“The UK has been hit by a harsh cost of living crisis, as food, fuel, and even McDonald’s 99p burgers have gone up in price. The Consumer Prices Index has risen by 7%, as stagflation may be set to return. The fashion industry has undoubtedly been hit by this, as consumers are having to change their spending habits”
(LONDON RUNWAY,2023)
Health and financial crises, widening inequality and wealth disparities have ignited global financial anxiety and forced consumers to trim their budgets. However, as the 2023 Mintel Global Consumer Trend ‘Intentional Spending’ predicted, consumers’ value perceptions have evolved to include more than monetary benefits. As a result, sustainability, convenience, heritage and flexible payment options are no longer simply extra attributes that consumers trade for quality or vice versa. Instead, they add to the overall perception of the quality of the product by increasing the quality of the experience.
(MINTEL,2024)
Recently, the EY Future Consumer Index showed that two thirds of the people they surveyed don’t feel the need to keep up with trends, which also explains the gradual decline of fast fashion, and the rise of sustainable ‘pre- loved’ fashion. The survey also found that 33% of consumers are trying new brands, and 21% are switching to private labels or own brands. (LONDON RUNWAY,2023)
Due to their economic situation, Gen Z is particularly discerning when it comes to shopping behaviors. Members of Gen Z are truly omnichannel shoppers, happy to engage with brands and retailers across multiple channels. They use the vast resources and platforms at their disposal to find the product they want at the lowest price. (v SALAZA FYONNA, 2023)
Gen Zers don’t priorities convenience in the same way that millennials have done and have more time to spend hunting down discounts and bargains online and on social media.
If they want a Gucci jacket, they can find it on a rental platform or resale site such as The RealReal and Depop for a more affordable price. As a result, we’re seeing luxury and high street brands offering resale and repair initiatives. (SALAZA FYONNA, 2023)
Gen Zers also loves a cheaper dupe of their favorite product. The #dupe hashtag has 2.4bn results on TikTok and brands are lining up to cater to this trend, even those whose products are getting duped. Lululemon hosted its own “dupe swap” event in LA, where fans could bring their knock offs of the brand’s sought-after Align Pants and swap them for a real pair. (SALAZA FYONNA, 2023)
As a way for brands to adapt to these changes, brands have introduced free expedited shipping, bundle deals, referral discounts, birthday extras, complimentary gifts with purchase or post-purchase rewards. This increases customer loyalty, and those who feel appreciated are more likely to stick around and spend more overtime. These methods also optimize the shopper's journey, therefore increasing sales.
According to new Mintel research, 74% of makeup uses agree that affordable makeup products work just as well as premium ones, suggesting a makeup culture favorable towards ‘dupes’ or cheaper products that are like more expensive products in terms of performance, ingredients and/ or appearance. (BEAUTY PACKAGING, 2023)
With this rise in popularity of ‘dupes’, a third of makeup consumers ages 18-24 (33%) and 25-34(35%) say they have purchased a makeup ‘dupe’ because of something the saw on social media. (BEAUTY PACKAGING, 2023)
Looking at TikTok’s contribution to brand visibility for cosmetics, according to Statista, Huda Beauty had a following increase of 8.7 million, Rare Beauty, 3.5M and interestingly, e.l.f cosmetics rose by 1.5 million followers and Charlotte Tilbury appear just after with an increase of 1. million. (SIMILAR WEB, 2023)
E.L.F dupes come in the form of the brand’s concealers, foundations, primers and blushers, plus much more, and some of those elf dupes resemble popular brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, IT Cosmetics, Rare Beauty, Clarins and plenty more.
Ebay is a well-known reselling online brand, that has become increasingly popular due to the cost-of-living crisis, leaving people with less disposable income.
Ebay's ‘Shop for Change’ report revelaed that over half of UK shoppers feel guilty when they don’t buy from ethical brands, with 60% of the 2,000 consumers surveyed saying that cost is the factor they care about most when shopping.
