UNIT 1 Fashion Theory PDF

Fashion Theory Unit 1: 1.1 What is fashion? a. 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 almost any human activity from medical treatments to popular music. The co...

Fashion Theory Unit 1: 1.1 What is fashion? a. 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 almost any human activity from medical treatments to popular music. The competitive ethos of the fashion industry revolves around seasonality. The industry has a vested interest in developing new products for the customer at the expense of existing items: this process is known as planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is not confined to the fashion industry; it occurs in several other manufacturing 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 of change are usually slower and less predictable than the fashion industry would like. b. 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, therefore, 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 fashion 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 category, but the inspiration for the design of many of those garments may have come from works of art. b. 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, allowing businesses to succeed and grow. 1.2 Style: “Fashions fade, Style is eternal.” ~ Yves Saint Laurent Style = Expression It’s the total combination of the way one dress, talk, move their body and also include manners. Simply put, it’s how one express one`s inner being outwardly. This includes all of one`s thoughts, emotions, interests, and values. Everything on the outside is merely a reflection of what’s on the inside. Style is unique, and very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Rather it is an indication of your persona. Fashion is over quickly, whereas style is forever. One`s style could be more about comfort than fashion, but by cultivating one`s unique style one have adopted that innate capability now to be charismatic and confident. One can be instantly and effortlessly attractive by having their own unique style suiting their personality. 1.3 Classics: It is possible to use the term classic in several contexts. In terms of ‘bundles of utilities’, classics can usually be seen as the midpoint compromise of any style, i.e. total look or composite effect. Indeed, the term ‘style’ is often used to describe the classic in this context, complying with the basic laws of harmony in proportion, aesthetic sense and incorporation of balanced design features. Colour and pattern may vary but the classic customer does not seek the satisfaction of a new seasonal experience in the way that his or her fashion and fad counterparts do. However, it is likely that some satisfaction will be sought at the core of the product’s tangible attributes, e.g. good quality, good fit and durability. In a product sense a classic is never out of style for its market segment and will rarely appeal to the majority. Design changes will be minimal; these changeless and always acceptable garments are found in all recognizable areas of fashion, e.g. the women’s tailored suit with knee- or just above knee- length skirt or for men the City pinstripe, the double-breasted trench coat, the blazer; even denim jeans have their classic in the five-pocket Western style. Classic garments, sharing the quality of ‘timelessness’, will collectively make up the classic styles described above. At any given time, however, it will be possible to identify dominant and secondary styles. What should be added here is that although often described as timeless, classics also evolve gradually over many years according to the style of the age. Certain designers have also been described as classic, producing fashions that are seen by many as timeless and therefore can be worn despite the season and current high fashions. Barbour, Pringle and Nike provide good examples of brand names, while Paul Smith and Donna Karan are two examples of contemporary classic designers. Classic products may occasionally become fashionable, e.g. the ongoing revival of the Chanel suit, albeit with more up-to-date styling detail. However, it is more likely that the classic will form the basis for the annual slow, continuous change that forms fashion. There is a skill in combining the appropriate variations on the appropriate classics for any given moment in time to create an appropriate contemporary style. 1.4 Fad: Fads, will rise meteorically in popularity only to suffer an abrupt decline as they become adopted. As a fad becomes fashionable it also becomes unfashionable. Adoption of a fad is based solely on the desire by the individual for a new experience that is not likely to become popular on a large scale. For this reason, a fad tends to be viewed as non-viable in the commercial sense and usually eccentric in nature. Retailers like Zara, who operate a system of fast fashion where catwalk ideas can become translated into lower-priced fashionable items made available in stores within weeks, have contributed to the erosion between fashion and fad in some market segments. 1.5 Avant Garde: Avant-garde is originally a French term, meaning in English vanguard or advance guard (the part of an army that goes forward ahead of the rest). It first appeared with reference to art in France in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is usually credited to the influential thinker Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the forerunners of socialism. He believed in the social power of the arts and saw artists, alongside scientists and industrialists, as the leaders of a new society. Avant-garde art can be said to begin in the 1850s with the realism of Gustave Courbet, who was strongly influenced by early socialist ideas. This was followed by the successive movements of modern art, and the term avant-garde is more or less synonymous with modern. Some avant-garde movements such as cubism for example have focused mainly on innovations of form, others such as futurism or surrealism have had strong social programmes. Although the term avant-garde was originally applied to innovative approaches to art making in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity, and is still used today to describe art that is radical or reflects originality of vision. The notion of the avant-garde enshrines the idea that art should be judged primarily on the quality and originality of the artist’s vision and ideas. 