Changing Fashion Landscapes Lecture

Changing Fashion Landscapes

Ethics
-Where your clothing is made
-Who made them

-Exploitative labour e.g Child labour, difficult to track down, Bangladesh.
-Environmental damage e.g deforestation, profitable crops like cotton, sustainability, the changing planet etc
-Chemicals e.g Damaging natural resources
-Waste e.g. plastic, coming in through water supply and home grown crops, causes skin conditions, illnesses in the area.
-Animal Cruelty e.g.


Circular Economy
-' A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, disposal) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.' (Wrap 2018)

Sustainability
-Closed loop system
Methods of zero waste
e.g. Levi's use existing resource and keep that in the cycle as much as they can
 H&M

Slower to adopt
-Primark

Luxury Brands
-Farming animals for fur
-Difficult to trace some supply chains/accountability for production

Impacts
-Sustainability
-Climate
-Depletion of natural resources (animals, habitat, water and so on)



Eco-Fashion
-Fashion of sustainability
-People Tree
-Patagonia
-UNMADE: Niche knitwear- consumer can produce their own products
-Traid
-Oxfam hub Batley; Online Vintage


Counterfeit goods
-Luxury Market
-Countries and counterfeiting (duplicating the product)
-Creates problems with sales, profit and the kudos of brands in question
-Further promotes unethical practice ('hidden' manufacture of goods)

Social Responsibility
-What we consume
-Why we consume it
-What forms our consumer patterns (trend and pattern)
-Who is responsible for increased consumption ( Is it the consumer or the brand?)
-Our understanding of product use and where product goes
-How our actions impact on other, (links back to ethics)

A huge percentage of clothing get disposed of, burnt and thrown away. We need to relfect on how our actions are effecting the wider economy and


Generational Shifts
-Different consumers consume in different ways
-Generation X; Largely bricks and mortar (high street) with some online consumption. Afraid of online shopping due to fraud etc. No attachment to technology
-Generation Y; Largely online, with some bricks and mortar consumption. Comparing prices from on the high street to online, trying to get the best price.
-Generation Z; Born into the digital age. Immersive relationship with digital technology, no fear within in. They are worried about the impact that Gen X has had which starte din the 80's.
-Methods of marketing to consumers are continually shifting, due to the complex nature of the cross generational experience of interacting with and identifying product.


Marketing Methodologies
Bricks and Mortar institutions; John Lewis
-Televison
-Loyalty Cards
-Long Routes to identifying and engaging their consumer

Online
-Uses cross sectional marketing/ advertising
-Social Media
-Some terrestrial TV advertising e.g. BooHoo.com
-Posters/digital bill boards/ taxi's (boohoo.com)
-Fast Fashion social media cascade

High Street retailers engaging the consumer
-Both digitally and physically
-Topshop; Online offers, as well as high street 'lock ins' for students

Generation X
-Brought up through the era of physical shopping experience
-Department stores
-High Street Brands
-Have a tendency to brand loyalty, and still attach 'value' to the cost of an item
- Tend to reflect personal status through consumption
-Focuses on 'aspirational' product
-Online understanding and to media e.g. Facebook

Gen Y
-Cross over generation
-Technology occurred through their life time
-More connected to Social media
-Not as brand loyal, will tend to shop around
-Online based but uses some brick and mortar


Gen Z
-Born in the digital age
-Completely immersed in technology
-Everything done through online

Consumer Shifts
-Online shopping
-Comparing and contrasting product online
-Sourcing the best price from online comparison
-Social Media; displays product choice
-Online shopping has seen the shift of consuming fast fashion through faster cycles. See it, buy it, move on.
-Collections were biannually then moved into quarterly through the year and fast fashion has moved this to 52 week a year.

Impact of Online Vs High Street
High Street
-Same product in different stores
-Increasingly less differ in product
-Product prices higher (pay for the space)
-Busier lives, more demanding jobs means not enough time to shop around
-More expensive to go out shopping

Online
-More convenience
-Diverse Choice
-Cheapest price
-Sourcing garments, unique pieces


Can the High Street fight back?
Burberry- Physical meets Digital
Adidas- Interactive experiences in store

Now
-Globalisation
-Materials
-Labour
-Sources at low cost
-Industrialised methods of growing crops
-Habitat and Environmental destruction

Futures
-More digitisation
-Niche Products (emotional connection)
-3D printed product (one off)
-Digitisation in fashion print/textiles
-Biometrics
-Textiles grown from organisms

Referene
Wrap UK 2018
Source: http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy