Profit.

Profit is an important part of business but how do brands keep creative whilst executing this? In this current age, companies must keep a firm connection between commerce and creativity.

‘Each year more than 92 x 1000000t of garment waste are produced.’ (John and Mishra, 2023). This fact alone shows the mass of the fashion industry and how profitable it must be in order to produce such extensive amounts of waste each year. ‘The fashion industry is the fourth biggest industry globally… the rapid development of the fashion industry negatively impacts the environment.’ (Chen, 2023). Meaning that despite the fashion industry being profitable, it is not necessarily prosperous.

However, sustainability is just one part of a much larger sector which is business. There are many sectors that construct the fashion industry: design/creativity, business, consumerism etc. In order for the fashion industry to be successful, there must be a strong connection between sectors.

This is how a brand can maintain its prosperity and remain competitive. An example of a brand that is particularly aware of bridging the gap between these sectors and being one of the leading in the industry is Selfridges.

They offer ’Selfridges Rental’ which is in collaboration with HURR. With this scheme they are notably catering towards the gap between sustainability and consumerism. ‘Curated by our expert buyers, Selfridges Rental helps you rent your favourite styles from our leading designers and brands at Selfridges. It’s all part of our pioneering initiative, Project Earth, which explores new ways to shop and help do our bit for the planet.’ (Selfridges, 2023). It’s a flexible strategy as you ’Select your dream piece to rent for 4, 8, 16 or 30 days and get the look delivered straight to your door.’ (Selfridges, 2023).

In ‘Fashion Marketing and Communication : Theory and Practice Across the Fashion Industry’, Mitterfellner speaks about the influence of bloggers and celebrities on the public and their fashion choices. ‘By choosing to mostly wear UK high-street brands, those dresses were instantly sold out in stores and online, so much so this was dubbed “the Kate effect”’ (Mitterfellner, 2019).

Now, although it’s understandable that the everyday consumer would not be able to rent their wardrobe from Selfridges, what if high-street brands followed in their steps and offered a similar service? Could this be evolution towards a more sustainable industry whilst still accounting for consumerism? And as seen by the “Kate effect”, influencers could have a large part in the success of this.

In all this, creative directors have a considerable part to play too, I believe that if this scheme was not only advertised but merchandised well, it could be monumental.

Bibliography:

Chen, Y. (2023). Wiley Online Library, How blockchain adoption affects supply chain sustainability in the fashion industry: a systematic review and case studies. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/itor.13273

John, EP. And Mishra, U. (2023). ScienceDirect, Journal of Cleaner Production, A sustainable three-layer circular economic model with controllable waste, emission, and wastewater from the textile and fashion industry. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652622052167

Mitterfellner, O. (2019). Fashion Marketing and Communication : Theory and Practice Across the Fashion Industry: Chapter 5 – social media, blogs, and opinion- leaders: who is leading your opinion? ProQuest E-Book Central, Taylor and Francis Group. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=5981798&ppg=99

Selfridges (2023). Selfridge&Co Rental. Available at: https://selfridgesrental.com/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAiA3aeqBhBzEiwAxFiOBvGiZB4CPjT_cHAQUtF2xJIp0qDlOVwSJLf8RxLSsF4yBqRKaKGngxoC02oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds