Thesis janneke dekker amfi minimalism & fashion by janneke dekker

Janneke Dekker Amsterdam Fashion Institute Fashion & Management Email:dekkerg2@hva.nl Phone:0627623531 Studentnumber:500533443 Date of delivery: 15-05-2013 Photography: Janneke Dekker

Prefery note First I would like to thank the many bloggers, writers and other minimalistic consumers who were so kind to participate in the survey about their consumer behavior. I would also like to thank all my friends and family who participated in the photo shoots and the remainder visuals in this thesis. And last of all I would like to thank AMFI for the amazing years.

Foreword

Executive summary Chapter 1: Introducing the minimalistic lifestyle 1.1 Research motivation 1.2 The minimalistic lifestyle. 1.3 Minimalism: Global movement. 1.4 Shifting needs of consumers worldwide. 1.5.1 Minimalistic Neo-tribe. 1.5.2 The minimalistic tribe analyses.

Chapter 2: Introducing the minimalistic consumer

pg. 1-2 PG. 3-4 pg. 5 - 19 pg. 5-6 pg. 7-8 pg. 9-10 pg.11-14 pg. 15-16 p g. 16-24

pg. 25-32

2.1 The difference between the minimalistic consumer and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;regular consumerâ&#x20AC;?. 2.2 The urban minimalist consumer profile.

pg. 25-28

Chapter 3: Urban minimalism and fashion

pg. 33-38

3.1 The role of fashion for the urban minimalist. 3.2 Parallels within the wardrobe of the minimalist. 3.3 The process of fashion related purchases.

pg. 33-34 pg. 34 -35 pg. 36-38

pg. 29-32

Chapter 4: Minimalism as an opportunity for the fashion industry

pg. 39-42

4.1 Benefits of minimalism for the fashion industry. 4.2 Minimalism and marketing.

pg. 39-40 pg. 40-42

Chapter 5: Conclusion

pg. 43 - 46

5.1 Overall conclusion.

List of sources

pg 43-46 pg 47- 48

Appendix

pg. 49 -54

1. Questionnaire minimalistic consumer profile. 2. Social and economic changes that contributed to the minimalistic movement.

pg. 49-50 pg. 51-54

Table of content

Foreword It’s a mystery to me We have a greed with which we have agreed And you think you have to want more than you need Until you have it all you won’t be free Society, you’re a crazy breed Hope you’re not lonely without me... There’s those thinking, more-or-less, less is more But if less is more, how you keeping score? Eddie Vedder, Soundtrack Into the Wild (2007). Published by J Records.

Summary : minimalistic opportunities

Graduation project A movement in consumerism is merging into our society: Minimalism. Not to be confused with the style minimalism but a new state of mind and a desire to minimalize and simplify oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. Fuelled by the economic crisis this trend has been seen over 5 years now, so it must not be labeled as a contemporary trend but as a serious movement that is worthy to be investigated. Because how can one sell products to persons who wants to buy less? And how does this affect their fashion style and fashion choices? The core values of minimalism are the following:

1 100% rational Collect only those articles that you actually need i.e. the basic goods you need to live a comfortable life without buying items based on emotions. Shopping should be 100% rational.

2 Dept free Try to live free of debt and only buy goods when you can actually afford it.

3 anti-materialism Do not focus on comparing yourself with others through materialism.

4 emotional detachment Do not get emotionally attached to possessions. They are products and they do not influence your emotional wellbeing.

5 Quality Choose quality over quantity

6 self-relfexing Focus on yourself, your environment and the wellbeing of others instead of the material aspects of life.

Minimalism & fashion

Conclusion

The role of fashion for the Urban Minimalist is different, not in how much or often goods are purchased, but in how fashion is looked at. The number of clothes and annual shopping trips is just as high as with regular consumers. The difference is in the perspective towards fashion through fashion Minimalist experience and self-reflection. By scrutinizing the wardrobe the individual style, the daily routine and what requirements the wardrobe need to have is established. Clothes should be of value in quality, not in status or brand. There is much more attention to production standards, sustainability and quality.

Minimalism is about choosing quality over quantity, about making sensible purchases and about following your own style. So instead of buying two jackets from a low segment brand, they save money to spend it on one jacket from a high segment brand that produces jackets of far better quality, sustainable and with craftsmanship. This gives the brands in this segment a whole new target group that before Minimalism would go shopping in other fashion segments. So in times of crisis, Minimalism can be an opportunity for particular high end segment brands.

Fashion brands that are of high quality, sustainability, versatility in style or styling options and of high performance can benefit from the increasing number of Minimalistic consumers.

Leo Babauta Zenhabbits.com

In this chapter, I will introduce the minimalistic lifestyle. I will start by explaining my reasons for research on this lifestyle in my thesis. My main objective, sub question and research methods will be further explained as well. After that an introduction to the minimalistic lifestyle will follow. In this paragraph I will address the sub question:

What is Minimalism? I will explain the term minimalism by quoting the spokesmen of the minimalistic movement, by examining the content and practice of this lifestyle and by addressing the core values of this lifestyle. In the next paragraph I will address the second sub question:

Why is it a global movement? I will illustrate that minimalism is a worldwide movement by showing the volume of the global platform in online communities, books and social media. By showing global changes in consumer behavior that have contributed to the growth of the minimalistic movement, I will demonstrate the development of a new consumer group. I will substantiate this by the New Consumer Study that was created by Havas Worldwide and fielded by Market Probe International in 2011.

1.1 Research motivation Minimalism is a term that can define many different things. The definition is influenced by the context it is used in. The definition according to Britannica is:

“A style or technique that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.” This style or technique can be applied on many things. Architecture. Fashion and art are one of the most well know areas where we can define a minimalistic style. But in the last four year we can also add lifestyle to this list. Influenced my many social and economic factor, this movement is growing fast. 6.480.000 hits on Google on Minimalist consumer, thousands of blogs and website about how to become a minimalist, books, documentaries and several research reports at famous trend agencies, show that this movement is one to be taken seriously. So what does the minimalistic lifestyle include? According to the famous minimalist Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus authors of Minimalism: live a meaningful life (Asymmetrical Press, 2011) it is as follow:

“What is minimalism? If we had to sum it up in

a single sentence, we would say, minimalism is a tool used to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. -www.theminimalist.com There are many more definitions and as Joshua and Ryan state there are many ways to exert this lifestyle. But a fundamental component is to limit your consumption of products and to focus on purchasing what you actually need. Fascinated and feeling connected with this state of mind I asked myself: Do minimalism and fashion go together? Does a minimalist care for fashion and if so what is there criteria for clothes they wear? And can brands connect with a consumer who wants to minimize their shopping? In the beginning of my research I was very skeptical about the role of fashion in the minimalistic lifestyle. And how this movement could in any way benefit the fashion market. After al the lifestyle is about buying less! But I quickly found out this movement can be beneficial for a certain segment in the fashion market : the high end segment. This lifestyle has shifted the need for fast lower segment fashion towards, good quality slow fashion for a huge group of people all over the world. How and why this shift has occurred will be further explained in the next chapters.

My main question therefore is:

Research methods

Can the fashion industry benefits from the Minimalistic movement?

As a part of my field research I have examine the movement community and enormous online platform of blogs, social media and websites. One of the challenges was that there is no â&#x20AC;&#x153;typical â&#x20AC;&#x153;minimalist. The demarcation was that I want to link minimalism with fashion because my end product will be an trend book/proposal about how to connect with the Minimalistic consumer. Because the Minimalist can be someone of every age, every social background and with any fashion style the challenge was to explore the underlying motives and desires of the Minimalist and to connect this with their fashion choices. I think my end products can be of value of brands because the minimalistic movement is growing rapidly. And not only the number of Minimalistic consumers are growing but also the awareness of this movement. So it is useful for brands to see how they can connect with this movement to account them as their customers and to keep them as they customers. Because as you will find out minimalism and fashion does goes very well together.

My main objective is to give you an insight in this global movement and too see the benefits for fashion brand to communicate with the Minimalistic consumer and for my end product I will show an example of an communication target to target the Minimalistic consumer. I will further answer these sub question: -What is a minimalist and what sub movements -What platforms are there for this movement? -Where does this movement come from and what is the motivations behind this movement? -What role does fashion play in their lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s? -Which fashion brands participate to this movements and how? -Which benefits can fashion brands gain to participate to this movement?

1.2 The minimalistic lifestyle In order to understand this movement I will further enlighten the meaning of Minimalism in order to answer the sub question:

what is Minimalism? A minimalist is what we call a person that has adept an lifestyle of wanting to minimalize their purchases while still remaining a certain way of life. They want to simplify their lives in order to gain more from life. It is the exact opposite of a materialist person. ‘Lifestyle’ describes the sensibilities employed by the individual in choosing certain commodities and patterns of consumption and in articulating these cultural resources as modes of personal expression (Chaney 1994, 1996). The lifestyle is in performed by living on the base of these rules: • Collect only those the things what you actually need for a comfortable life. • Try to life dept. free and only buy something when you can actually afford it. • Do not focus on comparing yourself with other trough materialism.

• Do not get emotionally attach with stuff. They are products and they do not influence your emotional wellbeing. • Chose quality over quantity • Focus on yourself, your environments and the wellbeing of others instead of the material aspects of life. (Fields Millburn, Nicodemus,2011) Minimalism is about finding a balance in a western lifestyle full of wealth, capitalism driving society and gaining happiness and satisfaction trough other areas that materialistic goods. It is a life with less stuff, more time, fewer depts. and more freedom. Believe that gaining happiness from material matters will only lead to ever growing un-satisfaction because you will always want more and you will never have just as much as your neighbor, friend or whomever you compare yourself with. So we can state that besides a lifestyle, the focus is also on a state of mind. The search of a state of mind. is generated by living a more social security and a false sense of welfare. The unity in their quest towards this state of mind is what unites these people.

1.3 Minimalism: Global movement

Joshua Becker Image: becommingminimalist

So how can we state that this movement is a global movement? The number of blogs in ascending into thousands of blogs from people all over the world. If you Google minimalist lifestyle blog you will see

2.300.000 results. It truly is a

community. Besides an online platform, there are also plenty of books to get your knowledge from. Amazone.com alone has

729 books about this subject and published

in various languages. The platform is growing rapidly and minimalism has become serious business.

