Fran Whyte FCNU

Online shopping is now so popular so is there really any need to open a physical store?

An online store is much cheaper than a physical store, there are no rent or upkeep costs as with an online store your costs are directly related to your website and shipping costs.

Online stores allow for you to sell a lot more products than you would in a physical store as you're unconstrained by space. ASOS, for example, stock over 60,000 products at any one time, this wouldn’t be suitable for a physical store but works perfectly well as an online space. You also have the opportunity to start small and build up your brand and products over time instead of jumping in at the deep end.

As an online store, you have a very wide consumer base, anyone can access your store wherever they may be in the world at any time of the day, no matter their time zone.

However, when you have an online store it isn’t all plain sailing. Your website has to be attractive to your customers if your website is not easy to use or constantly crashes it’s going to put them off and this will be reflected in sales. It is a well-agreed opinion that the Zara website is awkward and hard to use and in fact, puts me off buying from them online and instead waiting till I’m walking past one of their physical stores.

You also have to deal with photographing the products, the shipping and the returns. This is the reason Primark doesn’t sell online. Primark has a high turnover based on a fairly low average profit margin, and therefore it wouldn’t make any financial sense to sell online as when one-third of clothes bought online get returned.

I am not surprised that I’ve come across tweed in this module, not only is my father a Scot who wears the family tartan with pride but my paternal great-grandfather Robert Croy was a bespoke gentleman’s outfitter on Prince’s Street in Edinburgh.  I have also grown up with a photograph of my maternal great-grandma Winnie on the wall. The photo shows a happy smiling lady at her loom in one of the cotton (formerly tweed) mills in Saddleworth near Oldham in the 1950’s. Winnie spent her entire working life from the age of 13 in the mills and played her part during the Second World War when the factory switched to manufacturing heavy cotton fabrics and felts for the military.

Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, with a soft, open, flexible texture. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn are obtained by mixing dyed wool.

The world-famous Harris Tweed is made from pure, virgin wool dyed and spun, hand-woven and finished by islanders in the Outer Hebrides. It is the only fabric produced in commercial quantities by traditional methods, and has been awarded protected status for its geographical location, production methods and rich colours; the latter created by the unique process of dying the wool before spinning.

It is wrongly assumed by many that tweed cloth was named after the River Tweed and that tweed had its origins in the Scottish Borders. Tweed actually originated as ‘tweel’ (Scots for twill) centuries ago on the Isles of the Scottish Outer Hebrides where islanders made fabric to battle the harsh winters.  

They called it Clò Mór in Gaelic – ‘the big cloth’ – and it was hand-woven by crofters using their own wool. It proved to be a valuable commodity and, by the end of the 18th century, the island was exporting cloth to the Scottish mainland. 

A London merchant accidentally created the Tweed name when he misread an exporter’s invoice, reading tweel as tweed and assuming it was a trade-name taken from the River Tweed that flows through the Scottish Borders. From this moment on the cloth was known as tweed.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were partially responsible for the spread of tweed’s popularity in the 1830s as many of the wealthy English aristocrats who took over Scottish sporting estates wanted to follow Highland traditions and provide clothing for their estate staff. As the Clan chiefs guarded their tartans closely, the Estate Tweeds were born.

By the 20th century, tweeds had evolved to make them lighter in weight and available in a variety of designs. In the 1950s and 1960s, tweed got a makeover from designers such as Coco Chanel with her Linton Tweed suits. Despite a decline from its heydays in the 1960’s tweed has undergone a recent revival, helped by historical dramas, such as Downton Abbey; regularly features on the catwalk; and, of course, is integral to the country sports scene.

Now, as fashion weeks come and go, bloggers fill the front rows and their new fast-paced, low budget, unfiltered and highly personally fashion journalism becomes the norm. There aren’t the usual constraints of the traditionally advertising-funded journalism as images flow freely from the catwalk to an online audience. Bloggers have changed the way we experience fashion forever.

