Rise of fast fashion: Marketing strategies underlying the success and impacts brought to the industry
Introduction
“Fast fashion is a contemporary term used by fashion retailers to express that designs move from catwalk quickly in order to capture current fashion trends.” (Hines, Tony, and M. Bruce, 2001) Thanks to the excellent marketing strategies and governance of continuous supply chains, fast fashion is now booming in the apparel industry, there are rapid expansion of fast fashion retailers such as H&M, ZARA, Topshop and UNIQLO, etc. in different countries in recent years. (Mollá-Descals, Frasquet-Deltoro & Ruiz-Molina, 2011) Triumph of fast fashion makes the brands’ founders to become the richest people in the world: The Swedish
(Agrawa &Kamakura, 1995) Fast fashion retailers are landing advertisements in famous fashion magazines such as Vogue, ELLE and Marie Claire, etc. The brands display their products through the advertising platform that was formerly the sole domain of luxury brands. This changes customers’ perception towards fast fashion by displaying their products in the magazines in a splendid way. (Okonkwo, 2007) Additionally, fast fashion retailers are cooperating with famous luxury brands designers to offer limited and exclusive products: H&M collaborations with Alexander Wang, Isabel Marantz, Versace, Marin, Mayson Martin Mariela, etc. (Okonkwo, 2007) These kind of collaborations raise the brand awareness by sharing the reputations of famous designers and succeed in boosting their sale by attracting fashion conscious
A Cambridge University Research preformed in 2006 reveals that people were buying a third more clothes than they were 4 years ago. (Allwood, J. Laurson, S. Rodriguez, C. Bocken, M.2007) 3.2 Ethics in design Despite fast fashion retailers’ success and popularity, fast fashion retailers’ key marketing strategy arouse ethical appeals from fashion designers regarding ethics in design. (Aspers & Skov, 2006) Designs acts as the core value and competence of a brand, fashion designers create great designs in order to construct a brand image as well as to attract customers. A “luxury fashion brand” is vital to the traditional high fashion brands. (Kapferer & Bastien, 2009). The value of a luxury brand is reflected in the innovative designs and customers who can afford them gain satisfaction and vanity from the clothes. However, Fast fashion clothing mimics the designs of luxury brands’ collections and offer closely designed products in their stores. (Muran, Lisa, 2008)
The luxury brands’ designs thus lose their uniqueness and originality. (Okonkwo, 2007)
Berry, Hannah. “The Fashion Industry: Free to Be an Individual.” The Norton Field Guide to
It is interesting to consider Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption as it pertains to the modern day fashion industry, specifically the luxury fashion sector. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen said “we all find a costly hand-wrought articles of apparel much preferable to a less expensive imitation of it;” however, at the beginning of the 20th century, couture clothing was exclusively available to those who were very wealthy, simply because of how much the garments cost. By the mid-1930’s, businesses were beginning to change their ways of thinking after seeing the enormous profit that the Walt Disney Company received once they licensed the making of Mickey Mouse novelty items. Christian Dior was the first of many fashion designers to foll...
Lock, Simon. “Rewiring Fashion Week” The Business of Fashion. N.P., 27 September 2013. Web. 21 October 2013
The fashion industry has changed over a period of time due to the growth of boundaries. This is attributed to the varying dynamics of the industry; declining mass production, altered structural aspects in the supply chain, need for more affordable cost and quality. This shows that fashion retailers are able to acquire a competitive power in the market through making sure through which they get their products to the market for the consumers (McAfee, Dessain, & Sjoman, 2007). Consumers are hence able to get product easy and of high quality. Fast fashion has been able to meet the needs of consumers while trying to acquire major merchandize turnover to retailers than local rivals. The Zara case study reported sales $8.15 billion to its competitors Hennes & Mauritz 0f $7.87 billion (Dutta, 2002). This was the consumer’s one stop shop due to the quality products offered both globally and locally.
This essay will discuss Fast Fashion and the Impact of Technology. I will focus on the different levels of the market, the effect of fast fashion on fashion design, how copying effects high end designer brands and the impact of technology on the fashion industry.
The high pressure luxury brand industry has evolved over the last few decades from a small and selective to a multibillion dollar arena offering significant potential and growth opportunity for the luxury brands that compete within its realm. With many luxury brands competing for over $225 billion (The Economist, 2009) in revenue each year it is easy to see how strategy plays an important role.
