Product Life Cycle and Consumer Behaviour BA (Hons) Cordwainers Fashion Bags and Accessories: Product Design and Innovation
What is the product life cycle? The product life cycle is an important concept in fashion marketing. It describes the stages a product goes through from when it was first thought of until it finally is removed from the market. Not all products reach this final stage. Some continue to grow and others rise and fall.
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Withdrawal
Product life cycle is driven by consumer behaviours Product life cycle is driven by consumer behaviours: 1 / Development of new sectors 2 / Esteem and self-actualisation 3 / Seasonality 4 / Changes within the global market 5 / Cultural shifts and trends
1 / Development of new sectors
Basic Fashion Sectors Footwear and Accessories
Clothing apparel
Womenswear
Menswear
Childrenswear
Shoes
Eveningwear
Bespoke tailoring
Baby
Bags
Formal and office
Office
Toddler
Sunglasses
Wedding and occasion
Wedding and occasion
Boys
Gloves and scarves
Contemporary fashion
Contemporary fashion
Girls
Wallets and purses
Casual wear
Casual wear
Hats
Denim
Denim
Men’s ties
Streetwear
Streetwear
Luggage
Resort or cruise wear
Sportswear
Sportswear Slouch or loungewear Lingerie
Perfume and cosmetics
Lifestyle and Homewear
The diagram gives an indication of some key markets and product sectors within womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and accessories. As new niche markets develop, so the chart can be adapted to include sectors, clubwear and performance wear
Birth of new sectors : Youth market
Birth of new sectors : Youth market “The unique position of post-war teenagers, physically almost adult yet excluded from adult roles and responsibilities, with considerable disposable cash, and familiar from early childhood with the products of modern mass media healthy, well-fed, and energetic, yet involved in less hard physical work than many of their ancestors- this privileged, new position seemed merely to throw into sharp relief for them the limitation of their existence and to give them the opportunity to respond in new ways to these conditions.�
Ref: Bradley, Dick. Understanding Rock 'n' Roll. Buckingham: Open UP, 1992. Print.
Teddy Boy
Following World War II, there was a baby boom, which brought about some of the first strong youth subcultures in history. In Britain, young people were beginning to turn away from their parents and tradition to create new cultural expression. Among these cultural phenomenons were the Teddy Boys. This group of delinquent young men dressed in ‘Edwardian’ clothing who introduced anarchy into British society and used early American rock and roll as their battle call The idea of a youth culture was further being developed by a quickly widening generation gap
Mods
The first mods were mostly art students or working-class teenagers in lowly clerical positions. They were narcissistic, hedonistic and avowedly consumerist. They had money to spend and challenged class structures through dressing, dancing and having more fun than their elders and betters – as though style itself were a passport to upward mobility. They called themselves “faces�.
Mod subculture lost its vitality when it became commercialised, artificial and stylised to the point that new mod clothing styles were being created "from above" by clothing companies and by TV shows like Ready Steady Go!, rather than being developed by young people customising their clothes and mixing different fashions together.
Generational timetable
Generational Jones 1954-65 (Jonathan Pontell)
Baby Boomers 1946-64 (US Census Bureau)
Baby Boomers 1943-60 (Howe & Strauss)
1940
1950
Gen x 1968-79 (US C. B.)
Gen X / Yupsters 1961-81 (Howe & Strauss)
1960
1970
Gen Y / Millennials 1982-2002 (Howe & Strauss)
1980
Alpha Generation 2010-2024 (McC. Research)
Gen Z 1995-2009 (McCrindle Research)
1990
Gen Z 2004-2025 (Howe & Strauss)
2000
2010
2020
Generational Differences Gen X / Yupsters 1961-81 (Howe & Strauss)
Gen Y / Millennials 1982-2002 (Howe & Strauss)
51 million
75 million
Accept diversity
Celebrate diversity
Pragmatic / practical
Optimistic / realistic
Self-reliant / individualistic
Self-inventive / individualistic
Reject rules
Rewrite rules
Killer life – living on the edge
Killer lifestyle – pursuing luxury
Mistrust institutions
Irrelevance of institutions
Pc
Internet
Use technology
Assume technology
Multitask
Multitask fast
Sector migration
House founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton Advert for Louis Vuitton luggage, 1898.