Famous Minimalistic spokesman Like I stated before there are many people who spread their minimalistic believes true blogs, social media and books. But there are a few who are well known, even famous Minimalistic spokesman who’s books have become a must have to every new Minimalist. Here are the 3 most prominent Minimalistic spokesman that dominate the online minimalistic platform.

founder of the website www.becomingaminimalist.com. He has 8283 followers in Twitter, 15.169 likes on Facebook and 15.575 people talk about him on Facebook. His story has been seen on the CBS Evening News, NPR, and countless media interviews around the world. He has also written 3 books: • Simplify (2011, Group Publishing inc.) • Inside out simplify (2011, Group Publishing inc.) • Living with less (2012, Group Publishing inc.)

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Leo Babauta

Image: leobabauta.com

Image: theminimalist.com

founders of the website www.theminimalist.com.

founder of the famous website www. zenhabits.net.

They are the new kids on the block but very popular. These two good looking guys have given Minimalism a cooler image. They have 462 followers on Twitter. Have over 100,000 monthly readers and have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CBS, FOX, NBC, NPR, CBC Radio, and Zen Habits.

He has about 250.000 readers, is one of the top 50 websites in the world and one of the top 25 bloggers in the world. He has 112430 followers on Twitter and has written 6 E-books:

They have a newsfeed, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram platform on their website. 9.727 persons like them on Facebook and 769 people are talking about them on Facebook. They have their own seminar tour throughout the U.S this year, the The Minimalists 10-City Holiday Happiness Tour and they have written a best seller book in their genre: Minimalism: live a meaningful life (Asymmetrical Press, 2011)

• • • • •

The Effortless Life focus The Little Guide to Un-Procrastination Zen To Done The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life The Zen Habits Handbook for Life

And one print book: The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential in Business and in Life (Hyperion, December 30, 2008).

1.4 Shifting needs in consumerism worldwide But these number numbers of fans and followers are just numbers from the Minimalistic field itself. But the consumer in general has changed as well. This is shown by a large global consumer research by Havas Worldwide. This global idea agency with clients like Evian, Disney and Coca Cola invest in research into consumerism in over 75 countries.

(Havas worldWide 2011) If 70% of the consumer prefer a Minimalistic lifestyle over a high luxury lifestyle shows that Minimalism is a consumer behavior movement that also effect the fashion market. A closer to home example is the DDB sign banking agency project about todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society.

This New Consumer study was created by Havas Worldwide and fielded by Market Probe International in Octoberâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;November 2011 in seven markets: Brazil , China , France Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey was supplemented with extensive secondary research and local/regional insights from brand and strategy experts across our global network (Havas Worldwide 2011).

For this project we had to make a social compass of a movement in our environment. One of the movements I saw was that people are simplifying their lives. We want to have a good overview on our lives to amplify our own ability. This movement that I examined was in retro perspective the minimalistic movement. Were as I then focused more on the practical and technological side of this movement, I know focus on fashion and the corresponding consumer behavior.

Some highlight if this study shows:

The New Consumers are deeply dissatisfied with the status quo and are seeking change in their personal lives and in the world around them.

Research result from the survey: Satisfaction level of the role of consumerism in society

•58% think society is moving in the wrong

Research result from the survey: The New Consumers are embracing “intelligent simplification”

•70% respect/admire people who live simply

direction.

(minimal purchases, debt free, etc.).

•69% worry society has become too shallow,

focusing on things that don’t really matter.

While only 19% respect/admire people who live a high-luxury lifestyle.

•60% believe society has grown intellectually

•67% believe most of us would be better off if

lazy, while

we lived more simply.

•67% believe we have grown physically lazy.

•68% no longer want a lot of bells and whistles

•59% worry people have become too

disconnected from the natural world.

on the products they buy; they would rather just have the functions they really need.

•46% wish their homes were less cluttered.

•47% wish they could start fresh with an

entirely different lifestyle.

Brands&Identity specialization DDB singbanking 2011

1.5 Minimalistic Neo-tribe The number of people adapting this lifestyle is growing every day as you have seen in the previous chapter. This group that has adapted this lifestyles comes with its customers, language, morals and values. But not all groups are the same. We all belong to many different groups within our society. We have a group of family, a group of friends, a group of college and so on. To call people with a minimalistic lifestyle simply a group of people is not sufficient. Sociologists all over the world have done many studies in term of groups within society. How and why do we form groups within the community we live in and what are the social dynamics within these groups? One of the sociological terms that describes the Minimalistic movement in lifestyle and consumption is as a “postmodern neotribe”. Millions of people all over the world are inspired by an idea, an emotion to feel liberated and gain happiness by chancing their consumer behavior and lifestyle. They form platforms, create their own (online/ offline) community and they identify each other by means of shared interest and shared common believes towards consumerism. The aspiration to join a social movement like this can be triggered by many different reasons. * External factors like the * for more information on the external factors see appendix page 51 15

economy, politics and well fair but also internal factors like depression, health and general life improvement. A gathering in society of people who share common believes towards a certain lifestyle have been giving many names by sociologist each with their own specifications towards behavior and social constructions. The Minimalistic movement specifies in shares common lifestyle, shares state of mind and strong emotional connections between practicing this lifestyle. These specification of this social group what Maffesoli first describes the “postmodern neo-tribes”.

“ without the rigidity of the forms of organization with which we are familiar, it refers more to a certain ambience, a state of mind, and is preferably to be expressed through lifestyles that favour appearance and form”. M Maffesoli: The Time of the Tribes London, Sage, 1996 (orig. Paris 1988) Cova, a French sociologist , wrote a series of articles in which he described tribes as being held together by a common passion or emotion. People value goods for their ability to link them

1.5.1 The Minimalistic tribe analyses to others. It’s the link and not the things which are important. he describes the new world of tribalism in his book ‘The Time of the Tribes’ in 1996. Coves further describes Neo-tribe members as characterized by “a local sense of identification, religiosity, syncretism, group narcissism.” Cova stresses the fact that what distinguishes tribes from neo-tribes is that the latter lack spatial terms of reference. “Tribes attempt to revive the community archetype of the village or the district, but these communities are not solely definable in spatial terms; some use the latest high-tech means of communication (microcomputers, Internet, fax) in forming virtual tribes. Face-toface encounters and co-physical presence are no longer compulsory.” “they can be held together through shared emotions, styles of life, new moral beliefs, and consumption practices. They exist in no other form but the symbolically and ritually manifested commitment of their members.” Neo-Tribes (Cova 1997, p. 300)

So according to Cova shares emotions, lifestyle, moral beliefs and consumption practice is what makes this group a neo-tribe. In this chapter I will further analyze the Minimalistic consumer by the sociological study schematic created by Cova.

State of mind The strongest factor that binds this neo-tribes is the pursuit of a certain state of mind. “For me, minimalism is about finding your enough point. It’s about figuring out what you really need versus what you want. In some ways, I don’t think it matters how many items you own or how big your house is. At its core, minimalism is about living intentionally and with purpose.” (Stobel,2011) Tammy Strobel, founder of Rowdy Kittens.com a website about the minimalistic lifestyle and author of You Can Buy Happiness: How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too (New World Library, September 11, 2012). Other book titles from books about the minimalistic lifestyle show the basic state of mind a minimalist is aiming for :

Joshua Becker founder of the website www.becomingaminimalist.com. Author of a.o Simplify (Group Publishing inc. 2011).

“I enjoy using this definition: “The intentional promotion of the things I most value and the removal of anything that distracts me from it.” I think it puts a positive spin on the lifestyle by highlighting the fact that minimalism is ultimately about removing distractions so that I can focus on the more important things in life.” (Becker,2010)

Leo Babauta founder of ZenHabits.com. A platform for the Minimalistic lifestyle and author of The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life (Hyperion, December 30, 2008).

The Minimalists 10-City Holiday

Happiness Tour Voluntary Simplicity Guide To Living

A Simple And Happy Life Strong emotional terms like happiness are named in book titles about a lifestyle. It shows that the main objective of living a minimalistic lifestyle is the pursuit of a happy state of mind. Now happiness can be a broad term. A minimalistic lifestyle won’t guarantee you a smile on your face every day. But is will give you happiness in the sense of gaining happiness from other areas in your life than you would have before the lifestyle. And fining happiness within you by being more emotionally balanced. By eliminating the short rush of happiness when you purchase a new item, let’s say another new even bigger TV for your living room, will give room for finding happiness in being grateful for what you have right now. You eliminated the fear of being afraid to not have enough. By looking to your true emotions WHY you wanted a bigger TV and WHICH emotions you attach to purchasing that TV you will discover that you don’t need to buy a TV to gain the same happiness rush. You can that adhere the same emotions you will

get from buying a TV to aspects in life that are truly imported and that can actually benefit you in the future as well. For example: you wanted to buy that TV because it will give your living room a more luxury appearance(buying status) and by coming home it will show your wife and children that you are successful and that you can provide them with expensive goods(buying affection). Now if looking at the situation like this it seems like the person who buys such a big TV might be a bit of a show off. But look into you consumer behavior of yourself and people in your environment and you will quickly find some similar examples. A bigger car, an expressive brand of jeans end so on. The minimalistic lifestyle wants you to detaches those emotions from products, and append to matters in life like relationships, health, your emotional self being, the role you play in the environment and perusing your dreams. So instead of buying that TV, you will organize a nice weekends trip with your family to show them you can provide them with love and attention (pursuing affection) and by letting go of the idea of showing status towards others you can other goals like getting in a better shape for your health of finally paying of your mortgage to enjoy your future retirement more. The new lifestyle will replace status. How much your will actively life the minimalistic lifestyle will become your new status.

“By incorporating minimalism into our lives, we’ve finally been able to find lasting happiness. And let’s face it: that’s what we’re all looking for, isn’t it? We all want to be happy. Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself. Thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in your life.” -Theminimalist.com So to sum up: the members of the minimalistic tribe are connected by the collective search of a happiness, emotionally balance, more meaningful, sense of wellbeing and a more focused state of mind. They go through a searching of their own emotions and their ideas about consumer behavior, in order to find the same and more fulfillment which they before would find in purchasing items. A more balanced, focused and happy state of mind is the end result of that search. So the lifestyle is much more a tool than an actually goal. It is the wish of this balanced, happy state of mind what makes people a member of this tribe.

Lifestyle The tool to this state of mind if a minimalistic lifestyle. The minimalistic lifestyle has a distinct consumption moral believe but its practice can vary. The basic principle is to analyze your consumption needs and see what emotional values you admen to those products. If a product does not contribute to you and your environment it is best to change it for something that does or to lose it all together. Analyzing what you really need is of course very personal. Because everything we ever bought in our lives we did because it had value to us. On the minimalist.com, one of the most prominent and most visited websites on minimalism show’s a sequence in steps on how to adept this lifestyle. By the means of this sequence I will explain the basic point of this lifestyle and how it is practiced. This is the first step in this new lifestyle: de-clutter your house and organize everything your home. This step is most easy. Clear out the basement, that one clutter drawer everything that you can do without. The more you throw away the better. See which basics you really need and what will just distract you from your thoughts. When

you get rid of the vast majority of your possessions, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re forced to confront your darker side: Why did I give so much meaning to material possessions? What is truly important in life? Why am I discontent? Whom is the person I want to become? How will I define my own success? -Theminimalist.com Shared emotional values Minimalism does not mean you will have to give up the comfort of your home. And everybody needs a certain amount of items for their work, study end so on. But it is about realizing what emotional values we attach to our products and eliminating them. That is the next step in the process: getting rid of products you emotionally value. In order to be truly free you need to pat from products that hold value to u. This do not include photoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or heirlooms, but your favorite pair of shoes or that expensive bike that made you feel young and cool even if you never used it. By giving that emotion another place in YOU and not a product, that emotion can be much more values and can go beyond that product.

Moral believes After that becomes making the right choices in the products you do buy. Buying without emotion means that you will have a purely rationally consumer practice. Secondary values of a product fall due. Brand values and marketing created value are no longer criteria. Only rational properties like quality and price are important. But besides rational properties, one moral value is important. Environmental value. A minimalist ask themselves this question before purchasing a product: does this product contribute to my environment? Sustainable products and companies with a social contribution makes sure that not only you but other benefits from your consumer as well. Moral believes are therefore that you, and you consumer behavior must not interfere with the well-being of others. So the only secondary product properties can be sustainability and social constitution. Also when getting rid of access product, environmental and social contributing is important. Donating and recycling is the standard. In order to belong to this tribe, sustainability is often extent other areas in their lifestyle such as food and clothing. The conscious consume behavior often extent from big purchases to the small purchase as well. For example the weekly grocery shopping is no longer a routine job but been analyzed as well. The conclusion is mostly that healthier organic groceries are bought because it is better for you and your environment.

Platforms and communication Minimalism has a broad network worldwide by social media, blogs, books and even meetings. The platform has two basic purposes: 1 Learning how to practice the minimalistic lifestyle 2 Expressing your experiences on the minimalistic lifestyle As we have stated in chapter 1.3 you saw the huge numbers of websites, books, blogs and articles found on internet. The platforms however where people meet virtually and in person are mostly created by blogs where basic purpose 2: expressing your experience is disseminated. Everybody can create a blog nowadays true BlogSpot and Tumblr. Even the popular websites like theminimalist.com still perform as a blog with weekly newsletter instead of updates. A website or blog mostly contains: • • • • •

An explanation on minimalism Tips and tricks to get started Their personal gain from minimalism Emotional experiences Daily practice examples

This is mostly expressed in the form of written essays. Writing about your experiences is also a tool for the process of emotional reflection on your daily life. That why creating your own blog is so popular amongst minimalists. It is also a tool to get in contact with other minimalist. You see blogs are much more preferred than other social media like Facebook. The reason for this is because Facebook does not allow the minimalist to express their experiences properly. Only shot text can be published and “liking” or accepting an online “friendship” request is not what they prefer. This holds no message or relative content for them and is there for a waste of time. By sending direct messages with information, questions and maybe their own experience a closer relationship is build and a more meaningful message is send. There is however a strong sense of group spirit. You will see many reactions to readers and followers from even famous minimalistic bloggers and writers. Tips on this matters are shared and problems are being discussed. Because the stories they share are very personal , the sense of group spirit is increased by sharing such personal information with other that might experience the same.

Visual language A peculiar thing is that all blogs and website do have the same visual expression. A lot of thought has gone in this websites and you can actual distinct a common visual language. All blogs tell a story in writing but in design as well. You can see that having particular design ascetics is one of the unviable but clear rules of this tribe. If you look at most blogs and websites the astatic design shows that conveys a calm, symbolical, storytelling and power full vibe. By calm I describe the lots of black and white themed websites, blogs and book covers. That become power full by the use of strong typefaces. Images used are often black and white as well and always hold a discrete and sometimes not so discrete symbolical value. Effect like fadingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, moved focus points and optical illusions are used to give the image a symbolical value. You need to look a little but longer at an images in order to understand it. This is a direct link of course with the symbolical nature of the minimalistic lifestyle itself. Products are symbolical to emotional baggage and distraction form your basic needs in life. We can also state that the minimalistic lifestyle does has its parallels with the astatic minimalistic movement in art, fashion and architecture. Less is more does apply to the visual langue all members of this tribe use to express themselves. Distracting futures not used because the message is whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important. And values like balance, selfreflection, focused and undistracted are no match with bright flashy blogs, clothes or book covers.

Minimalistic neo

tribe members conne

the members of

emotionally balance, more meaningful, sense of wellbeing and a more focused 23

f the minimalistic tribe are connected by the collective search of a happiness

state of mind 24

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” - Socrates In this chapter I will address these sub questions:

How do Minimalistic consumers differentiate with regular consumers? In paragraph 2.1 will indicate the difference between a Minimalistic consumer and a “regular consumer”. By the means of the 14 purchase justifiers of Pamela Danziger addresses in her book: Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Kaplan Publishing, July 1, 2004) I will also introduce you to Mark Taylor, A 32 year old “Urban Minimalist from London in paragraph 2.4.

2.1 The difference between a minimalistic consumer “regularofconsumer” In order to get a and better a understanding how minimalist consumer behavior differs from regular consumers we will look into the reasons why people actually buy things. From a minimalist perspective: why people buy products they don’t actually need. According to Pamela Danziger, author of Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Kaplan Publishing, July 1, 2004) there are 14 justifiers for buying products. These justifiers give a clear image of why people buy products in the first places. It shows that what we buy does not depend on what we actually need: we have other motives such as entertainment or relaxation. We have all experienced some bad decisions in purchases and we all have a few garments in our wardrobe with the price tag still on. Why did we buy that sweater in the first place if not for the primal use of protecting our body and keeping us warm? Many of us can relate to one or two of the following justifiers Danziger has explained in her book: Justifier 1. Quality of life, 90 percent of those surveyed in the underlying study expressed a desire to improve their quality of life. Here are five dimensions in which quality of life plays a role and examples of purchases that satisfy these needs:

Justifier 1 Intellectual. Book sales, home

computers • Physical: Vitamin and herbal supplements, water and air filters, bedding. • Spiritual: Religious merchandise, Christmasand Easter-themed items • Emotional: Home decor, candles, bath and beauty products. • Social: Gift giving. Justifier 2. Pleasure, both in anticipation and the actual experience. Anything that retailers can do to encourage their customer in the joy of shopping can heighten the pleasure and shopping experience. Danziger points out that the best salespeople are so enthusiastic that they “shop with you,” rather than selling you something. Justifier 3. Beautify the home. Since the home is seen as a reflection of the individual’s identity and values, items that make the home more attractive, as well as clean and orderly, offer another satisfying purchase for the consumer. Justifier 4. Education. Women generally value research and education in the purchase of a product more than men, and it heightens their anticipation pleasure of a purchase. Therefore, regardless of what product a retailer offers, the more information provided regarding the merits of the merchandise can increase the justification for purchasing the product.

Justifier 5. Relaxation. The longer a person stays in a store, the more they spend. Whether or not the merchandise itself is viewed as a relaxation product, slowing the shopping process for the consumer increases the relaxation effect, and therefore also increases the likelihood of a purchase. Justifier 6. Entertainment. The subconscious desire for entertainment explains why malls have become more interactive with their shoppers including movie theaters, music, videos, etc. The consumer wants to participate, whether it be social, by interactive learning or demonstrations. Justifier 7. Anticipation. These are the shoppers who do their research in advance, as opposed to impulse shoppers. The more information you can provide these customers, the more they enjoy their shopping experience. Justifier 8. Emotional involvement. A customer’s emotional involvement explains why branding is so important to large companies. These customers identify with the values they believe the brand represents. Justifier 9. Replacing an existing item. The products these consumers are looking for are generally home-related items. And replacing a single item can lead to a “cascade of additional

spending” on items to complement the replacement. Justifier 10. Stress relief. This category includes not only the stress-relief product, but also the actual relief created by the experience of shopping itself. These consumers are less likely to purchase extravagant items since the concern about overspending can possibly create more stress than it relieves. Impulse purchases can satisfy the need for stress relief. Justifier 11. Hobbies. These purchases are small luxuries that bring pleasure and the “thrill of the hunt.” Collectors fall into this category, as well, since they are always on the prowl for one more unique item or coveted item for their collection. Justifier 12. Gift for self. A common occurrence is a shopper looking for a gift item and ending up with something for themselves, as well. This should not be attributed to selfishness, but rather the shopper is more confident of what they like than what might please the person they are shopping for. They generally spend more on the item for themselves than for the gift. A salesperson helping a shopper find a gift can encourage the shopper’s desire to treat themselves, as well.

Justifier 13. Impulse purchase. Bargains and sales fall into this category. The perceived savings on an item, whether a necessity or not, alleviates any guilt the shopper may experience for making an impulse purchase in the first place. Justifier 14. Status. As Danziger explains, in our politically correct times fewer people are willing to admit they purchase an item for status. But nevertheless, it is a factor in their shopping. Merchandise most eligible in this category are items that will be seen by others, clothing, jewelry, and watches, for example. Status also ties in to Justifier 8, emotional involvement, for many highend brand-name purchases.â&#x20AC;? (Danziger,2004), So this are the buying factors that generally apply to most consumers. So which justifiers do Minimalistic consumers use to buy their products? If we look at the 14 points: 1 Quality of life 2 Pleasure 3 Beautify the home 4 Education 5 Relaxation 6 Entertainment 7 Anticipation 8 Emotional involvement 9 Replacing an existing item 10 Stress relief 11 Hobbies

12 Gift for self 13 Impulse purchase 14 Status Only Quality of life, Beautify the home, Education, Anticipation, Replacing an existing item, are applicable for the minimalistic consumer. All of the other points, Pleasure, Relaxation, Entertainment, Emotional involvement, Stress relief, Hobbies, Gift for self, Impulse purchase, Status are aspects they gain from other areas than buying products. A minimalistic consumer believes in the joy of living and generally knows that products can make your life easier, enrich your life, provide true education or make home a nicer place. But not that buying products can reduce stress of give pleasure and relaxation. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important is that we know why we buy what we buy. Awareness of the purpose behind a desired product or experience can help us to better understand what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hoping to get out of life, and what could be missing from it in the meantime. Colin Wright is the author of My Exile Lifestyle (Ebookling, June 26, 2011) and founder of www. exilelifestyle.com. Colin is a fulltime traveler who lives in a new country every four months. He currently lives in Romania and you can vote on his website where his next home for four months will be. Minimalism is one of his key philosophies in life.

