8.2. Balenciaga Online Comparative Shop

8.3. Competitor’s Analysis

Balenciaga

Products Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Dresses, Tops Underwear, Bags, Shoes, Jewelry, Kids, Accessories, Sportswear, Home

Pricing £85 – 8,500

Quality/ Expertise

Unique Features

Bottega Veneta Fendi Prada Louis Vuitton Gucci

Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Dresses, Tops, Swim, Bags, Accessories, Shoes, Jewelry

Modern luxury streetwear

Oversized silhouettes, edgy designs

Distribution Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques, gaming platforms

Colorful luxury, handbags

Bright green color, weave design

Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques

Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Dresses, Tops, Bags, Accessories, Shoes, Jewelry, Sportswear, Kids

Colorful patterned luxury, fur

Baguette design, FF logo design

Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques

Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Tops, Underwear, Bags, Shoes, Accessories, Jewelry, Sportswear, Home, Fragrance, Beauty

Modern simple luxury, Re-edition bags

Recycled nylon bags, triangle Prada logo design

Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques

Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Tops, Underwear, Bags, Shoes, Accessories, Jewelry, Swim, Fragrance, Home

Luxury travel luggage, leather goods

LV monogram design on most of their items

Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques

Outerwear, Skirts/Trousers, Tops, Underwear, Bags, Shoes, Accessories, Jewelry, Swim, Sportswear, Home, Beauty, Fragrance, Kids

– 48,300

Luxury ready to wear, leather goods

GG monogram, green, red, and brown colors

Website, retailer sites, dept. stores, boutiques

Location HQ in Paris, France HQ in Milan, Italy HQ in Rome, Italy HQ in Milan, Italy HQ in Paris, France HQ in Florence, Italy

Reputation Collaborations, partnerships, a part of Kering group

Bag & shoe design, a part of Kering group

Magazine features, news articles, Newsletter

Fur & leather goods, a part of LVMH group

Magazine features, news articles, Instagram (20.1M followers), Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Newsletter, Fendi Casa, collaborations & partnerships

Strengths

Reputation & unique features, new resell program, innovation strategy

Weaknesses Not much information about sustainability on website

Sources Balenciaga, n.d. Balenciaga, 2022

Reputation & unique features, lifetime warranty on handbags

Consumers mainly buy handbags & accessories, no social media accounts

Bottega Veneta, n.d. Shirley, 2022

Virtual bag experience, information on sustainability, collaboration with Skims

Still uses animal fur, logomania

Chic, modern ready-to-wear, a part of Prada Group

Magazine features, news articles, Instagram (30.5M followers), Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Fondazione Prada, collaborations & partnerships

Lots of information on the brand & its strategies

Consumers mainly buy handbags & accessories

Luxury travel goods, a part of LVMH group

Luxury leather goods and ready to wear, a part of the Kering group Marcomms Magazine features, news articles, Instagram (14.3M followers), Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Newsletter, collaborations & partnerships

Magazine features, news articles, Instagram (49.1M followers), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, Newsletters, exhibitions & museums

Reputation, Marcomms, heritage/culture, customization of products- ‘Run Away’ sneaker (Smith, 2022b)

Consumers mainly buy handbags & accessories, logomania

Magazine features, news articles, Instagram (49.7M followers), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Newsletters, exhibitions & museums, collaborations & partnerships

Reputation, Marcomms, metaverse experience, Gucci Garden, digital innovation

Logomania, not much information on sustainability

Fendi, n.d. Fendi, 2022

Prada,

Louis Vuitton, n.d. Louis Vuitton, 2022 Smith, 2022b

Gucci, n.d. Gucci, 2022

Invitation To Participate In A Research Project

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION

Project Title: A Balenciaga Case Study: An Analysis of Balenciaga’s Business Innovation

Strategy

Student Lead: Emily Freund

Email address: e.freund0720181@arts.ac.uk

Phone number: 07549258075

Dear Siv Izzo

You are invited to participate in:

A case study report on Balenciaga s business strategies, specifically digital, social, and environmental innovation for a university project

Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate.

Why have you been approached?

As a temporary employee of Balenciaga, you have insight into the business first-hand on a sales strategy basis. You could provide information about their innovation strategies from a consumer perspective as well.

If I agree to participate, what will I be required to do?

