According to the tutor’s note, (Terrelonge, 2022), American psychological association (APA) insist wellbeing can be define as ‘A state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life.’ In the lecture, lecture defined wellbeing into five sectors which are subjective, social, financial, physical and emotional. Brand should focus on meeting the needs of these five factors of consumer’s wellbeing. These can be their biggest mission and through this, brand can specify their vision in the business.

As concerns about abusing nature to create new clothing increases, most of the fashion brand’s vision is being sustainable and to have circular system. Especially when it comes to recycling and upcycling, the important thing can be to create some product that is completely different looking, to catch people’s eye and being sustainable at the same time. According to Gwilt, (2016, p 129), ‘within sustainable fashion circles there has been a movement to revive craft skills. Aside from creative approaches to repair, other popular techniques include altering, refurbishing and remanufacturing garments that might otherwise be discarded. In altering a garment, the aim is to make it appear different. Alterations may be slight, for example, changing a long-sleeve shirt to a short-sleeve shirt, or so significant that the original appearance of the garment almost completely disappears.’ As the author mentioned above, to communicate with gen z with their sustainable philosophy, being creative is a necessary part in brand’s marketing strategies.

Citation

Terrelonge, D. (2022) ‘The power of fashion: Clothing x wellbeing’. FT Yr1: Introduction to fashion marketing and consumer behaviour. University of the Arts London. Available at:

Alison, G. (2016) A practical guid to sustainable fashion. London: Bloomsbury.

Purpose is one of the four pillars of the fashion industry and is the long term goal of the fashion industry in developing brands that provide sustainable wellbeings for the industry and the world, such as providing more jobs and reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Brand Philosophy is a brand’s “way of doing things” and belief in that way, a mission, vision, value proposition that each brand communicates to the outside world(shela-heramis). If a brand has a clear brand philosophy and is able to communicate with its customers, then it will be more attractive to them. For example, Nike’s philosophy to their customers is not to be afraid of failure in everything they do, to Just Do It, as their slogan suggests. nike’s marketing and advertising all communicate this concept. This clear message is a great way to attract people who want to be part of the movement to take action and buy Nike products.

The sharing economy uses technology to facilitate the exchange of access to goods or services between two or more parties, where both parties can share value from an unused skill or asset(Miller). This exchange of value takes place through shared marketplaces, collaborative platforms or peer-to-peer applications. In the fashion industry, platforms such as girlmeetsdress, a dress rental site, offer a service where multiple people rent a dress to share the value of that dress. Other examples of the sharing economy in life are Uber and so on.

Brands that want to reach their goals through gen z have to use what they do best, the internet. In fact, the biggest cultural moment to capture the attention of young audiences in 2020 is happening on digital campfire platforms rather than traditional social platforms (Wilson). So if you want to get their ideas across to gen z you need to be good at using digital campfire platforms. For example, tikTok, which has 100 million monthly active users in the US alone, is great for brands to promote. Brands can find online celebrities to work with and post challenges to attract genz so that more people can understand the brand’s philosophy, communicate the brand’s purpose and provide more opportunities for wellbeings.

Reference

Institute, UTS. Wellbeing Wardrobe: A Wellbeing Economy for the Fashion and Textile Sector. 2022.

Joseph, Seb. “Top Ten Nike “Just Do It” Ads – Marketing Week.” Marketing Week, 22 Aug. 2013, www.marketingweek.com/top-ten-nike-just-do-it-ads/.

Miller, Derek. “The Sharing Economy and How It Is Changing Industries.” The Balance, 19 Sept. 2022, www.thebalancemoney.com/the-sharing-economy-and-how-it-changes-industries-4172234.

shela-heramis. “What Is Brand Philosophy? [+How to Find Yours].” Brand Master Academy, 13 Mar. 2020, brandmasteracademy.com/brand-philosophy/.

Wilson, Sara. “Where Brands Are Reaching Gen Z.” Harvard Business Review, 11 Mar. 2021, hbr.org/2021/03/where-brands-are-reaching-gen-z.

