In reply to Galileo's Universe:
It sounds like the new world we are in at the moment, weather it be fashion art or politics. Interesting and I am not sure what the answer is.
Design and New Media
Graphics, new media, architecture and moreCFDA trying to "CHANGE" the FASHION SYSTEM ' The failed economy is temporarily jolting the system and soon again there will be a steady hand on FASHION AND ITS ESSENCE".
Showing messages 1–10 of 15
PIC>REF: www.flickr.com/photos/ kwg73/3687839402/
GLAM 07/29/09
The future of fashion and retail is at risk, until now. Tuesday morning, the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) held a major meeting including designers, retailers and fashion journalists. CFDA members such as Donna Karan, Francisco Costa, Lazaro Hernandez, Anna Wintour, and Betsey Johnson were all present to voice their opinions. The fashion industry is directly affected by the recession and as a result, more aspects of the future of fashion such as dealing with the “everything on sale” shoppers, oversupplied stocks, disconnect between runway looks and store merchandise and other problems.
“We design for the consumer, and right now, I believe the consumer is completely confused,” Donna Karan stated. She believes that consumers have fallen into the typical “sale” trap and are just looking to get the best value for a dollar. Karan continued, “We should truly focus on the problem and the solution. The consumer has been trained to buy on sale…Why should she go out and spend money early in the season, when in fact come September and October, when the season actually changes…it’s on sale.”
CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg also recollected on the issues the industry faces. She offered positive approaches and emphasized working with the problem. “We wanted more merchandise, and more of this and more of that, and expect…increases every month, and at some point it just became too much of everything. I realized that what we all have to do is reduce the offerings and create the demand,” von Furstenberg said. Elie Tahari claimed that overstocking and bringing in products too early is an issue. “Business is actually great for us. We have changed things, so it’s about shipping clothes that you can buy and wear right away,” Tahari stated.
Diane von Furstenberg proposed engaging the consumers in innovative ways. Betsey Johnson added on by stating, “…I wish that fashion week for the public could be like Christmas…I could completely have my showroom open to the public. I could run around that week.” They plan to revamp the image for Fashion’s Night Out on September 10th.
The hardest issue is dealing with the changed perception of fashion because of the internet. There is so much media coverage and press that it lost a certain untouchable factor. The media has become saturated and overexposed. Everyone is looking for a quick fix or cheap versions of the “real stuff.” “I think that the media landscape changed so much in the last five to ten years with the internet…it’s probably a good time...for the industry to come together and look at how we need to adapt to how the landscape has changed,” said KCD president Ed Filipowski. The meeting was a step forward in pulling together people of the fashion community. The failed economy is temporarily jolting the system and soon again there will be a steady hand on fashion
REF: http://newyork.joonbug.com/glamdamnit/cfda-trying-to-change-the-fashion-system-glam-damn-it-new-york/BGD8zjfBniK
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
I think it is the fashion industry that's confused, not the consumers. Consumers will spend whatever they could afford, that's common sense. in this economy, when people are deciding to pay their electric bills, or health insurances cost, they will skip buying a new dress, that's one of the reasons why the vintage and used clothing stores are popping up in every town. People in stead of buying something that will go out of style in 2 months, are looking for something that's very cheap, basic and classic style, and accessorising the look with things they already got. I thought what Donna Karan said about consumers being confused is kind of insulting.
DONNA KARAN SPRING 2009
"Step ahead in embellished jersey or monochromatic checks. Dress, $4,500, and sandals, $580, Donna Karan New York."
PIC>REF:www.harpersbazaar.com/ fashion/runway-pictures...
Donna Karan was reffering to how the 'SALES' mechanisms works for the FASHION INDUSTRY where the consumer has being TRAINED and MANIPULATED to put far more emphasis on QUANTITY for a lot less than on QUALITY for more and how the SEASONAL SALES CALENDAR is put in motion by the FASHION SYSTEM ..... Having said that it is helpful to note that DONNA KARAN is not exactly a Walmart's ' fashion designer ' where indeed people with no comfortable financial means to pay for their monthly bills need to resort to purchasing their FASHION at the cheapest price possible ... just absolute common sense .... and all the designers mentioned in the article above work at the HIGH END OF RETAIL FASHION.
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
The habit of massive consumption can't sustain itself in the long run, the retail fashion system is to make the highest profit margin, that's the bottom line. Now we have crashed, how do we go from here-should once the economy recovers, we go back to our old ways of buying on credits? Buying things we don't need, and just have more stuff? The auto industry is facing a bigger crisis, people have stopped buying new cars, another auto plant in the Bay Area is going to shut down, 4000 or so employees would be jobless. The system has gotten too big and expensive and can't survive this recession? Some people after they cut off their credit cards might like the feeling and even the economy recovers might decide not to go back to the way they use to purchase. The high end retailing do not just have consumers who are super rich, a lot of them were high paid blue collar workers who now have lost their jobs, a lot of people who worked in the financial industries who now are unemployed, those are the ones who used to buy Donna Karan suits to go to work or DV dress to a cocktail party, now they go to H&M, Target. Everyone is operating more by common sense of buying now. I was reading in the NY Times this wealthy person after the crash realized that his wealth has evaporated by 80%, he still has 4 million dollars in the bank but the rest were in stocks and those were gone, he had to sell his homes in order to pay his bills. This is just one of many similar stories. A friend of mine who is an architect hasn't have any projects for months since the crash, and his clients are those with budget between 2 to 5 millions. Even when there are sales people are still not buying. It's not the fact that Donna Karan and DV are at the high end of retail fashion, so their base customers are not the ones who are painfully budgeting, shopping at WalMart, the fact is their customer base are those who have been hurt by the recession and have stopped buying their designs on regular price, many just stopped buying at Neiman Marcus. In California, where I live, I really feel it, the high end department stores are not getting customers in. The jewelry industry is dead, no one is advertising, jewelers are stuck with their inventory, they are not even producing holiday catalogs, because usual this is the time of the year when holiday catalogs production starts.
