Fashion Marketing 3rd Edition PDF

Fashion Marketing This page intentionally left blank Fashion Marketing Third Edition Edited by Mike Easey A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication  This edition first published 2009...

Fashion Marketing This page intentionally left blank Fashion Marketing Third Edition Edited by Mike Easey A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication  This edition first published 2009 © 2009 Mike Easey Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing programme has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom Editorial offices 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, United Kingdom 2121 State Avenue, Ames, Iowa 50014-8300, USA For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assist- ance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fashion marketing / edited by Mike Easey. — 3rd ed p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-3953-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Fashion merchandising. I. Easey, Mike. HD9940.A2F37 2009 391.0068⬘8–dc22 2008030014 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10/12.5 pt Avenir by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India (www.macmillansolutions.com) Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd 1 2009  Contents List of Contributors ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xv Part A: Understanding Fashion Marketing 1 1 An Introduction to Fashion Marketing 3 Mike Easey 1.1 What is fashion? 3 1.2 What is marketing? 5 1.3 What is fashion marketing? 7 1.4 Fashion marketing in practice 7 1.5 How fashion marketing can help the fashion industry 11 1.6 What fashion marketers do: five examples 12 1.7 Ethical issues in fashion marketing 13 1.8 An overview of the fashion marketing process 15 1.9 Summary 16 Further reading 17 2 The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment 18 Christine Sorensen 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 The development of the fashion market 18 2.3 The fashion market: size and structure 21 2.4 Marketing environment 26 2.5 Micro-marketing environment 26 2.6 Macro-marketing environment 34 2.7 Trends in the marketing environment 56 2.8 Summary 58 Further reading 59 Contents Part B: Understanding and Researching the Fashion Purchaser 61 3 The Fashion Consumer and Organizational Buyer 63 Mike Easey 3.1 Introduction 63 3.2 Why study the fashion buyer? 64 3.3 Fashion consumer decision-making 68 3.4 Psychological processes 73 3.5 Sociological aspects of consumer behaviour 83 3.6 The organizational buyer 94 3.7 Summary 95 Further reading 96 4 Fashion Marketing Research 97 Patricia Gray 4.1 Introduction 97 4.2 The purpose of marketing research 97 4.3 An overview of the marketing research process 100 4.4 Problem definition and setting research objectives 100 4.5 Research design 100 4.6 Data sources 101 4.7 Practical sampling methods 103 4.8 Primary data collection methods 108 4.9 Data collection methods 111 4.10 Questionnaire design 113 4.11 Attitude measurement and rating scales 117 4.12 The role of marketing research in new product development 119 4.13 Forecasting fashion 121 4.14 The Internet as a research tool 123 4.15 International marketing research 126 4.16 Summary 127 Further reading 128 Part C: Target Marketing and Managing the Fashion Marketing Mix 129 5 Segmentation and the Marketing Mix 131 Mike Easey and Christine Sorensen 5.1 Introduction and overview 131 5.2 Mass marketing and market segmentation 131 5.3 Segmentation: rationale, bases and strategy 134 vi  5.4 Positioning and perceptual mapping 140 Contents 5.5 The fashion marketing mix 141 5.6 Summary 143 Further reading 144 6 Designing and Marketing Fashion Products 145 Sheila Atkinson and Mike Easey 6.1 Introduction 145 6.2 The importance of fashion products 145 6.3 The nature of fashion products 147 6.4 The fashion industry and new product development 157 6.5 Retail buying sequence: autumn and winter season 161 6.6 The product mix and range planning 163 6.7 Fashion and related life cycles 169 6.8 Summary 176 Further reading 176 7 Pricing Garments and Fashion Services 177 Mike Easey 7.1 Introduction 177 7.2 Different views of price 177 7.3 The role of price decisions within marketing strategy 178 7.4 External factors influencing price decisions 180 7.5 Internal factors influencing price decisions 183 7.6 Main methods of setting prices 184 7.7 Pricing strategies in relation to new products 190 7.8 Pricing strategies to match the competition 191 7.9 Price changes 193 7.10 Summary 195 Further reading 195 8 Fashion Distribution 196 John Willans 8.1 Introduction 196 8.2 The importance of fashion retailing 196 8.3 Structural issues 198 8.4 The industry’s components 202 8.5 Trends in retailing 208 vii Contents 8.6 The Internet 213 8.7 The ‘grey market’ 215 8.8 Retail marketing effectiveness 215 8.9 Summary 216 Further reading 216 9 Fashion Marketing Communications 218 Gaynor Lea-Greenwood 9.1 Introduction 218 9.2 The marketing communications environment 219 9.3 The traditional approach to promotion 220 9.4 Fashion advertising 223 9.5 Sales promotion 225 9.6 Public relations 226 9.7 Celebrity endorsement and sponsorship 227 9.8 Personal selling 229 9.9 Visual merchandising to visual marketing 230 9.10 International marketing communications 232 9.11 Ethics in marketing communications 233 9.12 Evaluating the effectiveness of marketing communications 234 9.13 New directions in fashion marketing communications 235 9.14 Summary 236 Useful websites 236 Further reading 237 10 Fashion Marketing Planning 238 Mike Easey 10.1 Introduction 238 10.2 The planning process and objectives 238 10.3 Marketing audits and SWOT analysis 240 10.4 Marketing strategy 243 10.5 The fashion marketing plan 246 10.6 Implementation and organizational issues 247 10.7 Summary 250 Further reading 250 Glossary of Fashion Marketing Terms 251 Index 257 viii  List of Contributors Sheila Atkinson, MSc, MBA, PGCEd, AMCIM. Her working experi- ence includes buying and merchandising for the Burton Group plc and management of design education in further education. Sheila has extensive teaching experience in UK and Chinese Universities and has training and consultancy experience in fashion marketing. Sheila Atkinson produced Chapter Six with Mike Easey, on the design and marketing of fashion products. Mike Easey, BA (Hons), DipM, MCIM, CertEd, is Director of Collaborative Ventures in Newcastle Business School at the University of Northumbria. He has worked for three multinationals in marketing research, promotion and marketing planning positions. He is an expe- rienced Marketing Consultant and has undertaken an extensive range of consultancy work including marketing for fashion manufacturers and fashion retailers. He is also a university external examiner in fash- ion marketing, a QAA Specialist Subject Reviewer in Marketing and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. Mike Easey produced Chapters One, Three, Seven and Ten and co-wrote Chapter Five with Christine Sorensen and Chapter Six with Sheila Atkinson. Patricia Gray, MSc, Dip MRS, PGCEd, previously a Lecturer in Marketing Research in Newcastle Business School, is currently working as a Researcher with Newcastle University. Her experience includes numerous consultancy tasks and she has worked in public- ity for the arts and for Millward Brown Market and Social Research. Patricia Gray produced Chapter Four on fashion marketing research. List of Contributors Gaynor Lea-Greenwood, MA, BA, is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has worked at a senior level in the fashion industry including a major role with Miss Selfridge. Along with consultancy experience for fashion retailers, she has extensive knowledge of international sourcing and promo- tion. She is an active researcher, external examiner for UK Universities and Acting Editor of the editorial board of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. Gaynor is currently working on a new textbook on Fashion Marketing Communications for Wiley-Blackwell. Gaynor Lea-Greenwood produced Chapter Nine on fashion market- ing communications. Christine Sorensen, MA, PGDip, BA (Hons) PGCEd, DipM, is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing in Newcastle Business School. She has worked for three companies in marketing positions including the print indus- try and franchising. Christine has considerable experience of market- ing training for small business and has appeared on radio to discuss developments in promotion. Christine Sorensen produced Chapter Two on the fashion marketing environment and co-wrote Chapter Five with Mike Easey. John Willans, MSc, DipM, CertEd, until his recent retirement, was a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing and Retail Distribution in Newcastle Business School. His background includes work with the retail sector and with textile marketing in Huddersfield. John Willans wrote Chapter Eight on fashion distribution. John is currently work- ing on a new textbook, with Ruth Marciniak, on Fashion Retailing for Wiley-Blackwell. x  Preface If you are interested or involved in fashion you will already be aware that it is an exciting area of constant change, creativity and global commercial activity. However, skills in fashion are not enough to guar- antee success, as even when those skills are exceptional there is still the constant risk of failure and bankruptcy. A knowledge of marketing is essential to help ensure success and lessen the possibility of failure. To paraphrase Armani, ‘Clothing that is not purchased or worn is not fashion.’ A good knowledge of fashion marketing can make the dif- ference between a prototype that lingers in a dark storeroom and a garment that people really want to buy and wear. Over the last two decades fashion has become a truly global busi- ness. Designers no longer work necessarily within manufacturing facil- ities and, as part of the knowledge industry, they need to be mobile and have the ability to communicate across cultures and business disciplines. Many brands like Gap, Zara and H&M which were just national brands a few years ago are now internationally recognized. Another major force influencing the fashion business is the growth of the Internet. The Internet has influenced the flow of creative ideas, the search for product information, the transparency of pricing and the management of supply chains amongst as well as how and where customers buy garments. For the designer keen to start his or her own business, this book will offer a guide to most of the major decisions that will enable you to fulfil your creative potential and be a financial success. For the marketer who is interested in fashion, this book will help you under- stand the special way that marketing needs to be applied to the Preface world of fashion. Established fashion businesses also need to remain competitive by asking questions such as: ◆ What are the major trends we should be monitoring? ◆ How should we set our prices? ◆ What is the most effective way to get our message across about the new product range? ◆ Which colour wash will be the most popular with buyers? Fashion marketing finds answers to these and many other questions. This book has a number of special qualities that make it essential reading for anyone involved in fashion. ◆ It deals with contemporary issues in fashion marketing. ◆ It has up-to-date examples of good practice. Over the past 35 years, all other major texts on fashion marketing have been centred on US practice. Fashion is now a global busi- ness and that theme is evident in all chapters in this revised edition. ◆ This book is exclusively about fashion marketing. It is not a marketing book with a few fashion examples among the anec- dotes about motorcycles, industrial services and banking. It is all about fashion. ◆ There is a unique contribution on range planning which is a practical blend of sound design sense and commercial realism. ◆ There is a constant balance of theory and practice, with exam- ples to illustrate key concepts. Where numerical concepts are included, there are clear worked examples to ensure that the ideas are easily understood and retained. ◆ Each chapter contains an introduction to set the scene and a summary of key points. There are over 50 diagrams to help to explain ideas and a glossary of the main fashion marketing terms is included. ◆ Included within each chapter is a guide to further reading. Keen fashion marketers will therefore be able to use this book as a foundation and springboard to becoming experts in spe- cialist areas such as fashion marketing research or fashion public relations. ◆ A coherent approach to fashion marketing is developed, based on the research, consultancy, working and teach- ing experiences of a team from a major centre of excellence in fashion marketing in the UK. What you will get is a sys- tematic approach to fashion marketing, not hyperbole or speculation. xii  Preface How this book is organized Part A looks at the nature and scope of fashion marketing. In Chapter One the special ingredients that make for good fashion design, care for customers and commercial success are explored. All fashion enthusiasts know of some of the links between fashion and broader social change and Chapter Two identifies those links, showing how fashion marketers are able to anticipate and participate in the process. Part B is concerned with understanding and researching the con- sumer. In Chapter Three there is a detailed look at the consumer and what he or she wants from fashion, how ideas and brands are learned and how to paint a comprehensive and sound picture of the ‘muse’ for the fashion designer. Chapter Four deals with marketing research and shows how to investigate the preferences and behaviour of cus- tomers, distribution channels and competitors. Part C looks at target marketing and the fashion marketing mix. Chapter Five deals with choosing profitable markets to aim at and then gives an overview of possible action to meet customer requirements – the marketing mix. In Chapters Six to Nine, precise coverage is given to the design of marketing programmes to ensure that the right gar- ments (Chapter Six) are correctly priced (Chapter Seven), available at the right time and place (Chapter Eight) and are properly commu- nicated (Chapter Nine). The final chapter deals with planning and co-ordinating the whole fashion marketing process, and setting up a system that works for the consumer, offering good fashion design and delivering profits. If, like us, you believe that consumers deserve good fashion design and that profits should flow to those who act systematically to make that happen, then join us for the challenge that is fashion marketing. The book’s website On the book’s website, www.blackwellpublishing.com/easey, you will find invaluable on-line resources to support both teaching and learning – all downloadable free of charge. The website has the fol- lowing features: ◆ For fashion marketing tutors, a full set of PowerPoint slides to accompany each chapter. ◆ Ideas and exercises for seminars. ◆ Access to sample assessment materials. ◆ Useful hyperlinks to relevant websites. xiii This page intentionally left blank  Acknowledgements Fashion is a fascinating subject which stimulates a great many ques- tions, an essential requirement for any academic endeavour. As mainstream marketing educators, the authors of this book brought a range of different expectations and experiences to the area of fash- ion. All of us have working, teaching, training or consultancy experi- ence in the field of fashion marketing and wanted to write a book that would address real issues and would contribute, in a small way, to make the fashion industry and fashion students more aware of how marketing can enable them to be more effective in their work. For several years the University of Northumbria has run an under- graduate course in fashion marketing. Our experiences of teaching on this course coupled with the paucity of UK texts on the subject convinced us of the need to write the book. Our research and expe- riences have led us to challenge the way we think about marketing and recognize the special role of design in the process. In many sec- tors with creative output, it has long been noted that designers need to know about marketing and marketers need to know about design. It is hoped that this book meets the needs of both groups, though in truth designers may learn more about marketing than vice versa. Many people have helped me with the second edition of this book via comments on the first and second editions and stimulating con- versations and inspirations. The following people are sincerely thanked for their knowledge, help and friendship: Sheila Atkinson, Christine Sorensen, Patricia Gray, John Willans and Gaynor Lea-Greenwood. My co-authors have been very supportive over the years and have been good colleagues, Acknowledgements critics and sources of ideas. Richard Jones, Prof. Christopher Moore, Dr. Sandra Connor, Ruth Marciniak, Prof. Neville Harris, Alan Fyall, Fiona Raeside, Helen Carter and Julie O’Sullivan have all contrib- uted their ideas and friendship over the years. Madeleine Metcalfe at Wiley-Blackwell is due special thanks for her encouragement, patience and tenacity in helping me finish this third edition. Special thanks are also due to my wife Janice for great support. As usual there is a disclaimer: many people have helped me, but I accept total responsibility for all errors in the book. Mike Easey March 2008 xvi  Part A Understanding Fashion Marketing This page intentionally left blank  Chapter One An Introduction to Fashion Marketing The global market for apparel, accessories and luxury goods was esti- mated to be worth US$1217 billion in 2006 and is expected to grow to approximately US$1800 billion by 2011. The company with the largest market share of this vast market is Christian Dior and, despite this great success, the company has approximately 1% of the global market. Global fashion remains one of the largest sectors of world trade that is truly competitive: 1.14 million people were employed in apparel manufacture in the European Union (EU) in 2004 and nearly one-third of all imported clothing bought in the EU in 2007 was manu- factured in China. The UK fashion industry is estimated to be worth approximately £22 billion in retail sales value in 2008. Apparel manu- facturing industry in the UK employed around 83 000 people in 2006, down from over 200 000 a decade earlier. The above statistics reveal that fashion is a large global business sector going through a period of great change. It is the application of marketing that plays a crucial role in managing this growth and change. This book shows how mar- keting can be applied to fashion products and services. This introduction looks at both fashion and marketing and how design and marketing work together in practice. An overview of the fashion marketing process covers the role of marketing in the fash- ion industry and the ethical issues raised by marketing in this context, with some practical examples of the work of fashion marketers. 