In the fashion industry, communications and marketing are one of the prime factors that drive the success of a brand. There are many young students who love the Fashion Marketing & Communication Major for its flexibility, spirit and interesting opportunities.
However, you would ask yourself the difference between Fashion Marketing and Marketing in general: what would we gain out of the former? Today, I will go through the subjects and detail what you will learn out of each of them?
1. MARKET RESEARCH
Researching is one of the most fundamental skills you should obtain in order to have a holistic view of the fashion industry. If you want to build a personal brand, you should first and foremost understand general customer psychology and behavior. To reap the profits and establish a name for ourselves, we must meet certain demands in the fashion industry. As well as making a difference, we should be aware of what the industry does or does not have. In order to enact research on the fashion industry, we can explore these methods: making research boards on the trends and styles that are gaining traction in the industry and list the differences between each style of each brand (I have attached a picture below to elaborate on this). As a result, we have a general picture of what’s happening in the industry, specifically what is standing out and make our own conclusions.
My Market research from a long time ago.
2. TREND FORECASTING - trend prediction.
Trends we talk about are not only fashion, but also lifestyle, like market demand in general and what events are affecting the world or the fashion industry. Does it have an impact on the individual's way of consuming products? From that, what marketing strategies do we need to devise to hit the market sentiment at that time? This requires us to have a certain agility about information, as well as regularly updating knowledge through news channels, blogs, websites or following industry influencers. I'm also on a learning journey, but I can share some of the following sources of information so you guys can stay up-to-date!
Follow top trend prediction sites like WGSN.
Download apps: Vogue Runway, Vogue Collection, Fashion TV, Bazaar VN, Tagwalk…
Or fashion magazines like Elle, L'Officiel, D Dep Magazine, Style Republik...
Fashion and entertainment categories of VietNamNet, VnExpress…
Follow Facebook groups/pages: Maybe We Should Talk ‘Bout Fashion, Vietnamese Diversity Outfits, Maybe You Missed This Trend Outfit…
Fashion updates on Instagram: @chaubui.net, @vssg.site, @streetwear.outfitter…
Follow influential inluencers within local and international fashion.
3. SUPPLY CHAIN
Gaining insight into the industry is not enough, you must also be aware of the manufacturing and product selling process. Managing the chain efficiently will guarantee stable and profitable returns, enough time to meet the current demand. Without this, tailor brands will struggle to meet customer demand. Especially if you want to learn about fast fashion brands like H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Gap… then this factor affects directly the product advertisement. Knowledge on the supply chain and the environment will also help you gain direction on different types of products in the market to build your personal brand.
4. VISUAL MERCHANDISING
To successfully advertise a product, each element you see is a showcase of techniques used to create a certain image. Particularly, with brands that have established reputations, store design and product display are the essential factors in engaging potential customers. Maybe you don’t want to purchase something if it stands out, but you may consider buying it if there are other outfits that could be compatible, complementary. To create a fitting atmosphere that reflects the personality of a brand with enticing displays, you must research color, building material and interior styling. With this subject, you will learn the history of product display among brands, shopping malls, display trends, shop windows or advertising materials. At the end of the subject, you will be able to develop your own ideas and design a store display for any brand of your choosing.
5. BRAND REPORT
As an essential skill, brand reporting is the summation of all the skills you need in fashion design. In a brand report, what exactly do you need to research?
The distinct style or general trends of the brand (minimal, casual chic, business formal wear, womenswear, unisex, minimal…).
The advantages and disadvantages of geographical locations (if the brand has stores)
Window display - deconstructing their image from the perspective of a passerby
Shop display - interior design and the display of the products in different environments
Target customer - researching prospective customers and the target audience that the brand is centered around. A customer board is therefore essential to understanding this.
Interactions between the brand and people with influence, customers or general public figures.
Product research: analyze the details on the clothing, color scheme and examine the opportunities or challenges of the style in the industry. Compare the style changes of a brand through time.
Research the prices to distinguish the brand (designer, luxury, close to luxury…)
Analyze how international brands advertise through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest
Research about packaging - package, seal, stickers… This is one of the processes that have a great impact on branding.
Search events that the brand used to host or participate in and how they approached customers.
Research brand competitors and the competitive challenges against the brand in the industry.
Here, I attach the complete PDF brand report link at LCDF. As the final lesson of the previous semester, I tried to do the best I could, everyone can refer to it. In general, I am quite satisfied with the layout, although it has changed a bit now. I believe if you try your best, you will get better over time!
6. FASHION BLOGGING
When studying blogging, you will get used to the process of creating a website through different site-building tools such as WIX, Squarespace, Wordpress, Behance… Through those, you will learn how a fashion website operates, as well as the steps needed to create the content foundation that engages the user. This is a much needed skill for branding because nowadays every brand will set up shop through websites and social media. You will learn how to predict user engagement metrics and evaluate your website, compare websites throughout the world. To create your personal blog, you also need to research your target audience, logo design and create a content timeline with a specific marketing agenda. Blogging has helped me develop The Fashion Alley and this may be my favorite subject so far in Fashion Marketing.
Part of my 40-page Research Blog: choosing the websites I'm most interested in and looking forward to learning how to develop them. After researching, we will start building our personal blog. After the semester, if you are really passionate, you will keep blogging as a personal brand, otherwise that's okay.
The post is long, I'll put the pen down here. Everyone looks forward to the next part of this content, there are still interesting things of this discipline waiting for you to discover. Hope this information will be useful to those who are interested in The Fashion Alley! Thank you for following up!