Pull and Bear
Weekday
intro mark Porte pestl H&M missg Thras concl Refer
contents
oduction ket map er 5 forces le Case study guided case study sher case study lusion rences
Bershka
FAST FASHION IN THE MASS MARKET In today’s modern world, the public demand for clothing is so vast and with the constant access and activity on social media and the internet fashion and style is always changing and evolving to something different and due to quick turnover times in factories that mass market brands use for new products, new trend pieces can be produced and sold within 2 weeks of the trend creation; creating fast fashion. Mass market brands like Topshop, H&M, Missguided etc. all contribute to the fast fashion issue - they all take style and trend directly from catwalk and recreate it for a considerably more reasonable price for a quality compromise. Mass market brands all have a variation of quality and style but they all follow the same fast-fashion principle and cause the same ethical and environmental issues.
AN INTRODUCTION This report is based on the mass market sector using issues and examples from high-street brands like H&M, Topshop, Zara etc. all contributing to the most popular sector of the fashion market where style works with quality and price to create the mass market balance most people shop in. The sector takes inspiration from influencers though media (like news, internet etc.) to produce certain styled garments each season. With fast fashion, the rate in which clothing is produced and changed is increasing massively with public demand making customer’s wardrobes larger due to the use of cheaper fabrics and poorer working conditions. Mass market brands like River Island and Topshop are usually accessible in store and online to be competitive with alternative brands doing similar things for the same market audience. Some highly established and recognised brands like Pretty Little Thing are solely online but have benefits through online discount codes and flash sales that can’t be done in store due to high demand and stock intake. From the public questionnaire I completed, I found that 65% of the people tend to shop in mass over value markets, this is due to local high streets keeping up with trends constantly whilst being affordable. Zara and H&M are the world’s two largest fashion retailers. Not by coincidence, they’re also the pioneers of fast fashion. Zara is able to take a coat from design to the sales floor in 25 days (paywall), and it can replenish items even more quickly. (QZ, April 2017).
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Mass market map Market mapping is a tool used to show the correlation of quality and price between brands in similar sectors. For this, I’ve used a selection of big-name brands for the sector both in-store and online to have a clear comparison of the main market brands. Pretty Little Thing sits at the bottom with low quality and low price although it’s online accessibility, selection and price are enticing for the consumer, the quality is poor and inconsistent throughout the brand because of the brand’s suppliers hence it’s low price. H&M is a similar brand - they take more care in the consistency of garment quality as they’re so popular throughout the UK instore and online all the product matches style and quality so it has a brand image and “standard” H&M quality. Similarly, New Look is fairly cheap for what you get and the quality is around the same but the brand audience is slightly older so the general quality is slightly better than H&M hence why the price is competitively increased. River Island is a slightly cheaper store due to it’s style aiming at an older audience drawing the attention away from the product and more at the price and brand ego. As a result of this, quality doesn’t match with Zara and Topshop making it the least popular of the 3 but seen as superior in the older generation due to style and price match. Topshop sits right in the middle of the map - the perfect product quality to price ratio and arguably the most popular high street store in the UK because of this. They have good range of items, fair prices and good enough quality for the public to keep buying. Zara is more niche in terms of it’s product range making it the less popular store although they do put more care into their quality control and use of textile than anyone else. As a result of this, they have slightly increased prices to support their product
range slightly increased prices to support their product range and product quality. The online focus has clearly added an advantage to Nasty Gal and Weekday with the higher customer satisfaction rates and popularity in the UK. Nasty Gal draw customers in with online sales, discount codes, offers etc. which constantly results in cheaper products which is why they’re where they are on the map because product is so cheap but the RRP of all their items is so low which is why the quality is so good for the price hence it’s popularity. Weekday operate one store in London and the rest is purely online with Asos and through the Weekday store. Weekday prices are high - higher than any other store on the map but that’s because it balances with the quality as the detailing, textiles and quality is so good that people just keep on buying it. It’s the perfect store for higher quality for a slightly increased price which gives it the top spot on the map.