1.6 Fashion Evolution: The concept of the life cycle is based on the proposal that all products have a finite ‘life cycle’ that can be plotted over a given period using the biological analogy of growth, development and decline. It proposes that all products will go through four major stages, namely introduction into the marketplace, growth, maturity and decline. However, it has already been pointed out that the nature of products in the fashion industry varies according to the rate, extent and timescale of acceptance of any new offering. Thus, while fashion and fads do make up successful new product introductions, garments that are more classic in nature will never actually go ‘out of fashion’, nor will they rarely be ‘in fashion’, rather they will continue to meet established target market requirements. The life cycle of a fashion, extending over one or several seasons, probably comes nearest to the bell-shaped curve normally used to depict the product life cycle model. Introduction: New fashions take time to gain acceptance. Some consumers will be more innovative than the majority and, while they are willing to pay higher prices, unit costs could potentially still be high due to low sales. However, to counterbalance this, the high fashion element (and therefore exclusive nature) of the style at this stage may mean that customers are willing to pay very high prices, leading to generation of high profits. Selected promotion will emphasize image and high fashion nature; the main aim will be to educate and inform the customer as quickly as possible. The size of the market will, however, be limited. Distribution will tend to remain exclusive. Growth/ Rise: Competition increases as the fashion gains exposure and begins to have wider appeal. Products will be modified to reduce costs and be offered at lower price levels. Sales will begin to rise sharply; new price bands will be established quite quickly. Distribution, still selective at this stage, will be wider as the fashion is diffused. Promotional emphasis will be on broadening exposure to gain acceptance of the fashion by the opinion forming element of the mass market. Maturity/ Peak: At this stage the fashion will have mass appeal; this period will be the longest in its life cycle. Competition will be intense, and prices will begin to fall to appeal to a very large market. Products will be further modified to achieve the ensuing lower price levels and profit potential will be falling. Distribution will be wide; promotional emphasis will be on reinforcement of what has by now become an established fashion. Decline: The style is rapidly going out of fashion. Competitors are gradually eliminated as sales and profits are falling drastically and the prospect of being left with obsolete stock is near. Those left in the market may try to extend the product’s life by intensive advertising, extending distribution or searching for new segments. The alternative segments are likely to balance concerns about the likely success of the product against others such as price levels and the remaining life of the product. 1.7 Adoption of fashion: Haute Couture Trickle down Trickle up Designer wear Mass Market a. Trickle down: This is an oldest and most accepted theory. It is based on the theory of copying and adapting the trends of the Haute Couture designers from Paris, Milan and London to the mass market. Fashion is copied, modified and sold at the lower and lower prices possible by using cheap materials. b. Trickle up: The fashion inspiration starts the lower level i.e; from the street and taken to the ramp by the designers. The designers here are inspired from the masses to design a collection. Eg: Jeans, Punk look, etc c. Trickle across: Fashion acceptance begins among various socio economic groups. There are different styles at the same time in all the three levels of the market, i.e; high class, middleclass and lower middle class. And hence the same styles are available from Haute Couture (designs first) to retail brands like ZARA (copies within 1 week of fashion show) and street wear (within 2-3 weeks of Haute couture show). 1.8 Motives for consumer buying: Motivation is the inner force that drives and energizes consumers towards goals. Motivation incorporates need arousal, causing the drive that leads instrumental behaviour to reduce the drive. Motivation is a complex concept as similar motives may find expression in different behaviour. Just as in the example above, a status seeking consumer bought a Prada jacket, other people will seek different brands or may find non-fashion products or activities to satisfy status needs. Furthermore, people may buy the same product, but for different motives. Another purchaser of a Prada jacket may do so primarily for warmth and protection (a physiological motive) or for social motives, e.g. to be accepted by a particular group of friends. The first level contains physiological needs (water, sleep, food). After these needs are satisfied, the individual is able to focus on satisfying the safety needs (shelter, security, and protection) and belongingness needs on the third level such as: love, friendship, and acceptance. Satisfaction of these needs allows the individual to advance to the ego needs. Fashion is seen in top three levels. Social needs include the need to belong and be accepted by others. Esteem needs are the need for the consumer to think well of themselves and have others hold a high opinion of them. Self- actualization, for Maslow, was the desire to grow psychologically and it embraces creativity and achievement. For one person knitting needles and some wool may enable self-actualization, whereas for another the participation in the design process by suggesting colours or styling aspects of a garment enables self-actualization. 