The Fashion Industry - Term Paper Example

Introduction In the past and recent times, the fashion industry has been characterised by innovation and drastic changes in its time, place, and user contexts. Fashion has also been a huge influence on people’s culture and social behaviours, a process often described as collective selection. In this collective selection aspect of fashion, tastes and preferences are derived from groups of people who respond to the spirits and trends of the times (Felski, 2000). The momentum gathered by the fashion industry in recent times could be associated with the concurrent introduction and display of new and emerging fashion styles, innovative and engaging consumers and their selections, and the urge to express the spirit of the times (Pink, 2001). Core in defining fashion is the interaction of fashion products, their distribution and the manner in which they are consumed. Several theories have been postulated to explain fashion, its momentum and influences on everyday life. Most of these theories envisage the expanse and distribution of fashion as a movement or trickle from one level or aspect of life in society to another (Felski, 2000). This trickle is viewed as being diffused from the center to the edge in either a hierarchical or horizontal manner. These perceptions of fashion trickle led to the three theories of fashion; the trickle-down, trickle-across, or trickle-up theories. In the trickle down theory, fashion movement is based on a hierarchical society, which supports the upward movement of fashion among social strata (Felski, 2000). According to this theory, people at the top of the societal strata are offered and accept a fashion styles and brands first. The style is then gradually accepted by those in lower strata. In other terms, this theory envisages a situation in which lower strata people seek to copy the affluence of upper strata people in society. Such consumers seek recognition and try to distance themselves from the lower cadre groups, where they actually belong. Those supporting the trickle-across theory feel that fashion runs horizontally among groups on the same social level. There is this little, if any lag time between the time of adoption by one group and another. In this theory, designers have prices for all the social levels. The reasons for which this theory is preferred include promotional or advertising benefits to designers, manufacturers and retailers, rapid mass communications benefits and exposure of design to all fashion levels and sectors (Pink, 2001). In the trickle up theory, the newest of the three theories, fashion designs start in the street and are first received and adopted by lower strata groups. Later, the new style or innovation flows to upper- strata and upper-income groups (Pink, 2001). This theory has thrived from the integral role fashion plays in everyday life and the influence of fashion and everyday life on each other. Today’s fashion thus derives from everyday lives, functions and needs of people. The needs are adopted by fashion designers who then make designs and brands that fit peoples’ needs and functions. Fashion designers are hence motivated to pursue perceptions of the needs of people to purchase functional, practical and comfortable dress. In essence, a fashion’s capacity to filter through society is dependent not only on its origins and its looks but also on its ability to influence and motivate its consumers. Notwithstanding its societal level of origin, be it upper or middle strata or the streets, fashion should have a new look and be innovative (Pink, 2001). Although often studied and viewed as used for commercialised image and representation that focuses on individuality and subjectivity, current changes have led to fashion being looked at from an anthropological and ethnographic perspective. In the present day, fashion is viewed more as a social enterprise than an individual image or representation enterprise. This paper explores how consumers engage with fashion as a routine aspect of everyday life with reference to the ‘trickle across’ theory and primary evidences obtained from studies. Consumer Engagement with Fashion in Everyday Life Past and current times have seen a drastic shift in the manner in which people buy and use different types of accessories, more so fashion products such as dress and jewelry. This shift has predominantly been occasioned by advances and innovation in technology. The other reason for this shift is the fast rate at which brands change to stay abreast with marketing and market trends. In fact, today, with regards to consumer engagement in everyday life, the fashion industry ranks alongside the entertainment industry that encompasses traditional music, TV and cinema. What is more, with the emergence of digital and technological innovations and the expanded marketing opportunities, consumers now use fashion brands, tools, and inclinations to support their engagement not only with the entertainment market but with everyday life. Thus, quite a lot of recent researches seek to identify consumer needs and modes of engagement with fashion in the entertainment industry and everyday life. In other words, entertainment is one of the avenues by which consumers engage with fashion in everyday life. According to many literatures and studies, about 9o% of respondents support the existence of fashion brands involvement in entertainment whereas 75% respondents aged between 16 and 24 years are reportedly more likely to choose entertaining brands over the non-entertaining ones. Literatures and studies also show that the accessibility of luxurious fashion attracts quite a lot of shoppers. Other factors that are found to attract fashion consumers include both online and offline sociability of