“What’s important is that we know why we buy what we buy. Awareness of the purpose behind a desired product or experience can help us to better understand what we’re hoping to get out of life, and what could be missing from it in the meantime. I tell myself I want a massive television for watching football, but in reality I’m hoping for an excuse to have people over more frequently. If I’m able to get down to the root of that need, it’s likely I can solve the problem of not having friends around often enough without taking out a mortgage on the house. There’s nothing wrong with spending money to fulfill a need, that’s what money’s for after all, but it’s best to be sure that what you’re buying will fill the need you have, not one you’re being told you should have. Money can buy happiness, but only if you’re shopping for the right things, “ Colin Wright,2011

2.1.2 Urban Minimalist Consumer profile I have chosen to focus my thesis on the sub movement: the urban minimalist. The reason to focus on this particular sub movement is because the typical minimalistic consumer does not exist. People can practice this lifestyle for a lot of different reasons and purposes. To examine the role of fashion in any lifestyle means that you have to define this lifestyle in the best way possible. Therefore I choose to focus on one lifestyle within the minimalistic movement; to get a better understanding of this lifestyle I will quickly recap its most prominent aspects from paragraph 2.3. Urban minimalists, as the name implies, lead an urban lifestyle. A city life with a nice job, enjoying life through food, traveling and culture. They began this lifestyle in order to find balance in life, happiness and peace, by focusing on what is really important. This new focus in life made them pay special attention to the items they buy. With each product they buy they ask themselves:â&#x20AC;? do I need it? Does is last long? How is it made? How does it contribute to my life and why?â&#x20AC;? They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be swallowed by consumerism, advertisement and commerce, but to enjoy the good things in life, in moderation. Carefully they choose quality over quantity. To give you a better perspective of the urban minimalistic consumer I will show you the profile of Mark Taylor, an urban minimalist from London. After my research into this subject, reading many blogs, documentaries and social media profiles this is my view on the urban minimalist.

Mark Taylor

Nice to meet you My name is Mark Taylor , 31 year old Copywriter from Beckton, East greater London. I live in a two-bedroom apartment near Gallions Reach tube station with my fiancé Jessica. I moved from Watford at the age of 23 to study at the University of Arts in London and I graduated as Creative Copywriter. After a successful internship at Mook Advertisement I have been working there ever since. I enjoy copywriting in advertisement because it gives me a change to empathize with other people. The excitement of analyzing a pattern of conduct and bringing this together with great copywriting is what I love most about my job. In my spare time I love to spend time with my fiancé. We both love cooking so we often go to local markets to find the best biological fruits and veggies. We also enjoy planning our next trip to Norway. For two years now I have picked up on the Minimalistic lifestyle. After reading Minimalism: live a meaningful life from Millburn & Nicodemus I decided that this is what I wanted to do. Even though I love my job I did get overwhelmed by all the media and products flow that is constantly around you. I felt trapped in a circle of buying products. I also felt the pressure of needing to have gadgets and typical

types of brands in order to stay up to date with trends and fashion. This pressure led to tiredness and dissatisfaction. I tried to get away from it all by spending much time in nature, going on long walks in a nearby park. But whenever I got home and turned on the television I felt exactly the same as before. I have heard of minimalists before but I had the idea that they were people living in the countryside growing their own vegetables for their vegan diet. But after seeing the numerous blogs and reading Millburn & Nicodemus book I realized that this lifestyle was exactly what I needed and that it did not require compromising on comfort whatsoever. Instead I have much more comfort than before. I started off by getting rid of all my credit cards and buying off most of my debts. I just had purchased a new MacBook and TV on a loan so it took a while but after 6 months I was finally debt free, except for my mortgage. We have cleaned up the entire apartment. All items we haven’t used in over 3 months were given away to charity. Five boxes of clothes, three boxes of books and magazines, four boxes of general clutter and four furniture items that were stored in the basement were discarded. But it felt great to be free from all the excess stuff and to give it all away.

After that I decided to really look at all the items I had left and why I needed them. I would only buy something to replace it for its functionality. Instead of shopping I would focus on exercising more, reading more, spending time with friends and even on work. I have banned TV out of my life and the new TV is now only used for watching movies. The quality of my life is improved because I feel much more relaxed than before. I do not feel the pressure anymore of comparing my life with other people and what they possess. And ironically I have much more money to spend. That is why the items that I buy are much more expensive. Instead of four sweaters I just buy two each winter that are of much better quality. And instead of two notebooks each month I buy one that is of real leather at my favorite book store. The rest of the money I save is used for going on two trips a year to our favorite place in Norway. So I still am still buying products, but I buy them because I really need them for their functionality and I choose quality over quantity. I feel like I have stepped out of our materialistic society and I have created my own little society that is not driven by brands and companies but by MY actual needs.

“I will pay twice as much for a MacBook than for a Dell, because I think it’s of higher quality. I will not pay twice as much for a pair of Diesel jeans over a pair of Levi’s. Then again, I also won’t pay less for a pair of Old Navy jeans that will last three washes.” Adam Di Stefano in a Facebook replay on the article “Millennials becomings Minimalist” on www.millennialmarketing. com. This quote from Adam Di Stefano is a perfect introduction to my argument in this chapter. I will look into the role of fashion within the minimalistic lifestyle by means of several interviews I held with minimalistic bloggers. I will also make use of online essays about minimalism and fashion from among others Joshua Fields Millburn. And as a literary reference I will quote Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Becker and the book: The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential in Business and in Life (Hyperion, December 30, 2008) by Leo Babauta. In paragraph 3.2 I will address the sub questions: What role does fashion play in a minimalistic consumers life? From the outcome of the previous paragraph I will outline the process of criteria for a minimalistic wardrobe.

3.1 The role of fashion for the urban minimalist The minimalist aims to consume as little as possible. But buying clothes is something you simply cannot avoid. It is one of our primary needs besides food and shelter. At the beginning of my research my expectation was that fashion was something a Minimalist would consider as commercial, a waste of time and shallow. I even thought, as a fashion student, I would get some negative responses to the questionnaire I send to minimalist bloggers. But the results were quite the opposite. Fashion does play a very important role in minimalism. So what role does fashion play in the urban minimalistic lifestyle? To answer this question I have examined much documentation regarding fashion and minimalism from online sources: blogs, websites, newsletters and online essays. I also did field research by interviews with minimalistic bloggers* and the books of Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus Minimalism: live a meaningful life (Asymmetrical Press, 2011) and The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential in Business and in Life (Hyperion, December 30,2008) by from Leo Babauta. At the start of my research I was expecting to find the wardrobes of minimalists a bit basic and boring. I imaged two black shirts, a pair of *see appendix 1.1 for the full interviews 33

jeans and a thick plastic coat suitable for all kinds of weather. But I was pleasantly surprised when I found the essay: “Everything I own: 288” from Ryan Nicodemus in my inbox from the newsletter from www.theminimalist.com. In this essay he unveils everything he owns. In total

288

products. And this is his wardrobe: Clothes (Miscellaneous)

58 items, including shoes, socks, underwear, belts, gym shorts, coats, etc.

Casual Clothes

79 items, including jeans, hoodies, T-shirts, button-down shirts, etc.

Dress Clothes

50 items, including suits, ties, dress shirts, etc.” (Nicodemus, 2011) I was very surprised. He owns more clothes than I do! And to illustrate even more, the persons whom I interviewed made the average number of shopping trips for new clothes four times a year. According to CNW Mitex, the branch organization for entrepreneurs in fashion, the average person in Holland goes shopping six times a year for footwear and sport. To add to this, here are numbers of wardrobe items from other

minimalists that I found online: “That’s why I was so attracted by the notion of “Minimalism” and one of my blog posts: “Minimalism feels fantastic” is still one of the most popular on my blog. Recently, I’ve taken a big step in my “minimalistic” journey and drastically shrunk my wardrobe to only 143 pieces of clothing. It’s not about the number, it’s about counting” -Retrieved from the blog of Michael Sliwinski, editor of ProductiveMagazine.com “September 5, 2012 I chose about 75% of my clothes to donate to the thrift store. I had 12 pairs of shoes that I never will wear again. Why was I keeping worn out shoes with holes? I have no idea! On September 12th I had about a 100 pieces that I was going to keep and on the 24th I decided to keep 84 pieces.“ - Tyler Danke,2011 on his blog tylerdanke.com where he posts about his journey to a debt free minimalistic lifestyle. “Overall, I own about 50 pieces of clothing, including everyday outfits, ‘going out’ outfits, sports gear, shoes, socks, underwear, accessories, coats and scarves” -Jessica Dang, 2011 on her blog minimalstudent. com

“I started my Minimalistic lifestyle by examining my wardrobe. I have quite a large walk-in closet and like most women I love clothes. I expected that minimalizing my wardrobe was going to be one of the hardest things. I started off by making an inventory of every piece of clothing I owned. I immediately disposed about two garbage bags full of clothing that where washed out, had holes in them or which I haven’t worn for over a year. After that I looked at each piece of clothing and I asked myself: Why did I buy this? And I must say that this process was a bit emotional. I has several items in my clothes that I bought for reasons I haven’t thought about before. A skimpy dress for a date, a pencil skirt for a job interview and an expensive pair of heels for a party. The reasons that I bought them were disturbing to me. I bought them to: be sexy, to be professional and the heels to make an impression on the guests at the party, by showing that I could afford an expensive pair of heels. These reasons where very disturbing to me. I have decided to only keep the pieces I bought for two simple reasons: because I liked the items and because I needed them in my daily routine. The first reason might sound a bit contradicting with my new lifestyle, but only a small amount of my wardrobe was bought for this reason. I was left with a wardrobe of 112 pieces.”