You will be required to answer a series of questions in an interview regarding your knowledge and opinion of Balenciaga s digital, social, and environmental strategies In addition, you will also provide a general basis of your shopping experience with the luxury industry

What are the possible risks or disadvantages?

The possible risks could be for your future employment regarding the opinions you may give about the company

What are the benefits associated with participation?

The benefits of your participation will be the presentation of your opinions on such matters discussed in the interview, used as primary research

What will happen to the information I provide?

The information provided will be uploaded via TurnItIn to the London College of Fashion database and my digital portfolio on Issuu for future employment purposes.

What are my rights as a participant?

• The right to withdraw from participation at any time

• The right to request that any recording cease

• The right to have any data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the participant.

• The right to be de-identified in any photographs intended for public publication, before the point of publication

• The right to have any questions answered at any time.

Whom should I contact if I have any questions or want to withdraw my consent?

Emily Freund at e.freund0720181@arts.ac.uk

Monday, November 21st , @6:00 PM

Privacy Notice

Your personal data will be processed by UAL on its managed systems for research purposes with your explicit consent

As part of this project, your data will be shared with Issuu, a portfolio publication platform, for the same purpose.

Your personal data will be deleted on your request or on December 15, 2022 after the project end date.

You can find more information about UAL and your privacy rights at www.arts.ac.uk/privacyinformation

CONSENT TEMPLATE

1. I have had the project explained to me, and I have read the information sheet

2. I agree to participate in the research project as described

3. I agree to the items checked below: to be interviewed that my voice will be audio recorded identifying information (i.e. name) will be used that information obtained may be published

4. I acknowledge that:

(a) I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw from the project at any time and to withdraw any unprocessed data previously supplied (unless follow-up is needed for safety).

(b) The project is for the purpose of research. It may not be of direct benefit to me.

(c) The privacy of the personal information I provide will be safeguarded and only disclosed where I have consented to the disclosure or as required by law.

(d) The security of the research data will be protected during and after completion of the study. The data collected during the study may be published

Participant’s Consent

‘I agree to the above as indicated and give my explicit consent under GDPR Art.6(1)(a) and Art.9(2)(a) for my personal data to be processed by UAL as indicated on this form, including any special category data I may choose to provide’

November 21, 2022

Participant: Date: (Signature)

Emily Freund: When was the last time you bought from a luxury brand, if you have at all?

Siv Izzo: I don't think I remember because most designer-ish things I own were either gifts, or hand me downs. So, I wouldn't necessarily say that I've purchased them directly.

Emily: What influences you to look at luxury brands, or to shop, I know you don't buy them yourself

Siv: I guess I'm just very aware of what the industry puts out. I enjoy looking at fashion shows. I enjoy following what brands come up with to promote their things. I like seeing whenever a brand does something like a brand dinner or brand event on social media, follow how they portray it. And I also follow a bunch of influencers that are very fashion based. So, I see what brands are doing, specifically luxury brands.

Emily: And what is your preferred shopping outlet online, offline, both?

Siv: Offline, for sure. Sometimes it's not the most practical because I don't always have time to physically go in store and get things. But I'm not a fan of online shopping.

Emily: What do you value most when choosing brands to shop from?

Siv: I guess, I try to sort of align myself and my values with the ones of brands. But it's not always possible, obviously, as I try, but it's not something that I won't not shop from a brand if it's not entirely in line with my morals.

Emily: How would you describe Balenciaga?

Siv: I'd say it's very not necessarily controversial, just likes to spark controversy by pushing boundaries a lot and creating products that aren't necessarily not even available for purchase, they're more of an art form than a fashion piece.

Emily: Do you shop at Balenciaga?

Siv: I can't say that I have, I've worked there.

Emily: What was your experience when you worked there?

Siv: It was actually very nice. The customer base is a very fashion conscious and fashion aware person that obviously know the brand and quite often will come shop with already something from Balenciaga on. So, it's definitely a very frequent, reoccurring customer and somebody who is very into street wear and edgy things.

Emily: And in the past three months, where have you seen or heard about Balenciaga?

Siv: Obviously social media, you know, with their past controversy with the things they've put out in the last month with the tribute they've done when the [Russian-Ukrainian] war started, that fashion show and the store was very impactful, I'd say.