fashions and strong narratives or stories surrounding specific brands, factors that make such fashions more preferable. The other conspicuous feature of fashion consumers in current times is their tendency to engage with fashions that offer something in exchange, to make their everyday life better. In other words, fashion brands that have nothing to offer to consumers in exchange are bound to fail since consumers expect fashion to impact their lives in one positive way or the other. Those that do not give something in exchange are hence bound to fail to receive favour from consumers. Indeed, most consumer-oriented researches show that many fashion shoppers only follow and use brands that give them something that would improve their daily lives (Riello & McNeil, 2010). Thus, consumers are greatly motivated to engage with fashion by the prospects of being rewarded. The need for fashion producers or designers to understand their customers’ engagement with their brands is thus paramount and key to the success of their goods and services. The Implications of Personal Appearance on Fashion Appearance is one of the facets within which the fashion industry is regarded and engaged. It is common to find people dressed in a manner that does not appeal to their bosses at the workplace. While some bosses may entirely disagree with certain dress codes by their subordinates, others understand that appearances depend on circumstances (Johnson et al., 2003). For instance, while a company’s context may not support a worker with a dyed hair or a pierced tongue, another company’s context may consider dyed hair commonplace. This example points to the fact that fashion is here to stay and will continue to affect everyday life and culture, a fact that is evident everywhere in modern society. From television series, fashion magazines and cloth lines, people cannot simply have enough of fashion brands and designs. Although fashion has played critical roles in peoples’ socioeconomic and cultural ways, its effects have never been as widespread as in modern times (Johnson et al., 2003). People simply get inspired by fashion as models walk down runways in intricate and unique social costumes. To ascertain the influence of fashion on everyday life, one only needs to think and take a look at what he or she is wearing and how smart others look. Evidently, fashion business is always growing, changing and influencing the way the society acts, thinks, and looks (Johnson et al., 2003). Although quite many people would argue that they are independent and make own choices on their mode of dressing and the types of other items they buy, they fail to notice that what they buy and the cloths they wear have outside influences since someone must have won or created what they have created. That the few people who determine and decide the hottest fashion trends are among the richest in the world also points to the influence of fashion on everyday life. Once these fashion moguls adorn and display their designs for others to see, they mass-market them so aggressively that they trickle down to everyday people (Johnson et al., 2003). By this time, the same fashion innovators and leaders are already working on their next invention. To agree with fashion’s quick transition and influences on everyday life, one only needs to take a look around and notice the influences of fashion on everyday life and how fast a fashion or a design is replaced by another. Fashion consumers are fast changing and they no longer find new fashion styles or products in their mailboxes; rather, consumers look for and find new products, styles, and trends through online sources from their friends, preferred brands, and influencers (Riello & McNeil, 2010). Similarly, even offline fashion shopping and experiences have become interconnected as more consumers use mobile devices and social groups while shopping (Riello & McNeil, 2010). It remains for brands to take advantage of these fashion marketing trends and the various tools at their disposal. Further, fashion stakeholders should see on how their brands can effectively exploit the available online conversations, data and experiences in the current changing fashion retail environment. An important element of fashion consumer engagement with brands is pre-purchase interaction. That is, prior to entering a digital or physical fashion store, it is important that consumers have an opportunity to interact with different types of brands. Currently, the new and most creative and interactive ways in which consumers reach and interact with these brands are social and mobile integrations (Miller & Slater, 2000). The second element of fashion consumer engagement is social recommendation. These recommendations and mentions could be from friends, friends of friends, families, professional organisations, and perfect strangers. The influences of these recommendations have particularly been promoted by the increasing tendency of consumers to turn to social media and the digital space for product research prior to purchase. Today, shoppers are quite skeptical of brand content and marketing in social media; rather, a majority of consumers feel confident of user-generated content, which greatly influences what they purchase (Miller & Slater, 2000). Further, many online fashion shoppers access and read product-related comments from friends on social sites such as Tweeter and Facebook. That consumers now gather a sizeable quantity of information and discover new brands from social recommendations has made it necessary that brands exploit these touch points to create chances for consumers to create, share, and interact with recommendations through social platforms such as forums, blogs, and brand-owned websites, storefronts and networks (Miller & Slater, 