In reply to KaWai:
I meant high paid white collar workers in the financial and business.
New designers in the high end in comparison are not doing as bad, but it's the established ones with huge overheads who are suffering. I think the change would come from new designers, because they are already having to design on a tighter budget and building their business in a recession, so they are developing a system for their business that could sustain and thrive in a recession.
THE BEAUTIFUL PECOCK also symbol of vanity and ostentation ....
PIC:REF> mysticmedusa.com
if all the ' facts' mentioned above are correct ... it can only mean one thing, people bought just THE ILLUSION of being 'rich', then in that case it is unconsciously true what DONNA KARAN said that the average consumer with a monthly income is 'CONFUSED' when it comes to purchasing their FASHION to dress ' ACCORDINGLY '. Now the market has no choice but to 'regulate' itself in accordance, it seems to be a win win situation in the end ... courtesy of the economic crash! , their costumers have to face the confronting new eyes opening reality ... that they have been expending what they did not have in the first place ....
I'm not so sure that the ' super rich' really cares about purchasing Donna Karan of Diane Von Furstenberg to impress ... as you said most of the costumer base were living on sheer credit, based on a limited monthly salary. The high end of FASHION retail must adapt to the new reality, their new 'wealth' in order to be able to survive in such highly competitive business. What those designers actually sold to those costumers was the label sawn to the garment with a desirable logo ... read PRESTIGE.
This goes beyond the matters of the economic crisis ... this is a a kind of a mirror that will help people to ask themselves about what really matters and is important in the end .... and that OSTENTATION is no match when your financial resources are limited and full of insecurity ... again just COMMON SENSE.
As I mentioned in another thread ... the new trend of the very rich is to dress unconspicuous ... the likes of H&M is the 'new' must ... if just to 'impress'.
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
Imagine if most high end retail stores stopped accepting credit cards but instead do what they used to do, either cash or layaway, immediately people would buy what they can truely afford. Of course that's not going to happen, but I think people have stop charging on credit cards for buying clothes, not as much as they used to. Yes, I think in the high end retailing at least a quarter of the consumers are middle class who could only own a DK suit if they charged on their credit cards, those are the ones who now have stopped buying designer clothes such as Donna Karan's.
IC>REF>:crunchyprices.com/.../
In reference to the ' 25% ' claim ... " Yes, I think in the high end retailing at least a quarter of the consumers are middle class .." the following is an interesting study of consumers attitude back in 2001 ...
WHO WILL PAY MORE FOR QUALITY ?
Spring 2001
Textile Consumer
In 2000, the majority (60%) of shoppers said they were willing to pay more for higher-quality clothing, rather than sacrificing quality for lower price, and 65% preferred higher-quality apparel to clothing that was more fashionable. Although these numbers are high, they have declined since 1998, when 64% would pay more for quality and 68% preferred higher-quality merchandise to more fashionable apparel. Men are more willing than women to pay more for high-quality apparel and to choose quality over fashion.
Although the percentage of consumers who say they choose quality over price and fashion has declined, this attitudinal shift has not translated into a decline in purchases of apparel for reasons of quality. According to data collected by the NPD Group, purchases of specific apparel items based on quality increased 9% in units and 13% in dollars from 1999 to 2000.
From 1999 to 2000, quality-driven purchases grew faster among men than among women, in both units and dollars. At the same time, the average price paid for menswear purchased on the basis of quality declined 4%, while the average price for womenswear increased 6.6%. In men's apparel, the average price paid for a garment increased only for purchases based on fiber content, while declining for purchases driven by all other considerations.
Who is most likely to make purchases based on quality? The Lifestyle Monitorâ's attitudinal research suggests that more men than women base apparel purchases on quality. Between the ages of 25 and 55, 59% of men, compared with 41% of women, make quality-driven apparel purchases. Consumers with children between the ages of 6 and 12, those with household incomes between $25,000 and $50,000, and those who wear larger sizes are most likely to base apparel purchases on quality.
Over 70% of department-store, specialty-store, and catalog shoppers say they are willing to pay more for higher-quality garments, compared with 59% of chain-store and 36% of discount-store shoppers. According to NPD Group data, department-store shoppers pay the most for high-quality apparel, spending on average 4% more than specialty-store shoppers and 19% more than catalog shoppers for apparel items purchased for their quality.
http://www.cottoninc.com/TextileConsumer/TextileConsumerVolume21/?Pg=2