1.1 What is fashion? 1.1.1 Fashion is to do with change Fashion essentially involves change, defined as a succession of short- term trends or fads. From this standpoint there can be fashions in Fashion Marketing Related fashion services Advice on garment co-ordination Cosmetic surgery Tattoos Image consultancy Hairdressing Hair transplants Sun tanning Garment cleaning services Clothing alterations/repairs Usage situations Clothing Underwear Outerwear Work/school Formal Informal Leisure Bespoke Ready made Domestic Natural Men-made Related fashion products Shoes Hats Hosiery Jewellery Belts Bags Scarves Cosmetics Fragrances Cleaning products Haberdashery Wigs Figure 1.1 Fashion products and services. almost any human activity from medical treatments to popular music. For the purpose of this book though, the concept of fashion will be taken to deal with the garments and related products and services as shown in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 identifies some major categories of clothing along with their main usage situations, but this list is by no means exhaustive. Fashion marketers should take a broad view of their domain – fashion is not only about clothes. The competitive ethos of the fashion industry revolves around sea- sonality. The industry has a vested interest in developing new prod- ucts for the customer at the expense of existing items: this process is known as planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is not con- fined to the fashion industry, it occurs in several other manufactur- ing sectors such as the electronics or automobile industries. While the concept of planned obsolescence can be criticized from several perspectives, many customers appreciate the continual change in fashion products and services. Unfortunately, the rate and direction 4 of change are usually slower and less predictable than the fashion An Introduction to Fashion Marketing industry would like. 1.1.2 Fashion is about creating In order for the change which is intrinsic to fashion to take place, the industry must continually create new products. Used in another sense, the term fashion means to construct, mould or make. Fashion, there- fore, also involves a strong creative and design component. Design skill is essential and can be seen in all products from the made-to- measure suit to the elaborate embroidery on a cardigan. The level of design can vary considerably from a basic item such as a T-shirt to the artistic creations of Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves St Laurent or, in more recent times, Stella McCartney. To some the design of fash- ion garments can be viewed as an art in its own right, though this is a notion supported more in countries such as France and Italy than in Britain. The majority of garments sold do not come into this cat- egory, but the inspiration for the design of many of those garments may have come from works of art. 1.1.3 Fashion and marketing The continual change, i.e. fashion, involves the exercise of creative design skills which result in products that range from the basic to the rare and elaborate. The creative design personnel provide part of the mechanism by which the industry responds to the need for change. At the same time the ability to identify products that the customer needs and will buy is also essential to the industry. Marketing can help to provide this additional knowledge and the skills needed to ensure that the creative component is used to best advantage, allow- ing businesses to succeed and grow. 1.2 What is marketing? Marketing is a business philosophy or way of thinking about the firm from the perspective of the customer or the potential customer. Such a view has much merit as it focuses on the acid test for all business – if we do not meet the needs of our customers we will not survive, let alone thrive. Fashion firms depend upon customers making repeat purchases and the key to such loyalty is the satisfaction of customers’ needs with garments which are stylish, durable, easy to care for, com- fortable, perceived value for money and all the other criteria deemed 5 Fashion Marketing relevant by the buyer. For this reason, fashion design personnel should readily appreciate the need to understand the customer’s perspective. Most designers have a mental picture of a typical customer. Fashion marketers ask, how typical is that mental picture and does the ‘cus- tomer’ belong to a group of buyers that form a profitable prospect for the company? Notice that the notion of seeing the business from the perspective of the customer does not preclude concern for profit. Indeed, if profit is not actively sought then the firm’s ability to meet customers’ needs in the long term will be greatly diminished. Marketing comprises a range of techniques and activities, some of which are highly familiar to the general public. Most people have encountered market researchers and all have seen advertisements. Other less public aspects include product development and branding, pricing, publicity, sales promotion, selling, forecasting and distribution. An overview of the range of fashion marketing activities is given later in this chapter. Marketing is a management process concerned with anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer needs in order to meet the long- term goals of the organization. Whilst concerned with the organiza- tion’s relationship with customers it is also concerned with internal organizational factors that affect the achievement of marketing goals. 1.2.1 Is marketing a solution to all business problems? There are many views of what marketing is and what it does. To the zealots, marketing is the panacea for all business problems and can provide remedies for product failures or falling profits. Clearly, this is naive and does not recognize the interdependence of the many busi- ness and creative functions within organizations. Nor does this view fully appreciate the wider marketing environment that confronts all firms when they embark upon marketing activities. The best marketing plans and activities can be easily and quickly undermined by changes in the economy or in competitors’ actions. Such changes cannot always be anticipated, although a framework for monitoring and anticipating change is discussed in Chapter Two. In the fashion industry, which is highly competitive and is character- ized by change, the role of good fortune cannot be easily discounted. The fashion industry is well known for the high failure rate of new businesses and the regular price reductions on product lines that have not sold. Such failures are in part a reflection of the enormous risk of fashion, but some are also due to the inadequate or inappro- priate application of the marketing process. It is the contention of the authors that, when properly applied, marketing will help to reduce 6 some uncertainty in the fashion industry and cut down the number of An Introduction to Fashion Marketing business failures. 1.3 What is fashion marketing? Fashion marketing is the application of a range of techniques and a business philosophy that centres upon the customer and potential customer of clothing and related products and services in order to meet the long-term goals of the organization. It is a major argument of this book that fashion marketing is different from many other areas of marketing. The very nature of fashion, where change is intrinsic, gives different emphasis to marketing activities. Furthermore, the role of design in both leading and reflecting consumer demand results in a variety of approaches to fashion marketing which are explored below. 1.4 Fashion marketing in practice Within the fashion industry there is enormous variation in the size and structure of businesses serving the needs of customers. From a small business comprising a self-employed knitwear designer to major multinational corporations such as Liz Claiborne or Zara, diversity remains a key feature. With legislative changes and expansion of the EU, the gradual removal of trade barriers on a global scale and the growth of the Internet, the fashion industry is increasingly a global business. This implies considerable variation in the cultural, social and economic perspective of the participants. The consequence of these variations in size, experience and perspective is that the practice of fashion marketing is not uniform at a national level, let alone at an international one. At the centre of the debate over the role of fashion marketing within firms resides a tension between design and marketing impera- tives. Relatively few fashion designers have had formal training in business or marketing, although fortunately this situation is chang- ing in the EU. Similarly, the formal training of marketing person- nel can often lack an appreciation of the role of design in business. Training has tended to be separate and this, when coupled with the differing approaches of the two areas, causes divergent views. Design students were traditionally taught to approach problems as though there were no constraints on time or cost so that creativ- ity might flourish. The assumption of much of this training was that creativity flourishes when there is freedom from structural factors. 7 Fashion Marketing Spontaneity, eclecticism and the willingness to take risks in chal- lenging the status quo are some values central to traditional design training. Marketing training, by contrast, embraces different values. Marketers are taught to be systematic and analytical in approaching problems. The foundation of a lot of marketing involves the setting of objectives and quantifying inputs and outputs, such as advertising expenditure and market share. Success, marketing students are taught, comes from careful research and planning, not spontaneity or ignoring market real- ities such as competitor price levels. Owing to a lack of training, mar- keting personnel often fail to understand the aesthetic dimension of a design or many qualitative aspects of product development. The above outlines concentrate on differences in perspective between marketing and design personnel but naturally there are areas where they share common values. Good designers and marketing personnel both recognize the need for thorough preparation and the exercise of professional skill, both understand the importance of communi- cation, although with differing emphasis on the visual and process components, and both tend to be in agreement about the functional aspects of clothing, such as whether a garment is waterproof or machine washable. Starkly put, the designer may see the marketing person as one who constrains freedom and imagination, while the marketer may see the designer as undisciplined and oblivious to costs and profitability. Such views are stereotypes fostered by differing experiences and training, and which are often held by those who do not understand the perspective of both the marketer and the designer. This differ- ence in perspective engenders a range of views about what fashion marketing ought to be. Two views of fashion marketing are shown in Figure 1.2. These views can be labelled design centred and market- ing centred, and are detailed below. Sample Fashion marketing is the Design should be based solely statements same as promotion on marketing research Assumption Sell what we can make Make what we can sell Orientation Design centred Marketing centred Alleged High failure rates Bland designs drawbacks Relies on intuition Stifles creativity Figure 1.2 Two views of fashion marketing. 8  An Introduction to Fashion Marketing 1.4.1 Design centred: fashion marketing as promotion According to this view marketing is seen as synonymous with promo- tion. Adherents of the view state that designers are the real force, and marketers should merely help to sell ideas to the public. Translated into practice this view tends to have all marketing activity carried out by either public relations or advertising departments or agencies. Customers and potential customers are seen as people to be led or inspired by creative styling that is favourably promoted. At the extreme, it is rationalized that the only people who can appreciate creative styling, in a financial sense, are the more wealthy sections of society. Research within such a perspective is limited to monitoring the activities of others who are thought to be at the forefront of creative change, i.e. film directors, musicians, artists, etc. Many great fashion designers subscribe to this view and have run successful businesses based upon the above assumptions. The principal weakness of this approach is that it depends ultimately on the skill and intuition of the designer in consistently meeting genuine customer needs and conse- quently earning profit. 1.4.2 Marketing centred: design as a research prescription Here marketing is dominant and it regards the designer as someone who must respond to the specifications of customer requirements as established by marketing research. Detailed cost constraints may be imposed and sample garments pretested by, for example, retail selectors who may subsequently demand changes to meet their pre- cise needs. Several major retail stores still operate systems not too far removed from this, with merchandisers and selectors exerting consid- erable control over the designer. The result, according to many, is a certain blandness in the design content of garments available from such retail outlets. It is argued that marketing constraints have strangled the creative aspects of design. Taking profitability as a measure of popularity, this restrictive prescription for design seems to work for many firms. Whether popular acceptance of fashion designs equates with good design is another matter. 1.4.3 The fashion marketing concept There is another way to view the relationship between marketing and design, and this is termed the fashion marketing concept. That good fashion design only requires sufficient promotion to succeed is a view 9 Fashion Marketing Fashion Design fashion design High marketing Concern for centred concept Marketing Low Failure centred Low High Concern for customers and profit Figure 1.3 The fashion marketing concept. applicable to a very limited number of businesses – usually those pro- ducing expensive garments for an elite market. The alternative view of fashion design as a function of marketing research fails to recog- nize either that many people do not know what they will like until presented with choices, or that their preferences change over time. For example, many who profess to hate a design seen on the catwalk may later come to like it when they try the garment themselves or realize that others have signalled acceptance. Good fashion design can challenge conventional views. It should be recognized that con- sumers vary in the conservatism they have towards fashion styles and also the speed and readiness with which they change their opinions. A simple model of the interrelationship of fashion design and mar- keting can be seen above. In the matrix in Figure 1.3 it can be seen that low concern for customers, profit and design leads to failure. This occurs as a con- sequence of overestimating design ability while disregarding custom- ers’ preferences and the need for profit. The fashion marketing concept attempts to embrace the positive aspects of high concern for design, customers and profit by recogniz- ing the interdependence of marketing and design. If designers under- stand how marketing can enhance the creative process and marketing personnel appreciate that within the fashion industry design can lead as well as respond to customer requirements, progress can be made. Market researchers can establish the sizing information customers want on garments and can also analyse reactions to several provisional illustrations, but they cannot produce detailed styling specifications. Marketing as applied to the fashion industry must appreciate the role of design. Some major retailers such as Zara have developed information systems bringing designers, manufacturing teams and retail sales staff much closer together enabling customers to be 10 offered fast fashion at affordable prices and achieving good levels of An Introduction to Fashion Marketing profit for the company. This section has discussed a number of approaches to fashion marketing. Many companies have embraced the fashion marketing concept and have demonstrated equal concern for design, customers and profits. In recent years an increasing number of winners of major fashion awards have also achieved success not only in terms of design but also in terms of sales and profit. Thus the fashion marketing con- cept is not just a theoretical model, it does work in practice and this book sets out to develop it further. 1.5 How fashion marketing can help the fashion industry The vast output and profits from the fashion industry come not from the designer collections seen on the catwalk but from items sold in high street stores. To put the impact of designers in perspective, one only has to note that the British Fashion Awards’ Designer of the Year will often have annual earnings that amount to less than a day’s sales for one large retailer in the Arcadia group. Even so, the designer collections are given extensive coverage in the fashion press where each season more than 250 collections are reviewed within a matter of weeks. Reporting and promotion of these collections are suffused within hyperbole, excitement and genuine enthusiasm by many who attend, the catwalk exhibitions being viewed with a range of perceptions from incredulity to sheer entertainment. However, few people see the direct link that some less experienced commentators assert exists between the garments on the catwalk and ‘what we will all be wear- ing next season’. The influence of the designer collections on everyday apparel purchases is complex and will be considered in later chapters on the fashion consumer, product design and fashion promotion. The main concern of fashion marketers is therefore the design and sale of garments to the majority of the public, for that reason, the techniques described in this book will concentrate on high street fashion rather than haute couture. Many people in the fashion industry have aspirations to run their own business. Indeed, the industry is characterized by many small firms and regrettably many failures. This book embraces the fashion marketing needs of people starting their own business; it does not, however, extend to all the needs of small businesses, particularly the financial and legal aspects of new ventures. For the new entrepre- neur the chapter on marketing research will provide a sound basis on 11 Fashion Marketing which to start building a business plan. The marketing component of the business plan is covered in the last chapter of this book. Medium and large businesses are also catered for. The need for co-operation and communication between the various levels of dis- tribution in this sector is so important that manufacturer, wholesaler, importer and exporter will all benefit from understanding the struc- tural aspects of the marketing of clothing and related products and services. Many of the principles and techniques described in detail as applicable to the UK are transferable to other markets. For example, UK mass media data are given in the chapter on fashion promotion, but criteria for designing campaigns and selecting media are also given; these criteria are readily transferable. 