Love Island's collaboration with eBay has also helped to increase the demand for pre-loved clothing amidst the costof-living crisis. The show replaced their partnerships with I Saw It First and Missguided for eBay, and eBay reported a 700% increase in searches for ‘preloved fashion’ after their styles were seen on the show. ‘As the economic situation around us changes, businesses and consumers in the fashion industry are adapting as much as they can, and using every outlet they can to do so. (LONDON RUNWAY,2023)
The result of the collaboration was that eBay saw a 7000% increase for ‘pre- loved clothes’ on site, and a 359% increase in Google search. One item of clothing was sold on eBay every minute that the partnership was live with a 1026% increase in total listings. In a step-change for the fashion industry, eBay’s head of fashion, Jemma Tadd, was named in Vouge’s top 25 most influential women i fashion for 2022. (ITV MEDIA,2023)
DEI report by the BFC 2024, highlights how nine different identities are included, or not included imge . Ethnicity and gender (excluding nonbinary) were included throughout all four parts; however, this just goes to show the issue in society about what people believe is being inclusive vs what it means. Being inclusive doesn’t mean only including gender and ethnicity, it means including people's sexual orientation, disabilities, religions, age and sizes. When looking at representation in executive teams, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic, neurodiversity, religion, age and size were all not included. When it comes to a status ang higher of power, many categories of people are still not being given a voice or a say in important matters. “Our data shows that those in power don’t think there is an issue, while diverse groups report the true scale problem”
In a survey conducted of employees, from the ones of color, 52% will not work for a company that fails to speak out to address racial inequality. The report also states that employees are 7x more likely to report their organization is high-performing if it’s inclusive. Of global job seekers, 39% have turned down or decided not to pursue a job opportunity because of a perceived lack of inclusion and employees who perceived that their organization offers both opportunity and fairness are 3x more likely to stay and 3x more likely to recommend it.
“As it’s core, belonging is the knowledge that you are secure and supported, providing you with a sense of acceptance and inclusion” (BOF,2023)
“Primark was founded with the ambition of making fashion more affordable for everyone, and that means representing and responding to the different needs for all our customers” (MIRROR,2024)
The range widely available in stores is adaptive to people who may have additional needs and disabilities.
Primark, which hails itself on being ‘affordable to everyone’ has opened its arms to people with additional needs by launching the adaptive range. It consists of seamfree bras and bralettes that close with magnets, pants with magnetic closures at each side and period pants with magnet closures too- all under £10 and available from 2XS to 2XL. (MIRROR,2024)
The collection is now in 64 stores across the UK, either in-store or via Click + Collect.
Singer/ songwriter, Harry Styles, best known for wearing ‘women’ clothing, in November 2022, launched a genderless nail varnish with his brand, Pleasing. Reports state “Harry Styles is rewriting the rules of masculinity on his terms” (PEWSEY GUY, 2021). His unique approach and product have grown to become increasingly popular; no one has done what he has before, making him stand out. The brand promotes selfexpression and inclusivity in fashion and beauty, encouraging people of all genders to feel comfortable wearing nail varnish.
Another person that is making an impact in the fashion industry is Harris Reed and his fluid fashion approach. “Harris Reed is a prominent young fashion designer known for his innovative work marrying genres from fashion, film, beauty, culture, and the digital world through a gender-fluid lens” (REED HARRIS, 2023). Nina Ricci has appointed Harris Reed as creative director, saying he wants to make the brand for ‘everyone’. Heritage brands are betting on young design talents to engage with the Gen-z consumer. Reed explains; “For me the word ‘femininity’ is something that comes before your sexual orientation or gender presentation, femininity is something that can be represented by transgender individuals, by nonbinary individuals, men, women. Femininity is something that I think has been seen a bit through like a pinhole lens specially within Europe and especially with France” (COHN ALISON, 2023)
In this part of the magazine, we will see how crypto fashion is changing the industry. Global e-commerce sales are forecast to reach $58.74 by 2028 (WGSN,2024), 300 million global workers could be displaced by AI, with 63m jobs in APAC expected to be lost in automation by 2024. (WGSN,2024)
“We’re moving from the Information Age into the Imagination Age where our individual and collective creativity and imagination become the primary creators of economic value, compared to the main activities of the Information Age, where analysis and thinking, and the weaponization of that, is the driver of value.”
