People
People, known as consumers, are the key factor in the fashion industry as they affect what to supply, why to supply, and how to supply for fashion brands. Fashion brands need to know who their target customers are. Gen Z is people aged between 13 years old to 27 years old (McKinsey & Company, 2023). This group of people has greatly changed and even determined the fashion trend.
Gen Z look highly of and prefer products that are sustainable. Fashion brands should put much effort into making sourcing and production processes following sustainability as well as being ethical (Mitterfellner, 2019, p.175). A brand that expresses its products are made through a sustainable working process will be attractive to Gen Z, therefore brands should pay more attention to sustainability. Online shopping has become more and more popular among people especially for Gen Z as this is a convenient and time-saving way to purchase goods. Social media and online website provides inspiration for people, Instagram and TikTok are the two main social media that people skim through the most (Moran, 2022). In order to attract Gen Z, brands should pay more attention to the official website and purchasing methods. Gen Z requires a clear, easy-to-use website that can be accessed. Various acceptable online paying methods are essential; rational return and exchange policies should be set up.
Tommy Hilfiger is a brand that has responded to diversity and kept working on products that provide convenience for people who have disabilities. There is a series called ‘Tommy Adaptive’ that produces women, men, and kids’ products. Tommy has comprehensively considered their target customers’ possible inconvenience and made much effort to solve their problems. These products are designed with ingenious ideas, for instance, to make zippers easier to be pulled up, and to make buttons easier to be fastened. The pictures is a shirt from Tommy Hilfiger. The shirt looks normal as seen, however, the button can be fastened through the magnet underneath instead of manually buttoned. This design will be helpful for people who have disability or feel hard to button.
In order to be successful, brands should think of what the customers need, what their personality and their living habits as “Marketing firms and merchandisers focus on creating profiles and lifestyle analyses as guidelines for product development” (Hethorn, J.&Ulasewicz, C.(Eds.), 2015).
Bibliography
Hethorn, J.&Ulasewicz, C.(Eds.) (2015) SUSTAINABLE FASHION: WHAT’S NEXT? London: Bloomsbury.
McKinsey & Company (2023) What is Get Z?
Moran, G. (2022) Gen Z and Millennials 2022
Mitterfellner, O. (2019) Fashion Marketing and Communication : Theory and Practice Across the Fashion Industry. Taylor & Francis Group
Image
Figure 1. Tommy Hilfiger (no date) ADAPTIVE HERITAGE REGULAR FIT SHIRT. [Photograph] Available at: https://uk.tommy.com/adaptive-heritage-regular-fit-shirt-76j4630adpcjp (Accessed: 14 Oct 2023).