1.6 What fashion marketers do: five examples To give an overview of the sort of activities that fashion marketing personnel engage in, five examples will be given. A key point to note is that job titles do not always accurately reflect what people do. In fact, few people are called fashion marketing managers, but many carry out functions that are fashion marketing, e.g. those with job titles such as selector, merchandiser, sales executive or public rela- tions consultant. 1.6.1 Fashion marketing research A fashion marketing researcher may investigate the market shares of competitors and trends in those shares. Through a group discussion with potential consumers they may discover that a possible brand name has negative connotations and needs rethinking. 1.6.2 Fashion product management A design manager may be concerned with producing a range of shirts for a major retailer. The shirts must co-ordinate with other gar- ments such as jackets, trousers and ties, all of which may be provided by other manufacturers. The design manager must collect and pass on information to ensure that designers are adequately briefed. Later the manager will be required to sell the designs at a presentation to the retailer, usually in the face of fierce competition. The design manager’s knowledge of the retailer’s customers and an awareness of his or her own company costs will enable an effective marketing function. 12  An Introduction to Fashion Marketing 1.6.3 Fashion promotion A manufacturer of corporate workwear may have produced a range of clothes suitable for staff working in small independent restaurants. After careful research and planning the manufacturer may decide that a brochure is needed as part of the promotional effort. The brief to be given to the person preparing visual and textual material for the brochure will include an estimate of the number of brochures needed and a list of addresses – essential fashion marketing tasks. 1.6.4 Fashion distribution An owner of a retail outlet selling her own specially designed millinery wishes to expand. She needs to research a few options including franchising her business, obtaining concessions in selected depart- ment stores and linking with a leading womenswear designer to pro- duce new complementary ranges each season. Marketing research and analysis of the status of the business along with the preparation of a future marketing strategy are the major fashion marketing activities needed here. 1.6.5 Fashion product positioning and pricing A major retailer discovers that a competitor is selling imported silk lin- gerie similar in design and quality to its own, but at prices that are 20% lower. A fashion marketing decision must be made about the position- ing and pricing of the product, taking into consideration the strategic goals of the company as well as the price sensitivity of its customers. 1.7 Ethical issues in fashion marketing The practice of fashion marketing is often criticized. These criticisms can be classified into two types, the micro-issues and the macro-issues. Micro-issues concern particular products and services where con- sumers may feel that they have not been fairly treated or that they have been misled. Most customers have bought clothing that has fallen below expectations by, for example, coming apart at the seams or shrinking in the wash. These problems may occur due to poor qual- ity control or at worst a callous attitude towards customers. Sadly, the view of customers as mere punters to be exploited does exist in some parts of the fashion industry but it is a short-sighted attitude as lack of repeat business, legal redress and negative word of mouth 13 Fashion Marketing are all possible consequences. Given the number of items of cloth- ing bought each year, however, some errors are inevitable and the issue really revolves around how the seller deals with the complaint. According to the fashion marketing concept we should be concerned about long-term consumer welfare as this is the key to building and retaining profitable custom. The quick and fair correction of genuine errors reinforces the mes- sage to the customer that the retailer cares about long-term customer welfare. Unfortunately, some staff are placed in positions where their own interests may not coincide with those of the firm or the customer – those who work on a commission only basis, for example. Such prac- tices should be condemned as they lead to an undermining of public confidence in the fashion industry. Macro-issues are broader and emerge not from the conscious con- spiracy of individuals or groups of individuals but as unintended or unanticipated consequences of certain activities. The most obvious example is the criticism that the bulk of the fash- ion industry is lacking in sensitivity to environmental issues in that it encourages a throw-away society, conspicuous consumption and unnecessary use of packaging. Marks and Spencer plc can lay claim to a serious attempt to address some environmental concerns with their ‘Plan A’. The Marks and Spencer ‘Plan A because there is no Plan B’ involves a £200 million eco-plan to become carbon neutral by 2012, to extend their sustainable fabric sourcing and to set new standards in ethical trading. Other attempts to address such con- cerns, although on a relatively small scale, include the so-called ‘envir- onmentally friendly’ or ‘green’ fibres and recycled wool. However, the charge of encouraging a throw-away society is a problem that is likely to recur with sharper and move vehement focus in the future. The public response to the various anti-fur campaigns run by PETA, Lynx and others since the 1980s has reduced the mar- ket for fur products in many countries and has transformed a status symbol of the rich to an item of derision. ‘Green’ issues in fashion marketing are examined further in Chapter Two. Another example of a macro-issue is the use of particular models to show garments in advertising material or on the catwalk. Critics allege that this can cause damage ranging from supporting an image of women as mere sex objects to acting as a contributory factor in dietary problems of adolescent females. The over-representation of young, tall and slim female models raises many issues, not least of which is the sensitivity of some promoters to the responses of the audience. The Madrid Fashion Week has banned models with a body mass index (BMI) of below 18.5; this is a BMI that is regarded as unhealthy by the World Health Organization. The use of wider ranges 14 of body shapes and sizes has been effectively used by Dove in their An Introduction to Fashion Marketing campaign for real beauty. The non-response or excuse of ‘We have to do it, because everyone else does it’ from some fashion companies may reveal an unwillingness to research other less potentially harmful ways of promotion. In an industry with an abundance of creative tal- ent, it is surprising to find such pockets of conservatism. 1.8 An overview of the fashion marketing process Fashion marketing can be viewed as a process and Figure 1.4 illus- trates that process. It also gives an indication of the structure of this book and how various parts link together. All firms operate within a wider commercial environment that influ- ences their activities. Changes in value added tax may inhibit demand for certain garments whereas a fall in unemployment may stimulate demand for workwear. These two simple examples illustrate how changes in the marketing environment can have significant effects on the operation of fashion firms. The marketing environment and how to analyse it are covered in Chapter Two. Central to the concept of fashion marketing is the role of the cus- tomer and Chapters Three and Four deal with understanding and researching the fashion purchaser. In Chapter Three the behaviour of consumers will be discussed. In particular, there will be an examin- ation of the reasons why people buy particular garments: what influ- ences them and what criteria they use. Clothing may be an expression of how people wish others to see them, it may denote membership Marketing environment Marketing Design Customers research research Price Products and services Place Promotion Marketing mix Fashion marketing organization Figure 1.4 The fashion marketing process. 15 Fashion Marketing of a certain group or represent a particular lifestyle. To understand customers’ aspirations and expectations about clothing fully, relevant psychological and sociological factors are examined in Chapter Three. Chapter Four takes the understanding of customers’ behaviour one step further by looking at how data concerning this behaviour are obtained, namely marketing research. This research can also involve the study of competitors and analysis of the company’s own market- ing efforts. In Figure 1.4 the term marketing mix is used to describe the com- bination of variables used by the fashion marketer to meet the needs of specific groups of customers known as target markets. The selec- tion of target markets and the management of the marketing mix are discussed in Chapters Five to Ten of this book. Here is an example of how a variable may be adjusted using an example concerning price. A firm may decide to charge low prices and sell large quantities making a small profit on each item, but a large profit in total. A consequence of charging low prices may be that certain outlets are selected because their image is compatible with low prices. The concept of the marketing mix and target marketing are dealt with in Chapter Five. The actual components of the market- ing mix are known for the sake of simplicity as the four Ps, i.e. Price, Product, Place and Promotion, and these are covered in Chapters Six to Nine. The role of design research, integral to product design and development, is covered in Chapter Six. Putting all aspects of the marketing mix together to achieve the goals of the organization is the most important marketing task. Activities must be planned, co-ordinated and implemented effect- ively, and the results monitored. The final chapter deals with fashion marketing planning. 1.9 Summary This chapter has introduced and defined fashion and marketing, and how fashion marketing: ◆ emphasizes the importance of design; ◆ aims to meet customers’ needs; ◆ helps to achieve corporate goals. There followed an examination of the practical side of fashion marketing: ◆ how fashion marketers work; ◆ the ethical issues. 16 The chapter concluded by: An Introduction to Fashion Marketing ◆ examining the business environment, and the place of fashion marketing within it; ◆ introducing the ideas of marketing research and consumer behaviour; ◆ outlining the concepts of target marketing and the fashion marketing mix. Further reading Baker, M.J. (2007), Marketing Management and Strategy, 4th Revised Edition, Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke. Barthes, R. (2006), The Language of Fashion, Berg Limited, New York. Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2006), Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, London. Costantino, M. (1998), Fashion Files: Marketing and PR, Batsford, London. Davis, F. (1994), Fashion, Culture and Identity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Hines, T. and Bruce, M. (2006), Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, 2nd Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Jones, R. (2006), The Apparel Industry, 2nd Revised Edition, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. McDowell, C. (2003), Fashion Today, Phaidon Press, Oxford. Tomlinson, A. (1990), Consumption Identity and Style: Marketing Meanings and the Packaging of Pleasure, Routledge, London. Tungate, M. (2005), Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara, Kogan Page Ltd, London. 17  Chapter Two The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment 2.1 Introduction A market is a place for buying and selling, for exchanging goods and services, usually for money. The fashion market is unusual because until early in the twentieth century it was almost solely the domain of kings, queens, aristocrats and other important people. As will be seen, great changes, mainly due to technology and increasing glo- balization, mean that we now have a fashion marketplace open to everyone. Fashion can be a reflection of the time, from the utilitarian clothing of the war years to the yuppie look of the buoyant 1980s. Fashion also can be a reflection of individuals. Clothes are often chosen to reflect among other factors our age, gender, lifestyle and personality. Because fashion is both a reflective and yet creative discipline, it is necessary for fashion marketers to be aware of the factors surround- ing the market and develop a broad understanding of the issues that can affect the garments that are seen in any high street store. 2.2 The development of the fashion market 2.2.1 Origins of the modern fashion market Until relatively recently, fashion had always been élitist and was used by its adopters to show that they were above the common people. Even the inventions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the spinning jenny, the water frame and the sewing machine have not had as great an effect on the market as have cultural changes and the explosion of the media during the twentieth century.  The end of World War I, in 1918, really marked the start of mass fash- The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment ion. Style began to be influenced by the fashion designers of Paris, Milan, New York and London. In the 1930s film personalities and later pop stars all played their part in spreading or even starting fashion trends. Some fashion styles are more easily explained than others. World War II forced hemlines up because of a shortage of material. In the 1950s newer freer styles made corsets less and less necessary. However, other fashions are less easily explained and are regarded by some as merely a whim or the market just looking for a change. Technology played its part in advancing mass production methods, so that from the 1930s onwards ordinary people could buy copies of designer fashions from high street stores within weeks of the big fashion shows. The media started to become an important influence in the late 1970s. People became more selective in what suited them, and mag- azines and books advised them on creating their own style. Designers could no longer dictate the styles as they had up to the 1960s. ‘Street fashion’ styles, developed by young people themselves in towns and cities, also affected designer clothes. London was at the forefront of the fashion scene in the 1960s and early 1970s. Mary Quant was in her heyday and her clothing was famous the world over. It was the time of Carnaby Street, and Biba made famous by Barbara Hulanicki. The influence of royalty on fashion made a comeback with the Princess of Wales in the 1980s as many women copied the lace and ruffles which she wore. While not the first to introduce lifestyle segmentation to the market, George Davies, then chief executive of the Next chain, is undoubtedly the best known. His retailing phenomenon, targeting a particular age and lifestyle group, exploded onto the marketplace and had many other high street retailers following suit. Changes towards a healthier lifestyle advocated by the medical profession and the increase in leisure time have encouraged people to take up more sport, particularly jogging and aerobics. Membership of health clubs and gyms has increased in recent years. So the cloth- ing from this and other activities has moved into everyday wear. The future for the fashion industry is mapped out, perhaps more than at any time in its history. Influences from the demographic structure, concern for the environment and further adoption of new technolo- gies are all inevitable. These factors could stifle designers if they are not careful or could offer them greater challenges than any they have had to face so far. 19 Fashion Marketing 2.2.2 Recent developments in the fashion market Consumer demand for clothing is now more fragmented and discern- ing. Retailers are wary of carrying high levels of stock, major demo- graphic changes are occurring, and many different styles and fabrics are available. These have all resulted in the mass market for cloth- ing being fragmented and are eroding the advantages of long-run manufacture. Previously the UK textile industry had a reputation for being dictatorial and short on choice. This was blamed on the nature of the relationship between retailers and manufacturers. Clothing retail- ing was dominated by a few large groups who exercised enormous power in the wholesale market for garments and fabrics. Retailers emphasized basic garments with very little fashion content, and Marks and Spencer in particular set very detailed specifications for fabrics, making-up and quality. Manufacturers such as Courtaulds and Carrington Viyella geared their production to large volumes of basic fabrics for a few major customers. It became uneconomic to deal with orders that either were small or required much design detail. Competition among retail chains was over the price and quality of garments. Since then the market share of the multiple retailers (such as Bhs, Debenhams and Marks and Spencer) has been affected firstly by the emergence of smaller specialist chains (Benetton, Next) then gro- cery supermarkets (‘George’ at Asda and Tesco). Mintel 2005 esti- mates that ‘George’ sales in 2004 (excluding VAT) were £1.07 billion and that non-specialist retailers of this type enjoyed an increase in sales of 13% from 2003 to 2004, with this rising trend continuing. Further European retailers (Zara, H&M) have also gained market share in the UK by importing low-cost garments. To avoid compet- ing with the abundance of low-cost imports, the big retailers have responded by increasing the speed with which they introduce fash- ion and style changes. This, in turn, has forced suppliers to manufac- ture shorter runs of garments with higher design and fashion content. In some parts of the market there has been a distinct shift in retail competition away from an emphasis on garment price to non-price factors, such as design, quality and fashion. However, this non-price competition has had only a limited success with even Marks and Spencer and its strong ‘British Made’ slogan, turning to importing more cheaply from overseas. Value retailers such as Matalan, Primark and TK Maxx, who have attracted the more price conscious shopper, have enjoyed considerable success in other sectors of the market (Table 2.1). 