2000). However, the traditional forms of communication such as word of mouth are still used by some consumers to gather fashion information on reasons for purchase and services such as discounts. Brands have since activated influencers and engage their customers in content and programs to meet their current customers’ needs, advocate their brands, and avail valuable information to potential customers. Fashion and Social Imagery, Appearance, Identity and Representation Recent times have seen drastic changes in the imagery role of fashion. In fact, the fashion industry has turned appearance and social image into multi-billion dollar brands and profits. Recently, image-based social networks have really been exploited by fashion brands (Dant, 2005). The emergence of image-based social networks such as visual bookmarking site Pinterest and mobile image sharing network Instagram shows the rising importance of a brand image strategy in the industry. Consequently, those lagging behind should ensure they design and implement image-focused marketing strategies to help them engage their consumers and promote avenues for interaction where consumers and brand information exchanges can be achieved (Dant, 2005). From these examples, it is apparent that social change and fashion cannot be separated. In general social change refers to the successive events, which replace the social patterns in existence, after a given period. Social changes modify peoples’ roles, social structures and functions while fashion depicts these social, economic, political, and cultural changes (Dant, 2005). In addition, in modern times, fashion is used to portray modernity and represents the spirit of the times. No period has encountered the fashion-related tension between adults and the youth like the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These centuries have been marked by tremendous changes in how people dress for work, leisure, school and play. Notably, with leisure time being overtly coveted during these periods, people have become more interested in looking leisurely. Further, as more families move to suburbs and engage in more outdoor activities and sports in these centuries, casual wear has become more common. Sport spectators’ or fans’ cloths have also increased just as sport fashion and clothing for sport participation increased. Among the sports that have seen their clothing increase and expand are soccer, golf, jogging, cycling, tennis, skiing, and rock climbing among others (Riello & McNeil, 2010). It is also important to note the formal-informal balance of fashion in modern times, especially at work and play or relaxation times. For instance, even as women adopt pantsuits, there is a trend of movement towards a more casual dressing code. Additionally, many workplaces are filled with workers in casual wears, especially on Fridays and weekends. However, there are also a lot of tension and vagueness encountered in the formal and informal balancing of fashion (Clarke, 2001). The other social implications of fashion in modern times are appearance and identity. Hence, fashion is a core element of consumers’ sense of appearance and identity. For example, that a criticism of one’s dressing is taken rather personally and intensely points to the close connection of appearance and personal identity. In modern times, one may purchase an item to identify with or fit in a certain group or to be viewed as of a particular personality (Clarke, 2001). Thus, fashion could be used for conformity and individuality. That is, one may be happy dressed in a certain way or using a given fashion brand for self-expression and equally be happy for dressing similarly to others. This perception of fashion results in a paradox of a superiority-inferiority nature. That is, one may use a fashion to look like others who are supposedly superior to them. Thus, in this context, fashion offers identity to people as a sign of hierarchy and equality in appearance. Conclusion Fashion has been an integral part of everyday life since time immemorial. However, recent times have seen rather drastic changes in fashion with regards to innovation and time, place, and user contexts of fashion. In the past, fashion was largely viewed as used for individual identity or image-enhancing tool for an individual. However, today, fashion has quite many social implications as it reflects the trends and spirit of times. The expanse of social media and networks and their use by consumers show the extent to which fashion influences everyday life. In essence, the social transformation of fashion has made it a tool by which people seek to fit not only in their everyday duties and functions but also to belong to a certain strata in society. Thus, to have an image with which certain stratum is identified, a person may decide to buy a cloth or a jewelry used by members of the target stratum. Most importantly, fashions seek to satisfy consumers’ professional, personal and domestic situations, prompting even those who never thought to fashion to embrace it. References Clarke, A. (2001) The aesthetics of social aspiration’, in D. Miller (ed.). Home possessions: material culture behind closed doors. Oxford: Berg. Dant, T. (2005) Material interaction in materiality and society. Maidenhead, Berks: Open University Press. Felski, R. (2000) The Invention of Everyday Life. New Formations, 39: 31. Johnson, K., Tortore, S., and Eicher, J. (2003) Fashion foundations: early writings on fashion and dress. Oxford: Berg. Miller, D., and Slater, D. (2000) The internet: an ethnographic approach. Oxford and New York: Berg. Pink, S. (2001) Doing visual ethnography. London: Sage. Riello, G., and McNeil, P. (2010) The fashion history reader: global perspectives. London and New York: Routledge. . Read More