1.9 Fashion forecasting: Estimating future demand for goods or services is extremely difficult in any market, but particularly so in fashion. Anticipating what buyers are likely to do under a given set of conditions is made more difficult by the eclectic nature of fashions, so any predictions about the future should be flexible and open to modification as the seasons change. There is a problem with the use of formalized techniques for prediction in that many fashion professionals mistakenly believe that their creativity will be inhibited or that their fashion acumen and flair will be trivialized by this process. This is clearly not the case, and these methods should be used to assist the decision maker. Forecasting the future demand for particular styles, fabrics and colours is an important aspect of the fashion industry. Textile specialists work two years ahead to determine the general guidelines for each fashion season. Fashion forecasting is an important activity to ensure that the process of observation related to short and long term planning can be based on sound and rational decision making and not hype. Forecasting can bridge the gap between ambiguous, conflicting signs and the action taken by the design team. 7 Steps in Developing a Forecast: 1. Identify the basic facts about past trends and forecasts. 2. Determine the causes of change in the past. 3. Determine the difference between past forecasts and actual behaviours. 4. Determine the factors likely to affect trends in the future. 5. Apply forecasting tools and techniques while paying attention to issues of accuracy and reliability. 6. Follow the forecast continually to determine reasons for significant deviations from expectations. 7. Revise the forecast when necessary. 1.10 Design sources: The designers find the inspiration from the surrounding. Hence, the designers have to be attentive to the things happening around them. a. The street: The fashion finds its inspiration from the street. The bold, mix and max, and colourful looks were picked up from the street. Jeans and body piercing are also other street trends that have reached the fashion ramp. b. Culture: The designers can study the cultures as it can act as the major source of inspiration. As every culture is different designers can use certain elements of the one or more culture to combine. c. Nature: This is not a new source of inspiration. The designers have always been inspired from the nature, be it flowers, leaves, birds, tree trunks, soil, their colour combinations or even their texture. d. Museums and Art galleries: The museums tell us our history. Hence they can be inspired from the past objects and clothing. The artist`s painting can also be a source to beginning with. e. Architecture: The inspiration from the structure of architecture, the combination of the use of materials, the use of lines, etc. can be applied in the clothing. 1.11 Fashion Services and resources: Fashion industry provides the following services: a. Branding – brand concepts, development, marketing, etc. b. Trend forecasting – colour forecasting, trend spotting, c. Tech Packs & Spec development – useful for manufacturing apparels. d. Sourcing / Production – factory sourcing, quality assurance, production line management, etc. e. Design & CAD Service – logo development, trend boards, illustrations, etc. f. Consulting / Business Advice – retail planning, marketing, logistics, technology system selection & implementation, etc. g. Fashion PR Services – press release services, celebrity integration, media contacts, etc. h. General Business & Company Law matters. If any designer is starting a brand, these services will help them to understand the market, marketing of products and also the manufacturing process. Consumer Resources: a. Employment – resume services, recruiting agencies, b. Self Help – weight loss best practices, beauty product tips, makeup application techniques, etc. c. Stylists – hair tips, makeup tips, accessory suggestions, etc. d. Consultations – fashion consulting, wardrobe suggestions, organizing services, etc. e. Shopping – clothes buying services, shopping consultants, assistant shoppers, etc. 1.12 Fashion Magazines: Fashion magazines has always been a great source of information about the latest trends within the country as well as internationally. The fashion magazines work very closely with the leading brands and designers as well the fashion icons. The fashion magazine`s editors aim is to feature the product in the magazine (the products are paid to feature) so there is maximum sale of the product and more people will buy the magazine to know the latest featured product. The magazine editor wisely chooses the products that will also increase magazine sales and gain popularity. The styles and trends featured also help the designers and brands to know what their competitors are doing. The following are the leading fashion magazines: 1. Vogue India and Internationally. 2. Harper’s Bazaar 3. Elle 4. Femina 5. GQ 6. Vanity fair Further research: 1. Movie – Devil wears Prada (watch to understand how the editors work to set market trends)  KNOWLEDGE OF CUSTOMER 2.1 Customer groups/ Market segmentation: 2.1.1 What is heterogeneous market? The extreme form of market segmentation is where everyone has different needs and purchasing capability, and this is described as market heterogeneity. An example of this would be if everyone had bespoke tailoring, which, given the economics of the prospect, is an unlikely scenario. The nearest example is the market for corporate clothing. Here large organizations may require custom-made uniforms or limited ranges of clothing for their staff to enable the achievement of corporate image and personnel goals. 2.1.2 Market segmentation: Market segmentation is where the larger market is heterogeneous and can be broken down into smaller units that are similar in character. In practice there is always the problem of balancing the similarity of needs with the desire for substantial numbers of potential buyers. An acceptable balance has been found by many firms in what is known as niche marketing, where a clearly defined segment is targeted with a narrow product range. Wolford, Tie Rack and Thomas Pink are examples of this approach. Niche marketing is just another form of market segmentation. The extreme form of meeting customers’ needs along this continuum has already been described as market heterogeneity, where each customer is treated as being unique. There are other pressures to aggregate consumers with needs that are ‘similar enough’, but this can lead to a situation where the resultant marketing mix is a compromise that satisfies no one. The desire for larger markets is understandable as large markets enable economies of scale in production and marketing, and can command higher profits. The compromise solution of aggregating those who are ‘similar enough’ is vulnerable to competing businesses, who can demonstrate that they are better able to satisfy more closely targeted segments. 