Purpose
In order for a fashion brand to be successful, their purpose within the market and the wider society must be established. This can be achieved through strategy, which is a ‘journey with a vision’ according to Liz Gee (2023). It can also be the trajectory of the organisation’s achievements through its effective use of resources. This would greatly apply to a brand with a clear understanding of mission, vision and values.
Mission refers to where the brand is currently within different metrics of success, as well as the reason for its creation and perhaps the gap in the market it intends to fill. A vision is a more futuristic prediction of what goals the company hopes to achieve to maintain their success. These can be measured on a variety of time scales, with the most common being annually. A business can assess their yearly performance in relation to changing social, economic and environmental factors and update their practices where necessary. For example, the current environmental situation has resulted in a heightened focus on sustainability and the impact the current scale of production has on the environment. Therefore, a future ambition of the brand could be to increase the use of recycled materials in the context of a circular business model, which would be possible solutions within the overarching planet pillar. An exemplification of this would be Nike’s collaboration with Billie Eilish, where material waste from her prior collection was used to create a new aesthetic (Nike, 2022). Another category in a brand’s vision could be its goals towards inclusivity and diversity, as failure to do so may result in boycott of the business, particularly with a Gen Z audience. The final aspect of business purpose is values. This is what is important to the brand and how they intend to operate. There is an increasing desire for brand advocacy, as 76% of consumers would hope a brand not only supplies a product but advocates (Curry, 2020) for a socio-political cause. This can be measured by the brand advocacy map (Figure 1).
With Gen Z becoming a greater influence of purchasing power, within their own age groups through social media channels as well as their recommendations to older family members (McKinsey&Company, 2020) it is paramount for a brand to communicate their purpose. The creation of brand stories is important such as Ralph Lauren’s understanding that to create a look of history and heritage communicates a feeling of trust and timelessness and this longevity in translated into the brand (Mitterfellner, 2023).
Conclusively, purpose is a necessary component of a brand to portray concepts and attract customers.
Curry, L. (2020). How Brands Can Follow Through on the Values They’re Selling. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/08/how-brands-can-follow-through-on-the-values-theyre-selling [Accessed 24 Oct. 2023].
Gee,L. (2023) ‘Welcome to Fashion Business School’ [Lecture]. FU010030: Introduction to Fashion Marketing. London College of Fashion. 26th September.
Spagnuolo, E. (2020) Meet Generation Z: Shaping the Future of Shopping McKinsey&Company[Podcast]. 4th August. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/61BlUYGg67ZXfMjy6NrQHd?si=y2GVPiqNQZ6BmhDXaeCpZQ (Accessed: 24th October 2023).
Mitterfelner, O. (2023). Luxury Fashion Brand Management : Unifying Fashion with Sustainability. 1st ed. [online] London: Taylor & Francis Group. Pages 66-68. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=7260416 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2023].
Nike (2022). Nike x Billie Eilish AF1 Low. [online] Nike.com. Available at: https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-x-billie-eilish-af1-low [Accessed 29 Oct. 2023].