Profit

The fashion industry is renowned for embracing new trends with the latest cuts, prints and styles to gain profit from customers. Although the fashion industry is one of the largest industries in the world. In 2022, the size of the fashion industry was estimated to be just under £58.5 billion. Shockingly, this is less than 2021, but the industry is predicted to reach over £75 billion by 2026. 

The luxury sector is currently expected to outperform the remaining sectors in the fashion industry. (Statista, 2023) In 2023, it amounts to 111.5 billion US dollars, forecasted to grow annually by 3.39%. This growth will continue to thrive as those with high disposable income will not be impacted by economic uncertainty, as customers are the target consumer group of the luxury sector. 

During uncertain economic times, brands have remained competitive by engaging with consumers through social media. (Hethorn J & Ulasewicz, 2015) Fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M have millions of followers on social media, where they post numerous times a day to communicate with customers. Followers are continuously bombarded with posts of new products as a strategic method to encourage them to buy more. By constantly seeing these posts, we are influenced into purchasing recent trends rather than the clothing we need. The purchasing of the products is also made easily accessible as we can now click the image to buy the product. 

The role of a creative director consists of advising designers on collection concepts and guiding the brand’s aesthetic vision. (Mitterfellner, O, 2023) Creative directors can bridge the gap between creativity and commerce by ensuring new collections generate enough revenue, which is how success is measured. If the brand’s success reports do not impress, the design will be exchanged for a new one. The creative director is responsible for having an artistic vision and designing collections from Haute Couture to pret-a-porter for several collections per year with very tight deadlines. In the 1980’s, there were up to two collections per year, but in 2020, 32 collections are now considered the norm. Collections must impress and be suitable for the catwalk to generate press and publicity.

References:

Hethorn, J., & Ulasewicz, C. (eds). (2015). Sustainable Fashion: What’s Next? A Conversation about Issues, Practices and Possibilities. New York: Bloomsbury

e-book: https://libsearch.arts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac- detail.plbiblionumber=1161923&query_desc=

Mitterfellner, O. (2023) Luxury Fashion Brand Management and sustainability: Unifying fashion with sustainability. New York: Routledge.

e-book: https://libsearch.arts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac- detail.pl?biblionumber=1546849&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20Mitterfellner