2.1.3 Preference Segments: Homogeneous preferences exist when all consumers want the same things Diffused preferences exist when consumers want very different things Clustered preferences reveal natural segments from groups with shared preferences 2.1.4 The advantages of market segmentation: By segmenting markets, fashion marketers gain several strategic advantages. Analysis of markets necessarily means consideration of competitors and their relative strengths and weaknesses in relation to customer needs. Such knowledge enables fashion marketers to decide whether to compete directly, if a strategic advantage is evident, or to position the company to exploit strengths and avoid retaliation from a stronger competitor. Market segmentation enhances marketing planning in that it forces management to consider the relative costs, efficiency and effectiveness of the alternatives that segmentation reveals. 2.1.5 Segmentation bases: Segments have been described as groups of customers with similar characteristics. A larger market, say the womenswear market, may be divided or segmented into many different ways. For eg: Indian wear and Western wear. Further into subdivision according to the disposable income, style preference, fabric and prints etc. Eg: Fabindia is an Indian and Indo-western wear brand targeting Men & Women who likes to wear Indian fabrics, styles, prints and colours – Age group = kids wear, men & women from15 – 50 – Products = cosmetics, clothing and furniture. There is no standard or preferred way to divide a market; however, it is important that the base(s) selected should relate to customers’ needs. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find that fashion marketers use different methods for analysing the same market. What follows is an examination of some bases or dimensions that may be used to help categorize customers into meaningful and profitable segments. 2.2 Customer profile with segmentation: Customer profiling is a way to create a portrait of the customers to help you make design decisions concerning your service. The target customers are broken down into groups of customers sharing similar goals and characteristics and each group is given a representative with a photo, a name, and a description. Identify your consumer – location, age gender, occupation Identify their attitudes and perceptions Can use primary and secondary sources Fashion retailers (Next and GAP, for example) have intentionally targeted very specific niche markets Main ways of segmenting fashion consumer: Demographics – to understand the background of the customer Purchasing behaviour Geographic Phyco-graphic segmentation a. Demographics: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Family size 4. Stage of family (young couple with kids) 5. Income 6. Occupation 7. Education 8. Religion 9. Nationality These details inform the kind of clothes and accessories in which the target customers will be interested. Consider a customer who is a 60-year-old male. He will likely need outfits that are much different from a 16-year-old female. Knowing these fundamental details about your target customer will help you ascertain their needs and wants. That information is critical to developing a fashion line that will interest the brands target market. b. Purchasing behaviour: 1. User occasion 2. Benefits wanted (value, high quality, excellent service) 3. Loyalty level If the brand is targeting people who plan on wearing your outfits on a daily basis, then the brand may be able to assume that they are willing to pay a higher price than someone who only wants to wear your outfit once. Similarly, someone who is loyal to a brand will respond to different messaging than someone who has never heard of your brand. Readiness to buy and urgency are important traits to understand. If the customers are not ready to make a purchase, it will affect the length of their buying cycle. If the customers only make a purchase when there is a sale, for example, the brand will need to centre your promotional tactics around that trait. Urgency can be created by informing the customers about what they are missing when they don’t make the purchase right away. c. Geographic: Where the target customers live affect the kind of clothes they purchase. 1. Country 2. Town/ state 3. Address 4. Climate For example, someone who lives in a predominantly warm climate will not have a need for parkas and leather gloves, whereas someone who lives in a predominantly cold climate may not want to purchase shorts and tank tops. Similarly, someone who lives in a big city may dress differently than someone who lives in the countryside. The customers’ location also affects where the brand will sell the fashion line. If the brand is selling online, the target customers need to live in an area to which it is easy to ship. d. Phyco –graphic: 1. Social class 2. Lifestyle 3. Spending attitude If the brand sell sports clothing, for example, the brands needs to know if target customers plays sports and value health and wellness. On the other hand, if the brand creates club wear, they would want to target customers who like to go out to bars and clubs and value socializing with their friends. The interests of the brands target customers determine their needs and wants as well. The values, attitudes and opinions your customers share may determine whether they shop at your business or not. For someone who values environmental sustainability, shopping at a business that uses recycled packaging or materials may be important. For someone customers who are a champion of LGBTQ+ rights, it may be important to shop at businesses who share these values.