Pofit
The third pillar is profit. It’s an important part of the industry, because all the brands want to experience profit in their business to keep thriving in the industry. In our economy, fashion is demanded to grow continuously and it’s driven by the demand in apparel market. Profit helps businesses grow and keep making new products for the benefit for consumers.
The growth of the apparel market was very noticeable when events influence the change. Especially after the global Covid pandemic, it grew tremendously and was forecasted to increase more in the year 2023 (Smith, 2023). We can see the influence of this on one of fashion category that is accessories. The revenue of the market development in the year 2019 had increased from 6.73 billion dollars and to 8.88 billion dollars in 2021. It is forecasted to increase even more in the next 4 years.
There are sectors in the industry that are contributing to a brand’s success that are manufacturing, designing, distributing, marketing, advertising and retailing. They keep working on each sector to create new products and promote while having various employers for each sector. This contributes for a brand to be successful. But there is a lot of uncertainty and changes arising lately which makes the business consider what a brand should do to becompetitive in an unstable economy.
It won’t be easy to keep competing while being in a difficult and quickly changing situation. “They will need to develop risk mitigation strategies that can be implemented quickly as conflicts, fiscal policies, and government regulations evolve.” (McKinzey & Company, 2022). They have to think beyond the lines, while trying to bring something new. New collaborations could help with that. It can help explore a new style of the brand. But considering increasing customer demand for sustainability and inclusivity of sizes it could be challenging to accept and embrace the changes in the brand.
One of the examples of exploration between creativity and commerce is when a brand is collaborating with artists. The 2021 collaboration of Stella McCartney with Nara Yoshimoto has explored the new unisex rebellious side of the brand with a non-conforming style (Hughes , 2022). The artist underlines social problems through his works. Inspired by that was the reason behind the name of the collection “We are Punks”. It is a good exploration of a new style of a fashion brand that can be suited for a bigger amount of customers han before. This shows how the brand can combine art pieces which are made for admiration with the daily wear pieces that can shape our self expression.
Hughes, N. (2022). “Art-Fashion Collaborations.” Harper’s Bazaar. Available at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a41645278/art-fashion-collaborations/#r3z-addoor [Accessed: 20 October 2022].
McKinsey & Company. (2022). “The State of Fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather.” Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion#:~:text=State%20of%20Fashion%202022%3A%20An%20uneven%20recovery%20and%20new%20frontiers&text=Companies%20are%20adapting%20to%20new,pressure%20on%20the%20bottom%20line. [Accessed: 20 October 2023].
Smith, P. (2023). “Global Apparel Market – Statistics & Facts.” Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/821415/value-of-the-global-apparel-market [Accessed: 20 October 2023].
https://www.stellamccartney.com/gb/en/unisex/yoshitomo-nara-x-stella-mccartney