Mapping the Fashion Promotion Profession - Ethics and Sustainability.

Fashion Promotion Ethics - Ethical fashion represents the way in which clothing is designed, sourced and manufactured. Ensuring that it benefits people and communications in a positive way, whilst keeping negative impacts on the environment to a minimum. Everything that is carried out needs to be done in an ethical way, that aims to be both morally right and acceptable. In terms of keeping the fashion industry as ethical as possible, it goes beyond just not harming things involved in the creation process. It also means representing an approach in taking a huge role in poverty minimisation, sustainable livelihood and reducing environmental concerns. 

The Ethical Fashion Forum has drawn up a set of 10 key criteria points for ethical fashion. This is to inform the fashion industry's official ethical fashion awards, the RE:Fashion awards, these include: 

• Countering fast, cheap fashion and damaging patterns of fashion consumption
• Defending fair wages, working conditions and workers’ rights
• Supporting sustainable livelihoods
• Addressing toxic pesticide and chemical use
• Using and / or developing eco- friendly fabrics and components
• Minimising water use
• Recycling and addressing energy efficiency and waste
• Developing or promoting sustainability standards for fashion
• Resources, training and/ or awareness raising initiatives
• Animal rights

Fashion Promotion Sustainability - Sustainable fashion is also known as eco fashion. It is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability. The end goal of this is to create a system that can be supported constantly in terms of the environmental and social responsibility.

Sustainable fashion is just one section within the sustainable design industry. This is where a piece is created and manufactured with care and acknowledgement towards the environmental and social impact it may have throughout the amount of time it is being used; this is known as its 'carbon footprint'. A quote by Vogue magazine in May 2007 sums up the fashion industries' hopes for sustainable fashion. 

 "Sustainable fashion appears not to be a short-term trend but one which could last multiple seasons."

The fashion industry started of by giving back to the environment by donating a percentage of its' sales to charities. But their generosity and awareness has increased through using environmentally friendly materials, and socially responsible methods to produce their garments.  

When using sustainable materials there are many factors to consider. One of which is renewing and sourcing fibre. The second is the process of how the raw fibre is turned into a textile garment. Thirdly  is the working environment that employees are producing these materials in and finally, the material's 'carbon footprint'. 

The different types of sustainable materials include:

Natural Fibres - Natural fibres are widely found in nature and are not petroleum based. These can also get categorised into two main groups: cellulose/plant fibres and protein/animal fibres.

Cellulose - Cellulose is also known as cotton. It is one of the most commonly grown and chemical-intensive crops in the world.  

Protein - Examples of these are: wool, silk, angora, camel, alpaca, llama, vicuna, cashmere and mohair.

Manufactured - Manufactured materials are made from natural resources, such as: lyocell and polylactic acid. 

Recycled Fibres - Recycled fibres are made from trimmings and scraps of fabrics that are collected together from clothing factories. These are then made back into small fibres for spinning into a new yarn. This is a special process and there is only a few facilities in the world that are able to take small pieces of fabric clippings, and turn them into strong reusable fibres. 

Throughout the fashion industry there are three points that are built into smaller businesses when they team up with Ethical Fashion Forum, to travel on a journey of garment creation. This is so that ethical and sustainable qualities are instilled into these businesses and hopefully it will continue throughout their success. These include: 

Social

'Increasing the capacity and wellbeing of the people and communities behind fashion. Any fashion business depends on the people behind it. In a broader context, poverty and exploitation of the human workforce behind fashion affects the stability of the industry itself.'

Environmental

'Minimising the environmental impact of all business operations, throughout the supply chain. Creating and acting upon opportunities to reduce environmental issues beyond the immediate operations- such as awareness raising , investment in and support of environmental initiatives.' 

Commercial

'Without a robust financial business model, none of the above can be achieved. Good intentions without an effective business structure can backfire. A sustainable approach includes quality products or services that meet market needs and demands and are fairly marketed.'

Mapping the Fashion Promotion Profession - Intellectual Property.

Intellectual property is about ensuring that a designer's personal creations are protected. Fashion is one of the main creative industries in the world, which is why designers have to ensure that all of their ideas are protected. This industry is so fierce and competition is high. People in the industry will do anything to have the perfect designs in their hands to generate millions of pounds to their name; even if this means stealing someone else's un-protected designs!

The fashion industry is constantly creating new ideas and innovations to stay on top of their game. This is down to the fashion industry constantly changing their current trends as it is so fast paced. 

There are many different ways to ensure that a designer's personal creations are protected, these include:

• Trade marking
• Registered Design and Design Right 
• Copyright
• Licensing

Along with the above ways to protect a designer's personal creations, two toolkits have been designed as information packs for fashion entrepreneurs. These include: 

• How a small business can develop an iP strategy. 
• How a small can approach licensing opportunities. 

The ultimate purpose for these information packs being designed is to give up to date resources 'for business planning and tuition in order to improve the commercial return from iP developed within the industry, from smarted ways of operating and from individual talent.'

