Fashion Forward

from: http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/portfolio/2009/04/14/Fashions-Shifting-Paradigm
by WWD Staff Apr 14 2009

The following paragraphes and sentences are edited from the original article, which representing what i think are quite useful to my analysis:

Moving ahead in the current economy will require fashion companies to be as flexible and innovative as they've claimed to be all along.

"The next couple of decades will see the coexistence of several "contradictory" distribution strategies, according to Gildas Minvielle, an economist at the French Fashion Institute. Slow and fast-fashion concepts will operate side-by-side and smaller retail formats will return to repopulate town centers."

"[Consumers are] coming back to basics and are less willing to be swayed by marketing campaigns," Minvielle said. "But nothing's sure. We could find at the end of 2010 a period of strong growth, and things could completely change."

"What we now have will be a fundamental economic reset,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corp., at a House Democratic caucus retreat earlier this year. "The economy is going to have to re-establish itself at a lower level of spending that reflects the real value of underlying assets before we can all start growing again at a healthy rate."

"The pie is smaller and fewer people have access to it," said Concetta Lanciaux, principle of Switzerland-based Strategy Luxury Advisors.Lanciaux said designer labels are unlikely to grow as consumers trade down to brands that offer good design and quality for the price. That Obama has embraced more "entry-level" brands like J. Crew, and "simple" versus flashy designers is emblematic of the direction. "The consumer can now really discern value for money," she said. "People perceive what's fake. Now we want the truth."

This moment is a kind of great trumpet blowing for taking that idea, that rough concept and trying to add some [social] responsibility, some durability or lastingness to it,"
"People are looking for purchases that are going to last. It needs to be a few zippy things that people can actually think about acquiring."

"Fast fashion has caught on, in part, because of its clear usability for consumers. It's a business model that offers shoppers an accessible way to stay current. "

The New, Pushier Consumer
Every aspect of retailing, from the number of stores to the looks they carry and the marketing they use to draw customers, could be permanently reordered as shoppers throw their weight around.

"Consumers are getting out of the habit of buying," said Popcorn, the futurist. "We're calling the consumers 'citizens' and a citizen wants to play deeply in the purchase cycle. They want to say, 'I want it this way or I want it that way. I want to put my logo on it. I want an Adidas logo on top of a Nike logo.'"

People are angry with their leaders, losing faith in big companies and scared about the economy, said Popcorn, noting that value brands are "no longer a sacrifice, just smart."

"If you're going to truly focus on your core customer, you are going to have to relook at your business and how big your business can be," said Andrew Sacks, president of marketing and intelligence firm Agencysacks. "The focus should be on being profitable and building a more consistent brand."Sacks said the first step is acknowledging the business is changing and might be smaller and focused on a different range of products.

The type of goods that go into stores and how they are presented to shoppers are also changing, and concepts such as "aspirational" are proving to be a moving target. "The aspirational consumer is going to continue and maybe consumers will become even more aspirational," said Mackey McDonald, former chairman and CEO of VF Corp., who is no longer affiliated with the company. "What they will buy will be the things that will be important to their image and the statement they want to make about who they are."

"The only way we're going to move forward is to connect directly with the customer."

The Price-Value GamePrice
is a function of how much shoppers are willing to pay for something, while value is a gauge of something's intrinsic worth.

"We have to get back to creating innovative product, concepts, and merchandising ideas to stimulate and energize the customer," said Andrew Rosen, president and co-founder of Theory. "You just can't get away with making clothes and expecting them to sell. You have to be good at what you do. Clothing is not just a status symbol anymore. There has to be a sense of relevancy to it."

The New Society
"What does it mean to buy something?" Donna Karan said. "I think that buying something will no longer just be for yourself. It's buying something with a conscience, how it affects the seamstresses, the fabric people, the manufacturers, the world at large. I think we were in an economy where it was all about ‘what I want,’ but with every purchase, there is a business and how you can make a difference in somebody else's life. If that shift happens, it will all of a sudden awaken the consumer to why they're actually buying something."

The Global Order
An A.T. Kearney study last year singled out the 10 most attractive emerging markets for investment. Brazil, China, and India topped the list, which also included the United Arab Emirates as the 10th most attractive market. The global downturn might well force changes to that list, as fortunes rise and fall. Witness Dubai and Russia, which both seemed unstoppable just a few months ago but have since faltered dramatically.

The New Austerity
Doing more with less is becoming a way of life in the often high-flying fashion industry.
Empty fashion hype is another casualty of the financial crisis, said Jean-Jacques Picart, a Paris-based industry consultant. "The big trend of 'fashion for fashion' is dead," he said. "Consumers are looking for honesty, respect, and value."
In the past, creativity was channeled in service of the image and desirability of fashion brands, whereas in the future, "creativity will serve the product," he explained. "Passion and reason will be the two important elements for fashion in the future."

The Nuts and Bolts
For years, the industry's been filled with chatter about market research, making products with both creative and commercial appeal and tweaking supply chains so design decisions could be made later, but the tangible results were often never seen.
"It's the execution of these things, not just the wishful thinking of them," said John Karonis, newly minted president of Kurt Salmon Associates' retail and consumer-products group. "Our economic environment has really instilled a sense of urgency in many people."A study by Kurt Salmon described this new, more efficient way of operating as "acting vertical," and said firms such as Target Corp., Coach Inc. and Aéropostale Inc. were already doing it.

The Future
None of this means companies will outright abandon the strategies and methods that helped them get started in the first place. The future of fashion, however different, seems likely to be based mostly on its present.