QUOTATION Worldwide Creative Journal n°3
THE ENVIRONMENT OF YOUNG DESIGNERS
The environment surrounding young fashion designers
author: Geoffrey B. Small
As Paris Fashion Week, which I would be participating in for the 58th time, approached, I received a request from NJAL (NOT JUST A LABEL) to write something about small brands, young fashion designers, and the problems and current situations they face.
The reason I present my collections in Paris is because it remains the most competitive place in the world for high-level research and design. Based on my 15 years of experience participating in Paris Fashion Week, I would like to share my honest thoughts.
First of all, the chances of a young fashion designer succeeding these days are very low.
Furthermore, young designers will quickly disappear unless they present truly outstanding collections. Nobody wants to see ordinary collections anymore. During Women's Designer Week, more than 1,500 collections are presented in Paris alone, with each brand competing to gain attention. However, only about 4,000 buyers from around the world gather to purchase for the next season. By the time they arrive in Paris, they have already seen countless collections in New York, London, and Milan. They are at their peak of exhaustion, and their true desire is to quickly finish their buying at Paris Fashion Week for brands like Dior, Comme des Garçons, and Runpin and return to their own countries.
Due to the economic downturn, a decline in middle-class customers, and rising travel costs, buyers are becoming increasingly stressed about managing their time and money. Furthermore, sales of designer items have decreased, leading to cuts in their purchasing budgets. To further reduce costs, many buyers have stopped attending collections in person and are instead purchasing from domestic distributors.
Even the buyers who are able to do so are very careful about how they spend their money and time, and no one can visit every collection.
Buyers attending Paris Fashion Week typically stay for 3-4 days, seriously viewing 10 to 20 collections they intend to purchase. If time permits, they might also visit one or two trade shows, seeing hundreds of brands. Consequently, at least 1,000 collections are not even seen. The probability of a collection failing is quite high. 95% of brands participating in Paris Fashion Week fail to sell anything and go bankrupt within three seasons. In reality, the average budget allocated to purchasing collections from up-and-coming or unknown designers is less than 3% of the total budget. As a result, the chances of young designers surviving are quite low.
Nevertheless, thanks to fashion media strategies seen worldwide, the number of people wanting to become designers is soaring. The problem is that while competition continues to heat up, the market itself is shrinking. Globally, the number of consumers who can regularly buy clothes above the price range of H&M and Zara is decreasing, and fewer stores are able to increase or retain such customers. In addition, the polarization between high and low and the decline of the once-thriving middle class market have made it difficult for designers to succeed.
They are forced to choose between fading away or challenging the luxury market, as they are completely outmatched by the big corporations in the lower-priced market. But of course, the luxury market is not easy either. The bar for image, exclusivity, product, and quality continues to rise, and giant global companies are trying to monopolize both the high and low end of the market, using their vast capital, advertising power, distribution power, production capacity, and media influence.
The current fashion business may be a huge lie. Big corporations, wanting to make many people dream and spend money, pay to manipulate fashion media strategies around the world. The wealthy, wanting to show off to other rich people, spend a lot of money buying famous brands. And many people who used to pay $100 for a Diesel jeans book are now only buying $14.99 Zara jeans. Meanwhile, aspiring fashion designers attend fashion school on their parents' money, move to Paris, London, Milan, or Tokyo, do years of unpaid internships, and if they're lucky, get a job at a big fashion house or big corporation. Or they start their own brands and continue to spend a lot of money on new businesses. And in major cities like Bali...
When you present a collection, you'll need even more money for showrooms, trade shows, advertising, PR, catwalks, magazines, and so on. On top of that, you'll be told that nothing can be done without the people in charge of each aspect. They have power, and young designers are practically powerless. Paris is incredibly expensive. During Fashion Week, you have to pay over 100 euros just to rent a one-meter steel rack. And that's not all. Of course, you mustn't forget that the people around you won't work for free either.
The harsh reality is that this entire system views designers as nothing more than pawns in a chess game. In other words, to those who control the industry, designers are nothing more than commonplace figures. This is where influential select shops in major cities become crucial, as buyers visit them for research purposes and purchase collections from the brands they carry. In fact, it might even be worth paying money to a well-known select shop.
However, even in business with select shops, various contracts can prevent designers from securing enough money to cover their risks. The larger the shop or the city's influence/scale, the less the buyers will likely pay for their purchases. While a large number of orders means a larger initial investment for the designer, they may quickly be abandoned by the buyers because they've discovered the next promising new designer. If a designer were to protest, they would likely end up on the industry's blacklist for the next 10 years. In short, trends and talent are irrelevant; what matters is power and money. Talent can be bought cheaply in this environment.
Even if you manage to develop your business to some extent on your own, for the reasons explained above, you will soon realize that you can't do anything more alone. You've already spent a lot of money, but you will need even more. And of course, power. You will need partners, supporters, agents, and production staff. Furthermore, pattern makers, seamstresses, presses, people to do the final finishing on your clothes, and people to guide you to success are absolutely essential. It is a nightmare, the beginning of a dangerous game. There is a good chance that you will lose not only your collection, but your soul as well.
I'm running out of space to explain any further, but I've survived this terrifying game. Only a true master of this game could manage to maintain both their collection and their soul.
Becoming a master at the Parisian level requires a multitude of skills: art, fashion, technology, research, commerce, production, logistics management, finance, accounting, languages, media knowledge, graphic design, textiles, law, physical fitness, perseverance, stress management, and managing money and people, among others. In principle, all of these are necessary, but sadly, even if you search fashion schools around the world, you won't find a course that will prepare you to survive and succeed in this world.
In the end, I'm all alone.
If you're lucky, you might find an advisor who isn't overly greedy and who can share information, knowledge, and experience with you. I once launched a show in Paris to support independent designers, but I was only able to help a very small number of them. Incidentally, I once received advice from someone who used to work for the most successful independent design firm in the UK, and their motto was, "No need for agencies. Do everything yourselves. Trust no one."
In addition, passion is essential. Without passion, you won't survive this seemingly impossible game. Those without passion are logical and quickly give up (which is the right choice). Those with true passion persevere no matter what. Only those who survive and continue to train in this industry can own collections under their own name, or produce and distribute their own work. To survive independently in the artistic and financial fields, without relying on sponsors, licenses, parent companies, or agencies, and to attract a great clientele—that is what a true master should be.
I believe that only such designers can create truly original works and new fashion based on design and innovation, without relying on media hype or the flow of the system. Only designers who possess passion, training, dedication, and perseverance can reach this level and gain customers, their only financial supporters. Try not to go along with the flow of this game's system as much as possible.
If you keep making what your customers truly want, they will follow you. If they don't, you have to keep improving the quality of your work until they do. In the end, it's very simple. Make things and sell things. It's cool if you can do both. If you can't do either, it's game over, or you have to ask someone for help. But nobody will help you for free. Moreover, they rarely do the work you expect. Often, you just end up losing money.
Unfortunately, I have to go now. There are less than 15 days until the new collections begin in Paris. And I myself have a lot of work to do to survive. The banking system in New York is starting to collapse, and there are already 2,500 collections presented, with buyers vying for attention. Even after presenting my 57th collection, there is a saying from the masters of the past that I must not forget: "Every new season creates entirely new business opportunities, and you are only as good as you were with the previous collection." If I can survive this 58th collection, maybe we can talk again, but to be honest, the situation is tough for me too.
The new collection has to be truly amazing, more so than ever before.
2087
theartofmadeline
areudirty
titsay
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