Blogging has become survival of the fittest and only the superior survive. Nowadays, posting a photo of your average outfit doesn’t cut the mustard. You must have a voice and more importantly, something to say. The most successful bloggers mobilise their influence branching out into books, design and podcasts etc.

Bloggers are now becoming brand ambassadors for companies, taken on press trips and receiving free products in exchange for reviews – some argue they’ve hit the jackpot.

The influencers in today’s society are less frequently the big, multinational brands with consumers’ trust in brands declining which has contributed to the rise of fashion bloggers. Bloggers are the influencers – they have an audience who cares what they say, what they think, what they buy and what they review. Some even have a reach that rivals traditional media. They have a strong reputation for their fashion knowledge and many are even considered celebrities.

Vanity Sizing is the process of purposely mislabelling garments with smaller-than-accurate sizes with the goal of convincing consumers that their bodies are smaller. Despite a recent increase in the popularity of body positivity, it seems that the ‘thin ideal’ still prevails.

Placing a smaller size label on a garment with larger measurements satisfies consumers’ psychological need to feel slim and this positive emotional response is then directed towards the brand in question. Consumers may be pushed towards purchasing a product just to know they’re wearing two sizes below their usual.

A 2017 study by Wan-Ju Iris Franz revealed that luxury brands are the biggest perpetrators of Vanity Sizing, with designer clothing measuring significantly smaller than lower priced brands for women’s apparel. So, it seems that when you buy designer you’re not only paying for the prestigious name tag and the arguably superior quality, you’re also paying for a self-esteem enhancement.

As a society, collectively we’ve become more conscious of the impact that our lifestyles are having on future generations as the threat of global warming can no longer be ignored. This is how the Slow Fashion movement was born.

Slow Fashion represents all things “eco”, “ethical” and “green” in one unified movement. Its production ensures quality manufacturing to lengthen the life of the garment. It is a movement that is steadily gaining momentum and is likely here to stay.

Some elements of the slow fashion philosophy include: buying vintage clothes, redesigning old clothes, shopping from smaller producers, making clothes and accessories at home and buying garments that last longer.

There is also an important movement towards companies being more transparent. The need for companies to show their manufacturing processes boosts the company’s reputation and can aid buyers in making more conscious decisions. There is currently a trend towards more conscious buying as well as companies attracting new consumers with their eco-friendly processes.

Photography, even though it can be altered and retouched is associated with what is real and true and therefore can provide a customer service to show clothes. Illustration is more of an expressive method where it can convey an idea or attitude.

With all the anticipation and talk surrounding the cover model of magazines every month, it’s hard to believe that covers of the past featured fashion illustrations that told a story.

During the 1500s and 1600s, there was a strong desire to know about the costume of other nations. Costume books with engravings, but also painting became important sources of information. By the end of the 1600s, it was even in fashion to collect fashion engravings! In the 1700s pocketbooks with small and uncoloured fashion illustrations enjoyed a wide circulation. The 1800s saw the emergence of a large number of fashion magazines. There were even lower priced black-and-white and more expensive hand-coloured versions of the same magazine. In the early 1900s, fashion photography became a more dominant medium. From the 1920s onwards, fashion illustrations were often featured on magazine covers. They did not necessarily reflect the content of the magazine but were seen as work of arts by themselves. From the 1960s onwards it was replaced by photography as the main conveyor of fashion. Fashion illustration largely disappeared from magazines, although there was a revival in the late 1980s, reminiscent of the style of the 1920s. 

The trickle-up theory suggests that styles are adopted from “the streets” or lower-income groups, and then those same styles flow to upper-income groups and designers where it then becomes a trend that can become known worldwide. A famous example of this is the T-shirt, initially worn by labourers as a functional and practical undergarment, has since been adopted universally as a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and photographs on display.

The trickle-down theory suggests styles worn by those with wealth and a high status are then imitated by lower-status individuals wearing cheaper versions of the same styles. For example, runway trends influencing street style and high street products. A famous example of this theory is Burberry. Once famed for their upper-class status, their iconic check was worn by Kate Moss and a number of other fashion icons. However, their print led them to their downfall when their check was imitated in knock-off products and their brand was then labelled as ‘chavy’.

