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Who are the Fashionistas on a budget?
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Fashionistas on a budget are a group of fashion focused young people, found in the center of urban cities. They are at the heart of social change and innovation, and are always looking for new products and experiences - something which forces brands to up their game in all aspects. Fashionistas on a budget use garments as a way of projecting their personality, individuality and social status.
Fashionistas on a budget dream of big brands and high quality garments, but don’t have the fnancial capacity to do so, with most of them still living at home, or trying to afford extortionate rent in the big cities - so instead, they seek lower cost products that have a strong brand message and are of good quality. They may be seen splashing out on a luxury item if they believe it is truly worth it, and this will become their stable wardrobe item. This consumer segment is technology and social media savvy and require brand engagement on all platforms in order to make their purchasing decisions - the more connection they have with a brand the more likely they are to purchase their products. Despite having a love for E-commerce and social media shopping, Fashionistas on a budget still need in-store engagement, and experiences provided from a brand.
Fig.1 Instagram, 2019
Name: Louisa Age: 23 Location: South London Occupation: Showroom Manager at a PR Agency Salary: £23,000 p/a
Family Background: Louisa comes from a middle class family who live in Brighton. She moved to London to complete a degree in Fashion Communications. Her parents are both in the creative industry, and she has two younger siblings who are pursuing art and drama.
Current Living Situation: Louisa is currently renting a house in South London with a few of her friends. She splits her time between her home, and staying at her partner’s house, who is also in the same living situation; they plan to move in together in the next year or so.
Future Aspirations: Louisa wants to work her way up in the company that she is in, and within the next decade become their head of PR. She hopes to have the opportunity to travel extensively, both with her partner and with work. In the distance future, she hopes to have two children and bring them up in the city.
Personality: Louisa is a fun loving, bubbly character. Louisa is highly ambitious, and persistently works hard to achieve the best. She politically active and cares a lot about the environment and sustainability; she often uses social media to discuss political and environmental affairs.
Interests & Hobbies: On her days off, Louisa likes to spend time with family and friends. She likes to go out for a meal or a drink at the pub with friends in the evenings. At home, Louisa enjoys watching box-sets or flms with her partner and getting a takeaway. She enjoys scrolling through social media sights, such as pinterest and instagram. She does yoga at home in the evenings.
Personal Style: Louisa has always sought to remain on trend, so regularly updates elements on her wardrobe to keep up with the changing fashion environment. She owns a few more expensive staples items, cashmere jumper, a warm winter coat, perfect ftting pair of jeans and some trainers. Her go-to look would be jeans, a cropped top or jumper, some Nike trainers and an overcoat.
Shopping behaviour: Due to the high cost of rent in London, Louisa’s spending priorities go towards making rent and groceries, as well as travelling to a from work, as she doesn’t drive. Due to this Louisa likes hunting out bargains and deals on trendy items. She spends time searching through charity and vintage shops on the weekends, but also participates in online shopping on shops like Asos and Missguided.
Family Background: Mei comes from a big family in Shanghai, where extended family are just as close as her direct family. Her mother has retired and cares for the family home, while her father works in computing and IT, a fast growing segment. Her family have worked their way up the social scale, and now have a comfortable living.
Current Living situation: Mei currently lives on campus at her university, which is based in her home city, not too far away from home. She will usually stay at home (in her parents house) on the weekends. She is not planning on moving out until she fnds a partner.
Future Aspirations: Mei wishes to complete her degree to a high standard, before leading a in art teaching at a senior secondary school. Mei hopes to fall in love and have a happy family of her own in the future and stay living near her family.
Interests & Hobbies: Mei loves to get online and interact with her current friends and fnding new friends online. She spends a lot of her free time scrolling through wechat and seeing what Key Opinion Leaders have to say about the latest trends and events. She enjoys going out for meals to try new foods, spending time with friends and family and keeping ft - participating in sports at her university and in her own time.
Personal Style: Despite not being able to afford many luxury items, she owns a few big brands which were gifted to her by her family. Mei enjoys wearing these brands, as she feels it gives her more status, and will help her become popular. Mei will usually wear one staple branded item, coupled with streetwear style.
Shopping behaviour: Going out and socially shopping with family and friends is important to Mei, and she values their opinions on what she wears. Due to the fact that she is living under the fnancial support from her parents, Mei can her own spend money on trendy products and clothing, though her budget does not allow for luxury items. Mei is an impulse buyer who will often buy a product the day that she sees it, but she looks for cool trends and new brands on social media, usually through the recommendations of KOLs
Fig.2 Instagram, 2019
Name: Mei Age: 19 Location: ShangHai Occupation: University Student (Education) and a part time job at her university campus Income: 1,500 Yuan p/m
Fig.3 Hofstede cultural dimernsions(1973)
VALS Framework UK
Fashionistas on a budget fall into the categories of Activators, Seekers and could also be linked to Pragmatic Aspriationals. Activators are interested in innovation, new ideas and products, and hold a strong sense of personal identities. Seekers are interested in individuality, self discovery and sociability. Pragmatic Aspriationalists follow their peer group and what is liked by the crowd, their motivation leads towards self expression
VALS Framework China
Fashionistas on a budget ft into the trendy achievers, pacesetters and experiencers. Trendy achievers hold a desire to be seen as successful and worthy of admiration. Pacesetters wish to be seen as important by their peers and outsiders. Experiencers seek innovation in terms of their careers and areas of interest.
Demographics & Economic UK
Fashionistas on a budget make up
20%
of the UKs population
Fashionistas on a budget in the UK are between the ages of 20-34
Fashionistas on a budget are located in the UKs big cities; London, Manchester, Edinburgh (ONS, 2019)
Fashionistas on a budget are the leading fashion buyers in the UK. Only 13% dont make a purchase in a 6 month period (Mintel, 2019) Fashionistas on a budget belong to group C1&C2 of the NRS social grading system in the UK Fashionistas on a budget
belong to: Urban adversities, comfortable communities and fnancially
strechted in the ACORN classifcation guide. Fashionistas on a budget have a high level of education - 49% of UK students graduating with a 2:1 in 2017 (BBC, 2018)
20.6% of all sales made in the UK (2018) were made online. Mobile purchases are also on the rise. (Santander Trade 2019)
Within the UK fashion market, clothing and accessories account for 84.8% of sales, where as footwear only accounts for 15.2% of sales (Mintel 2019).
The average salary for fashionistas on a budget is £23,700 p/a, which is spent mainly on housing, transport and going in to savings (The Independent, 2018)
Demographics China
Fashionistas on a budget with in China are in the 14-24 age bracket, making up around 12.32% of the population (Indexmundi, 2019)
62% of fashionistas on a budget are only children (Mintel, 2018)
Fashionistas on a budget are part of the growing middle class in China, heading for an affuent future. (Atsmon et al, 2012).
The average income is 1,973 RMB for older fashionistas on a budget, and 623 RMB for younger fashionistas on a budget (p/m) (Mintel, 2019)
Around 608,000 chinese students chose to study abroad in 2017 (Ministry of Education,2018)
Despite the growth in the Chinese luxury market, there are only 6.7 million consumers from the 90s with in that market. (Mintel,2018)
Around 16% of fashionistas on a budget are currently enrolled in higher education and around 21% are enrolled in secondary education (China statistical yearbook 2017)
The typical fashionista on a budget in China receives pocket money from their parents, due to the fact their still in education.
Consumer Lifestyle UK
Living Arrangements
Fig.5 UK living situation, ONS & NUS (2016 &2019)
Education & Occupation
Many fashionistas on a budget in the UK are unable to afford to move out of home after university due to student loan debt and low paying jobs. This means many fashionistas on a budget end up moving back into their family home or renting a place. Of the renters, the majority will rent by themselves or with their partner, whilst others may rent with friends.