Sector migration
The company revamped its signature Monogram Canvas in 1959 to make it more supple, allowing it to be used for purses, bags, and wallets
In 1997, Louis Vuitton made Marc Jacobs its Artistic Director.In March of the following year, he designed and introduced the company's first "prĂŞt-Ă -porter" line of clothing for men and women
On 4 November 2013, the company confirmed that Nicolas Ghesquière had been hired to replace Marc Jacobs as artistic director of women's collections
Loewe Coral Calf Puzzle bag
Arc’teryx Altra 65 Backpack
Loewe Fall/Winter 2013, Runway Arc’teryx Field Shirt
Cross-pollination of sectors
Yeezy Season Three / Madison Square Garden
Sector crossover
Streetwear
Sportswear
Contemporary
Sector crossover commercialisation Streetwear Nike Adidas Puma Adidas Original Puma
Y3
Jordan
Puma Fenty Zeezy
Nike Sportswear
Sportswear
NikeLab
Adidas Stella McCartney
Contemporary
3 / Esteem and self-actualisation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Selfactualisation
Self-fulfilment or fulfilling own potential. Consumer may purchase equipment or travel or hobbies. Individual style might be created to express fun or a sense of freedom.
Esteem
Social belongings
Safety, Shelter, Protection, Security Clothing and protection
Physiological - Basic life needs, Food, Water and Sleep
Status, achievement, level of responsibility. Consumer may choose status brands or designer clothing to signify importance or position.
Relationships, acceptance, family, peer group, work group. Dressing to fit in style tribe
Holistic needs Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is arguably out of step with contemporary society, as the advent of social media and increased prosperity have altered priorities. A more holistic model weighs selfactualisation and esteem as a similar value to physiological needs.
Selfactualisation
Physiological Basic life needs, Food, Water and Sleep
Safety, Shelter, Protection, Security Clothing and protection
Esteem
Consumer
Social belongings
Basic fashion hierarchy
Trickle Down Ideals from couture and designer catwalk shows filter down through the fashion market and are used as inspiration for ranges created be high-street retailers.
Bubble up
Haute Couture and Couture
High-end Fashion Luxury Designer and Premium Brands
Middle Fashion Designer diffusion or bridge lines affordable luxury retail brands middle-market retail chains
Mass Market High-street Multiple retailers
Value Market Value fashion retailers discount retailers
Ideas from street fashion and cultural subgroups gain momentum to become a trend that bauble up through the hierarchy of fashion, eventually reaching the top when expensive designer version are created
Brand Pyramid
Exclusive couture and top-of-the-range collections. Expensive and limited availability. May not always contribute to overall brand sales income but will generate press coverage and increase cachet of brand
Top of the range
Main Read-to-wear Collection
Diffusion collections and collections with wider market appeal
Main signature collection, available in larger volume than exclusives top-of-the-range products
Money is made through selling mass-produced apparel and accessories aimed at the larger global market
Fragrances, Cosmetics, Sunglasses, Low-price accessories Entry product more affordably priced. Brand businesses generate a larger proportion of the income through licensing the brand name for use on a variety of products
Brand Pyramid
Top of the range
DORA PM £34,500.00
Monogram Icons Collection SPEEDY BANDOULIERE 35 £940
Fragrances, Cosmetics, Sunglasses, Low-price accessories ROUND COIN PURSE £165
ROSE DES VENTS £180
Brand Pyramid
Top of the range Calvin Klein Collection Burberry Prorsum
Main Read-to-wear Collection Calvin Klein Platinum
Burberry London
Diffusion collections and collections with wider market appeal Calvin Klein
Burberry Brit
Fragrances, Cosmetics, Sunglasses, Low-price accessories
Calvin Klein Jeans
Burberry Cosmetics
Calvin Klein Fragrances
Burberry Sunglasses
Calvin Klein Underwear
Why silo brands? Silo verb isolate (one system, process, department, etc.) from others.
Price discrimination and market segmentation. Instead of trying to reach all potential customers with one line and targets each of its lines to a specific demographic. By creating different lines to cater to each of these markets, is better able to attract more consumers from each segment, and thus clears a larger profit. Offers consumers an entry point and they can rise through the levels as income increases.
Case study: Burberry
By the early 2000s the company's distinctive camel-coloured check had become the uniform of the “chav�, the stereotypical white working-class delinquent looking for trouble. Bouncers and taxi drivers learned to turn away young men sporting Burberry baseball caps and jackets. When Daniella Westbrook, a soap actress, was photographed with the Burberry check adorning herself, her daughter and her pushchair, the brand's elite reputation seemed to be lost.
