People Pillar
People
People are the lifeline of the fashion industry, they are everything, from start to finish, even with the growth of AI, the fashion industry still revolves around people and communities. Gen Z is the penultimate generation, a generation that has grown up on the internet, Digital Nomads (Mckinsey, 2023) are at the forefront of this as consumers.
Gen Z is an increasingly integral part of the fashion economy, with a reported $360 billion in disposable income(Pollard, 2021). Gen Z is the one moving forward and spearheading the global economy. Very few have any real financial responsibilities, they are free to spend on what they want when they want and as a result, they, as a generation, are proving vital to supporting the global economy. Although Gen Z has a large disposable income, getting them to part with their money is an increasingly challenging task, with almost 10% more of Gen Z’s consumers being concerned by brand names than their prior generation millennials (Drapers, 2022). Gen Z is an image-conscious generation, digital nomads that have not known the world without social media.
As well as being digital nomads, Gen Z are also shopping more sustainable than ever, or at least trying to, with 58.2% of Gen Z shoppers reporting that being environmentally or ethically sustainable is either fairly or very important to them (Drapers,2022) this growing trend amongst Gen Z to be environmental shoppers is making brands work harder to get the generation to part with their cash. As well as being environmental shoppers Gen Z are highly motivated by brands and their social ethics, ‘cancelling’ brands when they feel they have acted unexpectedly. Their power as consumers means that brands have to diversify, it’s no longer acceptable for brands to only carry sizes XS-XL, their global media, means that brands can be called out. Gen Z can be a fickle consumer often turning them back on brands they had previously celebrated, two weeks ago Matilda Djerf, Djerf Avenue, was the latest brand to be attacked by Gen Z, shoppers disapproving of their standpoint as a supposedly ethical company when the brand where outed for not paying their garment workers in Portagul a fair wage. Their support can be short-lived and as a result, brands are having to become much more transparent to win over this new generation. They need to be willing to engage with their consumers, asking them what they want, for a generation spoilt for choice needs to clear incentives from brands to get them to part with their cash.
Drapers (2022) – Gen Z and Millenials, (Report) https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/gen-z-and-millennials-2022 (Accessed 14/10/2023)
McKinsey & Company (2023) – What is Gen Z? (Report) https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z (Accessed 14/10/2023)
Pollard, Amelia (2021) – Gen Z Has $360 Billion to Spend, Trick is Getting Them to Buy (Online) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-17/gen-z-has-360-billion-to-spend-trick-is-getting-them-to-buy?leadSource=uverify%20wall (Accessed 14/10/2023)