Haute couture sits on the top floor, the penthouse suite shall we say of the fashion world. For a piece to be regarded as haute couture it has to have been made in France and meet the requirements of the French Ministry of Industry. Therefore, it is an exclusive club with only a handful of the French fashion houses included - Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Valentino and Jean Paul Gautier. It consists of bespoke pieces that are and made to measure for a minority audience and can take months to make. Haute couture garments are described as having no price tag: the budget is not relevant for their customers, usually made up of individuals with a high level of disposable income.

Next is luxury, ready-to-wear collections. This includes high-quality designer brands; Gucci, Prada and Burberry to name a few. The pieces are not handmade but not mass produced to maintain exclusivity. However, the products are priced just high enough to feel part of an elite market. The largest consumer of luxury fashion is China. The rise has led to luxury brands to make clothes in smaller sizes to fit predominately Chinese women's frames.

Diffusion liens are luxury designer brands opening up secondary lines at a more affordable price to widen their audience. It has a younger target market with smaller budgets. Diffusion lines are usually priced at 30% of the full brand. Examples of diffusion lines include DKNY from Donna Karen and Miu Miu from Prada.

High-street is the penultimate level. Products here are produced on a bigger scale in order to bring down the cost of each item but still keeping a quick turnaround of 6-12 weeks. These brands such as Topshop and Zara look very closely at catwalk trends and water them down in order to be made for a much cheaper price. Consumers expect quality but with a reasonable price tag. It can be proven that the high-street is slowly 'dying', fast fashion is moving quicker than ever before and lots of consumers have moved to online shopping rather than in-store purchasing.

Economy sits at the bottom of the levels. The home of fast fashion and mass production, we're talking Primark and Forever 21. It works on the basis of getting trends from the sweatshop to the storefront in a matter of weeks they sell themselves as temporary fashion. This level fulfils basic needs, they are the suppliers are essential items that the mass audience is purchasing. Economy fashion really is as cheap as chips, being able to pick up accessories in Primark for less than a portion of chips in McDonald's. These companies rely on huge sales volumes to create a product - stack it high, sell it cheap.

I thought that I understood, and could therefore manage, the basic push-pull strategies that are used by the PR industry to draw you in and drive a desire. However, I now recognise that PR strategies set out to exert a much deeper psychological pressure, which impacts your subconscious mind and generates a real craving for a product – in effect, turning a mere want into a must-have.

I have learned that PR is much more powerful than advertising. When you pay for advertising, you are claiming that your product is the best in the marketplace. When you pay for PR, someone else is positioning your product as desirable, often using aspirational role models to sell the concept. It is not a complex strategy, but it is going to pull the consumers in.

They say that ‘the best PR is never noticed’ so avoiding exposure altogether is going to be near impossible, but you can learn how to recognise when you're being manipulated and stand back to access the situation. For example, when I do not have the money to spend on clothes and there is nothing that I need, I choose not to open the email missives that attempt to pull me in and sell me half the products in their online store.

The live role brief of press officer at The Bowes Museum has given me a very good grounding in the logistics and requirements of a successful PR campaign. My initial thoughts during research on the Bowes Museum centred on grandeur and prestige, but this just feels a dated and underwhelming concept. So, I am developing a fashion space concept that may challenge the museum and its regular visitors but will bring in a new audience of the harder to reach, such as millennials and young people.

In order to create a professional PR pitch and press release for the Bowes Museum, I have researched using a range of tools, such as the 7 P's, PESO, SWOT and PEST analysis, and used the AIDA model to finalise my concept. I have enjoyed analysing the Bowes Museum’s current strengths and weakness and identifying opportunities to improve and enhance the offering.

Approaching the Bowes brief again, I would do some things differently. For example, I would take multiple trips to the museum at different times during the week; as, on reflection, I did not fully appreciate the flow of the museum or the constraints and limitations of the space available. Nor did I take enough photos and video footage for reflection, visualisation and to include within my PR pitch.