Emily: Have you used any of Balenciaga's in store technologies?

Siv: I can't say that I have. In store next to the sneakers, Balenciaga has this QR code that customers and people can scan to access, I don't know if it's like Instagram or a Snapchat filter, but when I tried it, it wasn't working. So, I mean, I did try it, but it didn't work. And I can't say that I haven't seen any customers scan the QR code.

Emily: Have you used any of their online technologies?

Siv: No.

Emily: And what do you think of Balenciaga's use of technology, like their AR and VR, or their digital fashion, or the QR codes

Siv: I think the QR code is a good starting point. But then obviously, you need to make sure that people actually activate it. I know that they did some sunglasses with LED lights, cool tech stuff. Which was nice, but I don't really engage with technology and brands in general. It's not just a Balenciaga thing.

Emily: How important are omni channel shopping experiences to you?

Siv: Very important, a lot of brands consider themselves omni channel. But then retail stores aren't connected with the online. So, it's harder to get returns and exchange things. If you buy something online, you need to send it back online and you can't just walk into the store and exchange it there. Which is understandable because of stock take and stuff like that from a retail perspective, but it's annoying from a customer perspective, because then it just makes the experience a bit harder.

Emily: What are some positive things about Balenciaga's engagement with digitalization.

Siv: I like that they listen to the consumer quite a lot and seem to engage enough with the consumer to see what they're doing right or wrong and I guess just being open to criticism.

Emily: What are some negative things about their digitalization?

Siv: They haven't really stuck out digitalization wise, as opposed to other brands that are similar to them. Even within like the Kering Group, Gucci is clearly doing so much more digitally. And Balenciaga really does have that modern, streetwear, innovative vibe that could very well translate into digital technologies, but I haven't really seen any marketing about it.

Emily: Do you believe Balenciaga engages in social justice strategies?

Siv: I think they do. Not in the loudest way, which is probably my favorite way of doing it, because it's not in your face. I'm very glad that they decided to drop Kanye. I just feel like that was just a bad business choice on their behalf in general. And it was Yeezy-fying the brand, which I obviously didn't like. That's my personal preference. As I mentioned earlier, the tribute that Demna wrote a letter or something when the war in Ukraine broke, but at the same time, they do some stuff that is just annoying, for example, those hobo-ish, beat-up sneakers, those I found very controversial and just simply unnecessary, as well as the trash bag. That's so expensive, and it is literally trash bag.

Emily: Any other conflicts that you've heard of about their social strategies?

Siv: They recently got off Twitter, which is a positive. A very cool thing to pioneer as far as like brands on social platform goes and decide not to be on a platform anymore because of the owners, it's a good stance to have. That was a really good thing to see

Emily: So where did you see or hear about this information?

Siv: Honestly, Instagram, but that's where I get most of my information. I mean, fashion wise, I don't read the news on Instagram. But every major fashion reporting company like Business of Fashion, Vogue Business, or even directly Balenciaga. They’ve voiced the fact that they were leaving Twitter.

Emily: What are your thoughts on the backlash that Balenciaga has received in the past regarding the shoes and the trash bag and that kind of thing?

Siv: I get it, I think that a lot of people that aren't necessarily people that appreciate fashion as a sense of like art, as opposed to something that's commercial. I feel that it's easy not to get why Balenciaga puts out some designs. I think there's a fine line between making a statement through a piece that is more of a work of art than a fashion commercial product and then if something being offensive, for example the homeless people shoes Those even I believe were offensive because I don't see anything artistic in them necessarily. Or the bag that is made out of the chips packet is so expensive for no reason that's not an art piece that's just making something commercial even more commercial and I get why consumers are mad at this but at the same time, I feel like the people that get angry at this aren’t the typical Balenciaga customer.

Emily: What do you think Balenciaga should do to develop their cultural intelligence?

Siv: I think starting to define better and drawing a line and separating their commercial side to their more artistic, statement, and performance pieces is probably best because obviously no fashion brand is going to come without controversy But being able to say, this is a couture piece, it's meant to be appreciated as an art form, as opposed to sold and bought by customers will make things clearer overall.

Emily: What have you seen or heard regarding Balenciaga is environmental strategies?

