We have a lot to catch up on this week. It has been a while since we last posted and we do apologize for the lapse. This is the first part of this Week in Review with a second part more focused on China’s labor challenges, the European mergers and acquisitions trend, the continued effects of fiber cost increases on textile shows and the ever-changing retail landscape as a result of the struggling economy.
Beijing Bans Luxe Billboards
China has celebrated luxury and opulent products and lifestyles over the last decade but now Beijing is banning outdoor advertising that uses certain terms which celebrate living the high life.
Taking effect this month on April 15th, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce are taking new steps that will “target advertisements that ‘promote hedonism’ or the ‘worship of foreign-made products.’” The actual changes pertain to the banning of certain words in outdoor billboards and advertising. Banned words will include “supreme,” “royal,” “luxury” and ”high class.”
Possible causes of these changes are speculated to come from the political leaderships desire to tackle one of the country’s most challenging problems: the fast growing wealth gap. China is one of the world’s fastest growing luxury goods consumers, surpassing the US 2 years ago with a $10 billion a year luxury goods market, second only to Japan. The Chinese consumers, with or without wealth, tend to be obsessed with brands and marketing has only played into this obsession.
The wealthy are growing exponentially wealthier while the middle class and poorer blue collar workers continue to face stagnant wages and record inflation. It is yet to be seen how this will be enforced and how significant a role this step will be in the fight against the wealth gap.
Another challenge for China has been converting its population to society of savers to a society of consumers. To read more about this please visit the link below.
Hispanics Becoming a Growing Force as Consumers
This Hispanic population has been growing over the past several years and is currently the largest and fastest growing group in the U.S and is projected to reach 132.8 million by 2050. The projected buying power is expected to rise from $1 trillion this year to $1.5 trillion in 2015. This buying power is larger than the entire economies of all but 14 countries in the world, pretty impressive. So who is listening to this growing consumer?
Retailers like Macy’s, Wal-Mart, Dillard’s, J.C. Penny, Kohl’s, Kmart and Sears have been playing close attention and have been aggressively focused on the Hispanic customer through product, marketing & advertising campaigns and bilingual direct mailers, credit card applications and in-store signage. One example is Kohl’s recent partnership with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony to do a lifestyle fashion venture. Kmart is also launching Sofia Vergara a young contemporary lifestyle collection this fall.
There are several differences in spending habits in the Hispanic population such as shopping more as a family than as individuals, shopping for different silhouettes, colors, styles and even different fabrications. Some other distinguishing characteristics in shopping behaviors include being fairly conscious of status, loyal to department stores, loyal to brands that fit well and a love for value and newness. Many retailers have addressed some of their stores as more Hispanic in product assortment etc especially in certain areas of the U.S. such as Miami, Texas and New York. It remains important to not lump Hispanics together in a general fashion, there are differences retailers must recognize according to the original country of origin such as Mexico, Cuba or the Dominican Republic.
As a result of this growing population of consumers, several retailers have also re-allocated how they are spending their marketing dollars. In 2009 J.C. Penny’s devoted $50 million of its media spend to the Hispanic market while Wal-Mart allocated $66.1 million and Macy’s used $38.8 million to the Hispanic market.
Barney’s Mark Lee Continues to Make Changes
Change continues to remain constant this first quarter of the year for Barney's with the addition of Carine Roitfeld, the former French Vogue editor in chief, joining the team as a guest editor and stylist as well as muse and inspiration for the fall. She will be collaborating with photographer Mario Sorrenti and Barney’s new creative director Dennis Freedman.
Roitfeld will style and edit Barney’s advertising campaign, shot by Sorrenti, as well as edit the catalogues, fall mailers and put her styling into the windows in the Madison Avenue location which will be unveiled in September.
Roitfeld was drawn to the concept of crossing over from the editorial side, more open where the envelope can be pushed, to the retail side where the focus is on commerce. Mark Lee continues to shake things up at Barney’s and it is exciting to see how his vision will play out as the year progresses.
PPR Makes Strides to Become More ECO-Friendly
PPR, the French retail firm that owns Gucci Group is unveiling a new sustainability plan as the fashion world and consumer continue to embrace eco-friendly and sustainable fashion. The plan includes the following:
- The launch of the Creative Sustainability Lab, a partnership with Cradle to Cradle, that will focus on developing products the integrate and apply environmental objectives and social concerns for PPR’s luxury labels such as Gucci, YSL and Balenciaga.
- The offset of carbon dioxide emissions generated in 2010 by PPR’s luxury group, PUMA and PPR’s headquarters through the purchase of carbon credits from San Francisco company Wildlife Works Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) offsetting project in Kenya.
- Puma plans on publishing its first environmental profit and loss statement as a first step towards measuring the full environmental impact of its activities and its suppliers.
GAP Focuses on Bringing Modernity to its Fall Collections
The Gap has struggled in recent years especially when it comes to its product. As competition has increased the product piece has remained somewhat stagnate. The company announced several changes earlier this year and the latest is the evolution of the “seven-day-a-week brand,” according to the retail brand’s executive vice president of global design, Patrick Robinson. The non-denim part of the collection was previewed the end of March and has created a buzz for what is to come.
The women's designs are taking a more elevated, modern approach with dressed up options that still remain true to the GAP philosophy. They designs will reduce layering but emphasize texture and will still give women the option to transition their clothing from day to night. In addition there will also be an enhanced and more detailed accessory collection to coincide with the accessory push happening across the marketplace.
The men’s designs are focused on updated classics updating to skinny silhouettes and suit separates. Knit shirts will also make a strong statement in addition to leather such as leather bombers and motorcycle jackets. Textured and chunky sweaters will also make an appearance in this fall’s collection.
Style Rookie’s Tavi Gevinson Teams up With Jane Pratt
Tavi Gevinson, the 14-year-old blogger of Style Rookie has captured the attention of many in the fashion industry and is now teaming up with Jane Pratt to launch a web site and magazine. Tavi’s blog has become a must follow for the likes of Anna Wintour and designers around the world, receiving more than 50,000 visitors in one month.
Jane Pratt has launched 2 magazine and 2 TV shows which she lost. Since 2005 Jane has kept a low profile but in the next two months Pratt will launch JanePratt.com. This summer Jane will team up with Tavi to introduce a magazine and website for teenage girls. The site will be styled like a magazine instead of a blog and will feature commentary, photography, poetry, fiction and interviews by teenagers.
To visit Tavi’s blog Style Rookie please click on the below link:
To read more about this collaboration please explore the below:
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