Profit
Profit is a necessary condition to support all industries, including fashion industry, the profits generated by the sale of products will maintain the operation of a brand, from design to production, publicity and sales, and even the construction and decoration of physical retail stores in some cases.
Fashion is not just a costume art, it is a business. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the fashion industry’s global revenue was estimated between $1.7 trillion and $2.5 trillion according to two different research reports by Euromonitor and McKinsey (Fashion United, 2022). It can be seen that the volume of the fashion industry is huge.
As mentioned at the beginning, fashion industry has many different departments, all with a clear division of labour and different responsibilities. It includes Design Department, Production and Manufacturing, Marketing and Merchandising, and so on.
Each part is crucial, and these divisions run from an individual studio to a large fashion brand, the only difference being that a single studio may have multiple responsibilities on one person. When a brand wants to start a new collection, it needs to research the market trend and analyse the audience from the preliminary work. Production costs, pricing, and volume are also considered after starting the design work. Publicity and retail are also two very important tasks… In short, these jobs are complex and require experienced people to do effectively.
When the market is affected by various human activities, fashion brands should maintain their competitiveness to avoid being eliminated by shrinking market. Many brands have attracted enough attention during the pandemic, such as Bottega Veneta’s handbag and “BV Green”, or Louis Vuitton’s years of working with people and businesses across industries. It is successful and can cause an uproar depending on a good design, but an excellent marketing campaign is easier and also able to occur a huge impact. For example, the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and the game League of Legends has attracted consumers in different fields and broadened its reputation in the game industry. And League of Legends has also gained huge exposure.
For a brand’s creative director, balancing creativity and commerce is significant. However, brand Loewe does both well. Loewe has been committed to funding and providing exposure to artisans around the world to promote handicrafts and craft techniques in different cultures and regions. Interestingly, Loewe’s outfits on the runway are not exactly the same as the actual clothing sold, and design director Jonathan Andrew launches surrealist style clothing on the runway, and the actual sales are usually only embellished with runway elements, more suitable for daily use and wear.
Statista (2023). Fashion – Worldwide | Statista Market Forecast. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/fashion/worldwide.
Graziano, G. (2021). What are the departments inside a fashion company / brand? [online] Glam Observer. Available at: https://glamobserver.com/what-are-the-departments-inside-a-fashion-company-brand/.
Duval, A. (2019). Louis Vuitton x League of Legends: what if you dressed as your favorite video game character? [online] Vogue Paris. Available at: https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/article/league-of-legends-characters-are-now-dressed-by-louis-vuitton-outfits-skins-trophy-case.