In 2025, we will also see AI tools used to broaden our imaginations and the scope of storytelling. These tools will make creativity more accessible to a wider range of people and will also expand what's possible in the realm of creativity.
Automated creativity, the process of using AI to generate creative outcomes in enabling brands to accelerate innovation and optimize production.
The use of generative AI immense potential for planning and creating campaigns, and a panel at MMA impact India 2023 discussed the implications of the future of marketing (WARC, 2023) Generative AI can give the different outcomes or solutions to problems that current systems cannot always do. However, the lack of emotion can hamper the marketer’s job as a storyteller (WARC,2023)
According to a study by McKinsey, AI helps boost productivity or marketer's in the value range of between 5% and 15% of marketing spend. In the analysis, it found that potential marketing benefits form generative AI everywhere from devising strategy to increasing awareness, consideration, conversion and retention. Content creation and dynamic campaign personalization are among the granular opportunities of using generative AI for brands. Looking across industries from consumer-packaged goods to banking, McKinsey found 63 generative AI cases overall. (YEGOROVA MAYA, 2023)
How generative AI could impact marketing-
Strategizing- can help gather customer information
Awareness- allows marketers to gather an understanding of their customers
Consideration- virtual try ons ect
Retention- customers ae more likely to be retained with customized messages and rewards
Dress x is a website that sells virtual fashion items. They have a discord community, a Roblox community, an app and a camera feature that lets users wear digitally in video calls. The website allows users to try the items on virtually through AR..
Fashion driven tech outfit DRESSX has announced a Series A raise of $15 million lead by Greenfeild with participants including Slow Ventures, Warner Music, The Artemis Fund, Red Dao. (FORBES,2023)
The funds raised will be deployed with a focus on the interoperability of its digital fashion assets, improving the performance of the DRESSX app and NFT marketplace, growing the community further and partnerships with social and gaming platforms across both traditional media and the metaverse. (FORBES,2023)
“There is a new paradigm emerging around the question of what we are wearing within the metaverse, we believe DRESSX will be at the forefront of shaping and driving change”
In May 2021, Gucci became the first luxury brand to launch an NFT, and they launched the Gucci Garden experience on Roblox in the same month. The digital Gucci Garden- an immersive multimedia experience set in Flornece, Italy that celebrated the fashion house’s creative vision- was visited by over 20 million users. (FORBES,2022)
DRESSX meets Noonoouri; As a digital character with a human soul Noonoouri has taken the fashion world by storm. You can now wear and own Noonoouri’s exclusive and strictly limited haute couture fashion statements from her music debut ‘Dominoes’. (DRESSX,2024)
The collection features five exclusive and strictly limited haute couture designs combining vision, sound and key messages of ‘Dominoes’. (DRESSX,2024)
Avatars are everything therefore, major labels such as Gucci are jumping on board to capitalize on this trend by launching avatar clothing and accessory collections and building immersive experiences for fans. (FORBES,2022)
Building worlds within the metaverse has major benefits for brands, including;
• Access to a new generation of consumers who are often younger than traditional luxury shoppers (FORBES,2022)
• Purchasing luxury goods in the metaverse could lead to new customers to buy real life goods in the future (FORBES,2022)
• The ability to road-test designs in the metaverse before putting them into real-life production (FORBES,2022)
• Decreasing the problem of overstock and oversupply
“In every market, in every region, branded businesses continue to chart their course through a new age of disruption and volatility”
“The Kantar BrandZ Top 100 most valuable global brands declined by 20% this year in the face of strong macroeconomic headwinds. In total value now stands at $6.9 trillion” (KANTAR BRANDZ,2023)
In other words, the brand value growth of 2021 and 2022 represented an unpredicted and temporary growth spike. It was a period characterized by easy money policies that buoyed brand values generally, and high valuations of tech brands in particular. (KANTAR BRANDZ,2023)
Top brands are not immune to market swoons or economic shocks. The IMF now predicts a global GDP growth rate of 2.8% for 2023, down from 3.4% in 2022; major stock indices, meanwhile, have swung down much more steeply. (KANTAR BRANDZ,2023)
In 2024, the luxury goods market is projected to generate a revenue of US$368.90bn. This market is anticipated to grow at an annual rate of 3.22%. The largest segment within this market is luxury fashion, which is expected to reach a market volume of US$115.90bn in 2024. When comparing revenue on a global scale, in the United States leads the way with US$77,280m in 2024. Furthermore, it is projected that online sales will account for 15.4% of the total revenue in the luxury goods market by 2024.
