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Overview.
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Communication in our Industry Today.
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What is ‘Innovational Division’?
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From Reflection, to Plan.
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Bibliography.
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Overview.
Over the course of the previous year, we as individuals have been consumed by change and spat back out into a completely different way of going about our day to day lives. Sent into spiral courtesy of the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, not only have alterations come into play within our individual everyday situations, but the industries of which we as consumers engage with have undergone a huge systemic reconstruction. This includes our own fashion industry, and the way of which we as creatives are having to appropriate our communication methods in accordance with these changes, ensuring the importance on keeping current lest falter. For me, being able to appropriately communicate something is one of the best skills you can have – and that is applied to settings within the entirety of life. Now, more so than ever, the conditions which we find to have engulfed us have perpetuated this small fact further than ever. Separation, in this current climate, is ironically what ties us together, and along with that comes the need for an updated and refreshed outlook on what our industry means.
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Communication in Our Industry Today. Communication is what I would happily deem a backbone to the fashion industry – any industry for that matter. “Fashion communication is important for creating a unique brand identity. It helps brands to gather maximum visibility and attract more customers.” (Delhi, 2021), it really is what connects consumer to brand, and how labels create a sense of loyalty and reputation for themselves – therefore its vital to a brands DNA to be consistently current.
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The way designers have been thrown into limbo over the last few months has really released a new sense and idea of creative communication, going through ways which have been, “… redefining our ideas of consumption and revolutionising our long term goals and their impact on the planet.” (Reid, 2020). Some of these refreshed methods have included “the way designers have found innovative ways to present collections URL: the paper dolls JW Anderson showed from his desk, Jeremy Scott’s marionettes at Moschino… and GCDS’ off-world video runway feat virtual sims.” (Reid, 2020), as put by fashion journalist George Serventi in interview. More notably, many of these listed by Serventi are created physically, or influenced through pre-existing concepts, communicated through an art lens which is what is represented to be protected within the borders of Tradtection, one of my micro-trends of which protection for tradition is key (this will be explained in more detail shortly). Take Loewe’s AW21 presentation for example, “I was trying to work on any media that was not digital, and which was going to take the show to a mass audience,” explained Anderson. “Now, if you pick up a newspaper somewhere – well, even if you don’t want it, you’re getting it.” (Singer, 2021). I believe that the newer ideas of contemporary communication methods are less reflective of the retrospective market level of a brand and is more of a display of a brands identity and of the creative minds behind them. This does emphasise the materialisation of blurring lines within industry creativity and hierarchy, as it is essentially a freedom from the previous constraints implemented by runway shows. Gaming is also a huge current favourite within fashion, something essentially less on the traditional side, communicating through games like Animal Crossing, Fortnight collaborations and even down to Balenciaga showing their Fall 21 collection through the medium of a dedicated video game.
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What is ‘Innovational Division’? and who is it for?
For this project, I will be taking my trend forecast and looking to communicate it, suited for its consumer in 2030. Looking at what is happening now, helps to further perpetuate the meanings and messages behind my trend. For more background, the trend forecast that I curated for 2030 followed the idea of an industry divided due to differing values based on developed concepts within innovation and tradition. From my research, I found it incredibly difficult to be able to visualise an industry where all involved would hold close to themselves the same opinions and feelings as one another.
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Today in 2021, we can see an abundance of differing mental processes within consumers of our fashion industry. These constant, and progressive changes are what will lead to “Innovational Division”, a 2030 vision. When broaching the subject of technology, “The perceived threats include job security, creativity, and loss of the “human touch” in fashion design and garment-making. The opportunities span time and cost savings, vast and swift sustainability gains (including removing textile waste and reducing the need for dyeing, water use and the carbon emissions generated by physical sampling) and the ability to manufacture small quantities of products profitably.” (Roberts-Islam, 2020). Innovational Division has no specific market that it affects – it will be an industry-wide situation. Consumers will be split all over the board, and it will be reflective of their values rather than their disposable income.
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Tradtection.
‘Tradtection’ was one half of my forecast, associated with its counterpart ‘Interconnectiveness in an Off Switch’. This is for the individuals who can see the importance in the physicality’s on offer from our industry, such as the beauty of hand-crafted items of physically existing clothing, the ability of social engagement, and the opportunity to sustainably undertake repairs on capsule and well-loved pieces to name a few examples. Its name comes from the combining of its key concepts, protection, and tradition. Sustainability, rationing, crafts and heritage are some of its core values that will sit well with its consumer. Myself and Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia appear to share this same vision of the future, him having “aimed to create pieces that he thought represented the future of clothing, where "nature and youth co-exist" to offer garments that can be repurposed and last forever.” (Hitti, 2020) for the AW21 show, presented in a video game format. This importance of balance between digital and reality conveyed through the end screen of the presentation, giving the viewer breathing exercises – a sense of grounding one’s self.
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The consumer for this micro trend I predicted to be a mixture of such. A lot of it will ride on what pre-existing values the consumer has, for example plenty of Gen Z’ers will choose to get involved as the sustainable sense of repurposing and reselling clothing is already a huge hit set to grow, “…with more than 26 million buyers and sellers on its platform (more than 90 percent of whom are Gen Z).” (Roshitsh, 2021). This idea of the Depop resale model continuing to progress has been predicted, “…as thredUP’s 2020 report revealed, the secondhand market is set to hit $64billion in the next five years, ultimately outpacing fast fashion by 2029 – and it’s Gen Z and millennials who are adopting secondhand faster than any other age group.” (Benson, 2021). Consciousness within shopping shows the awareness amongst consumers about unethical industry practices, such as the unfair treatment of workers within the fast fashion industry. The growth of second-hand buying also proves a strong, physical competitor to the growing popularity of digital fashion, especially in this concept of 2030.
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Along with this idea of a more conscious consumer, comes the aspect of “greenwashing”. Greenwashing is an ethical issue within the industry, defined by ethicalconsumer.org as “Greenwashing is used to describe the practice of companies launching adverts, campaigns, products etc. under the pretence that they are environmentally beneficial, often in contradiction to their environmental and sustainability record in general.” (Kerrison, 2020). This is something which would be combatted by Tradtection mindsets, of buying less but buying items of clothing with a clearer narrative behind them.
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Over in the opposing corner, we have “An Answer from a Blue Buzzing Screen”, which is accompanied by “Lost Souls of Dystopia”. The latter part of each trend works to provide consumer insight. This micro-trend is the theoretical child of innovation. Through looking into developmental innovations set to infiltrate our industry, I realised that there would inevitably be a time where technology will move too far ahead – perhaps more so than what we as emotion-embracing humans are ready for. These notions of future-facing developments consist of ideas such as digital fashion houses, deeper involvement of fashion within gaming and for technological fabric creation. Everything which is digitally innovative is encouraged here.
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innovational division : balance to bliss I took a deep look at the Alpha generation, looking at how their current reliance on technology is going to shape them later in life, and not for the better emotionally. According to domain.me, “only 2% of Gen Alpha kids are not using any type of technology” (Ostojic, 2019), and that technology is extensively used in the context of babysitting. It is notable that these statistics were prepandemic, so technology engagement can be assumed to have risen. With no emphasis on balance, and extensive tech use, from my research I predicted that the understanding of emojis and showing emotion through avatars would create a numbness amongst 2030 youth, missing out on social skills and emitting a sense of absent presence, despite the level of predictable knowledge of things learnt from YouTube and similar sharing sites.
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From Reflection, To Plan. Reflecting onto my trend forecast work, it was at the time and remains evident to me that the subject of it cannot simply apply to just one market level or group of consumers. Consumers can hold different values to themselves in importance – this is essentially, their right. But every consumer holds weight and are just as important as each other within the market level hierarchy. This idea of differing values can be deemed the foundation of which the entity known to be Innovational Division is built upon, as it in its core is a divide. When it came down to having to make a final decision as to which aspect of my trend I would move forward, I decided to communicate the contrasting sides in its entirety. Innovational Division for me, is a contrasted story within its context, and the bricks and cement that metaphorically come to create it are ‘Tradtection’ and ‘An Answer from a Blue Buzzing Screen’. Because of this, I have concluded that creating consumer-inclusive content, which engages with both digital and traditional anecdotes to appropriately reach and suit the 2030 consumer. Creating fool-proof, visually conceptual & avant-garde, emotion eevoking content, which when presented, audiences of the future can take what resonates. Inspired by brands such as A Better Mistake in their approach to conveying consumer freedom to use their clothing to represent themselves, instead of having the clothing represent them. It will serve as a warning message for the 2030 audience. Showing the blindness behind tech obsessions, ignorant to the world surrounding them and to the lack of physical identity holding any substance beyond pixels on a screen.
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Bibliography. References Benson, S. (2021). If Gen Z killed fast fashion, why is fast fashion still booming?. from https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/51797/1/gen-z-millennial-sustainabilityfast-fashion-thrifting-depop-boohoo-missguided Delhi, L. (2021). Importance of Fashion Communication in the Fashion Industry Lisaa Delhi. from https://www.lisaadelhi.com/importance-of-fashion-communication-infashion-industry/ Hitti, N. (2020). Balenciaga’s Afterworld video game takes players to a secret rave in the forest. from https://www.dezeen.com/2020/12/09/balenciaga-afterworld-the-ageof-tomorrow-video-game/ Kerrison, E. (2020). What is greenwashing? | Ethical Consumer. from https://www. ethicalconsumer.org/transport-travel/what-greenwashing Ostojic, T. (2019). How is Generation Alpha Using Technology? • Domain .ME blog. from https://domain.me/how-is-generation-alpha-using-technology/#:~:text=Gen%20 Alpha%20parents%20say%20technology%20has%20positively%20 impacted,with%20other%20kids%20in%20a%20positive%20way%20. Reid, M. (2020). FASHIONING A BRIGHTER FUTURE. BRICKS, (8), 39, 40, 41. Roberts-Islam, B. (2020). Is Digitization The Savior Of The Fashion Industry?. from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookerobertsislam/2020/01/07/is-digitisation-thesaviour-of-the-fashion-industry-i-ask-a-cto-who-knows/?sh=428a3eb07e7a Roshitsh, K. (2021). Depop Plans to Cut Ties With Conventional Fashion. from https://wwd. com/sustainability/social-impact/depop-gen-z-favorite-fashion-goals-1234717983/ Singer, O. (2021). 5 Things To Know About Loewe’s Headline-Making AW21 Show from https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/gallery/loewe-aw21-5-things
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Images fig. 1 https://dazedimg-dazedgroup.netdna-ssl.com/1240/azure/dazedprod/1300/0/1300295.jpg fig 2 https://assets.vogue.com/photos/5f71ad29cdc1e2c39039c27e/master/ pass/00002-JW-Anderson-RTW-Spring-2021.jpg fig 3 - https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-catwalk/catwalk/moschino/moschino-po-rs210012-jpg?resize=980:* fig 4 - https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-catwalk/catwalk/moschino/moschino-po-rs210008-jpg?resize=980:*
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