20  The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment Table 2.1 UK trade in clothing (£ million), 2001–2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Imports 9 160 9 806 10 341 10 884 11 543 Exports 2 592 2 506 2 713 2 729 2 679 Balance of trade
6 568
7 300
7 628
8 155
8 864 % change year on 11.1 4.5 6.9 8.9 year Source: HM Customs and Excise. © Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO (and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland). 2.3 The fashion market: size and structure 2.3.1 Structure of the fashion market Apart from technology, another reason why fashion is now available to the masses is that there are several levels at which fashion clothing functions, as shown in Figure 2.1: Trickle down Haute couture Designer wear Street fashion or Trickle mass markets up Figure 2.1 Levels of fashion. ◆ Haute couture houses are the major fashion houses of the world, run by recognized, internationally famous designers. They show their collections at least twice a year and sell indi- vidual garments for thousands of pounds. For many designers the catwalk shows are essentially a publicity exercise for the many goods that are sold under their name such as perfume and accessories. 21 Fashion Marketing ◆ Designer wear is shown at pret à porter. The move into ready- to-wear clothing by designers meant that they could offer their stylish designs and high quality to a wider audience. The garments are still highly priced, although in hundreds of pounds sterling rather than thousands. They are to be found in the designers’ shops, independent stores and some of the more exclusive department stores. Designs are not unique, but are still produced in limited numbers and, although some garments are produced abroad, there is very strict quality control. ◆ Mass market or street fashion is the market area in which most people buy their clothes. New fashions can be in the high street stores extremely quickly and what the customers lose in exclusivity they can make up for in value for money. This is one area of the market that is undergoing many changes and this chapter will look at how it is being affected. This three-tier view of the market is perhaps oversimplistic as there are many strata and price levels between the ones mentioned. Many customers do not stick to any one level when buying their clothes. The more affluent will buy several haute couture outfits but turn to designer wear for every day. Women who mostly buy designer ready-to-wear may occasionally splash out on a couture dress for a very special occasion. Those who generally only buy mass mar- ket clothing may still buy designer wear occasionally, if only from the discounted rail. In the early twenty-first century celebrity fashion icons have moved to mixing their outfits with some designer pieces and some from high street stores. At times it is difficult to iden- tify the origin of our clothing and to decide who has the power in the marketplace. Is it the fibre and fabric industry that, after all, make the cloth for the garments? Is it the designers? Or perhaps the retailers are the power base in the market? Ultimately it should be the customer, but traditionally the fashion market has been one where the customer was dictated to and so merely followed along almost blindly. The fashion flow chart in Figure 2.2 illustrates the flow of goods between the various participants in the marketplace. Later it will be seen that there is even more choice in deciding where the goods will be manufactured (see Section 2.5.2). 2.3.2 Size of the fashion market All three levels of the market have shown some growth in domestic clothing demand in recent years. Growth of the total UK market for 22  The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment Fibre industry Raw material suppliers Research facilities Fibre marketing companies Fibre mills, etc. Selling agents Support services: Fashion forecasting consultants Manufacturers Advertising, promotion Designers and public relations Fashion centres agencies Wholesalers Retailers: Shops Mail order Catalogues Party plan Ultimate customer Figure 2.2 Fashion flow chart. clothing has grown by over 16% from 1994 to 2004 and retail sales for 2006 are predicted to be nearly 50 billion (Table 2.2). UK imports now greatly exceed exports, having increased from £9.1 billion to £11.5 billion from 2001 to 2005 with the main trad- ers being Hong Kong, China and Turkey (see Table 2.1). UK exports have remained steady at about £2.5 billion per annum over the same period with about 73% of this output going to other European coun- tries. As less UK manufactured clothes are sold in the home market the proportion of goods being exported is actually increasing. The figures become more complex as UK manufacturers are developing their own production facilities overseas to take advantage of lower wages and production costs (Table 2.3). 23  Table 2.2 Some major developments in fashion Fashion Marketing Pre-nineteenth century Fashions only for the rich and powerful 1918 onwards Start of mass fashion 1930s Film personalities influencing popular clothing 1939–1945 World War II – raised hemlines 1950s and 1960s Freer styles, fewer control garments 1970s to 1990s Growth of multi-nationals and mass media influence 1990s Increase in branded and designer label goods 2000 onwards Growth of electronic shopping 2002 onwards Increasing influx of cheap foreign manufactured clothing Table 2.3 Consumer spending on clothes Consumer Expenditure at Current Prices in £ Million 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Clothing 31 048 32 103 33 927 35 689 37 112 38 067 Footwear 4 431 4 719 5 165 5 466 5 680 5 661 Total 35 479 36 822 39 092 41 155 42 792 43 728 % change on 6.3 3.8 6.2 5.3 4.0 2.2 year Source: Consumption, The Blue Book 2006. 2.3.3 Employment in the fashion sector Employment in the manufacturing of clothing textiles and leather production in the UK has now fallen to rank 24th out of the 25 cat- egories of manufacturing industry recorded by the Government. Two main factors have reduced the numbers employed in the sector in recent years to only 132 000 in 2006 (Table 2.4). New technologies have reduced the need for many workers, particularly in the more skilled areas of pattern cutting as much of this can be computerized. The computer systems still need to be manned by a skilled workforce, but retraining has to be done and still there will be redundancies. The far more important factor has been the stiff level of cheap competition from abroad. With an inability to raise prices in the face of a depressed domestic market and crippled by large debts, many firms have had to make savage cuts in their labour force and investment plans as the alternative to going out of business. In the late 1990s many major UK clothing manufacturers suffered as their customers 24  Table 2.4 Recent decline in employment figures in textile clothing and footwear The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment industries (in ‘000s, in June each year) 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 331 304 273 230 205 169 149 136 132 Source: ONS. Table 2.5 Production output indices of total manufacturing industries and textiles, leather and clothing industries in the UK (index 2002  100, 2001, 2005) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total manufacturing 103.2 100.0 100.1 101.9 101.3 industries Textiles, leather and 108.1 100.0 98.1 87.0 83.2 clothing Source: Monthly Digest of Statistics. Table 2.6 Production of textile and textile products in UK, 2000–2006 (index 2003  100) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 122.4 107.2 99.7 100 98.1 90 89 Source: ONS. chose to source garments from cheaper overseas suppliers. The UK clothing industry is made up of small, medium and large manufac- turers. The smaller manufacturers feed off the larger companies by offering specialist finishing services. As the larger retailers turn to overseas manufacturing or supplying, so the vulnerable smaller com- panies suffer. Table 2.5 shows the fortunes of the fashion industry in the context of the decline in manufacturing (Table 2.6). 