For the past several decades, globalization has been a hot topic and it also anticipates every aspect of the world to connect each other. Likewise, globalization also allows consumers to have more access to catch up with updated fashion. The advantages of globalization bring a new philosophy called fast fashion, which holds quick response time and enhanced design in fashion apparel industry. In this paper, I will deliver By exploring all the aspects of each system, I will conclude the reason why fast fashion becomes the mainstream of the fashion apparel industry, and use one particular brand, Zara, as an example to discover the impact on consumer behavior in detail. Finally I will make some comments on the future of fast fashion and what luxury brands will react to this circumstance……..
The business model that sets Zara apart from other clothing retailers is how rapidly the company changes stocks and releases new product lineups. The company averages 12-16 collections annually which equates to more than one lineup a month. Due to stock being limited and the rapid production Zara brings forth, their items are viewed as exclusive promoting further business. Their customers are happy knowing that their specific article of clothing is more “rare” due to only having an average of a two-week window to purchase the clothing. The company specifically targets current trends and has them in the store within 30 days. This maintains the brand’s uniqueness and relativity in fashion.
Being at the decisive starting point of the entire fashion chain, the fashion designer plays a vital role in their design creations, in deciding what is “in”, and as such what is the ideal in terms
Fashion is something that keeps on changing and because of its change, fashion effects our lives nearly in every aspect like language, furniture, homes, cars, clothes, food and many other things. For our second symposium we focus on relationships between fashion and social responsibilities. It is strange but true that social responsibilities intersect with fashion. As there are many phases to fashion from ideation, design, production, distribution, sale, consumption, and ultimately disposal, and in many situations decisions can reflect socially responsible views and sensibilities. Designs...
Fashion is an outlet people use to express themselves. People anxiously wait to see what the next trends are as seasons pass by. We buy anything that doesn’t break a bank, people buy a $10 shirt just because it’s cheap and they might not even wear it, but it’s all right, since it wasn’t expensive. As harmless and normal as that scenario sounds, the fashion industry has created the harmful concept that is “fast fashion”, in which stores sell an abundance of extremely cheap trendy clothing and “where deliveries are small and often, with stock delivered twice a week, for instant-access fashion.” (Cochrane)
In the twenty-first-century fashion world, fashion no longer refers to clothing trends and accessories. It is any sort of production of goods and services that have a business or cultural value. Fashion is so important in today's time, not just socially but economically as well. In today’s time, nothing is able to exist without some sort of uniform or line of fashion. Fashion sets the tone in almost any area of activity no matter what event, place, or reason, people are always questioning what is proper to wear and if it is in. One concern or mutation in the fashion world is the speed of consumption and renewal by the logic of fashion that is being accelerated year after year, generating visible effects such as the depletion of natural resources and the alternation of the environment. Younger generations do not take interest in past events because most say that they were not born at the time when the event happened so it is not as important to them but it
The act of consumption has been the primary means through which individuals in society participate and transform culture. Culture is not something already made which we consume; culture is what society creates through practices of everyday life and consumption involves the making of culture. When attempting to understand certain acts of consumption it is necessary to observe the relations involved in production and consumption. Through technological innovation, the fashion industry has been expanded to play a prominent role in consumers’ purchasing decisions and styles are becoming less difficult to obtain. With the expansion of department stores and shopping being viewed as a leisurely activity, this has continued to transform the act of fashion consumerism. The functional interests feature a rational attachment to clothing items. Symbolic benefits involve status and prestige to fulfill the achievement for positive self-esteem. Further benefits include a provided experience for the individual consumer and the created use of imagery and desire used to enrich one’s life.
Over shadowing functionality, fashion is human’s next need for embellishment, followed by power or status.“Fashion is, in many ways, like a river.” -Elaine Stone. It is constantly moving forward and changing. Consequently, fueling the fashion business and allowing it to prosper.In other words if there is no change, then there will be no fashion, thus no bussiness. Over the decades millions of brands and designers have been trying to adapt to the rapid and ongoing change in fashion. Those who fail to attune with constant change tend to correlate to failure in business. However, those who do adapt to constant change in fashion have the tendency to succeed in business. Three distinct trend setting designers that have successfully adapted to change are Burberry, Vera Wang and Chanel.
Fast Fashion may be the most significant disruptive in the retail industry today. Troublesome novelties, or product or services, that alter an prevailing market by presenting minimalism, suitability, convenience and affordability, have the most positive influence on a company. Because fashion is ever changing and technology is always evolving the amount of production time it takes for something to be manufactured