Mapping the Fashion Promotion Profession - Designer Clustering.

Designer clustering is something that has happened over time where businesses have to cluster together for reasons that rely heavily on their businesses' current economic situation. Gone are the days when businesses were able to sit alone and merchandise individually. It is now so common for stores to be grouped together, based on their commonality for each other. This sounds as though it makes perfect sense as allocators cannot handle rows of stores themselves, so grouping together stores is a logical thing to do.

Although, research has shown that there are flaws in these clustering methods. Therefore, they should be revised as they was created in the 1980s and simply do not work in this current, economic climate. As the reason why these methods were used in the first place was because there were limitations of merchandising systems. Although, now the systems are much more precise and do not have as much problems. 

Today's clustering methods are largely based on volume; both financial and the number of cluster variants. Although, by businesses using these methods based on just volume alone it tends to be problematic. Firstly, the cluster information used is often based on old data. One of the more productive ways to carry out clustering methods is to use either historical data or demand forecasts. Historical data is the best one to use, as the businesses would be able to see missed opportunities that happened in the past. Therefore, not only does this incorporate lost sales, but it also includes possible future trends as well. 

Secondly, the cluster information is not updated enough. So the businesses are often implementing the wrong strategies, as times have changed since the cluster reports were written. Businesses cluster information should be evaluated as often as possible. Therefore, businesses should have their cluster information implemented when a buying plan is made. And again evaluated and implemented when the buy is being processed. It should then be carried out again when the purchase is pre-allocated, and another when the products have gone on sale. This should then become a cycle and happen like clockwork, and although there are factors that can stop this process it should not be ignored. 

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is when stores re-stock their goods. At this time businesses behaviour is very erratic, especially in fashion, in tern they should not rely on in-season clusters. With today's technology it can identify how well each store and individual product is doing. Evaluating the steps that need to be taken for that specific store accordingly.  

To conclude, businesses are definitely using more sophisticated ways to carry out cluster information reports, but there could still be many improvements made. Climate is a factor that should be included when carrying out these information reports, as it is a very common factor as to how stores are clustered. There are also many more that should be included, such as: price points (merchandise), economic status (store), fashionability (products) and how consumers behave towards where the business has been situated.

Mapping the Fashion Promotion Profession - Emerging Markets.

Emerging markets is one of the main reasons why fashion's sales have risen to stratospheric heights. Last year it was said that due to the fashion industry working on emerging markets and creating more 'affordable luxury' brands, their sales were expected to exceed by $318 billion.

International market research has been carried out by a company called Euromonitor. They released the 2014 edition of its annual Passport: Luxury Goods report, containing granular data from 32 countries on nine personal luxury categories last October. Although there is seen to be a continuation of uncertainty through MACRO trends, and low profits; reports show that major luxury brands, remain positive about the industry’s growth. Also it is said that 'spending is projected to increase by more than 35 percent over the next five years.'

Within emerging markets there is research being constantly carried out to predict how high it will be achieving in years to come. In current reports, research has been carried out and near enough confirms that by 2018 Asia will be the largest region in the world for distributing Luxury goods. It has been said that the main country for Asia's future success will be down to China. But countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and India will also be high contributors too.

Throughout this studies' research the amount that consumers spend in certain parts of the world is vital information to determine past, current and future leaders. Western Europe has always been the leader in Luxury purchasing and it is said to have 'accounted for more that 33 percent of all Luxury spending in the past year.' But it seems that the rolls are reversing as Asia is catching up with Western Europe. It is said that they will 'grow 170% over the next five years, the region is set to dethrone Western Europe as early as 2018.'

Many Luxury brands understand that they need to widen their target audience in order to generate more sales. Therefore, the only way that they can do this is to create Bridge brands. This is designers creating a cheaper version of their Luxury goods, to attract younger audiences and generally individuals of any age that do not have the disposable income to afford the high-end Luxury brand price tag! Two designers that have invested in this genius idea are Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors. By these brands creating accessible and affordable designer wear, it has allowed consumers that have always wanted designer goods to be able to afford them without breaking the bank. 

Other Luxury brands are beginning to cotton on to investing into the Bridge brand market. They now understand that consumers are willing to pay good money for these designer goods, but they will now splurge on a materialistic item if it is going to affect their life in a negative way. They are targeting young shoppers as I mentioned earlier. I feel that this is down to the fact that the younger generation are always looking to be on trend, and will spend whatever they can afford to do that. They do not have any big responsibilities to think about, such as mortgages. Therefore, they can afford to buy Bridge brand designer goods and feel as though they are spending on the high-end Luxury goods. Luxury brands are also focussing on e-commerce as this generation is all about the internet world. This is a great way to target near enough everyone, as most ages and generations are trained to use the World Wide Web!