Case study: Repositioning as an aspirational brand
Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2006 Ready-To-Wear
Case study: Selling a brand name to licences
Calvin Klein Underwear 1991
Calvin Klein Obsession 1993
CK One 1994
Why merge sub-brands?
"The changes we are making allow us to serve this new behaviour more intuitively. By unifying our three lines under one label we can also offer a much more consistent experience of Burberry's collections."Â Christopher Bailey
Other examples: Clarity of communication and agile business Marc Jacobs recently absorbed his Marc by Marc Jacobs diffusion line into his eponymous mainline Victoria Beckham has merged her popular Victoria Beckham Denim offshoot into her lower-priced sister line Victoria, Victoria Beckham Alexander Wang rolls in his T by Alexander Wang into his mainline
3 / Seasonality
Typical Designer Trading Year (Northern Hemisphere) Season Fall/Winter Spring/Summer
Calendar August to January January to July
Breaking from trading year Fast fashion is a contemporary term used by fashion retailers to express that designs move from catwalk quickly to capture current fashion trends. Fast fashion clothing collections are based on the most recent fashion trends presented at Fashion Week as well as any trend that is generated from a street or celebrity culture
Typical Fast Fashion Trading Year Season Early spring Spring Early Summer Summer Sale High Summer Transitional autumn Autumn Party wear Christmas/transitional spring Winter sale
Dates January/February February/March April/May June July July/August September/October November December December/January
Mirco-season and Stories
Resort collections and Pre-fall
Chanel Cruise Collection 2015
Resort collections and Pre-fall Cruise/resort/high summer/first summer Presented by designers from May to July, these “pre-collections” act as a precursor to the traditional spring/summer collections that are shown during the September fashion weeks held in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
Prefall A pre-fall collection is shown from November and is shown before the autumn/winter collections that occur from February to March internationally.
Why? Open to new markets, this season, Louis Vuitton showed in Monte-Carlo, Chanel in Dubai, and Dior in Brooklyn Wearable and more versatile making them more commercially more viable. They will be on the shelf for longer before going to sale, therefore there is better potential sell through.
Streetwear and Sneaker Drop Culture
A campout for the Adidas Yeezy 750 Boost
Streetwear and Sneaker Drop Culture
See now, Shop now
When the company announced its new consumer-facing concept in February, it was held up as a solution to long-standing problems with the traditional fashion calendar. Fashion shows had long been strictly industry events for press and buyers to preview collections. But the rise of digital media has shed transparency on the model, with runway shows morphing into powerful consumer marketing events, leaving brands ill-equipped to convert social media buzz into sales for collections that have yet to be produced.
The innovative concept ignited a new chapter for the global fashion industry. A number of major industry players have already followed suit, with Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren all unveiling instantly shoppable collections at New York Fashion Week.
Burberry See now, Shop now
Burberry See now, Shop now
“The changes we are making will allow us to build a closer connection between the experience that we create with our runway shows and the moment when people can physically explore the collections for themselves,”
Chief creative officer and chief executive officer Christopher Bailey in a statement.
4 / Changes within the global market
Developing markets Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) Russia key global area, main driver is the growth of the new middle-class consumer who looks for affordable luxury. Has been effected by sanctions in recent years. China growth driven by wealth formed by industrialisation. Slowed in recent years. Chinese luxury consumers tend to do allot of shopping abroad. India 15 per cent growth over the last 3 years. Luxury shopping malls opening in major cities to service the new wealthy middle class consumers, who have penchant for luxury watch and women’s accessories. Trading legislation is complicated but freed in 2012. The Global Retail Index has listed Brazil as the biggest retail growth for the last 5 years.
United Arab Emirates Dubai aims to be a global fashion hub by 2020. Visitor numbers to the region expected to rise to 20 million, fueling indigenous fashion and retail industry. A further wave of growth is expected to develop in Abu Dhabi the regions capital and second-largest city.
Future Markets As the markets described mature, so further growth for luxury fashion brands and mass-market retailers will spread to newer, less developed markets in Latin America, Asia pacific and Africa.
Global Style For consumers in affluent countries, globalisation means an abundance of fashions sold by giant retailers who can update inventory, make transnational trade deals, and coordinate worldwide distribution of goods at the click of a computer. It means that what people are consuming is less the clothing itself than the corporate brand or logo such as Nike, Victoria's Secret, or Topshop. Consumers are purchasing the fantasy images of sexual power, athleticism, cool attitude, or carefree joy these brands disseminate in lavish, ubiquitous, hyper-visible marketing on hightech electronic media. As fashion images in magazines, music videos, films, the Internet and television speed their way around the world, they create a "global style" across borders and cultures.
Global Style This tendency toward both increased variety within geographic locations and a homogenising effect across locations represents a global paradox On the one hand, shopping malls in every city have the same stores, and sell the same fashion items. Yet if we take the example of jeans, we find a seemingly infinite and often baffling array of cuts and fits Each variation takes its turn as an ephemeral and arbitrary signifier of shifting identities based on age, gender, ethnicity, or subculture.
Theories of Fashion Leadership Trickle down Fashion spreads from the top down. At the top fashion icons and style gurus. The high street and consumers watch what is happening on the catwalks or being worn by celebrities and interpret these trends. Trickle across Fashion the spreads horizontally with the group. Each segment of society will have its own leaders to who they look it will look to for guidance on what is and isn’t acceptable Trickle up theory Trends that have their origins within sub-groups of society will often find their way upwards into the mainstream Influence of the media The media plays an important role in influencing what is isn’t on trend. Designers and retailers create themes within a seasonal collection, with a selection of looks that will appeal to as broad a range buyers as possible.
Trickle down Fashion spreads from the top down. At the top fashion icons and style gurus. The high street and consumers watch what is happening on the catwalks or being worn by celebrities and interpret these trends.
CĂŠline Spring/Summer 2014 / Zara
Trickle down
Valentino Fringed Leather Tote £1815 Zara Leather Bucket Bag with Fringes £89.99
Givenchy Small Easy Bag £695
Next Structured Shopper £36
Trickle down
Cara Delevingne's Mulberry 'Cara Delevingne' Bag
Cara Delevingne street style
Trickle across Fashion the spreads horizontally with the group. Each segment of society will have its own leaders to who they look it will look to for guidance on what is and isn’t acceptable
Supreme skate team
Trickle up theory Trends that have their origins within sub-groups of society will often find their way upwards into the mainstream
Kate Moss 90
Courtney Love
Perry Ellis Spring 1993 Ready-to-Wear
Influence of the media The media plays an important role in influencing what is isn’t on trend. Designers and retailers create themes within a seasonal collection, with a selection of looks that will appeal to as broad a range buyers as possible.
Diffusion of innovators
Levis fall 2015
H&M April 2016
Tommy Ton style photo Spring 2015 Karen Millen June 2016
Vetements Fall 2014
Early Adopters 13.5%
Early Majority 34%
Late Majority 34%
Laggards 15%
History repeating itself
The Clash 1979 Maison Martin Margiela Fall 2000
Life cycle of a fashion fad SALES
Fad
Trend Classic
TIME Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Classic, Trend and Fad
Product Lifecycle Product / Introduction – researching, developing and then launching the product
Adidas' new 3D Runner
Style / Introduction – Appropriation by early adopters
Skepta
Alexander Wang for Balenciaga
Sonia Ahmimou
Product / Growth – when sales are increasing at their fastest rate
Gucci loafer, half kangaroo fur-lined slipper.
Style / Growth – when sales are increasing at their fastest rate
Patagonia cabin bag
Rimowa Classic Flight four-wheel cabin
Product / Maturity – sales are near their highest, but the rate of growth is slowing down, e.g. new competitors in market or saturation
Adidas Stan Smith
Style / Maturity – sales are near their highest, but the rate of growth is slowing down. Saturation in media outlets.
Andre Beverley
Louis Vuitton x Supreme
Mismo backpack
Product / Decline – final stage of the cycle, when sales begin to fall
Crocs
Style / Decline – final stage of the cycle, when sales begin to fall due to obsolescence or cultural shifts
Considering product lifecycle when range planning
Introduction Celine Small Trapeze Handbag
Growth Celine Horizontal Cabas
Maturity Celine Micro Belt Handbag
Activity
In groups of four think of an item that you perceive to be a classic, a trend and a fad. Think of an example of a trend that has trickled down and one that has bubbled up
Product life cycle is driven by consumer behaviours Product life cycle is driven by consumer behaviours: 1 / Development of new sectors 2 / Esteem and self-actualisation 3 / Seasonality 4 / Changes within the global market 5 / Cultural shifts and trends