THE
I’ve chosen this particular brand to focus on as it’s a very bold and experimental brand, designing and creating very unique, non-trend led clothing which means they can target a very specific niche customer in the fashion market compared to big global brands They also target e-commerce opportunities and new social media apps due to their specialist target market.
BRAND The brand I have chosen to target is Rat and Boa which is a small online boutique clothing and lifestyle brand that represent the owners themselves.
The fashion industry today is a multibillion pound trade involving the design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, retailing, advertising and promotion of all types of apparel depending on how small or large the business brand is. Specifically, the UK domestic market today is all about fast fashion - how fast each brand’s turn around is - from designing, straight to selling to their consumers in each brand’s store or online platforms.
They gain inspiration from the newest seasons catwalk shows or the newest emerging trends or designers. The fashion market in London is such a fast paced environment due to so many new rising talented individual designers whom are welcomed from all over the world. This is creating new movements regularly which in turn introduce more specialist markets making this generation of people more and more hungry for new styles.
fast
fashion?
One such specialist is Rat and Boa - the online boutique, It’s a very small brand, yet to receive the exposure they deserve. However, they market themselves very cleverly, as a lifestyle brand. They seek to inspire and guide their market of consumers, enticing them into the Rat and Boa way of life by having a very strong brand identity that consumers can easily tune into. The dreamy brand uses online platforms such a tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to market through their mindsets of inspiration by images of lifestyle, travel and cultured journeys. They are able to inspire and update customers with imagery of the boutique’s energetic and sexy clothing.
“We our Rat
both needed something to get creative juices flowing again, and Boa was the answer”
The talented designers behind these imaginative collections at Rat and Boa are Stephanie Cara and Valentina Muntoni. They met 5 years ago but lost touch for a brief period. They came together and rekindled their creative like minds. “We both needed something to get our creative juices flowing again, Rat and Boa was the answer” said Valentina in a recent interview. Their rather unusual name for the brand came from a Stevie Nicks quote “We are about as compatible as a rat and boa constrictor”. The girls decided to adopt one name each, one being the rat and other being the boa incorporating each of their personalities in to their styles. Steph being the boa reflects more of the bohemian style of the two and Valentina, the rat, contributing more of the punky, grungy style. The combination of the two creates a fun and sassy brand.
“for the bold, the spirited and the experimental”
Rat and Boa was established in the north east of England in 2013 and are UK based, however in a recent interview Valentina stated “we are always on the move - one of the most exciting things about our job”. This is one of the many reasons why the girls seek inspiration for the daring clothing and market their lifestyle brand. Rat and Boa was created by the girls as a desire to create pieces of clothing missing from girls wardrobes “for the bold, the spirited and the experimental”. Girls can express themselves through the clothing from inside out. Such a small ‘niche’ as this would not stand a chance of success without the social media platforms. The clever thing is that their target audience is well versed in that form of communication and interaction. The very visual based Instagram in particular is a perfect, inspired, way to market a fashion, lifestyle brand.
The hippy, free spirited girls aim for the brand, is to sell affordable, imaginative and slightly daring pieces that encourage individuality; where one can boldly express themselves. Steph recently spoke about the design philosophy in a interview and said “its important to design and create what we love, not what we think everyone wants to buy”. This is clearly a successful strategy which has worked for this particular niche brand as they are always in such high demand.
The unique garments that make up Rat and Boa is a mix of vibrant prints and colours which reflect each of their own styles, taking inspiration from the late 70’s to early 90’s. They use bright colours and bold prints infusing a bohemian and grungy ethos into all their designs. The brand offers everything from little twin sets, velvet jumpsuits, crochet dresses, silk dresses, to wide flare trousers, everything you can imagine that would fill your perfect festival wardrobe.
Steph and Valentina’s brand have a strong focus on styling and imagery. Whenever you see the brands images throughout the online platforms, consumers can immediately feel the identity and ethos of the brand; with each picture telling the story of the typical Rat and Boa girl. Rat and Boa offer more than just a brand. They truly embody the lifestyle that they sell, giving you a sense of adventure and awakening every time you peek at the Brand’s Instagram’s. The pictures portray fashion images that every girl longs to wear allowing them to be able to truly express their own personal style. Even though the style and fabric of the garments vary for example, crochet, silk or velvet, all garments remain very reasonable priced considering there singularity. The dreamy, summery, festival attire, can range from £35 for a printed t-shirt to, £45 for a crochet twin set (top and shorts), to £120 for a buckled 100% leather skirt.
d consumer The way Steph and Valentina design and style is by adopting a very individual approach and using a completely unique concept, compared to other brands. The girls decide not to follow any trends meaning they can target specific markets.