Threat of new entry into the mass market New brands can easily enter the mass market sector due to the vast amount of suppliers all providing similar product from different locations and for different prices depending on labour, quality control and location. Product is constantly changing in the factories with quick turnover times making them good for fast fashion brands working in the sector. Because a lot of the brands in the fast fashion sector do similar product based on the same trends, suppliers all create very similar product so if the supplier inflates prices brands can easily change supplier. It is easy access into this market if you have the correct product, present yourself well through advertising and social media and if you are cheap enough you’ll be recognised as a new fast fashion brand to use. Discount is also a bug factor - generally, new fast fashion brands are strictly online like Pretty Little Thing and Shein so they need a unique selling point like price, discount or celebrity endorsement to get recognised and used because there’s so much to offer when it comes to fast fashion there isn’t much need for any more brands making it hard to survive in the sector.
Threat of substittion
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In the mass market, threat of substitution of supplier/store is very high because the brands all follow the same fast fashion trends and styles and so if price go up through a retailer or a shop the brand buyer or customer can simply use an alternate retailer/store and get the same product for a smaller price tag. Customers especially are less brand loyal brand ethics don’t matter to the consumer just if the product is cheaper and still looks good even if it ends up to be a poor quality product just as long as it’s in time for the style. As a result of this, in the UK in 2017, as a nation, we threw away over 2 million tonnes of fastfashion clothing that was worn on an average of 6 times. This shows customer commitment to clothing - if the consumer can find a better style for a smaller price they’ll never commit to one brand.
Buyer power When customers buy from mass market brands online, there’s always offers on whether it be “20% off TODAY!” or simply “spend over £30 for free delivery” that constantly trick buyers into buying more because it seems “free” due to the deal but still requires the consumer having more product and ultimately spending more money. This tends to happen mostly online but also occurs in store when there’s newsletter sign ups at the checkout for a discount off your next shop or customers can get “membership benefits” such as newsletters informing them of the brand’s new collections weekly again simply tempting them to buy more.
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Supplier power
Clothing suppliers have very little power over their product as brands change their stock and style so frequently and use other suppliers that use chair products and worse labour in worse places but the stock works out cheaper and that’s what brands look for to compete with one another. Credible brands have to be more careful with the suppliers they use to ensure their brand morals are good to attract customers but cheaper brands don’t have morals but they don’t have a reputation either - they’re simply providing a cheap, easy service and so can use whoever is the cheapest supplier.
Competitive rivalry Competitive rivalry between brands in mass market is very clear throughout new ranges, product flashes and media coverage. Brands use the same suppliers which means they all are selling the same product just styled differently and sold differently through their brand style which causes a lot of rivalry within the sector. Online stores use things like sales, discounts and offers to entice people to shop on their store and with the advantage of images of models, sizes etc. products seem better than they are because they’re presented in a certain way when in reality, they’re the same product as a brick and mortar stores. High street stores compete in the industry by offering in-store sales, exclusive product and in larger stores benefits like click and collect drawing the customer to come into the store perhaps encouraging them to buy more and thus a store can compete through both online and in-store giving them more power over the other brands.
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Political
Economic
Zara
Social
Asos
With economic inflation constantly rising due to taxes increasing and the deadline for Brexit coming closer, prices are constantly rising for fashion. Import taxes are increasing for suppliers to get product into the UK along with production charges increasing in factories because of the clamp down on unfair labour which ultimately is increasing clothing prices in the UK encouraging the public to go shopping less as it’s costing more ultimately slowing down the economy. Discounts and offers are frequently used and advertised to take customer’s minds off the new prices and simply see the saving.
Zara
S
Brands are social and loyal to suppliers to get potential discounts and offers in the product they’re buying - they can make potential deals with the supplier regarding new stock thus keeping the supplier and consumer happy. Social media has a huge benefit to brands in this sector also - all new collections and seasons are advertised all over the internet through their social media so the consumer can see directly what’s on offer wherever they are whenever they want instead of solely in-store marketing and advertising it’s free.
Zara
E
Brexit will affect the mass market because of its impact on the conversion rates of the pound and the import/ export of goods in and out of the UK. This will affect the price in which we trade in the UK and how we trade outside the UK to import clothing for brands and export goods. This could create an opportunity for jobs in the country as we would need to start producing clothing for ourselves instead of relying in exterior suppliers which in time, could work out cheaper for the economy because of there not being any import tax.