The purpose pillar relates to the subjective term wellbeing. The American Psychological Association (APA) describes wellbeing as “a state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life”.

Brand philosophy refers to “the brand’s “way of doing things” and the belief in that method. It answers the question ‘what is “our way” and why is that important to us” (Shela-heramis, 2020). 

Brands must consider their mission, vision and value proposition; this is important because it helps shape and define a brands image and what they embody, stand for and represent in order to define and differentiate themselves within the fashion industry. 

Brands communicate their purpose to GenZ by stressing their brand values through campaigns. GenZ are the generation known for acting for change, technology, innovation and activism. 

Stella McCartney for example is known for “being responsible, being honest, and making decisions and practicing with an eye toward the future. This means engaging in practices that will sustain not only the business but also the environment and the people residing in that environment. There are also secondary ethical concepts embedded in McCartney’s website: respect, trust, and the need for the fashion industry to practice reflection every day of its work. Decisions that are right and just, not only for brands, designers, and retailers but also for the environment and people, ultimately will build trust between all of the key participants in the fashion industry. Sometimes difficult questions must be asked so that difficult decisions can be made that take into account CSR and corporate philanthropy” (Londrigan and Jenkins, 2018).

(www.bearingpoint.com, 2018) explains that the sharing economy, “predominantly aimed at women, is the idea is to make a wide range of high-end clothing accessible to everybody. No longer do your wardrobes need to be the graveyards of ‘never-to-be-worn-again’ items”. For example online “sites like Poshmark and threadUP allow individuals to sell their gently used clothing while services like Le Tote offer subscribers the ability to borrow clothes and return them like a Netflix subscription for your closet” (Marr, 2016). Also, “Rent the Runway allows women to rent designer gowns for a special event at a fraction of the price of buying one.” (Marr, 2016).

The sharing economy is another approach towards sustainable fashion, as instead of buying clothes new, it allows people to rent clothes. This prevents people buying clothes and only wearing it once and never again and also clothes going to landfill.

References:

Adam, H. and Galinsky, A.D. (2012). Enclothed cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, [online] 48(4), pp.918–925. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.008.

Clothes and Self-Perception. (2012). The New York Times. [online] 3 Apr. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/clothes-and-self-perception.html.

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Londrigan, M.P. and Jenkins, J.M. (2018). Fashion supply chain management. New York: Fairchild Books, An Imprint Of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.

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Marr, B. (2016). The Sharing Economy – What It Is, Examples, And How Big Data, Platforms And Algorithms Fuel It. Forbes. [online] 23 Oct. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/10/21/the-sharing-economy-what-it-is-examples-and-how-big-data-platforms-and-algorithms-fuel/.

Shela-heramis (2020). What Is Brand Philosophy? [+How To Find Yours]. [online] Brand Master Academy. Available at: https://brandmasteracademy.com/brand-philosophy/.

‌www.bearingpoint.com. (2018). The Sharing Economy – will we be sharing a wardrobe in the future? [online] Available at: https://www.bearingpoint.com/en-gb/insights-events/insights/the-sharing-economy-will-we-be-sharing-a-wardrobe-in-the-future/.

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.

A business’s purpose refers to the ‘why’ behind the corporation. It clarifies a company’s core reason for existing and its resulting impact on the world (McKinsey, 2020). A company’s purpose, if authentic, demonstrates value. Brand philosophy involves critical consideration to how a business defines itself. This understanding of corporate identity, the basic character or ethos of the firm (Barnett et al., 2006, p. 33), is the blueprint for further brand decisions (Silva, 2020). Corporate identity is important because it determines how the organization presents itself to its stakeholders and responds to questions like “who are you?” or “what is the organization?” (Dowling, 2004, p. 21). A “company’s identity, and thus its core philosophy and values, can be communicated through mission and vision statements” (Yamauchi, 2001). The mission statement defines a brand’s purpose, objectives and how it plans to serve its audience, it is what makes the brand unique. The vision statement, on the other hand, is more “forward thinking” (Campbell and Tawaday, 1990; Yamauchi, 2001). It indicates the desired status of the company in the future. In addition to mission and vision, a company must summarize how the “benefit of the product or service will be delivered, experienced, and acquired,” in other words, the value proposition (CFI, 2022). As a whole, brand philosophy communicates the values of a brand to target groups such as consumers, shareholders, and employees, and therefore is of utmost importance. (Leuthesser and Kohli, 1997)  

Gen Z makes up 41% of the population (Poile, 2021). According to a 2021 report by social media platform Snapchat, Gen Z has a global spending power of $4.4 trillion. With a “purpose-driven approach to consumption,” Gen-Z consumers value authenticity over all else (Business of Fashion, 2020). It is therefore crucial for brands to communicate their purpose effectively to Gen Z. A joint study by the UN’s Development Programme and the University of Oxford found that 69% of teenagers believe climate change is an emergency. Thus, it is essential for brands to convey “clear and ambitious targets to combat the climate crisis” (Poile, 2021). Gen Z also cares deeply about diversity, with 75% considering themselves to be “inclusive.” For this reason, brands must say the right thing, but most importantly, take action (Poile, 2021). A primary mode of communication between brands and the tech sazzy Gen Z is social media. An example of evolution within the industry is the sharing economy (Marr, 2016). This is an economic model facilitated by a community-based online platform, based on sharing access to goods and services. 

Sources

Barnett, M.L., Jermier, J.M. and Lafferty, B.A. (2006) “Corporate reputation: The definitional landscape,” Corporate Reputation Review, 9(1), pp. 26–38. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550012. 

CFI Team (2022) Value proposition, Corporate Finance Institute. Available at: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/value-proposition/ (Accessed: October 26, 2022). 

Dowling, G.R. (2004) “Corporate reputations: Should you compete on yours?,” California Management Review, 46(3), pp. 19–36. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/41166219. 

​​Leape, S. (2020) More than a mission statement: How the 5PS embed purpose to deliver value, McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/more-than-a-mission-statement-how-the-5ps-embed-purpose-to-deliver-value (Accessed: October 25, 2022). 

Marr, B. (2016) The sharing economy – what it is, examples, and how big data, platforms and algorithms fuel it, Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/10/21/the-sharing-economy-what-it-is-examples-and-how-big-data-platforms-and-algorithms-fuel/?sh=379e76557c5a (Accessed: October 27, 2022). 

Poile, M. (2021) Gen Z Priorities 2021, University of the Arts London weblogin. Available at: https://www-wgsn-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/insight/article/90391#page9 (Accessed: October 28, 2022). 

Silva, P. (2020) Why philosophy has much to do with brand-building (and what that looks like), Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/piasilva/2020/11/19/why-philosophy-has-much-to-do-with-brand-building-and-what-that-looks-like/?sh=20561c0071f9 (Accessed: October 26, 2022).

Team, B.F. (2021) How to communicate and connect with gen-z consumers, The Business of Fashion. The Business of Fashion. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/afterpay-communicate-and-connect-with-gen-z-consumers/ (Accessed: October 25, 2022). 

Reisman, D. (1990) “Oxford and Cambridge,” Alfred Marshall’s Mission, pp. 38–59. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11542-6_4. 

Yamauchi, K. (2001), “Corporate communication: a powerful tool for stating corporate missions”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 131-6. Available at: 

THE FOUR PILLARS…

PURPOSE

Behind the latest releases of new trainers and the constant additions to online fast fashion brands, a brand’s purpose is what draws in its consumers – not just its external image. When a brand decides to prioritise change, whether that may be through taking a more sustainable approach towards fabric sourcing or perhaps to donate 20% of sale proceeds to charity, that is what engages the consumer and makes them continue to purchase from them. Many people may not have the means to donate to charity on a regular basis; however, through purchasing from a brand like Two Blind Brothers, with 100% of proceeds going to charities for the visually impaired, the consumer is still making a significant change. Furthermore, this exemplifies how a sharing economy works. As explained by Simon Lovick, a sharing economy is a system in which “assets and services are shared between private individuals”. An example of this is through entrepreneurship and startup’s such as Two Blind Brothers as revenue is constantly being turned over and placed into the business to increase its growth.