Siv: Honestly, nothing It's probably all encompassed in the Kering sustainability reports and what they as a conglomerate are trying to do but specific to Balenciaga- Oh, no, actually, that's not true, Balenciaga has a resale program where you can bring your old Balenciaga products and sell them directly on their platform. So, it's keeping the resale program within house instead of having customers relying on third party resellers. That's quite good, but I found out that they had this just by working in the store I feel like it's not publicized enough in the general public.

Emily: And what is your opinion on these strategies that you've heard of or not even heard of?

Siv: I feel like a big reason why it's not very much heard of is for example, their Instagram profile. They'll delete everything once they have a new thing dropping for example now, they have their holiday pieces collection or corporate stuff, and they've deleted all the pictures of the previous thing they were promoting which doesn't make sense to me if you're for example maybe they did post about the this resell program, they've probably deleted so a lot of people don't even know about it.

Emily: How do you think these strategies could be improved?

Siv: I think they should be voiced more, and they should be spread as information and even publicized within the store.

Emily: How important is the environment to you when shopping from brands?

Siv: I definitely take it into consideration by avoiding brands that in my personal opinion are just the worst of the worst. For example, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing I would never shop there Shein, I would never buy anything from but then again, I have bought and will continue to buy from brands that are probably considered really bad by other people, and I consider fine for example, Zara and H&M H&M is in a big scandal of potential greenwashing. And obviously I'm sure they do greenwash. I know they're not the best but those are what's in my budget range. So, I'm not going to go out of my way to find something that's sustainable because I don't believe anything is

Emily: Okay, what do you think is the greatest barrier for consumers to purchase from Balenciaga?

Siv: I guess it depends on the category. I don't think necessarily there's a massive barrier when wanting to purchase like accessories. Those are obviously this category that sells best for Balenciaga like every other luxury fashion brand. And for example, in the store, they have high stock count of their best sellers, unique pieces, they have a good mix of that, it's not necessarily a barrier Ready to wear is more of a different thing because it's harder to come by; they have less pieces in stock, sizing isn't inclusive, but neither is the sizing of other fashion brands within the price range and Balenciaga Realistically, they only carry four to five sizes: extra small, small, medium, large, and the large is too small anyways, not inclusive at all. So, maybe one limitation they have is the size ranges.

Emily: What do you think should be done to encourage luxury brands to be environmentally and socially sustainable?

Siv: Improving their transparency, but without necessarily giving away corporate secrets so they don't want their competitors to find out which I understand. But overall, admitting that they're not sustainable would be the first step because faking sustainability when you literally sell leather goods as your main category is just dumb. So as a starting point saying ‘we know we're not sustainable this is what we're trying to do to get better at it’ is probably the best they could do.

Emily: Do you have any opinions on Balenciaga’s overall business?

Siv: I'm not a massive fan of their concept as a whole. Having worked there now though, I appreciate the product more than I did before. It's obviously a good quality, I get the reasoning behind it. So, I appreciate it but don't necessarily think it's my style.

Emily: And is there anything else you'd like to add?

Siv: I'm glad they dropped Kanye.

Emily: Okay. Thank you very much.

Invitation To Participate In A Research Project

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION

Project Title: A Balenciaga Case Study: An Analysis of Balenciaga’s Business Innovation

Strategy

Student Lead: Emily Freund

Email address: e.freund0720181@arts.ac.uk

Phone number: 07549258075

Dear Akanksha Goyal

You are invited to participate in:

A case study report on Balenciaga s business strategies, specifically digital, social, and environmental innovation for a university project

Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate.

Why have you been approached?

As a luxury shopper, you have insight into successful luxury businesses. You could provide information about Balenciaga s innovation strategies from a consumer perspective as well.

If I agree to participate, what will I be required to do?

You will be required to answer a series of questions in an interview regarding your knowledge and opinion of Balenciaga s digital, social, and environmental strategies In addition, you will also provide a general basis of your shopping experience with the luxury industry

What are the possible risks or disadvantages?

The possible risks could be for your future employment at Balenciaga regarding the opinions you may give about the company

What are the benefits associated with participation?

The benefits of your participation will be the presentation of your opinions on such matters discussed in the interview, used as primary research

What will happen to the information I provide?

The information provided will be uploaded via TurnItIn to the London College of Fashion database and my digital portfolio on Issuu for future employment purposes.

