Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, Second edition - Pr School

44 Fashion Marketing
construct that describes and explains methods of reducing production cycles
to deliver product faster. It is built around having efficient systems of production.
Similarly, ‘fast fashion’ is a construct that describes and explains retailer
desires to satisfy consumer demand more efficiently and effectively. Efficient in
the sense that time is reduced. Effective meaning that fashionable items are in
store to meet demand. Supply chain integration and relational management is
important to the success of both approaches.
However, it is the differences that reveal more than similarities about what
exactly ‘fast fashion’ is. It is a marketing tool to drive retail footfall. It allows
retailers to make up-to-date product offers to their customer base frequently.
Thus, customers are driven to stores more frequently to view and buy ‘fast
fashion’, which also tends to be young fashion. The target market for ‘fast fashion’
are mainly in the younger age groups, typically described as 16–24 year
olds and more importantly gender biased towards female customers simply
because they tend to purchase clothing more frequently and spend more on
clothes. Volumes for each line produced tended to be smaller than traditional
supply quantities for low fashion content clothing and perhaps more importantly
most retailers when talking about fast fashion commented that unlike
many traditional lines which were continuously replenished within season,
‘fast fashion’ lines tend not to be replenished. ‘When it’s gone, it’s gone and
that drives customers in to our stores more frequently because they don’t
want to miss the latest trend.’
Smaller volumes also minimize risks of obsolescence for retailers, that is
fashion risk. Finally, one of the most important issues to emerge in discussion
was that in order to produce fast fashion it was important to use stock fabric
or greige fabric rather than specialist fabric. Although this appeared revelatory
in the analysis one should not really be surprised and from a business
point of view to develop clothes using specialist fabric requires greater time
to source, specify and produce which is not what fast fashion is about. Fast
fashion is disposable. It is for immediate consumption. It is to capture the look
of the moment. It is not to linger in the wardrobe. It is definitely not durable.
It is not built to last. It is not commodity clothing. It is not the ‘beige (or even
fawn) cardigan’. It is for immediate wear. It is at an affordable price. It does
have in built obsolescence and therefore happily for retailers customers will
need to repurchase within a short-time frame.
Figure 2.3 illustrates Zara’s fast fashion business model. It demonstrates
six key interaction stages from creation through to the customer. Importantly
store information feedback into inventory management and new product
development.
This business model carries advantages for Zara in managing inventory and
associated costs whilst being able to ensure that products are in demand when
they are in store. This advantage becomes clearer when Zara is benchmarked
against the industry averages in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.5 illustrates the production–market problem. Production is either
complex or simple in this abstraction of reality and markets are either stable
or dynamic. Stable markets are relatively easier to manage since demand