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technological Technology has a huge impact on mass market with a lot of stores being solely online and even instore there is technology to enhance your shopping experience. Each year, brick and mortar stores are getting less turnover and profit because more and more people revert to shopping digitally and the rise of technology isn’t helping this - online, there are chat rooms on shop sites to help you find product, now picture scanners are available on sites like Asos to search for something you see. This means that there are less jobs available to staff as tech is doing it for us. Furthermore, with online sales increasing and instore sales decreasing, shops are closing down also resulting in more unemployment.
L Legal
Current styles and trends result in products on the market being very similar to one another and very often in fast fashion, mass market brands use higher end runway shows and current seasons to take inspiration from and produce a similar product for a reasonable price which occasionally results in copyright issues which can further result in cease and desist or in more extreme cases one brand suing another.
E
Zara
Enviromental
Environmental issues are extremely common in fast fashion brands within the mass market sector due to to the price in which that product is sold at and the rate of production in which it’s made - brands are constantly producing more product in scarily quick time with access to sweatshops around the world and speedy shipping time, environmental issues come up constantly. The textiles used are poor quality and not recyclable as they’re cheaper to produce and sell to the consumer and the conditions of the factory along with fast shipping times cause mass pollution to the environment as the only focus is speed from the brand to the consumer and not how it affects other people or the world around us.
H&M are very well known for “following” current trends making the more inaccessible products more accessible for a cheaper price - with this fast fashion company being very on top of current trends, there’s constantly news and conflict between H&M and other companies because they simply reproduce their products for a cheaper price. Swedish rapper Yung Lean and his rap collective group “Sad Boys” recently were a victim to H&M’s fashion plagiarism with H&M ripping off 2 of their products. The brand have a very distinct style and only make ranges of clothing in small quantities to keep brand interest up and it makes the consumer want it more if they know it’s a rare piece to have. H&M have reacted to their higher than average prices and inaccessibility and created 2 products that were extremely popular on first release as the public thought the innovative style and use of colour and text was fresh to the trends and the products went down a storm. Hypebeast said (March 2018) “side-by-side comparisons of items from Sadboys Gear’s 2017 and 2016 offerings and selections from H&M’s 2018 range show possible proof of the latter brand allegedly taking a little too much inspiration from Yung Lean’s team. A couple years ago, Urban Outfitters was also accused of “stealing” Yung Lean’s merchandise designs.” French luxury brand “Vetements” have also been victim to H&M’s sly antics the brand has a very distinct style with a season of products being very heavily influenced by rock music and the design style of heavy rock bands logos, merchandise, album covers etc. and created a new trend that everybody just loved. H&M reacted to this trend and used a very similar typeface in the “LOVE” t-shirt combining both the love theme from Sadboys and the typographic style from Vetements creating one of the most popular mens products in the stores in years.
H&M Sad Vet fol
M combines dboys and tements style to llow trend
Vetements 2017
Missguided
Missguided
Supreme
Supreme
Missguided recreates iconic supreme / playboy collaboration for the mass market Another example of fast fashion coming around is Missguided’s new playboy collection focusing on the iconic Playboy Bunny logo as a more accessible and affordable collection compared to the New York skateboard company “Supreme” that came out in 2015. The skate/streetwear brand has worked with Playboy since 2011 and in 2015’s capsule collection came the repeat bunny print sweater sets that Missguided have simply worked off to re-create for the public to access. The Supreme joggers are re-selling on sites like Ebay, Depop and Grailed for between £200-£300 and the hoodies for between £200-£350 showing how much hype is round the product and how hard they are to get. Missguided worked with this on their mind and created a more modernised take on the Supreme collection and as it’s a women’s brand, they worked with different pattern cuts, styling and colours making the collection relevant in today’s current style. Although the collection was created in order to create a more feminine styled, cheaper and more accessible Playboy range, the collection is still limited with most of the products selling out and even being re-sold for profits on sites like Ebay and Depop. The collection is also a lot bigger than the Supreme collection with items ranging from tracksuits and jewellery to bum bags, caps and bras again addressing the audience and what they want hence it’s huge popularity in the market today. International stores like Shein, Romwe and Yesstyle that sell huge variations of product have also took along the style and used the bunny to brand their blank clothing for an even cheaper price showing again how fast fashion runs through the customer base getting cheaper and worse quality but always becoming more accessible. Missguided also had a huge influence from Juicy Couture - the 90s casual wear brand that everybody loved with the uses of velvet, sequins and huge logos to really build the brand image. Misguided wanted to re-create a time from the past with this influence - Finder said “The standout pieces for us definitely have to be the velour black flare tracksuit with “PLAYBOY” on the back in pink. These pants look like they came straight from the set of Mean Girls and I’m obsessed. The second piece we’re obsessed with is the Silver chain mini dress that looks like an adaptation of Paris Hilton’s 21st birthday dress. In other words, nothing is more iconic 2000s than Mean Girls and Paris Hilton, making this clothing line the ultimate noughties collection.” (September, 2018).
