Profit
Profit and measuring a businesses profitability is a common way for businesses to measure success. Although it is not needed for a business to survive, it is a way to show good performance.
What is the size of the fashion industry?
After the COVID 19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions causing inflation especially across Europe, it made an impact in the fashion industry which has spent the last two years recovering. It caused there to be a slight decrease in value in the market, with its value coming to 1.53 trillion US dollars in 2022 (Smith, 2023) . However, it is predicted to grow in 2023 with it forecasted to be valued at 1.7 trillion US dollars. (Smith, 2023) This improvement is also supported by the EP going from -73% in 2020 to 212% in 2021. (Mckinsey 2022)
How are various sectors of the industry performing?
In terms of the industry overall, sales have slowed due to consumer confidence decreasing paired with the increasing inflation rates causing consumers to save. However, the luxury sector is predicted to grow from 5%-10% globally. (McKinsey, 2022) This can be reflected in the growth of brands like Loewe as it has jumped 13 places and is now considered the hottest brand of this quarter according to the Lyst. This contrasts with the rest of the industry which growth is predicted to grow -2% to 3% as an effect of an unstable economic climate. (McKinsey, 2022)
How does a brand remain competitive in uncertain economic times?
Uncertain economic times have caused 56% of fashion executives to predict market conditions to worsen in 2023. (Mckinsey, 2022) However, what makes brands to be considered “Super winners” is that they have invested into not only sustainability to match with consumer demands but also into technology and digitisation. This is done by focusing on a more digital business model. (Berg, 2022) An example of a business failing to do this is Glossier as they failed to have successful product development and failed to treat workers fairly which ruined their reputation.
How do creative directors bridge the gap between creativity and commerce?
A major task that a creative director has is understanding a brand’s visual DNA while reinterpreting it to fit modern consumer tastes. (Mitterfellner, 2023) The art of fashion and the commerce side used to be separate, with trade shows being the business side and runway showing the art of the industry. However, according to Caroline Stevenson there has been a blurring of ideas from the street across all art forms as fashion has become democratised. Designers such as Largerfeld have been successful in bridging the gap as he celebrated the brands DNA while creating immaculate shows and being a strong brand image himself with his look.
Bibliography:
Berg, A. (2022) How current global trends are disrupting the fashion industry.
(Accessed 18/10/23)
McKinsey and Company, 2022, The state of fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather (2022).
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion
(Accessed 18/10/23)
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
(Accessed 18/10/23)
Smith,P. (2023) Global apparel market – statistics and facts
https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/#editorsPicks
(Accessed 18/10/23)
The Lyst Index, 2023.
https://www.lyst.com/data/the-lyst-index/q223/
(Accessed 18/10/23)