A brand philosophy is what makes each brand unique and allows them to continue generating sales. Although not all consumers research a brand’s mission statement before purchasing from them, many consumers who shop regularly from a specific brand may find themselves questioning a brand’s ethics, values and overall mission. In some instances, European fast fashion brands like Stradivarius have chosen not to share very much information regarding their brand vision, mission or values but Bershka, who are also part of the Inditex group alongside Stradivarius, have included their target on their website as stated: “to be characterised by young adventurous people who are aware of the latest trends”. Additionally, Stradivarius stated that they are “fully aware” that new trends are always near so as a result, they are “constantly hunting down the latest trends”. From how vague the brand’s mission statements, visions and values are, it seems that both brands are entirely focused on generating profit compared to creating greater good in the fashion world. 

This may come across as pejorative to some yet both Stradivarius and Bershka allow the younger generation to explore fashion in an entirely new, affordable way as they are consistent with their new releases and are incredibly quick to produce clothing that mime pieces off the runway. Both brands have clearly communicated on their websites that they create specifically for the “young generation”, also known as Gen-Z ,which encourages Gen-Z consumers to continue purchasing from them and stores alike. Social media plays a part in this engagement as does the layout of their online stores – a simple, minimalistic and easy to navigate website captures Gen-Z’s consumers attention instantly.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.bershka.com/us/company.html

Lovick, S. (2020). What Is The Sharing Economy? https://www.businessbecause.com/news/insights/6736/what-is-the-sharing-economy.

https://www.stradivarius.com/gb/company.html

https://twoblindbrothers.com/pages/about-us

A company’s profit is very important to allow them to expand and develop. To achieve profit, they must be aware of new customers, retarget people who have shown interest and reward the loyalty of those who’ve bought from the brand. The market size of the fashion industry currently stands at $861.5bn and this is expected to grow by 4.3% in 2022 an increase from the usual figure of 1.7% per annum. (www.ibisworld.com. (n.d.). IBISWorld – Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics). 

Different sectors of the industry perform at different levels, for example, the top 20% of fashion players created 100% of economic profit whereas the bottom 20% went backwards by 18%. When looking closer at only the top 20 companies it was found they accounted for 97% of profits. (McKinsey & Company. (2017). The two faces of fashion-industry performance.) Showing that the fashion industry is highly competitive for profits and to gain customers. Influencer marketing has become a huge part of companies’ profits recently. 

When something is seen on an influencer on social media platforms it encourages viewers to buy it. This is due to them having an association with the influencer and is heightened when they have an associating factor with the influencer such as age or gender. Although the older generation has the largest amount of disposable income, the younger generation is keener to spend. A bloomburg report in 2021 has revealed that Gen Z currently has $360 billion in disposable income.(Santora, J. (2021). 25 Mind Blowing Stats on Gen Z Spending Habits. [online] Influencer Marketing Hub.)

In order to remain competitive, it’s important for brands to create loyalty from their existing clients and not lose them to competitors. In times of recession such as Covid-19 it’s important to maintain marketing and check in with clients in order to keep their business. This worked effectively throughout the pandemic by brands sending our emails to check on their customers as well as just the latest updates. The idea of art and commerce is best bridged through fashion shows. This is shown in couture fashion shows and an example of this is Balenciaga’s SS23 show. Models walked through thick mud and all guests were sprayed with the scent of mud which remained on them for a couple days in order to remind them of the show. Because it was so unusual it was talked about a lot on social media, bringing more revenue towards the brand.

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