2.3.4 The current role of London in the fashion business Fashion centres of the world have always included London, even before the era of Carnaby Street and Mary Quant, but recently design- ers have been choosing not to show in London. Now that London Fashion Week no longer has the financial backing of the French Chambre Syndicale (the French organization that decides which fash- ion houses may join the ranks of the haute couturiers), the number of exhibitions has declined. With it no longer being a requirement 25 Fashion Marketing to show in London, designers have taken the opportunity to save the expense of showing at yet another fashion week, instead concentrat- ing on the ones which they feel will be most prestigious and best covered by the media. This shift away from London is of concern to the industry, par- ticularly for the knock-on effect that it will have on everything from employment to tourism. Cities which are taking a more prominent role in the fashion year are New York, Tokyo and, new to the list, Shanghai. 2.3.5 The British High Street In contrast to Italy and most of the rest of Europe, UK has a much more consolidated market sector with only a few players as the big earners. Mintel (2005) stated that the top five UK retailers account for almost 45% of sales. The leading players by turnover being Marks and Spencer, Next, Arcadia Group (comprising Top Shop, Etam, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Outfit and Evans), Matalan and Bhs. This dominance of the big players makes it hard for independent stores to get a foothold into the marketplace. It is hard to compete on price when dealing with high rents and cheap imported clothes. 2.4 Marketing environment Fashion is ultimately about change. Every season there are new fash- ions that lead to obsolescence of last year’s clothes. Many of these changes are brought about by designers trying to create some- thing new to satisfy customers, but others are because of influences beyond the control of designers or manufacturers. These are all gath- ered together in what is called the marketing environment, as shown in Figure 2.3. Some changes occur very slowly while others can affect the market much more quickly; some are within a company’s control and others are way beyond it. 2.5 Micro-marketing environment Factors which ideally are within companies’ control are to a greater or lesser extent their suppliers, marketing intermediaries (which help to get the goods from the factory to the consumer) and the consumers themselves. For customers the providers of fashion may seem to have a variety of sources, for instance the designer who has the idea for 26  The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment Macro-environment Technology Political Demographics Legal Micro-environment Competitors Suppliers Manufacturers Intermediaries Consumers Publics Social Cultural Economic Environmental Adapted from Kotler, P. (1994), Marketing Management, 8th edn., Prentice Hall International, New Jersey. Figure 2.3 The marketing environment. Adapted from Kotler, P. (1994), Marketing Management, 8th Edition, Prentice Hall International, NJ. the style, the manufacturer who makes up the garment or the retailer to whom the consumer goes to buy the garment. 2.5.1 Designers While Paris is often thought of as the fashion capital of the world in fact there are five main cities supplying designs and new ideas to the international market. Paris is historically seen as the fashion capital and has the edge on many other cities as its fashion industry is taken very seriously by government and citizens alike. The haute couture designers are protected by the French Chambre Syndicale, which has strict codes of practice for any designer wishing to style him- or herself as an haute couture house. The main French designers are Yves St Laurent, Chanel (now run by Karl Lagerfeld), Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel and Christian Lacroix. The British are also making an impact in France, with Julian MacDonald and John Galliano securing senior designing roles in French fashion houses. Milan is the other fashion capital of Europe, and Italians have always taken fashion very seriously. There are probably fewer well- known designers, such as Giorgio Armani, Franco Moschino, Muicca Prada, Emanuel Ungaro and Versace, now headed by Donatella, sis- ter to the founder Gianni who was tragically murdered in 1997, but Italy is a country whose people and retail set-up, with many more independent stores, is a successful environment for young designers. 27 Fashion Marketing London is no longer the focal point of fashion that it once was, though it still produces many internationally influential designers. Many are quite small fish by international standards but others have their designs bought by the rich and famous from all over the world. Although London is no longer a major centre, the UK clothing industry is still significant and exports are actually growing in contrast to inter- nal sales. The city also retains many successful designers such as Bruce Oldfield, Jasper Conran, Matthew Williamson, Alexander McQueen, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Katharine Hamnett, Joseph Ettedgui, Rifat Ozbek, Amanda Wakely, Betty Jackson and Caroline Charles. In America the major centre is New York. To a considerable extent American fashions are confined to the home market, although all the big names are known and bought internationally. American designers include Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and Donna Karan. Tokyo, the centre of the Japanese clothing market, has a reputa- tion for a distinct style and for almost a lack of colour. There has been considerable growth in recent years at the top end of the Japanese clothing market by designers, especially since 1981 when Comme des Garçons and Yamamoto took Paris by storm. This is a fashion city that is destined to continue to grow with such designers as Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons (Miss Rei Kawakubo), Issey Miyake, Junya Wantanabe and Kenzo. The Middle East is now considered the sixth fashion terminus of the world, not because any designs come from here but because it is where the submerged 11% of the fashion industry goes. Much clothing is bought by women either within or while on holiday from such places as Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The overall market pattern now is that designers either make for themselves or subcontract to British or overseas manufacturers. Likewise retailers have their own designers and make them up in their own facto- ries, subcontract their own designs to home or overseas manufacturers, or buy garments designed and made up by other companies. 2.5.2 International sourcing The UK clothing industry is being squeezed further between the highly price-sensitive volume market which gets its supplies from low- wage economies and the quality end of the market which is increas- ingly supplied from Europe. The level of imports to the UK from the relatively high-cost producers on the continent has finally succumbed to pressure from other parts of the world and is decreasing. 28  Supplies come from three main sources: The Fashion Market and the Marketing Environment 1. UK, Europe and just beyond (Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Eire, Turkey and more recently Romania) making up about 20% of UK clothing imports. Italy has traditionally been the major player here with Germany and France in close second place. 2. The Far East (Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mauritius). The two major players here are Hong Kong and China. They contribute, almost equally, to the 30% of clothing entering the UK from the Far East. 3. Asia (India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). These main three play- ers contribute to more than 12% of UK clothing and accessory imports. Predictions that the reduction of quotas for Chinese goods would have a negative impact on these countries do not seem to have held true so far. The greatest increase in supply has come from China and this is only expected to increase further now that quotas have been all but dropped to the UK and most of the rest of the world. However this does not seem to have affected UK exports suggesting there are dif- ferent ranges of products being trade such as knitwear, rainwear and high-quality tailored items. Imports from eastern European countries such as Romania have been seen to rise, as they have benefited from preferential access by the European Union (EU) in order to aid their economic restructuring prior to the abandonment of Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) quotas. The days when Marks and Spencer used to boast that its gar- ments were almost all produced in the UK, have long gone and they have suffered from criticism by some of the groups discussed later in Section 2.5.9. 2.5.3 Manufacturers In the late 1990s and early 2000s a gloomy picture was painted as a result of the move towards global sourcing. Several larger clothing com- panies such as J. Baird Ltd closed factories and others such as Dewhurst in the north-east of England who relied on a few major customers such as Marks and Spencer have suffered from this loss of business. There has been a reduction in the clothing manufacturing indus- try in the UK and many foreign companies have changed from bo