-Felicity Marrots,2010 on her blog thenewmewithless.com where she writes about her experiences regarding her minimalistic lifestyle. We can state that minimalism is NOT about owning as less as possible regarding to fashion. It is not about trying to have a sober and simple wardrobe. Even Ryan Nicodemus, one of the famous spokesmen of minimalism has 187 pieces of clothes in his closet. Fashion does play a very important role in the life of a minimalistic consumer. Through fashion the minimalists experience self-reflection. By analyzing their wardrobe they analyze their individual style, their daily routine and what requirements their wardrobe need to have. Clothes should be of value in quality, not in status or brand. I see it as the most pure form of fashion: fashion based on quality and personal style. Not based on the logo, expressing status or trend.

Favorite clothes A minimalist always wears his favorite piece of clothing. Every item is carefully selected and bought with attention. Because of the absence of “occasions garments”or bad buys, the minimalist closet is filled with just a persons all time favorites. “What does a minimalist wear? I’m surprised I get this question as often as I do as if people expect to see me walking around Dayton, Ohio, in a loincloth but, given the many misconceptions surrounding minimalism, I suppose it’s a valid question. My answer: a minimalist wears his or her favorite clothes and nothing else. Thus, a minimalist wears his or her favorite clothes every day. Most days I wear jeans, a teeshirt, and a pair of Toms shoes. Or, when I feel like it, I wear a crisp white button-up shirt (pictured above), jeans, a blazer, colorful socks, and a clean pair of dress shoes.” -By Joshua Fields Millburn 2011

3.2 Parallels within the minimalist wardrobe So what connection do we see between all the wardrobes of the minimalistic consumers? I found the following aspects the most prominent parallels in the wardrobe of the minimalist.

Versatile items When you wardrobe is limited to only the items you really like and really need, a useful appliance to these items is versatility. If an item can be worn in different ways you have more options but still just one item.

“Let’s begin with my wardrobe. The key to building a minimalist wardrobe is versatility. Almost everything I own can be worn either every day, or mixed and matched on different occasions to make dozens of combinations of outfits. That way, I reduce the amount of clothes I actually own.” -Jessica Dang 2011 for MinimalStudent.com

Quality over Quantity That’s a universal principle that applies for every Minimalist. Quality is a criteria every clothing item must apply to. Because they want to minimalize their purchases a product has to last long. And if an item is of poor quality, why would you want to buy it? You don’t need a bad quality jeans so why would you buy it? And because you don’t purchase so many items you have to change to buy something that is normally not in your budget. “I have found, however, that I like to have a guitar, so I make it a point to by a cheap, locally-made one whenever I’m going to be staying in one place for a few months or more. I also like to have well-constructed (if simple) clothing and a highperforming laptop.” -Colin Wright,2011

Sustainability In the Minimalistic lifestyle it is very important that you and others benefit of your choices. It is about balance, stress free living and improving the quality of your life. So to buy a products that is conflicting with these points won’t make much sense. And also good quality clothes often means craftsmanship and high end fashion prices which in most cases leads to a better producing environment. Not that all fashion items that cost more and that are of better quality are sustainable produced. But it does beat the producing methods of low market segment fashion chains like Primark. To conclude. The role of fashion in the Urban Minimalistic lifestyle if about defining yourself as a Minimalist trough your choices in you every day fashion routine. By looking at yourself, your personal style and your daily activities you will compose your wardrobe. It is fashion at its purest form. The role of fashion is not lead by brands, trends and shopping experiences but by personal style, quality and performance. You can state that the fashion is not expertly present in their lifestyle, but it is well thought of and consciously there. I think in many cases the role of fashion is much more present that for regular consumers. It is just executed in another way. It is not driven by brands and status but much more by personal style. And personal style means personal choices. There is also much more attention for production standards, sustainability and quality.

3.3 The process of fashion related purchases The role of fashion for urban minimalistic consumers if very different than regular consumers. The process of shopping is thereby also very different. We have excluded some motives to go shopping by the 14 justifiers of Pamela Danziger in paragraph 2.3. These justifiers remain applicable :1 Improve quality of life, 3 Beautify the home, 4 Education, 7 Anticipation, 9 Replacing an existing item. So how does the process of purchasing an new clothing item actually look like. Here are the 3 steps that the urban minimalist undertake when purchasing a new wardrobe item.

1 Analyzing The first step is to examine what is actually needed in a wardrobe. The motive behind a purpose is always driven by need, not by occasion. So every purchase is well though through and analyzed. This is why the urban minimalist consumer is a very aware and informed consumer.

2 Defining futures The need to buy a new item is most likely because it has defining features, such as a sweater against the cold or a jacket against the rain. Weather significantly influences the process of buying new clothes. This might seem very obvious, but according to a survey held for Elle magazine on Elle.com (2011) over 62% of the women donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a functional wardrobe in terms of climate, occasion and work related wardrobe pieces. For example women are more likely to own 11 t-shirts and only 2 sweaters although they live in a cold region. As someone very familiar to this phenomenon I know this is most common because of Pamela Danziger shopping justifiers: Pleasure, Relaxation, Entertainment, Stress relief and Impulse purchase. Small items, items that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need fitting and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cost much are much more likely to be bought in an impulse than something functional as an expensive warm sweater. Not all consumers are women who love to go shopping of course. But this research shows that the content of our wardrobe is not an expression of functional items only. This differentiates the Urban Minimalist consumer with a regular conscious consumer. The Urban Minimalist has analyzed his wardrobe, stated that an item is

needed with a particular quality and analyzes how this can contribute to his whole wardrobe, the quality, functionality and the product/brand itself. So it goes a step further than the regular conscious consumer.

Analyzing your actual wardrobe necessities

3 Research Quality over quantity is one of the mottoes of minimalism as explained in previous chapters. However, in order to know the quality of an item you cannot rely on sales talk. Also, only a trained eye in this matter can see the quality of a garment by looking at it. Furthermore it is well known that price is definitely not a reliable indication for quality. Also as regards to sustainability and production, research in advantage before shopping is necessary.

defining futures for rational fashion choices

research for quality and sustainability

shopping rules of anuschka rees, 23, london into-mind.com

1 Define my personal style

Aim for a small collection of high-quality items

Spend as Focus on much time and creating a strong thought as foundation of key needed to find pieces and basics each item

5 Do not buy anything that is less than perfect, especially do not scrimp on fit or material

In this chapter I will address the opportunities minimalism can offer to fashion. From the results of my research I will explain why and for what segment in the fashion industry the minimalistic movement can be an opening for new markets. . In paragraph 4.2 I will look into the relationship between minimalism and marketing.

4.1. How minimalism benefits the fashion industry Having appreciated the minimalistic movement, I will now clarify the origin of the urban minimalistic consumer and the role of fashion in this lifestyle and why I think this lifestyle can be a great opportunity for brands. We have stated before in paragraph 3.1 that minimalism does not necessary mean that the minimalistic consumer has a very small wardrobe. The four examples of minimalistic wardrobes in that same paragraph hold an average of

97.25 pieces of clothing. And according to Lindsay Dubbeld, a copywriter, journalist and trend watcher, the average number of wardrobe pieces in Holland is 70 and according to the CBS (central bureau of statistics) the average household spent

1821 euro annually on clothing in 2011.

This means the average price of each piece of clothing is only 26 euro. The differences between individuals is of course not accounted for: there must be many closets in Holland packed with expensive designer dresses. And closets not filled to maximum capacity but with only a couple of items (most likely a manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s closet).

But still the numbers illustrate that urban minimalists have a different perspective on fashion, show different shopping behavior and attitude, but that the number of items in their closet is not less than that of a regular consumer. Brands would be advised not be put off by the term minimalism. As I have shown it is much more about a state of mind, self-reflection and organizing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life than it is about living a sober lifestyle. So why is it an opportunity for the fashion industry? Mostly for the reason that one of their most important mottoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is:

Quality over Quantity The urban minimalist is looking for good quality clothes, sustainable and well made. Not seven sweaters from H&M but two hand-woven sweaters from a sustainable brand. That means a shift in segmentation. The high segment was originally meant for people with a high budget, because of this new lifestyle the high segments brands get a whole new target group. The urban minimalist will save money in all areas of life by buying only what is actually required; by saving money he can buy good quality products.

When I started my research I did not expect that the role of fashion would actually be very evident in this lifestyle. But as demonstrated in previous chapters fashion does play a very essential role. In retrospect this should not be a surprise. Clothing is the most expressive and easy tool to reveal your personality. And with a new lifestyle comes a new approach towards fashion. The way you clothe yourself, your style, is something you have to think about every day for the rest of your life.

daily lives. They think that a brand can never contribute to someone’s happiness, can never contribute to your emotional state in any kind of way. It is imaginable how they feel about for example, Coca-cola “open happiness” marketing campaign. One of the questions regarding this subject in my interviews with minimalistic consumers was:

7. How would you like to be approached

4.2 Urban minimalism and marketing When creating a marketing strategy you start of by analyzing the external environmental factors. These include customer analysis, target market analysis, as well as evaluation of any technological, economic, cultural or environmental elements. We have already addressed these issues all through this thesis. But marketing is a true bottleneck for brands if they want to include the urban minimalist in their target group. The reason is minimalists don’t like marketing. Not at all. Marketing is one of the reasons why they have chosen this lifestyle. They want to limit the influence brands will have on their

by these brands and why?

I can state that 90% of the answers looked more or less like this: “None of the above. I used to be driven by advertising, especially magazine advertising, but now I buy what I need when I need it, not when the brand wants me to want it.” - Courtney Carver 2012, USA Salt Lake City “I prefer not to be approached by as much advertisement as possible, so I block adverts from my browser, and I do not watch TV for this reason.” -Jessica Dang 2012, Leeds, UK

“I prefer not to be contacted and decide for myself what I need and not that a commercial is telling me what I have to do.” -Lee Neville 2012, London, UK So in what way did the participants select the brands is their closets? In the survey I asked the participants this question: By which means did you select the brands that you own in your wardrobe? The answer always referred to brand qualities. Again quality and sustainability are key words. The minimalist makes conscious decisions when purchasing an item, a simple ad that says “our clothes are of good quality” won’t do. It has to be in the brand’s DNA and one of the core values. Because of the specific requirements we can speak of a niche market: “a subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing. So the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics”(Wikipedia) We can state that the urban minimalist does browse for information about brands in order to see one to his liking. The internet is the most accessible medium to use because of their possibility of providing a lot of information from different sources online such as user reviews.

