Diversity. Inclusion. Sustainability. Body positivity. That all sounds good on paper, especially on the macro level. These keywords are enough to incite people emotionally, but is it enough to make a difference?
The Council of Fashion Designers Association (CFDA) announced in its newsletter at the beginning of the year that its focus this year would be on diversity, sustainability, body positivity and equality. Although the CFDA is undoubtedly not the first to coin these terms as issues needing to be addressed, it is an excellent indication that fashion as a whole will begin to take these issues more seriously.
The question now is how brands and retailers will respond to these issues. Will they simply use these phrases as hashtags on their Instagram campaigns? Alternatively, will the terms show up in headliners to create more engagement for articles with limited substance and catchphrases to reverberate into the echo chamber of media-trained redundancy?
What we hope will happen is that the fashion and apparel industries really dig deep into their practices, facing ugly truths and implementing the necessary changes to help fashion evolve.
Diversity in Fashion
Diversity is a tough subject in every industry. It often sparks polarized emotions and fear. Perhaps fear of change or fear of job loss.
We do live in a time when fear is often used to discourage change and transformation. However, the need for diversity is not just an issue of filling quotas and taking pity on underrepresented groups; it’s a matter of co-creation.
Teams are only as good as their individuals. In many corporate cultures, differences are not necessarily celebrated — a mob mentality keeps many groups from progressing due to having a “This is how we do things here,” attitude. The issue with this is obvious: if everyone thinks the same, who can truly be creative? Who will think outside of the box?
And, more, importantly, who can help avoid problematic situations?
Research from McKinsey shows that the most ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform the least ethnically diverse companies. If your bottom line is your concern, then diversity seems to be your solace.
Harvard Business Review reported that diverse companies are 70% more likely to report that the firm captured a new market. Decision makers, designers, advertisers must bring representatives from the cultures they seek to market to when attempting market penetration. This will result in successful campaigns, more sales and higher customer retention.
Recall that H&M sales plummeted signifi- cantly after its faux pas.
H&M could have avoided these instances had its teams had been more culturally diverse. This misstep caused them earnings and customers.
Similarly, the antics of D&G’s racially insensitive, stereotypical and tone deaf marketing campaign caused them to enrage the top luxury consumer demographic in the world.
7.6 million Chinese households purchased luxury goods. Chinese luxury consumers account for $7.4 billion in annual spending, representing almost a third of the global luxury market.
The “mistake” led to them cancelling its runway show in China and irreparable damage with its customer base. Not to mention an unwarranted outburst one of the designers had with an Instagram user.
What do these two companies have in common? It’s not the ampersands that’s the problem. It’s the lack of inclusion and the level in which brands are out of touch with their consumers.
Decision makers, designers, advertisers must bring representatives from the cultures they seek to market to when attempting market penetration. This will result in successful campaigns, more sales and higher customer retention.
Representation in Fashion
Many people may think of fashion as being more liberal than other industries and that it already encourages diversity and representation. It has, after all, always been accepting of different sexual orientations (of men, at least) and we have seen a rise of darker skinned models on the runway. Native American headdresses are no longer used at the Victoria Secret’s shows, and plus-size women are in mainstream fashion magazines.
Surely, we must have reached the pinnacle of progression, right?
I think not.
Representation and body positivity have to go a bit deeper. And if not for the sake of modernizing and catching up with the global consumer, then simply for the sake of increasing your profits.
Representation is not about filling quotas. It’s about understanding the hedonic needs of the shopper and consumer centricity.
Jessica Couch
Founder
Luxor + Finch Consulting
jcouch@luxorandfinch.com
