China is the set to be the next big consumer market. Brands and retailers – hoping in this way for a few more loops of ongoing growth without reconsidering their business model – are scrambling to get their foot down in the country. The most exclusive retail addresses in Shanghai, Bejing, Hong Kong and many other metropolitan areas sell out in record time and at record prices.
“Show me there is demand, and we’ll be happy to cater to it.” is the most frequently received answer when asking CEOs of consumer goods companies, fashion and apparel in particular, as to why they are not producing better, more sustainable (ecological and ethical) products.
This new report, combines – to the best of our knowledge – all available data about the increasingly popular consumer demand for more responsible products in EU countries.
One of the challenges of sustainable fashion is the wording used to define it. We commonly associate adjectives like “sustainable”, “green”, “eco”, “responsible”, “conscious”, “ethical” with the word “fashion”. The question is: are certain words more popular than others? Or are some others nowadays outdated? How do consumer talk about sustainable fashion? And the industry?
In 2012, we have seen risk management and sustainability play a more important part in the agendas of leading fashion brands. Nevertheless, many companies still perform poorly at many stages of their supply chain and are unaware of the risks, particularly if they lie beyond their direct operations.
The following are the the main trends we see happening in the near and mid future. A few exist already but will become substantially more pronounced; others are just about to emerge and hit the surface of public awareness.
In the luxury segment, production focuses on highly complex garments and low order volumes that might involve just five pieces per style which makes sourcing very challenging. The approach currently pursued by European high-end apparel brands to address the problem is that of ‘High End Fashion Cluster‘.
Understanding cross-border diversity in consumer behaviour, advertising, sales and marketing management is a widely studied topic of international marketing. Cultural difference matter particularly in business negotiations, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing research. One of the most frequent approaches differentiates between high-context and low-context cultures, which impacts directly on the quality and quantity of information businesses are willing to share.