Another way that emerging markets are coming into their own is by Luxury designers teaming up with High-street brands. This allows consumers that usually shop in these High-street stores to get a taster of what it is like to wear Luxury clothing. When these collaborations happen, they often get sold out as quick as exclusive, one-off pieces in the Luxury designer world would, which is exactly what the two parties involved are trying to achieve.

"EVER since H&M announced that New York wonderboy Alexander Wang was its latest designer collaborator - following in the footsteps of Marni, Isabel Marant, Versace, Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld - the fashion world has waited patiently for a glimpse of the full collection. And here it is: American sportwear, reimagined as only Wang can, with his signature modern twist - at pricepoints that we can afford. The collection launches on November 6." - Vogue News. 

H&M have been constantly talking about this collaboration for a year prior to the launch, that is now nearly here. This has in tern helped in it being one of the most exciting Luxury and High-street team-ups we have ever seen. By brands constantly talking about a new line at least a year before it is released, created brand awareness and consumers prepare and get ready. This is cleverly thought out, as if brands just released new collections without any warning there would often to no buzz. It is all about creating excitement and in some way making the new line a seemingly famous feel.

The different ways this up-coming collection has been promoted is through social media, the press and celebrity endorsements. Rihanna wore the Alexander Wang x H&M collection in New York and the press went crazy. She is one of the most famous style icons in the world along side being a musician. She has been able to create a brand for herself, in not only people being interested in her music. But they are clearly just as interested in what she wears! Therefore, this was all strategically planned so that the hype for the collection would be vamped up just that little bit more, ever so close to the release date.

Mapping the Fashion Promotion Profession - Fashion Market Levels (price points).

Fashion market levels and their price points have become ever more confusing as there is so much competition. At the beginning there was a definite difference between Luxury fashion brand price points and High-street brand price points. But now although there is still a huge difference in price points, there are also many similarities. For example Bridge brands and Brand diffusion have now been created. These are higher than High-street and Economy brand's garments, except they hold a reasonably costing price tag.

Here I am going to breakdown each fashion market level and their price points:

Haute Couture

Haute couture is the highest priced fashion market level in the fashion industry. Therefore, they own the highest price points. Haute couture is only accessible to a handful of consumers, as their price points are so high; starting at around £100,000.00 with no limit. As so many consumers are not able to afford Haute couture, the only way they get exposure is through runway shows and celebrity endorsements. Haute couture designers ofter commission a world-wide celebrity to wear their couture garment on a red carpet for example, so that it will gain major press attention.

Luxury Fashion 

I have discovered after doing a lot of research, that there are many lines that 'appear' to be Luxury fashion, when in actual fact they are just well made copies. True Luxury fashion brand's price points often start at around £800.00-£1,000.00 onwards. This is mainly their ready-to-wear garments, shoes and their accessories as these are the most popular items that Luxury fashion brands create. 

Bridge Brands 

The idea of Bridge brands is to create Luxury-like items, but with a lower price tag. These are made for consumers that have well respected jobs and earn a regularly, good income. This market level's highest priced garments are often around £800.00 and then they decrease in price from there. 

Brand Diffusion

Brand diffusion is when a Luxury fashion designer creates lines like their high end garments, but with lower price tags. They take elements from their Luxury fashion garments and implement them into newer and more simpler designs. For this fashion market level the price points often vary, but the lines are priced around £250.00 at most.

High-street Fashion 

High-street fashion is difficult as there are so many companies involved with different price points. Although, this categories price points differ, they often price their garments for less than £90.00.

Economy Fashion 

Economy fashion is the lowest priced fashion market level in the fashion industry. They often do not sell anything for more than £40, as they have invested in the mass production business. Due to the companies purchasing high volumes of the garments they want to sell, they are able to afford to sell them at cheap price points and still make a profit. This is down to companies getting a huge discount from their orders, as they buy in large amounts of bulk!

London Fashion Markets and Design Clustering walk.

I decided to get to know London by going on a tour and taking snap-shots of all of the important fashion information. I travelled all over the famous fashion streets of London to understand how their fashion district was set out. The main points that I focused on was the store's locations, their visual presence and their market level clustering.

I started of my journey in Conduit St.:

Then off to Savile Row. This is the heart of some of the best tailoring stores in the world:

After I found myself in Bruton St., famous for its' commercial galleries:

After Bruton St. I took a visit to Mount St. This is the new fashion area in Mayfair:

After Mount St. I visited South Audley St.. Which is the next area to have been put on the map through fashion:   

Off to New Bond St. now. The clustering levels are high here, as there is so much competition on New and Old Bond St.:

Covent Garden is one of the new areas to home Luxury fashion. It has many pop-up stores to offer a little piece of the Luxury brand's identity:

Here is the Apple Store in Covent Garden. I photographed this as it is directly opposite the pop-up stores that I have photographed above. It shows how the fashion and technology worlds are now colliding. I feel as I'm sure do many brand owners, that the fashion industry cannot function without technology in this period of time: