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Kara Savoy
English 250
3/9/09
“Today’s young people are generally unresponsive to traditional brand marketing messages. What they respond to is something ‘cool’. But ‘cool’ is always changing…”
(Rushkoff). This is the constant predicament the corporate world has to address when looking to target the teenage market. The youth’s opinions and ideas are constantly changing especially when it comes to what they wear. The fashion trends of teens drift from one thing to another, only staying long enough for the just of the masses to catch on then moving on to the next cool thing. This target market is a very challenging market to cater to and it is the corporates constant battle. The battle to keep up with the ‘cool’ trends of teenagers and catch the next big thing and mass-produce it before it becomes
‘un-cool’ and the trends have moved on to the next big fad. How the corporate world trys to keep up with the demanding teenage market is by using methods such as: cool hunting, fashion forecasters, and fashion consultant organizations.
One of the methods businesses use to keep in the know about teen fashion trends is by using the help of “cool hunting”. “Cool Hunting” is one of the main techniques organizations use to go out into the field and find what young people are wearing and the things they are interested in, they then take the pictures and the data and bring it back to the organizations and apply it to targeting their market. (Rushkoff). One specific organization that practices cool hunting is a youth culture company called Look Look.
“Look Look is a youth culture company dedicated to building a community of young and powerful voices and getting their ideas heard by corporations, the media, and the adult culture at large”
(Look, Look). This is a organization that corporate
[Look Look correspondent talking to teens outside of a concert venue]
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The Look, Look company also produces a website that alone has hired over 500
“correspondents” to search for cool on the streets. (Rushkoff). “These correspondents are high school or college age and are cool themselves, and can find the cool kids and speak their language” (Rushkoff). On the “Merchants of Cool” website there is a brief video clip of an example of one of these Look, Look correspondents. It shows a young women walking around at a slipknot concert literally walking up to strangers and asking to take pictures of what their wearing, different types of piercings they have or any other type of body art and accessories. These pictures are then downloaded into the Look, Look website which corporate business then can tap into.
Another technique that corporate businesses have been using is the idea of fashion forecasting. “Forecasting the new trends in fashions is exceedingly difficult, and has more than just a touch of mystery to it. The obvious reason is that fashions are constantly subject to change, often at what seem to be the whims of consumers.” (Sproles 283) A fashion forecasters job is to “anticipate what changes will take place, when they will happen, who will be the adopters (leaders, followers), and the why of this acceptance…”
(Sproles 283). According to the book “Changing Appearances: Understanding Dress in
Contemporary Society” there are two main principles of fashion forecasting. One is the general principles based on analysis of the changing environment of consumers, and the second is fashion-specific principles- that can be used in forecasting coming trends in consumers’ acceptance of specific styles.
The general principles of fashion forecasting consist of the economy, demographic trends, technological developments, and the socio-cultural environment.
Forecastors look at the economy to look at the rate of inflation and the consumer’s personal income to determine how much a consumer can spend on a product.
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Demographic trends are also important to look at because it can determine a major market for fashions. For example the growing population of people from the age of thirty to fifty, this might be something for a business to look at and might conduct as their target market because they know they will receive more customers from this age group
(Sproles 285). Technological developments can also influence fashion forecasting. There are always no inventions and innovations in the textiles industry with modifications of fabrics and garment construction. What once was a hot item in the stores three years ago may now become obsolete and a demand for a better or improved product may arrive.
The last part of the general principles of fashion forecasting is looking at the sociocultural environment. “Changes in the consumer’s socio-cultural environment-in lifestyles, standards of living, and social values-can be powerful influences on future fashions.” (Sproles 285) Life styles are constantly changing in today’s society and that is also something that must be analyzed when looking at a specific target market.