So internet can work well as a marketing medium. However, here again urban minimalists don’t like marketing. They don’t like to be approached by brands in order to be seduced to buy their products. But still, they do buy clothes and go shopping as we have established in paragraph 3.1. So it is not in the marketing tool, but in de marketing what message they bring. If a brand meets up with the requirements the Urban Minimalist is looking for in a brand, displaying this in a simple way is enough. A basic message with the products qualities and the brands core values is key.

Quality and sustainability are necessities in the relationship between fashion brands and the minimalistic consumer

“Fashion is so close to revealing a person’s inner feelings and everybody seems to hate to lay claim to vanity so people tend to push it away. It’s really too close to the quick of the soul.” — Stella Blum

In this chapter I will elaborate on my final conclusion about the potential benefits of the minimalistic movement for the fashion industry. I will substantiate my opinion with the research results.

5.1 Overall conclusion The main question of my thesis was:

Can the fashion industry benefit from the minimalistic movement? And the answer to that question is YES. The minimalistic movement encourages people to buy with consciousness. Sustainable, good quality clothes are more important than swift trends or prices that fit your budget. It means the beginning of a shift in the target group that normally goes shopping in the low/middle segment towards the high segment. Instead of buying three jeans of € 40, minimalism stimulates to save that money and buy one good quality jeans of €120.

New target group The minimalistic movement makes it possible that in times of financial crisis, high end segment brands can attract a whole new target group besides their initial target group. Minimalism leads to self-conscious consumer behavior.This movement can actually increase rather than reduce the role of fashion for an individual. It makes people examine their consumer habits and reasons why they dress how they dress and how this supports them as an individual. It helps people to see what the underlying basic motives were that made them buy the clothes they own.

Minimalism brings awareness to the role of fashion in our life. Fashion isn’t a purely rational and functional thing. It is very personal and irrational. If we would all purely make our fashion choices based on rational decisions we would have no items in our closet’s with the tag still on. We would dress according to the weather (that means raincoats all year long). And we would primarily dress on the base of what is comfortable. You only have to look outside to see that this isn’t how fashion works for the majority of society. And advertisement agencies were only too glad to use our irrational shopping behavior to their advantage. Minimalism affects people on a functional, social and spiritual level. In order to find balance, a new, fresh state of mind and more relaxation in our lives people have been looking for means to move away from these irrational thoughts and the related excessive consumer behavior. It scares people that our mood, our happiness and our lives are controlled by what we own. Minimalism is the answer to this. It does not mean owning as little as possible. But owning only what you NEED.

Minimalism increases the importance of quality It means not thinking so much about the stuff around you all the time, and to focus instead on more important things in life, besides scoring that new gadget because everybody else has it. Or that pair of shoes you just need to buy because they are in a sale for 70% off. Instead you focus on the quality of what you do own and enjoy your fulfillment. It is about enjoying that pair of shoes that you love, that are handmade and showing style and quality. By eliminating purchases you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really need and buying items that last longer because they have better quality, you are financially in the position of buying in a higher segment. You can choose brands that produce in a sustainable way, that work with the best quality products and that benefit others besides you.

Self-conscious shopping Minimalism aims to eliminating emotions in our consumer behavior. If a brand meets the requirements of certain criteria like sustainability, it is possible that his brand may attract a whole new target group. A diverse target group with diverse budgets.

By thinking rationally about consumer behavior, better quality will be chosen spontaneously and naturally. In my opinion everyone will make these choices when thinking rationally about his consumer behavior. Just for us â&#x20AC;&#x153;regular consumersâ&#x20AC;? the priorities are different. You might have bought your last wardrobe item because you wanted to keep up with a certain trend, to feel better after a bad day, because you went on a shopping trip with a friend or because of that date next weekend and you wanted an ego boost by buying a new outfit. Now the question a minimalist will ask you is: Where did these motives come from? From you or external factors such as social pressure and advertisement? And the quality of life improve if you would eliminate these thoughts for good? I think Minimalism is a good news for the fashion industry and society.

Practical implications for brands For the fashion industry it means that brands can focus on better quality in all aspects of their brand. Their social role, their production methods and quality. I think that the Minimalism movement can connects us with ourselves, our environment and our brings out a more pure form of fashion that focusses on quality, sustainability without compromises.

New brand/customer relationships And it gives brands an opportunities to participate in this process which will lead to a strong brand/consumer relationship. A minimalistic consumer is looking for high quality, sustainable who value craftsmanship and their environment. Once they find these brands no advertisement, marketing tricks or any other pull factors are needed to create a strong brand relationship. Even pricing and market placement in unimportant. It creates a practical relationship of supply and demand that involves mostly around the brands product, not their market segment or brand reputation. This refreshing look gives the fashion industry a whole new perspective of what they are actually selling. Its the products who do most of the branding and marketing and not the brand. All low quality, quantity of quality fashions brands like H&M and Primark donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t benefit from the minimalistic movement. But brands that evolve around craftsmanship, quality and slow gain a huge benefit from this upcoming consumer group. It has created a whole new target group for them that were first ruled out because of high and low market segmentation. Minimalist with a budget that normally would restrict them to

low segment fashion, will save money and find a way to look for brands with those particular qualities they are looking for in a brand. They will go that extra mile for that particular brand, even if this is out of their budget range or travel a bit further to purchase an item. Minimalism offers new opportunities and a new perspective of consumerism and fashion for the fashion industry.

Minimalism brings the fashion industry the opportunitie to foucus more on:

Quality and sustainability This new consumer groups ensures a shift from the

low market segment to the high market segmant It pushes us to re-think what the role of fashion plays in our lives and it makes people focus on the

positive side of fashion in your daily life. 46

List of sources Books Danziger, Pamela. 2004.Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior. New edition. Kaplan Publishing. Strobel, Tammy. 2012.You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too. 3d edition. New World Library. Babauta, Leo.2012. The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential in Business and in Life. 2d edition. Hyperion. Fields Millburn, Joshua and Nicodemus, Ryan. 2011. Minimalism: live a meaningful life. First edition, Asymmetrical Press.

Online newspaper articles Silverman, Berry, 2009. 14 reasons why people buy things they don’t need. The examiner online. Retrieved on 25-11-2012. <Available at http://www.examiner.com/article/14reasons-why-people-buy-things-they-don-t-need> The UK Telegraph, 2009. Women spend nearly one year deciding what to wear. Telegraph online. Retrieved on 7-12-2012.Available at: < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ uknews/5783991/Women-spend-nearly-one-year-deciding-what-to-wear.html.> Minton Beddies, Zanny, 2012. The year of self-induced stagnation. Economist online. Original source: Printed edition of The World in 2012 print edition. Retrieved on: 11-032012. Available at:< http://www.economist.com/node/21537909>

Blogs Jenny, 2011. Consumerism-minimalism. The ex-consumer. 07-08-2011. Available at: < http://exconsumer.com/category/consumerism-minimalism/> Retrieved on:008-12-2012 Sheva, Roy, 2012. Ways to have the most minimalist lifestyle. The Gowns express. 1503-2012. Available at:< http://www.gownsexpress.com/blog/ways-to-have-the-mostminimalist-lifestyle.html> Retrieved on:12-11-2012 47

Selfin Ramirez, Naomi, 2010. Simple Living, living well with less. Times union. 24-08-2010. Available from:< http://blog.timesunion.com/simplerliving/defining-minimalism/25319/> Retrieved on: 28-11-2012

Online publication Antrepo Design Products, 2012. Minimalist effect in maximalist market. (Online) Antrepo Design Product Group. Available at: < http://www.a2591.com/> Retrieved on : 12-11-2012 A.O, 2012. why-brands are leaning towards minimalism.(Online) Golddustweb. Available at:< http://golddustweb.com/why-brands-are-leaning-towards-minimalism/> Retrieved on :23-11-2012 O,Brien, Barbara, 2011. Basis Buddhist teachings. (Online) About Busshism. Available at:< http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/greed.htm> Retrieved on : 25112012. Quoted on page 1.3.2 State of mind paragraph Foxal, R. Gordan, 14-02-2012. Accounting for consumer choice.(Online) Sagepub. Available at:< http://mtq.sagepub.com/content/10/4/315.full.pdf+html> Retrieved on: 28-2-2012

Websites CBS,2012. Dutch economy rates.(online) Date of entry: 27-02-2012. Available at:< http:// www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/cijfers/statline/zelf-tabellen-maken/default.htm> Retrieved on: 28-3-2012 Wikipedia,2012. Diogenes van Sinope.(online) Last updated:02-12-2012. Available at:< http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_van_Sinope> Retrieved on: 6-12-2012

1. Questionnaire minimalistic consumer profile. 2. Social and economic changes that contributed to the minimalistic movement.

1 questionnaire minimalistic consumer profile Questionnaire send to 21 different persons that have a website of blog about the minimalistic lifestyle, affection with this lifestyle or who have publicized work about the minimalistic lifestyle. Dearâ&#x20AC;Ś., My name is Janneke Dekker and I am a fashion student from the Netherlands at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. I am graduating this year and for my graduation thesis I have chosen to investigate the Minimalism movement. During my research I have found your inspiring website. You and many others stand for what this new movement is all about. For my thesis I am investigating the role of fashion in this movement. And you being one of the spokesmen of this new movement I would really appreciate your opinion on this matter. I would like to get a better perspective on the choices minimalists make regarding their clothes. What are the criteria behind your everyday outfits and what brands or stores do you prefer? In the attachment you will find a questionnaire about this topic. I hope you have a few spare minutes to answer it. I want to have as many minimalist opinions as possible, so if you know anyone else in your network that might be interested in this please feel free to forward this email so I can get more insight information to substantiated my thesis about this every growing community. If you are interested I will of course share the results of my thesis with you. Any information you will provide will be used for my thesis and educational purposes only. For more information about me please check my website www.jannekedekkerportfolio.nl or you can email me at this address. Thank you for your help! With kind regards, Janneke Dekker The minimalistic consumer By Janneke Dekker Jannekedekker914@hotmail.com www.jannekedekkerportfolio.nl

Graduation assignment AMFI Fashion & Management Mauritskade 11 1091 GC Amsterdam

Occasion for this questionnaire My name is Janneke Dekker and I am a fashion students from the Netherlands at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. I am graduating this year and for my graduation thesis I have chosen to investigate a movement in consumerism that is emerging in our society : minimalism. Not to be confused with the style minimalism but a new state of mind and desire to minimalize and simplify your life. Fuelled by the economic crisis this trend has been apparent over five years now, so it cannot be labeled as a contemporary trend but must be considered a serious movement that is worth to be investigated. Because how can you sell products to people that want to buy less? And how does this affect their fashion style and fashion choices? To investigate this argument I would like to ask your these few questions below. Please feel free to spread this email throughout the minimalistic consumer community. All information will be used discretely and for educational purposes only. If you would like more information about me, my thesis or the end results of my thesis please feel free to contact me at jannekedekker914@hotmail.com. I am looking forward to hear from you! With kind regards, Janneke Dekker

Questionnaire Name: Age: Country and region: Profession: 1. What is your connection with a minimalistic lifestyle? 2. What is the main motive to choose this kind of lifestyle? 3. How would you describe your wardrobe? 4. How do you see the role of fashion in your minimalistic lifestyle? 5. What criteria are of interest of you when you buy clothes? 6. Which brands do you prefer and why? 7. How would you like to be approached by these brands and why? (Example: social media, print advertisement, media advertisement) 8. By which means did you select the brands that you own in your wardrobe? 9. How often do you go shopping and where do you prefer to go shopping? (example: actual store/online/markets) 10. What future would you prefer for the fashion industry? Thank you for your time!

