Tags
Art, Brand, Branding, Consumer, Fashion, Fashion design, Marketing, Photography, psychology
This week I decided to revise in an interest I have, which is fashion. Having done my dissertation at university on luxury fashion being aimed at young consumers, I’m going to talk briefly about the importance of branding within the fashion industry.
Success in the fashion industry isn’t about just creating an art-form of beautiful designs, it’s about selling. Fashion brands focus on the changing social trends and consumer psychology, but the easiest way to sell the clothing designs is to have a good brand. If you think of Paul Smith, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, and Prada they’re all iconic brands that convey a message about the styling and quality of the product.
When creating a fashion brand from scratch it’s hard to have the heritage that the brands above have, therefore they all work hard to establish a distinctive brand identity. The current definition of a brand has evolved from names and logos and looks more into marketing development and strategies. The brand starts off being nurtured to ensure that whenever a consumer uses them, the product delivers a powerful and meaningful message to others relating back to consumer psychology. This is easy to see why ‘brand’ is the biggest and most valuable asset to a fashion house, which they try and protect.
Progressively, a fashion designer puts as much energy and resources into their brand image as they do into their fashion collections. Many work with graphic and art designers to “express the philosophy and character of the line to the customer” and this is done through the creation of a brand logo, designs and even its ad campaigns.
Over the last year, the media reported on shoe designer Christian Louboutin attempts to stop YSL to stop using its iconic red sole on their shoes because of the perceived similarity between the brands. This action is a notice that all fashion designers need to know how to protect the value of their brand and safeguard that they avoid infringing another’s intellectual property.
Like many other luxury fashion companies, Prada began as a small, family-owned company. The development of the Prada empire was accompanied by significant investment in, and the protection of the Prada brand. All fashion designers should be cautious of losing the investment made in their brand, by delaying a trademark application and losing out to another business that claims prior or greater rights. Once all the fundamentals are set in place and the brand has a following, like many brands they’ll look towards brand extension, an example is Paul Smith; PS by Paul Smith, Paul Smith Jeans, Paul Smith London, Paul Smith fragrances, Paul Smith watches etc. They’ll look to capitalise on the brands value to diversify into untapped markets within their industry. While it is always a considered exercise for any business, and especially start-up businesses, a relatively small spend on trade mark protection can be a very valuable investment in protecting against any other company in enhancing future recognition and value in the brands image.
By Stefan Lasek