Brand collaborations provide exclusivity and scarcity. Brand licensing allows brands to ‘rent’ a well-known brand and use it on their products. Connecting a powerful brand to an in-demand product helps increase sales and drive additional revenue.
Some brands are creating a sense of exclusivity and scarcity for their audiences, driving demand for the product even higher. For example. The collaboration on the Air Jordan 1 High OD Dior limited edition sneakers.
The purpose for collaborations is to reach new audiences and new markets. Luxury brands in particular are doing many collaborations to target different markets such as streetwear. It makes brands that people aspire to afford, affordable without having to change their original products.
Supreme has been riding a hot streak since 2010. The rise of internet rap adn the rappers who make it has only pushed the brand’s cache higher with an ever-widening generation of fans, thanks to the likes of Tyler, the creator and ASAP Rocky. It's collaborated with Jordan Brand, Nike, and North Face had its shirts worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Neil Young, and Diddy. (FORBES,2017)
The collection incorporates Supreme’s red box logo with its own iconic monogram to create a new motif which is a representation of the excellence of a New York Street style and the Louis Vuitton’s French savoir-faire.
The collection draws inspiration from the cretive and diverse culture of New York City from the ‘70s, ‘80s and early ‘90s, according to Louis Vuitton artistic director Kim Jones.
The partnership provides the brand with quality and prestige of the Louis Vuitton brandalong with the price tags.
Jones told Hypebeast, “It’s uptown and downtown. Artists and musicians, friends and heroes”
The Louis Vuitton x Supreme collaboration was undoubtedly a game changer in the fashion industry. It challenged the traditional norms of high-end fashion and streetwear and proved that collaborations between seemingly opposing brands could be successful.
The collection also had a significant impact on the resale market, with items from the collaboration fetching high prices. (SHULTS RICHARDS,2023)
The legacy of this collaboration continues to influence the fashion industry, inspiring other collaborations and blurring the lines between luxury and streetwear. The collaboration has given rise to a new era of fashion collaborations, where brands are exploring new and exciting ways to merge their unique styles. (SHULTS RICHARDS,2023)
“The world's most practical shoe has had yet another high-fashion upgrade”
Balenciaga is no stranger to a headline making collaboration, and the house’s latest collection has certainly got people talking. The fashion house has once again teamed up with Crocs on a collection which includes a very diverse take on fashion’s most practical shoe. (KLERK AMY,2021)
The two brands have created a stiletto version of the Croc. The shoe- which is part of Balenciaga’s spring/summer 2022 collectioncomes in bright green and in black, and looks exactly like the typical Croc design, complete with a rubber finish, plenty of holes and a strap back, but also features a high heel. (KLERK AMY,2021)
Balenciaga and Crocs have done a few collaborations in the past. Back in 2018, the two brands debuted a pair of £600 platform yellow shoes which sold out before they even hit stores. (KLERK AMY,2021)
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