The other division of fashion forecasting is fashion-specific principles. Some examples of these principles include things like measurement of fashion diffusion, consumer surveys, monitoring fashion creativity, and many more. The measurement of fashion diffusion is one of the most useful techniques of fashion forecasting and is based on the concept of the fashion cycle (Sproles 287). Using this specific method a forecastor has to target a specific fashion trend and make a diffusion curve. This diffusion curve is a
“graphic representation of the object’s consumer acceptance” (Sproles 288), it starts with the adopters or leaders of a trend and continues on to mass-production and so forth. Once this diffusion curve is formed a forecaster can then analyze the rate of acceptance and see how much a certain trend may extend. This can be a way for forecasters to analyze whether the trend is “strong enough to go for several more months?, or to carry over to the next season?” (Sproles 288).
Consumer surveys are also a useful tool for fashion forecasting. Surveys give forecasters the opportunity to get in the mind of the consumer and see their opinions up close and personal. Forecaster can measure the current trends or fads of the consumer to determine which fashions are the most strongly endorsed in the consumers social
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Savoy 4 environment (Sproles 288). The last example of some of the fashion-specific principles used by fashion forecasters is monitoring fashion creativity. This means looking out for new fashion innovators, what the high-fashion industry is doing, and looking at new street fashions with leading fashion reputations like Los Angeles, London, New York and Paris. This means monitoring the fashion industry itself like looking at retail stores and seeing what are the hot items with the mass consumer as well.
The last example of how corporate businesses keep up with the demanding teenage consumer is through the use of fashion consulting organizations. To main popular organizations that the corporate world looks to most is The Fashion Group and
The National Retail Federation (NRF). “The Fashion Group is known for its exciting and prophetic fashion presentations. Through lavish fashion shows and fiber displays, it offers the fashion industry it expert and insightful analysis of upcoming trends” (Stone
552). The Fashion Group in a non-profit global organization made up of solely women who work in the fashion, beauty and cosmetics, and home fashion industry. The Fashion
Group International Inc. was founded in the 1930s to create executive jobs for women.
Now though the company is mostly used for fashion consulting and also a research agency. The Fashion Group is now a global network that covers the American, European, and the Far Eastern fashion industry. Not only in the Fashion Group Inc. a consulting agency it also publishes monthly bulletins and has a very reliable web site. This website holds information like directories of industry executives, calendars of important events, trend and forecast reports, and classified job listings. The Fashion Group International
Inc. has grown to be a huge operating global company that is a great value to those in the fashion industry.
The second fashion consulting organization that a lot of the fashion industry looks to is The National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF is one of the largest retail trade associations in the United States. Most of NRF’s information is published in their monthly magazine called Store and a couple additional periodicals. The NRF also launches their information through regional and national meetings or conventions. (Stone
553). Once example of these conventions is a annual one held in New York City in
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January every year. At this meeting, vendors of products and services such as market research, management software, and shopping bags are exhibited here every year. People of the National Retail Federation gather at conventions such as these, to learn from each other and from the top retail companies. It is a place to show what new things and innovations people are now using for the retail industry and is a great way to help keep your store or marketing up to date.
Another branch of the National Retail Federation is the NRFF, the National Retail
Foundation. The foundations focus is to be a central point for retail career information and introduce and generate excitement for retail opportunities and the diversity of the retail world. The NRFF is committed to training a knowledgeable next generation of retailers. The foundation also helps retail places out with recruiting, training, and managing, and developing talent for their stores. NRFF also interacts with programs with college, business partnerships and their online Retail Career Center as well. These programs are all a part of assisting businesses to ensure the best possible way to target their target market.
Overall the fashion industry is an industry that is constantly changing especially within the teenage target market, you never know where the new big trend or fad is going to go next. These big corporate businesses try anything they can to keep up with the demand for the “next big thing”. How corporate businesses keep up with this demanding teenage market is through techniques such as, cool hunting, fashion forecasting, and fashion consulting organizations. Appearance and the use of clothes and fashion will always reflect today’s society and the popular culture of teenagers. Appearance can reflect teen’s opinions, what they are interested in, and what is “cool” at that time. This is the question corporations ask everyday to keep up with this extremely diverse target market and mass produce it to the best of their ability.
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