2 The social and economic movement that contributed to the minimalistic movement The financial crisis has made a remarkable impact on industry and our lives and this changed the way we look at consumer behavior. It is one of the elements that has caused minimalism to grow so rapidly over the past few years. In this chapter I will analyze the external social and economic changes and events that influenced the minimalistic movement. This analysis will be on the base of trends in retail, marketing, economic prospects and social movements. I will also include my research of a project of specialization Brands & Identity at AMFI in collaboration with DDB Sign banking . This company makes a social compass of our society on the base of social features all around us. But I will start off by addressing the concept of consummation in 2012. In terms of minimalism, consumers of 2012 are to some extent seen as slaves of the brands. People are tricked into buying more stuff and we can’t escape it. On the contrary, consuming is a necessity in our daily lives. But how is this concept changed so much for us that an enormous number of people all over the world has come to see it as a negative mechanism? As I see it is not just consumption on its own that has caused people to limit their purchases and to live a minimalistic lifestyle. It is about escaping the current situation of bankruptcy, debt and financial insecurity. But to prove this I asked myself these questions: on what do we base our choices of buying products and how does it affect our daily lives? And does it fiscally and mentally affect us or is this also just a marketing trick of brands? My inspiration for this question has been all the negative news about this subject. When capitalism 51

was at its peak around 2000 all the research was done on this subject and most of the outcome was very negative. I saw the movie “The greatest Movie ever Sold” by Morgan Spurlock. The movie was about product placement on television. It didn’t consider it a great movie but what triggered me was the part where he went to a neurologist who specialised in making movie trailers. A weird combination you might think. He tested movie trailers on people by looking at their brain activity. Lots of brain activity means that people would remember the movie and are more likely to go see it. He also used the same method on advertisement. Spurlock did a brain scan while watching ads about different products. After seeing an ad from Coca Cola a part in the brain was active that regulates dopamine, the hormone that gives us pleasure. So is this a bad thing? To feel better after having a Coca cola? After all the slogan of Coca cola is opening up happiness.

Economic changes It is almost impossible to watch the news, read the newspaper, or check your Twitter and Facebook account without seeing or reading something about this topic: the financial crisis. We could never have imaged 15 years ago that our European neighbors would be eating out of dumpsters that is happening now in Greece. Needless to say that this has had a big impact on everything in our daily lives. But what is the prospect of this crisis? We have little trust now in what banks, economists or governments say about this topic. Because they are the ones who missed all the signals of a crisis coming in the first place. So what can we say about the economy? A set of precautions are taken by governments to reduce further financial problems and inflation. But according to many economists such as Zanny Minton Beddoes working for The Economist (for more information about the Economist and Zanny Minton see appendix page..) these acts are not aimed to solve all problems. Because of the fear of job losses and decreasing markets the

governments of European countries are afraid to take harsh measurements. There is still no end in sight for the underlying problems of enormous debts in countries like Greece and Spain. For the majority of people the crisis has had a direct influence such as the loss of jobs and consequent financial problems. But also those who are not influenced by it directly cannot escape the side effects of the crisis. We are all shaken from the dream that everything will be alright. We are skeptic and more vigilant towards the authorities. We have learned from this crisis to think for ourselves. Do not trust the bank, don’t just blindly trust the government. Don’t just believe the golden promises, they got us into this mess. Now we think before we act. If we want a better life for us and the generations that follow we need to find better solutions, gain more knowledge and make better choices. We can make a difference (Yes we can!). So at our lowest point we finally see we can do more than we think. We see this change everywhere around us.

Social changes The crisis does not only affect us financially, it is also influencing the way we look at capitalism, our trust in the market and makes us all reconsider our lifestyle. Not only governments and businesses are reconsidering their current undertakings and objectives. People are also forced to reflect on their lifestyle. There is a universal feeling of disappointment and being fooled by banks and institutions. People who claimed to be trustworthy have proven to be the exact opposite. We are beginning to understand that limitless consumption is a way of living not without consequences. It seems we are finally following our own judgment. We see now that we can’t rely on others and that we can no longer blindly trust our superiors making the right choices. Knowledge and a skeptic attitude are the key words for consumers. Therefore it is not a

coincidence that brands with a no nonsense policy are doing very well. We do not like to be tricked or pushed into believing anymore. We don’t just take the info from a brand for granted and are bored with advertisements that sell us “lies”. Brand are reacting to this by communication to the consumer on a different level. So the postmodern marketing approach, where the strategy is aimed at influencing consumer behavior, is now better analysed by consumers than ever before. Brands that use simplicity in their marketing strategy are doing very well. Take Apple: no complicated advertisement, no complicated stories. Just user friendly products that do the job. What you see is what you get. Or H&M, simple advertisements with just their clothes and pleasant music. Brands communicate the values they created for their products, a simple value that was the motive for establishing the brand. This can be anything: happiness, creativity, style, you name it. In Apple’s case: think different. Or in other words, be creative and be yourself. Mac can ensure you can be all of those. Of for H&M: being high fashion. They give the feeling of and communicate the values of high fashion by their advertisement and collaborations with high end designers. Another very important factor that changed our lives if the way we communicate. We have the whole world at our display by pushing a button. Everyone is connected to the network of social media and social media are connected with everything. News had limiting borders such as local media, countries and time zones. Now all those borders have disappeared. News that interests people is now shared within several hours by Twitter and Facebook. Trending topics and vitals appear from all over the world and are shared with the world. This fast communication leads of course to many different outcomes. Fast communication about brands, faster feedback from customers, more word of mouth. Many 52

companies have already adjusted their marketing strategy to this new channel in marketing. We also see a side effect of this movement in consumer behavior in terms of more online activity. According to a research done by www.trendwatching.com eight out of ten consumers do orientate themselves online before buying a product. And 70% of smartphone owners use their mobile during shopping to look for information about the products or store. For the fashion industry this means that people go online before shopping. They compare prices, look for sales and compare the collections. The monopoly on prices is declining. According to an recent published article from The New York Times from March 27th consumers are so used to sales and discounts and finding a better bargain that they are only impressed if they see a 40% off sign. Side effect in consumer behavior: minimalism. All these new elements in our lives have sparked off the minimalistic movement. People wanted to simplify. As the unlimited money and the abundance of the 90’s disappeared, a new lifestyle took its place. Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange did a survey about this subject: 70% admire people who life a simple lifestyle (RSCG Customer survey 2010). This means debt free, minimal purchases. It shows intelligence, intellect and power to live a life that is fuller but with less goods. Even psychologists say that our current consumer behavior makes us unhappy. According to professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University said that the key reason was that we keep comparing ourselves with others. The so calls “keeping up with the Jones” syndrome. And as we all know, there is always someone who is better off than you in this world, which leads to un-satisfaction no matter how much you buy. People are also aware of this. So on the one hand you have the “keeping up with the Jones” syndrome, and on the other hand we 53

have neurologists showing us that clever marketing strategies make us buy Coca Cola. This is where I place the urban minimalist: an individual who would like to have the best of both worlds. To have a job, live in the city, enjoy life through traveling, relationships, food and culture, while combining it with a minimalistic lifestyle. (I will further explain this sub movement within the minimalistic movement in the next paragraph page…) So it is someone who still might feel happy after a Coco Cola, but who considers his purchase with care and who has the desire to gain happiness through something else than buying products. Someone who has analyzed his lifestyle and who gives consuming a different role in his life. This lifestyle is much more accessible than other and previous forms of minimalistic lifetsyle. Communities of people leading a sober lifestyle have always been present. Think about the Amish lifestyle, or one of the first true minimalists, Diogenes of Sinope. (Corinthe, 323 B.C.) A famous philosopher form the school of cynics who believed that owing totally nothing could lead to ultimate happiness. The minimalistic lifestyle also has many parallels with some religious believes such as Buddhism. If you read one of Buddha’s famous stories hee below you will quickly understand why. Releasing the Cows “One day the Buddha was sitting in the wood with thirty or forty monks. They had an excellent lunch and they were enjoying the company of each other. There was a farmer passing by and the farmer was very unhappy. He asked the Buddha and the monks whether they had seen his cows passing by. The Buddha said they had not seen any cows passing by. The farmer said, “Monks, I’m so unhappy. I have twelve cows and I don’t know why they all ran away. I have also a few acres of a sesame seed plantation and the insects have eaten up everything. I suffer so much I think I am going to kill myself.