Fig.6 University Degrees (Universities uk, 2016) fg.7 Employment after graduate (Universities UK,2016)
45% of adults in the UK attended university - with 17 million of these people graduating (Santander Trade,2019). The most common degrees studied in our age bracket were Business, Health Allied Subjects, Biological sciences and social studies (Universities UK, 2016)
Fashionistas on a budget will typically go into a full time job after graduating university (Universities UK, 2016). The majority of fashionistas on a budget are seen working in retail, accommodation and food service, health & social work or education. (Parliament, 2017)
Free Time Activites
fg.8 Out of home activities (Mintel, 2019)
Fashionistas on a budget place a dependency on family and friends, and feel it is important to maintain these relationships - the most common activities of fashionistas on a budget usually revolves around them. The most common at home activities for Fashionistas on a budget are ‘Hometainment’, having a takeaway with friends and family or completing a ftness activity. The most common out of home activities are going out for a meal, a drink, going to the cinema or to the theatre. (Mintel, 2019)
Consumer Lifestyle China
Living Arrangements
fg.10 University Living Arragments (Mintel, 2019) fg.11 School Living Arragments (Mintel, 2019)
Chinese fashionistas on a budget come from a collectivist culture, placing high importance on family values and opinions (Mckinsey, 2016). Fashionistas on a budget are likely to stay in their hometown for university (48%). Although Fashionistas on a budget do tend to stay at their university campus, many return home on the weekends. (Mintel, 2019). Younger fashionistas on a budget live at home with their parents in boarding schools or have other living situations (Mintel, 2018).
Education & Occupation Free Time Activites
fg.12 No. of students enrolling vs graduating (China Statiscal Year Book, 2017) fg.13 Income of fashionistas on a budget (Mintel, 2019)
Most fashionistas on a budget are reliant on their parents for money; however Female university students are more likely to be fnancially independent, having a part time job on campus or internship (Mintel, 2019). The most popular subject studied in china are business administration, international trade, clinical medicine, computer sciences & chinese language and literature. (At China, 2010)
fg.14 Out of home activities (Mintel,2018)
Fashionistas on a budget enjoy participating in sport and value leading a healthy lifestyle - with the majority of fashionistas on a budget claiming to be ‘sporty’ - value leading a healthy lifestyle. (Mintel, 2018). They are sociable and enjoy spending time with friends and family, which is downt to their collectivist culture. Fashionistas on a budget value a happy family over being wealthy but also very work focused with many fashionistas on a budget spending their spare time studying or learning a subject outside of their course (Mintel, 2017).
fg.15 At home activities (Mintel, 2017)
71%
of fashionistas on a budget use YouTube.
80%
of fashionistas on a budget use facebook. Fashionistas on a budget make up 42.5%
of all we chat users. Fashionistas on a budget make up 30%*
of all QQ users.
39 Million Mobile Social Media Users 700 Million Mobile Social Media Users
59%
of fashionistas on a budget use Instagram
42%
Fashionistas on a budget make up
of fashionistas on a budget use Twitter.
45%*
of all Weibo users. Fashionistas on a budget make up 24.16%
of all Weibo users.
Fashionistas on a budget make up 46% of the social media audience. 86% of fashionista’s on a budget use their smartphone to access social media.Fashionistas on a budget most commonly use FaceBook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and snapchat and make up the largest proportion of Facebook and Instagram users (Mintel, 2019). They are more likely to go for brands who use infuencers and social media than those who don’t. (Mintel, 2019) 86% of fashionista’s on a budget use their smartphone to access social media.
Fashionistas on a budget are social media savvy, using apps such as Wechat, Weibo, Douyin and QQ to communicate with friends online, search for trends and to make purchases (Hicom-asia, 2019). Fashionistas on a budget are reliant on KOL’s* when deciding which brands to buy and what is on trend; brands who have collaborated with KOL’s are often more successful (Mckinsey, 2019). * KOL’s - Key Opinion Leaders *These are approximate percentages.