What are my rights as a participant?

• The right to withdraw from participation at any time

• The right to request that any recording cease

• The right to have any data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the participant.

• The right to be de-identified in any photographs intended for public publication, before the point of publication

• The right to have any questions answered at any time.

Whom should I contact if I have any questions or want to withdraw my consent?

Emily Freund at e.freund0720181@arts.ac.uk

Wednesday, December 7th, @3:00 PM

Emily Freund: When was the last time you bought from a luxury brand? Akanksha Goyal: Two months ago.

Emily: Was it online or in-store?

Akanksha: In-store.

Emily: What did you get, and why did you buy it?

Akanksha: I bought a Rolex because I heard Rolexes are running out of stock now and they're going to stop production and I wanted to get one before it became a hassle to have one.

Emily: What influences you to shop from luxury brands?

Akanksha: Quality, definitely. And I think the following reason would be a little bit of a status symbol. I think the utmost must be quality and design. Because I know I'm buying into something that's going to last me a while and I don't have to worry about buying something again.

Emily: What is your preferred shopping outlet, online, offline, or both?

Akanksha: Definitely in store, so that would be like offline. However, I tend to shop online more just because of prices. You get better sales and discounts online and more stock options than you do in store.

Emily: What do you value the most when choosing brands to shop from?

Akanksha: Again, quality/durability, design, and sustainability. And of course, ethics.

Emily: Do you shop at Balenciaga?

Akanksha: No.

Emily: Why not?

Akanksha: I never resonated with their designs previously. And now due to current controversy, I just feel like I can't morally align myself with a brand like that.

Emily: How would you describe Balenciaga?

Akanksha: In terms of design, I would say they do punk goth is a thing that comes to my mind. Now I would say problematic is a key word. And I would say, kitsch is another thing. I do understand their design philosophy is to be about the shock factor like satire. I just am not someone who likes that style or aesthetic, I'm not fond of that.

Emily: Okay, and in the past three months where have you seen or heard about Balenciaga?

Akanksha: Mostly Instagram. But I'm also seeing a lot of traditional news channels now reporting that stuff just because of all the scandals they've been involved in, and it's socially relevant, and a lot of TikTok videos of them.

Emily: And what have you specifically heard?

Akanksha: So, the most recent must be their campaign where they were promoting child pornography. And they put their kids into BDSM clothing and had papers and certificates of pedophiles. And I think their association with the marketing team or one of the creative directors himself being part of a cult, so that's what has been streaming. Before that I think there was a lot of controversy around their design itself, like them selling those £2000 trash bags or those really, really beaten-up Converse. I think there has been a gradual decline in their design, their quality, and they're corporate culture and images.

Emily: What are some digital strategies you've seen Balenciaga engage in?

Akanksha: I think they were one of the first companies that really experimented with AI and filters, they were dropping face filters, and try on clothes, their digital strategy was very innovative. They also are quite active on social media in terms of using shock factor as a publicity thing, every time they would have a new campaign, they would erase all their content from their Instagram and start fresh, which was sort of marketing in itself that you knew something new was coming. Yeah, I think mostly on Instagram.

Emily: What do you think of these strategies?

Akanksha: I really do like the idea of a clear grid. And you're just putting all the new looks in for each show, so your page is not oversaturated. and everybody knows what's currently happening in your brand. So that's a really good idea. It also almost imitates like a look book, digitally, so from that perspective, as well, it's quite creative. I think they're quite in line with who they want to promote with. Before all the controversy, I would get a lot of advertisements for Balenciaga as a promotion. So, I'm sure they're putting a lot of funding into ads, coming onto people's feeds. I think currently, their strategy is no publicity is bad publicity, which I don't completely agree with. They've just really doused themselves in problems.

Emily: What are some positive things about Balenciaga's engagement with digitalization?

Akanksha: The good thing is there at the forefront of digital marketing. So that allows their target consumer, like Gen Z, to be quite aware of what's happening. They're often partnered up with other online platforms like Highsnobiety, WhoWhatWear, to promote their lines. And I think that cross engagement from other platforms is definitely something that they should keep doing in terms of marketing. They do fun stuff, like having filters, and having other influencers post their clothing, and have that on social media. I haven't particularly seen anything go viral on TikTok that would be something that I would like to see happen in the future.

