People
Within fashion, people are arguably the most important pillar the whole industry stands on. People are ultimately involved with every aspect of creating clothing from collecting the raw materials to wearing a finished garment.
Gen Z are the generation of people born between 1996 and 2010 and are the first generation to grow up as digital natives. As consumers, Gen Z want to have a quality shopping experience and despite their affinity with technology, they prefer physical stores in comparison to the prior generation of Millennials. Most consumers in Gen Z want a brand to be ethical in its values and sustainably focused. (McKinsey and Company, 2023)
As a member of Gen Z I believe that in order for a brand to attract members of this generation their ideas have to be unique. As Gen Z have grown up with ample access to online sources there is rarely anything completely unique that they see from a brand so when they are able to do this it attracts them even more! This unique quality could be through the design of the product itself or a new marketing idea. An example of this could be when Maybelline used AI to create an advert for their mascara and involved the London tube system. This was a new idea that excited people when it was released.
A lot of comments about products now link to diversity and how diverse a new product or brand is. A brand who responded to diversity incredibly well was Savage X Fenty whose Creative director, Rhianna, successfully showed a diverse collection of models spanning a variety of ethnicities, disabilities, ages as well as members of the LGBT+ community. The shows Rhianna created for the brand have been flooded with praise regarding the diverse collection of models wearing the clothing. (Forbes, 2021)
Fashion brands need a variety of different people skills to truly be successful. One of these I believe is compassion, a brand should care for their customers as if they were buying the items themselves this can also lead on to more sales and repeat customers, compassion also means a brand cares for its workers and the people buying their clothes which is hugely important in todays society. A fashion brand should also possess effective communication between all aspects of the clothes creation process, this ensures that a customer feels included within the creation of their garments
References:
What is Gen Z? (2023) Mckinsey and Company – https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z