This generates space for them in the emerging markets as high street brands cannot sell or copy such unique, handmade clothing. This explains why the small online boutique have been so successful, within such a short space of time. Other fashion brands which typically take 2-5 years to establish and become successful. Rat and Boa have evolved unique strategies and resources to fit into the current market.
Choosing to target such unique clothing, described by the girls themselves as “Electric, mischievous, sexy, experimental,mish mash”, enables very particular styles, confirming their vision of a narrow target market, focusing only on specific consumers. Steph and Valentina are very clear on how they represent the brand with a bold brand identity showing strongly throughout. For example “Rat and Boa is for the lovers, daredevils, women of the night, believers and free spirits”. This quote is on their website stating a unique image of the brand. By Rat and Boa adopting this specific style, it instantly creates a niche sector for them in the fashion market, setting them apart from any other brand.
- 18- 30 - Female - Young teen / adult - Studying at uni - Creative job - Travelling
g - City girl - Shordietch - Travelling -
p - Fun - Engergetic - Travels - Festials - Breaks the rules - Music - Confident - postive outlook on life - Happy - hippy - Accentric fashion - Sexy
u+b - Unique - One of a kind - Hand made - Special occasion - £30- £80 - One off
s stratgy The girls very individual approach to designing and styling was not going to flourish in the London based, contemporary fashion market, so they had to develop a niche marketing strategy based on online selling and online platforms. They were able to imagine a unique lifestyle fashion brand. This particular kind of strategy suits the girls, as they really embody the lifestyle of their brand by expressing the attitude of the typical consumer, seeking to inspire and guide the consumers and make them feel part of their ‘way of life’.
Daily online updates of their inspirations and pictures of photoshoots whilst travelling and look books enhances this lifestyle experience. Their marketing through their photo shoots and look books is the reason why the brand works and is the strongest point of the brand. They market their products by producing campaigns and incorporating images which tell a story of an adventure they’ve recently been on to gain the inspiration; customers can then really understand the collections. By using this strategy, the girls can really make the customers connect with the brand, making it a personal experience for them enhancing their journey and injecting a sense of adventure, making the brand so “niche”.
Being a solely an online shop, makes the brand even more unique; you cannot find their clothes in a high street shop. Selling online clearly reduces the overheads from that of establishing a traditional retail outlet. Storage and warehousing can be increased, incrementally as demands rise. Steph and Valentina’s online boho boutique seem to always be in such high demand - the girls also admitting they are finding it difficult to keep up with popular demands for their goods, even after increasing their stock levels. However they are still managing to get new stock on the site at least once a month.
This also gives the girls flexibility as they have no fixed base unlike a high street brand. As part of their brand concept, the girls are always on the move to different countries, both being extreme travellers, in particular being in West Coast of America. This e-commerce business strategy, having no fixed base allows them to have the opportunity and capability to travel ensuring continuing inspiration for their brands identity.
w o t
- Unique clothing - One off ’s - Reduces overheads - Reduces costs - No fixed base - Can travel
- Not many people involved therefore work can be slow - Not having a shop - Only being onine people may not recognise them
- To grow into a bigger brand - To expand into a shop - Expand within the team therefore having more designs
- Other niche or high street brands could try copy the designs and sell on for cheaper - High demand of sales, can’t keep up
life
Their strong brand identity includes a heavy focus on imagery using original sources of their own personal likes. Steph and Valetina’s photography can draw in any bohemian, festival loving girl instantly with their daily posts on social media platforms such as Instagram and other platforms such as tumblr, Pinterest, twitter and Facebook. Whilst posting the brands collections, followers also get a daily feed of images that inspire their work, from 70’s punk images, to pictures of young Kate Moss, to frisky nude beach pictures, generating excitement and interest to their consumers.
The popularity of the social media app Instagram is growing and young, inspiration-hungry boys and girls are scrolling through everyday seeking for more; Rat and Boa are part of this influential movement of our generation. With Instagram being one of Rat and Boa’s main marketing strategies, the brand didn’t need to invest in a big advertising budget; they’ve used free resources to keep costs down which clearly benefits the bank balance. They can reach 326K keen followers without the expense of an advertising budget.
style
The lifestyle brand uses the owners, Steph and Valentina to photograph and model, creating and bringing to life exciting photographs to incorporate into their look books and campaigns to market the brand. By picking all locations themselves, usually around West Coast America and with Valentina being their main model, they can easily incorporate her true passion and attitude alongside the photographer, Stephanie translates the brand in such a visual way. With just the two owners being heavily involved in all parts of the business, they are able to react quickly, start new directions and remain fresh and instinctive. No one is looking over their shoulders or holding them back.
In conclusion Rat and Boa have established not only a unique style but also a imaginative niche marketing strategy, complimenting their individual approach. They have maintained a very flexible business model allowing them to diversify just as much as their fashion trends.
niche