Emily: Okay, and what are some negative things?

Akanksha: I think the point about TikTok is a negative, but I don't think there's anything particularly negative that they're doing. Again, their digital marketing is quite good, they're very on brand for how luxury companies market themselves. So, there isn't really anything I would change in that area.

Emily: How important are omnichannel shopping experiences to you?

Akanksha: I think it's quite important now because of convenience. I think for luxury brands, people are quite apprehensive of ordering stuff online and that is a barrier that would be difficult for people to break. I'm sure upper class who shop regularly in luxury, daily for them, the online experience is much more convenient, because they're familiar with the brand. But as the luxury segment goes, you're not shopping there daily and to make an online transaction of let's say a minimum $500-600 is something that is quite anxiety provoking. So maybe some innovative strategies that allow you to blend online and in store experience and providing good customer service. If I know my package is going to arrive undamaged within the week, and I can return it easily without having to do store drop offs, I think that would encourage people who buy from luxury but not as often to perhaps do it online. I think it's also about making websites easy to navigate, perhaps to match price points on their other stockist. Often, their own websites will never go on sale, but if you're on stockists like Farfetch, MatchesFashion, SSense, they're always on sale. So, people tend to buy from there instead. And they don't get much traffic on their actual website. And to also keep editorial away from shopping because if I am shopping luxury, I want it to be easy. I don't want 1600 pictures of their editorial campaign; I see that on Instagram.

Emily: Do you believe Balenciaga engages in social justice strategies?

Akanksha: Oh, absolutely not. As we've seen, they have no care or ethics for what they're putting out. They are now also taking the line of defense and dodging accusations. I'm not sure how their corporate culture or ladder is built and who's responsible for a lot and as a company, it's often if you're accused of something, it is very important that you accept responsibility and their lack of responsibility for all their scandals, just shows that they don't engage with that.

Emily: And have you heard any positive things about Balenciaga regarding their social strategies?

Akanksha: Unfortunately, there is nothing out there about their social media strategy as much just their general controversy. I haven't really heard anything positive either in the way they've handled matters recently.

Emily: Where did you see or hear about the negative conflicts that they've been in?

Akanksha: Instagram, mostly meme pages and other fashion pages like Saint Hoax, Diet Prada, they are the first to really promote this and instigate controversy in matters like this. So mostly online and newsletters.

Emily: What are your thoughts on the backlash that Balenciaga has received?

Akanksha: I think it's good because I feel like often, what the creative directors, both for menswear and womenswear did get away with a lot, in just the sake of it being edgy and being design. I didn't think that the whole, for example, that garbage bag thing was 'it's a statement about the social crisis.' I think that was a very pseudo social campaign. At the end of the day, it just wreaked of capitalism to me, how are you selling $2,000 garbage bags and calling it satire? And then saying that they're reflecting on Demna's history of poverty, neither is that money going into any donation to help anybody nor is it helping the crisis in Ukraine, in Eastern Europe. So, I think it's good that people are finally seeing through the sort of mask of creativity of Balenciaga. And they were bound to [mess] up in a bad sense, eventually.

Emily: What do you think Balenciaga should do to develop their cultural intelligence?

Akanksha: I think a more diverse team would help, I feel like often, they would hire a lot of diverse junior designers, but they often don't have a voice in the system or in that company. So, giving voice to the woke people you're hiring is very important. Again, having focus groups could help in situations like this, that 'we've come up with a design, we cannot decide whether it's controversial and socially acceptable, let's ask a group that are from that community and see how their feelings are about that.' I think it's okay to not know everything at all given points. And you shouldn't be canceled just because you had a slightly controversial idea that stems from not learning, but to go ahead with that ignorant idea is then problematic. So again, just more voices, different types of people, and accepting responsibility and actually having the willingness to change. I feel Balenciaga really lacks that specifically, they have showcased that they are okay to keep repeating their past mistakes and not learn from it. So being self-reflective of their actions as a company is very important.

Emily: And what have you seen or heard regarding Balenciaga's environmental strategies?

Akanksha: I'm not sure. Maybe they are also participating to stop using fur but I know they still use exotic leather. So, they're not the most ahead, in terms of environmental sustainability. They don't really promote themselves as a sustainable luxury brand, either. So, I think there is transparency in that at least.

