Jessica Stanley

About Jessica Stanley

Posts by Jessica Stanley:

Profit

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Profit is a vital factor within any industry especially the economically driven fashion industry where lines between what is done for art and what is done for commerce can sometimes become blurred.

The fashion industry is one of the largest industries in the world with its revenue set to hit over $768 billion in 2023 (Statista, 2023) There is also currently over 60 million workers worldwide being in a job relating to the fashion and textiles industry with both of these numbers expected to grow over the next few years. (Fashion United, 2021)

Fast fashion is currently incredibly popular at the moment as more people want affordable ways to completely change and replace their wardrobe, the rise of sustainability means this area is beginning to see less growth than in previous time periods. This means the luxury fashion sector is set to be the front runner of the industry as people begin to invest in pieces and as more and more wealthy buyers spend alongside their travels. In more recent times, the sportwear and loungewear sectors have also dominated a large majority of the overall fashion market which was mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic where many people stayed inside. (McKinsey and Company, 2022).   

All products have a lifecycle and so in order to maximise revenue and profit brands must attempt to extend these lifecycles for as long as possible. A way to do this, especially in uncertain economic times is to launch smaller products that a customer can purchase to add on to the items they already own, such as a new bag strap, furthermore, allowing a customer to gain a longer lifespan for their product without having to buy a whole new one.

The role of a creative director is extremely important within any fashion brand. They are the centre for all aspects of creativity but also in place to generate revenue for the brand and ultimately turn over a profit. Many will argue about what is art and what is commerce within the fashion industry, but the creative director helps to use their artistic vision to create collections that will then draw attention which ultimately increases revenue. This is where a creative director helps to bridge the gap between art and commerce as they use one to gain better access to the other (Mitterfelner O, 2023) This is why many brands bring in well-known designers or celebrities to become their creative director as it helps create more of a hype around the brand, such as when Karl Lagerfeld took over Chanel and they went from their main income source being perfumes to actually becoming a fashion house once again.

References:

Statista, Global apparel market – statistics and facts, 2023: https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/

Fashion United, UK fashion industry statistics, 2021 – https://fashionunited.uk/uk-fashion-industry-statistics

McKinsey and Company, The state of fashion 2023, 2023 – https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion

O Mitterfelner, Luxury Fashion Brand Management: Unifying Fashion with Sustainability, 2023 – https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAL/detail.action?docID=7260416

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People

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Within fashion, people are arguably the most important pillar the whole industry stands on. People are ultimately involved with every aspect of creating clothing from collecting the raw materials to wearing a finished garment.

Gen Z are the generation of people born between 1996 and 2010 and are the first generation to grow up as digital natives. As consumers, Gen Z want to have a quality shopping experience and despite their affinity with technology, they prefer physical stores in comparison to the prior generation of Millennials. Most consumers in Gen Z want a brand to be ethical in its values and sustainably focused. (McKinsey and Company, 2023)

As a member of Gen Z I believe that in order for a brand to attract members of this generation their ideas have to be unique. As Gen Z have grown up with ample access to online sources there is rarely anything completely unique that they see from a brand so when they are able to do this it attracts them even more! This unique quality could be through the design of the product itself or a new marketing idea. An example of this could be when Maybelline used AI to create an advert for their mascara and involved the London tube system. This was a new idea that excited people when it was released.

A lot of comments about products now link to diversity and how diverse a new product or brand is. A brand who responded to diversity incredibly well was Savage X Fenty whose Creative director, Rhianna, successfully showed a diverse collection of models spanning a variety of ethnicities, disabilities, ages as well as members of the LGBT+ community. The shows Rhianna created for the brand have been flooded with praise regarding the diverse collection of models wearing the clothing. (Forbes, 2021)

Fashion brands need a variety of different people skills to truly be successful. One of these I believe is compassion, a brand should care for their customers as if they were buying the items themselves this can also lead on to more sales and repeat customers, compassion also means a brand cares for its workers and the people buying their clothes which is hugely important in todays society. A fashion brand should also possess effective communication between all aspects of the clothes creation process, this ensures that a customer feels included within the creation of their garments

References:
What is Gen Z? (2023) Mckinsey and Company – https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z

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PLANET

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As the world has become more advanced, it’s left devastating impacts on the environment and our planet. The effects of the pollution we have created could potentially become irreversible if we don’t change the way we consume, live and produce.

A potential way to combat this is by allowing our clothes to live within a circular economy. (A Gwilt, 2020) This Is an ambitious model where pollution is designed out, clothes are utilised at their highest value and finally after use they re-enter the economy in the hopes the never become waste. This could allow the lifespan of our clothes and textile products to be largely increased and prevent the products ending up in landfill.

Sustainability is now one of the biggest words surrounding the entire fashion industry and whilst most people consider this word to mean a brand could simply use regenerated materials or a renewable energy source within its factories it can in fact involve a variety of factors, all coming together, to be truly sustainable. Mitterfellner (2023) discusses the idea of sustainability being built upon 3 pillars: Environmental sustainability, Economic Sustainability and Social Sustainability. Within the fashion industry, to be truly sustainable, a brand should consider all 3 of these pillars when creating a goal or a plan. This means company must think on a wider scale about all aspects of their business such as providing their workers with good quality working conditions, avoiding unethical fabric sources or even stopping using pesticides when growing cotton. This is why fast fashion has such damaging effects (J Hethorn and C Ulasewicz, 2015) as most of the clothes from fast fashion companies come from factories where workers are mistreated, the fabrics are mainly plastic and they get disposed of after a few wears.

The United Nations created a list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to (UN Department of Economic and social affairs, 2015) create health and prosperity for the people and the planet. Whilst all these goals are incredibly important, I believe that goal 12 ‘responsible consumption and production’ is one of the most relevant within the fashion industry. This is because it encourages brands to not over produce items as well as getting consumers to buy what they need and keep it for a longer period as opposed to buying what is ‘on trend’ and only wearing it once. A brand I believe demonstrates this SDG incredibly effectively is London based luxury brand Odd Muse. They encourage their customers to buy timeless, classic pieces to add to their wardrobe that will last them years and they release limited amounts of clothing at a time to avoid over producing garments.

References:
Gwilt, A (2020) A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion –  https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAL/detail.action?docID=6234061 (Accessed 10/2023)

Mitterfellner O, (2023) Luxury fashion brand management: unifying fashion with sustainability, Chapter 7. – https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=7260416 (Accessed 10/2023)

J Hethorn and C Ulasewicz (2015) Sustainable Fashion: What’s Next? A Conversation about Issues, Practices and Possibilities, Chapter 1 – https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781501312250&tocid=b-9781501312250-chapter1&pdfid=9781501312250.ch-001.pdf (Accessed 10/2023)

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development page – https://sdgs.un.org/goals (Accessed 10/2023)

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Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli

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My favourite fashion brand

Schiaparelli is a couture fashion house founded in 1927 by Elsa Schiaparelli. I first discovered the brand in 2021 when researching Gabrielle Chanel for a project as both designers created their companies in a similar time period. Since finding the fashion house I have followed all of the collections that creative director Daniel Roseberry has made for the brand. I was instantly inspired by the creativity and uniqueness of his designs and collections, however what I truly fell in love with from the moment I saw their collections was the interesting yet incredibly structured silhouettes paired with the classic gold details and hardware. I love the idea of pairing a more simple yet beautifully made garment with camp and unique details shows the variety within fashion and how you can take such a simple idea and turn it into something far more extraordinary by using abstract, statement elements. To me they showcase what it truly means to be in fashion, creativity and new ideas.

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