The Buddha said, “My friend, we have not seen any cows passing by here. You might like to look for them in the other direction.” So the farmer thanked him and ran away, and the Buddha turned to his monks and said, “My dear friends, you are the happiest people in the world. You don’t have any cows to lose. If you have too many cows to take care of, you will be very busy. “That is why, in order to be happy, you have to learn the art of cow releasing (laughter). You release the cows one by one. In the beginning you thought that those cows were essential to your happiness, and you tried to get more and more cows. But now you realize that cows are not really conditions for your happiness; they constitute an obstacle for your happiness. That is why you are determined to release your cows.” Buddha, told by Master Thich Nhat Hanh Without getting into Buddhism too much, it is well know that in order to reach the ultimate state of happiness (Nirvana) you must release yourself from all fear, all sadness and attachment to your possessions. The art of “cow releasing”. We can state that minimalism is an ideology adopted and modified to our current society from the original teachings of Buddha. Barbara O’Brien, a student of the Zen Mountain Monastery summarizes it perfectly. “Certainly, Buddhism does not teach that there is anything wrong with working to earn money and purchase goods. Monastics give up material possession, but laypeople do not. The challenge is to live in a material culture without getting snared by it.” Barbara O’Brien, student of Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper.

because they choose this lifestyle for the same reason: to find balance and happiness in life. However Diogenes completely relied on society to maintain him with the little products he still needed like bread and a rain barrel to sleep in as he refused to work. Other sub movements exist like “the tinny house people” and the “Environmental Minimalist” who have different motives for a minimalistic lifestyle. I will address these motives in the next paragraph. But the reason that Minimalism has become an accessible lifestyle and a growing movement is because of a combination of: -New economic situation Because of the financial crisis the endless possibilities in careers, education and an uncertain financial status has forced the consumer to gain security, entertainment and satisfaction from other areas in live than consuming. -The awareness of brands and advertisement in our lives Because of this new awareness in our consumer behavior we have realized just how big the role of consuming was in our daily lives. A critical consideration followed about how we want brands and advertisement to influence our daily lives. -New technological communication possibilities Through new communication possibilities such as social media and blogs people can share their lifestyle much easier with the rest of the world. Blogs and websites about this matter are now available for everyone. This leads to enormous numbers of blogs by people all over the world sharing their thoughts and tips about leading a minimalistic lifestyle. This has contributed to this trend developing into a global movement.

Diogenes is mostly related to current minimalists 54

Janneke Dekker Amsterdam Fashion Institute Fashion & Management Email:dekkerg2@hva.nl Phone:0627623531 Studentnumber:500533443 Date of delivery: 15-05-2013

Table of content Research proposal page 1-2 Executive summery page 3-5 End product concept page 6

Research proposal

Relevance to the fashion industry

A movement in consumerism is merging into our society: Minimalism. Not to be confused with the style minimalism but a new state of mind and a desire to minimalize and simplify oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. Fuelled by the economic crisis this trend has been seen over 5 years now, so it must not be labeled as a contemporary trend but as a serious movement that is worthy to be investigated. Because how can one sell products to persons who wants to buy less? And how does this affect their fashion style and fashion choices?

All industries are going through a tough time right now. Consumers trust in de market is very low and the financial crisis is tangible in all markets, in the fashion industry as well. At first you might think that consumers that want to limit their purchases will not be of any help for this problem. But high end fashion brands can actually benefit from the increasing number of Minimalistic consumers.

Main question Can the fashion industry benefit from the Minimalistic movement?

Sub questions -What is Minimalism? -Why is it a global movement ? -On what do we base our choices of buying products and how does it affect our daily lives? -What social and economic movement has contributed to the Minimalistic movement? -What role does fashion play in a Minimalistic consumers life? -How do the Minimalistic consumers choose their wardrobe items and with what criteria? -What kind of fashion brands can benefit from this movements?

Personal motivation for this subject If I look at myself, my friends and society I see that a lot of us want to change. We are all looking for a sense of peace in ourselves and we are looking for it in all kind of aspects in our lives. Our food, our holidays, our clothes. A movement that is connected to this feeling is Minimalism. It seems that for a long time our happiness was measured to what type of car you drove and which brand of clothing you wore. Of course this is still relevant for a lot of people, but I also see a large group around me in all 1

layers of society that reject this state of mind. I am curious to know how brands can join this movement without having to compromise on their profit.

Research strategy I want to start off with doing a lot of desk and field research, without looking too much to existing sources about minimalism but finding out for myself what I know of this movement in my environment. For my specialization Brands & Identity we collaborated with DDB sign banking, a mayor international trend research and advertisement agency.

-New Consumer study by Havas Worldwide and fielded by Market Probe International in 2011.

Product proposal As a product proposal I want to write an article about the opportunities for branding from this new emerging lifestyle. By showing them the role of fashion within this lifestyle and the new focus points of minimalistic consumers I want to convince brands to act on this new lifestyle and see this as an opportunity to attract a new target group.

I had several classes in trend research and have done a trend research so I have a certain experience with this area. In this respect it will be mostly field research. After I have completed this I will do extensive desk research into the origin of this movement, the motivation and the social changes that led to this movement, and what kind of platform this movement has. The psychological and the social motives behind this movements will be examined by me as well.

References -The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential in Business and in Life (Hyperion, December 30,2008) by Leo Babauta -Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life (Asymmetrical Press, 2011) by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus -Why People Buy Things They Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Kaplan Publishing, July 1, 2004) by Pamela Danziger 2

Executive summery For my graduation project I decided to examine Minimalism, a new emerging lifestyle. A minimalist is a person that wants to minimalize his consumer behavior. He or she can be defined as a person who wants to stop the circle of wanting more and more in order to feel fulfillment or success. The goal is to simplify life in order to gain more from it. A minimalist is the exact opposite of a materialist. The core values of minimalism are the following: - Collect only those articles that you actually need i.e. the basic goods you need to live a comfortable life without buying items based on emotions. Shopping should be 100% rational. - Try to live free of debt and only buy goods when you can actually afford it. - Do not focus on comparing yourself with others through materialism. - Do not get emotionally attached to possessions. They are products and they do not influence your emotional wellbeing. - Choose quality over quantity - Focus on yourself, your environment and the wellbeing of others instead of the material aspects of life. All industries are going through a tough time right now. Consumer trust is very low and the financial crisis is tangible in all markets, and affects the fashion industry as well. A new emerging lifestyle where it comes to limiting your purchases would seem the last thing the fashion industry needs at this point. But this

movement can actually be beneficial for some segments in the fashion industry and even bring the possibility to attract a whole new target group. My Main question therefore will be: Can the fashion industry benefit from the Minimalistic movement? In order to answer this question I started off by look by answering these sub questions: -What is Minimalism? -Why is it a global movement ? -What Social and economic movement has contributed to the Minimalistic movement? -How do Minimalistic consumers differentiate with regular consumers? -What role does fashion play in a Minimalistic consumers life? -How does the Minimalistic consumers chose their wardrobe items and with what criteria?

Research methods Sub question: what is Minimalism? I will illustrate the minimalistic movement by definitions from spokesmen for the Minimalistic movement. As a reference I used the book Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life (Asymmetrical Press, 2011) from Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Sub question: Why is it a global movement ? 3

The vast number of online communities, books and social media illustrate the magnitude of the global platform for this movement. Moreover the results of the New Consumer study created by Havas Worldwide and fielded by Market Probe International in 2011 will show the changes in global consumer behavior that are indicative for the growth of the Minimalistic movement. Sub question: What social and economic movement has contributed to the Minimalistic movement? By trend research, market research and consumer trend research I have created a social timeframe. Sub question: How do Minimalistic consumers differ from regular consumers? In order to indicate the difference between a Minimalistic consumer and a “regular consumer” I have used Pamela Danziger, 14 purchase justifiers from her book: Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Kaplan Publishing, July 1, 2004) Sub question: What role does fashion play in a Minimalistic consumers life? For the analysis of the role that fashion plays for the minimalist consumer I consulted diverse sources: I held several interviews with Minimalistic bloggers; I gathered information from online essays about Minimalism and fashion bloggers, newsletters and by the book The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essentiam.in Business and in

Life (Hyperion, December 30, 2008) from Leo Babauta.

Main results Minimalism is a lifestyle that focuses on minimalizing your consumer behavior to what your actual needs are to find balance in life. According to Leo Babauta, founder of ZenHabits.com (a platform for the Minimalistic lifestyle) it is:

“Minimalism is a rejection of the idea of ‘more is better,’ of consumption as a lifestyle, of excess. It’s paring your life to the essentials, whether that be possessions, tasks, projects or anything you allow in your life. That’s different for every person.”( ZenHabits.com) A minimalistic consumer believes in the joy of living and knows in general that products can make your life easier. But he does not believe that buying products can reduce stress or give pleasure and relaxation. By focusing on being emotionally happy and stress-free without the use of physical items (except for educational items like books) you can reach a well-balanced state of mind that does not depend on what items you possess. The minimalistic lifestyle has a broad platform worldwide with many channels: over 2.300.000 minimalistic lifestyle blogs and 729 books on Amazon alone. A famous minimalistic spokesman such as Joshua Becker has 8283 followers on Twitter, 15.169 likes on Facebook and 15.575 conversations about him on Facebook. His story has been seen on the CBS Evening News, NPR, and countless media 4

interviews all over the world. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, founders of the website www.theminimalist.com have 8462 followers on Twitter and over 100,000 monthly readers. They have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CBS, FOX, NBC, NPR, CBC Radio, and Zen Habits. Because of the financial crisis more and more consumers long for security, they seek entertainment and satisfaction from other areas in life than consuming. This new awareness in our consumer behavior has made us conscious of the role consumerism as well as brand and marketing has in this current society and what side effects this brings about. A critical consideration of how we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want brands and advertisement to influence our state of mind followed. By using new communication possibilities such as social media and blogs people can share their lifestyle much easier with the rest of the world. This has contributed to the development of this trend into a global movement.

performance can benefit from the increasing number of Minimalistic consumers. The Minimalistic movement stimulates to buy with consciousness. It causes a shift in the target group that normally goes shopping in the low/ middle segment towards the high segment. The minimalistic movement makes it possible that in times of a financial crisis, high end segment brands can attracts a whole new target group besides their original target group.

End product concept concept For my end product I want to focus on how to approach the Urban Minimalist. For my thesis to be of practical value for brands I will explain how to approach the minimalistic consumer in the form of an article. The content of the article will be: -What is urban minimalism? -What does it mean to be a urban minimalist in terms of fashion? -How can brands benefit from this rapidly growing movement in consumer behavior?

Mission To create awareness in the fashion industry of the potential benefit of attracting the urban minimalist. Sustainability, craftsmanship an social involvement of brands is key when it comes to attracting the urban minimalist. And these qualities should be, in my opinion, more promoted and supported in the fashion industry.

Vision To encourage brands to focus more on the qualities listed above: sustainability, craftsmanship an social involvement. The focus point of a large group of consumers is shifting and brands can actually benefit from this movement.

-How can brands approach this new target group?

What? An article with an outlining of the minimalistic movement and the potential benefits for the fashion industry.

Why? To create from my research on the minimalistic lifestyle something of practical use for brands.

For who? Fashion magazines like Linked, Vogue, Elle or any other fashion magazine with marketing and trends content. 6