Emily: How do you think these strategies could be improved?

Akanksha: Perhaps coming up with more strategies in the first place and taking initiative to move forward to a more sustainable luxury brand. Even if it is in terms of under producing items, I feel like luxury brands are now so hyped, they're over producing, and it's losing their exclusivity. And I'm sure it is affecting the sustainability and production line as well. So that could be a strategy that they could take in to stop over producing, reduce buying, be associated with influencers who promote a more sustainable ideology. I think their association with Kim Kardashian is also not the best because they don't represent a sustainable and environmentally conscious group as themselves. And also, to attend more fashion forums about sustainability. I've heard stuff from like Fendi, Chanel, Stella

McCartney is always the first one to sign up for this type of stuff. But I don't think Balenciaga is really, in that sector as of now.

Emily: And how important is the environment to you when shopping from brands?

Akanksha: It's definitely a core belief of mine, to shop sustainably. In my general buying of daily items, I often completely avoid fast fashion itself, I'll try to thrift as much as possible, I would not buy brand new denim ever, I only thrift denim because I'm aware of how much water it takes and cotton it takes to produce just one pair of jeans. With luxury brands, it's more difficult, because they do use materials like leather and fur, but from my research, what I found is that it is better to buy real leather. I know it's said, 'you're hurting animals,' but in a realistic point of view, leather is a production that's never going to stop. And yes, we're moving towards vegan leather, which is good, but a lot of luxury brands don't offer that. I'd rather buy real leather from a luxury brand, which I know number one has not exploited their workers, number two is far better quality and is going to last me years on end, and third, at the end of the day real leather will decompose into the soil, it can go back into the earth and not cause a negative impact. However, buying fake leather, or cheap leather from lower brands has a higher environmental impact because this fake leather is made from petroleum, which is far worse than actual leather in terms of sustainability.

Emily: Have you heard anything positive or negative regarding Balenciaga's environmental strategy?

Akanksha: Not really, I've not heard anything about their environmental strategy, which I think could be something that they should focus on. If they are doing something sustainable, it's not something that is at the forefront of their communication, that is not what they communicate about. And if they're not that means, maybe there isn't a lot of strategies that exist in itself.

Emily: What do you think is the greatest barrier for consumers to purchase from Balenciaga?

Akanksha: Currently, I think it's image for Balenciaga. They have associated themselves with quite a lot of problematic themes like child pornography, child exploitation, and the whole cult satanic thing. I think that right now is the biggest barrier. Currently, people are not buying just for designs, but they're also buying because of the principles and what the company stands for. And if Balenciaga is going to present itself as this avoidant, problematic, controversial brand, I don't think even Gen Z would want to be associated with them.

Emily: And what do you think should be done to encourage luxury brands to be environmentally and socially sustainable?

Akanksha: I think it should be something that's handled on the more government side and law side than just fashion brands holding themselves accountable. In a reverse example, China does not let you sell things that are not tested on animals. So, it's a very good way of differentiating which companies are greenwashing versus not in terms of skincare, because if they are exporting to China, they are testing on animals. And I think laws like this that help protect animals, opposite laws than China, like completely ban the use of exotic leather after a certain point that could protect it. Laws to protect workers, such as having to be transparent about where you're growing your materials, how you're sourcing it, and who you are making work. For example, if you're doing it in Spain, you're not exploiting a minority there, or you're doing it in Turkey and you're not avoiding taxes. I think general laws will hold everyone accountable and make them more transparent in their production.

Emily: Okay. Do you have any opinions on Balenciaga's overall business strategy?

Akanksha: They were a very cool brand about five, six years ago for me. I thought they were doing quite well in terms of having the shock value and like kitsch designs, but kitsch in a cool way. Demna's start of his career was also very good, I think his menswear was gorgeous. He did couture, I think last year, and it was their first couture show. And it was immaculate, the way they designed it. So, they do have that capability. And I feel they should look back on how they used to work their designs, and perhaps hire a new marketing team and new board members. The decision making is very weak currently.

Emily: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Akanksha: Despite all of this, I don't ever think I'm going to shop Balenciaga though. It's just not my style.

Emily: Okay, thank you so much.