People Blog
The fashion industry is built around people and consumers, for a successful business, companies need to consider the wants and needs of their customers.
Gen Z are a huge proportion of the target market for businesses within the fashion industry and are currently the 2nd youngest generation – born after 1995 and up to 2010. The Gen Z consumer is a ‘digital native’ (Mckinsey, 2023) and grew up with the internet as part of daily life, they are very technology focused and spend a lot of time online. For Gen Z, the social media platform TikTok has a big influence on their feelings, opinions, and spending habits – and they make up 60% of the platforms one billion plus users. Gen Z also have a strong demand for accountability and purpose, creating more opportunities for people from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds and living in a more sustainable and green way.
To attract the Gen Z consumer, brands should focus on utilizing social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram as this is where majority of Gen Z can be found on a day-to-day basis. Partnering 2with influencers and showing authenticity within your marketing is most likely to attract the Gen Z customer.
Fenty beauty is a brand created by singer Rihanna, ‘’so that women everywhere would be included.’’ It launched with 40 foundation shade ranges that included shades for everyone and an extremely diverse marketing campaign. It was named one of the 25 Inventions of the Year by Time magazine, and it changed the make-up game, suddenly brands were launching more shade ranges and accommodating to a broader variety of skin tones.
‘’Fashion businesses are starting to look for people who come from a technology background’’ (Business of Fashion, 2022). The key skills needed to run a successful fashion brand are becoming technology and IT focused, with the emergence of the metaverse and digital fashion – brands need to move with the times and Gen Z are a great advocate for this, they are technologically advanced and able to adapt easily.
As we move forward, the collaboration between the fashion industry and Gen Z promises to be a transformative force that leads to a more ethical, inclusive, and innovative future for fashion.
References:
Brzezicki, A. (2022). Marketing to Gen Z: What the new wave of consumers want. [online] Bazaarvoice. Available at: https://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/marketing-to-gen-z/. [Accessed 12th October 2023].
Fetto, F. (2020). How Fenty Beauty Changed The State Of Play In The Industry. [online] British Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/rihanna-fenty-beauty-diversity. [Accessed 12th October 2023].
Francis, T. and Hoefel, F. (2018). ‘True Gen’: Generation Z and Its Implications for Companies. [online] McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies. [Accessed 12th October 2023].
Saltzman, S. (2017). SEE EVERY PRODUCT FROM RIHANNA’S DEBUT FENTY BEAUTY COLLECTION. [image] fashionista.com. Available at: https://fashionista.com/2017/09/rihanna-fenty-beauty-makeup-products-collection. [Accessed 12th October 2023].
www.mckinsey.com. (2023). What is Gen Z? | McKinsey. [online] Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z#. [Accessed 12th October 2023].