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Forever 21's thrasher recreation American skateboard magazine “Thrasher” was founded in the early 1980’s as simply an outlet for adverts, new professional skateboarders, any news or new businesses and to mostly showcase the latest skateboarding photographs. The magazine was really the first of it’s time and was the perfect outlet skateboarding needed and soon came the culture that followed. The brand have pumped out merchandise in masses ever since - everybody that bought the magazine had to buy the merchandise and so if you wore Thrasher, you skated. In late 2016/2017, the culture expanded to the general public - they wanted to look like they were of the part of the skateboarding culture by wearing the merchandise losing the brand novelty and causing a lot of conflict between the general and the skateboarding cultures. In a reaction to this new trend emerging, fast fashion brand Forever 21 soon reinvented the iconic flame arch logo into a “TRIPPIN” rip off causing a lot of controversy. Forever 21 is well known for “borrowing” other brand identities and recreating it for a lesser price simply running through the fast fashion cycle but there is consequence in situations like these Highsnobiety said “Following in the not-so-illustrious footsteps of COS and ZARA, Forever 21 has become the latest high street fashion brand to completely bite a popular streetwear design.” (February 2017) Forever 21 are constantly keeping on top of trends and current collaborations to work off hence their huge popularity and client base because they have something for everybody because of the fast fashion they follow for a low price. That is how fast fashion works with big name brands involved though - a trend arrives, it can only take 25 days before it arrives on the shelf (Quartz, April 2017) so bigger brands creating the trends are always in trouble with the quick turnaround time and the prices in which the fast fashion brands can sell it at down to huge quantity and poor quality.
Weekday
To
opshop
Conclusion Fast fashion is a huge issue in today’s world - from it’s environmental issues from factories and non-decomposable products, brands being ripped off for designs and trends THEY create and how working conditions are so poor because of the cheap labour the brands need to sell the products for the price they do. In this report I mainly focused on the effects fast fashion has on current brands and collections because of how trend follows through the bigger name brands to reproduce branded merchandise as cheaper product that everybody can access as opposed to the specific culture or if you’re fast/lucky enough to buy them. I’ve focused on the mass market sector creating a market map showing the most popular brands out and how brands work in the sector depending on quality and price. I also analysed the porter 5 forces to see how new brands would start and operate in the mass market along with the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental effects a new brand makes on the mass market. Fast fashion is a huge issue and it’s only getting faster with turnaround times for new products getting shorter and shorter with labour and quality just getting worse through big name brands like H&M and Zara but through new schemes like H&M’s “Conscious” range, brands are working harder to make their products more eco friendly and recyclable, despite the design influence and production labour.
References Alexandra Hourigan. (2018). Your first look at the Missguided x Playboy collection. Available: https://www.finder.com.au/missguided-x-playboy-collection. Last accessed 31st October 2018. Daniel Pearson. (2017). H&M Responds to Thrasher’s Flame Logo Plagiarism Accusation. Available: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/02/06/forever-21-thrasher-logo-copy/. Last accessed 31st October 2018. Marc Bain. (2017). A new generation of even faster fashion is leaving H&M and Zara in the dust. Available: https://qz.com/951055/a-new-generation-of-even-faster-fashion-is-leaving-hm-and-zara-in-the-dust/. Last accessed 31 October 2018. Mike Hansell. (2018). Sustainability within fashion. FAS4027 Fashion Business Context, Fashion Business and Promotion, Birmingham City University.3rd October 2018 (lecture notes taken by Oliver Southall). Patrick Montes. (2018). H&M Accused of Copying Sadboys Gear Designs. Available: https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/sadboys-hm-love-roses. Last accessed 31st October 2018.
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