Introduction

          Shopping for clothes is a major leisure activity for young women. The city centre is a public space where young women can spend time with their friends being sociable. The space provides an opportunity for young women to meet away from adult authority figures, such as parents, and be safe. In this space they can indulge in a number of activities, talking to friends, window-shopping, trying on clothes and parading before young men. It is a front stage on which they can display their ‘dressed’ body and get the reaction of young men, advice from female friends generally having been obtained in the backstage (bedroom or communal changing room). A major activity for young women is building their wardrobe. The young women experiment with dressing the body in the backstage of the communal dressing room. Advice is given by girlfriends, who are seen to provide more sensible advice than boyfriends are. However, the male gaze is ever present and clothes are only purchased when they are considered to be those liked by boys in general or a specific boyfriend. Young women are also influenced in their choice of clothes by teen magazines, pop stars and movie idols. However the majority of young women make choices between the clothes available, decide what they think suits them and experiment and try things on in the backstage of the dressing room before they make purchases. Young women resist and conform at the same time – often they resist parental ideas of what is suitable but conform to group norms and male ideas of what is attractive and sexy. An example here would be the fashion among young women for piercing often disapproved of by authority figures such as parents and teachers, but seen as attractive by young people themselves. While young women do exercise agency in dressing the body, they do so within a patriarchal, capitalist society in which male ideas of attractive clothing for women dominate, and where the fashion industry's main aim is to make a profit from the sale of clothes. Some studies found that there were two main groups of young women differentiated by the clothes they wore and the music they listen to. There was hostility between the two groups. This seems reminiscent of the Mods and Rockers of the late 1960s. Interestingly, however, we could observe no class basis for the division into trendies and alternatives. These were not, as some of the earlier youth cultures of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, based on social class, but were based on musical interest and friendship groups. Nor did the differences relate to attitudes to schooling, to abilities, to success or failure at school or to future career aspirations.

Fashion

          Is fashion art? The debate is neither new nor particularly useful, as it often leads to the worst kind of pretentious claptrap, with critics angrily defending either the sanctity of the Arts, capital A, or the legitimacy of couture. But it is difficult to sidestep the question at a time when fashion-based exhibitions are being staged across the country.

          Fashion is an ephemeral, transient business and it takes a brave woman to wear to some style beyond a certain fashion lifespan. We also know that clothes age, fade, lose their shape, etc. and that they have variable life-spans as material objects. But the unpredictability of clothes, the ways in which they misbehave, sometimes in collusion with our bodies, continually surprises us. We cannot take their ‘performance’ for granted; we need to build a robust relationship with them, get to know them well and understand their eccentricities. And, as in all relationships, we need to work at it. Building up a reliable set of clothes involves expending not just money and time but real energy and almost an emotional commitment. Although the academic literature around clothing and dress has a credible history, it has tended to focus mostly on fashion and remain within relatively distinct discipline boundaries such as sociology, history, psychology (see e.g. Barthes, 1983; Laver, 1969; Solomon, 1985). More recently, some authors have tried to integrate ideas across established disciplines and paradigms and broaden the range of clothing to be considered (see e.g. Wilson, 1987 and 1992; Kaiser 1990 and 1992; Kaiser, Nagasawa and Hutton, 1997; Tseëlon, 1995; and Barnard, 1996). Such writers have recognized the need to employ various levels of analysis to account for the meanings attached to clothes, although it has been argued that this process of inter-disciplinarity still needs further development. With the exception of a few researchers, such as Tseëlon, 1995; Lunt and Livingstone, 1992 and Skeggs, 1997, clothes as a lived experience are an underdeveloped topic. ‘What is missing from the plethora of semiotic and sociological analyses of fashion styles and trends, historical accounts or psychological experiments is the reasoning given by wearers themselves.’ (Tseëlon, 1995, p. 3). One important aim of this research is to progress the development of integrated levels of analysis and perspectives and to maintain the focus on lived experience to help us to understand the complexities of the ‘wardrobe moment’. The researcher also attempts to build upon existing work in two key ways: examining women's ongoing relationships with their clothes and focusing upon the ‘ordinary’ women and their everyday lives; both of which will of course include the extraordinary.

Fashion and Influence

          Peer pressure is a major element in the constant demand and need to keep up with fashion and to be seen as fashionable. The market also continually changes fashion, and the dominance of fashion, in terms of both style and colour, means that the mass market continually produces new clothes and new styles, which become desired, so that shopping for clothes becomes a continual process for young women. City centres in the United Kingdom and shopping malls in North America, particularly at the weekends, are a major leisure space for young women who are confidently looking at, trying-on and experimenting with clothing. Shopping, the purchasing of clothes, and the trying-on of clothes, however, is not the only activity that can be seen as part of the shopping centre. Shopping centres have become a major social space for young people. It is where they meet, where they establish relationships with the opposite sex. It is a place away from parents. Young women contest and consolidate their identity in the public private space of the shopping centre. It is also a place where they can learn to cope with their emerging sexuality. For some young women, it can become the centre of their social life. Lifestyles and self-images are developed, negotiated and resisted. Groups differentiated by style, fashion and taste and different dress become differentiated within this public private space.

          Fashion plays a large part in a teenage girl's life. The media bombard her with advertisements for clothes and emphasize a particular image – the ‘waif’ look. Teenage magazines play an important part in shaping femininity. They are concerned with personal relationships (especially those with men), with physical appearance and with defining a particular form of beauty and style. Feature articles, advertisements and advice columns are all concerned with appearance and ‘getting a man’. In these magazines, appearance and relationships to men define femininity. The teenage magazines such as Sugar and Bliss not only ‘sell’ the image but also promise that wearing certain clothes will attract young men. The promise is used as a tool to sell clothes to young women. However, Winship (1987) indicates that girls also get pleasure from fashion and she suggests that they interpret what the magazines say.

Women and Their Clothes

          It became important for us to understand not only how women assemble their wardrobes (i.e. why/how do they purchase the clothes they do) but also what they think about as they assemble their outfits from that wardrobe time and time again. The initial purchase of clothes is a key moment; there's always a reason why an item was selected. Each item promises something, whether it's comfort, glamour or functionality. Once these clothes join our existing wardrobes, they become ‘active’ i.e. they are worn with other items, and at this point we make judgments about whether the clothes have fulfilled their promise. But the story of clothes does not end there. Clothes are seldom just consumed once (the exception being the wedding dress); rather, they are consumed or used on many occasions. As time goes on, their use may change, the smart work skirt becomes the casual weekend skirt, clothes fall in and out of use and some items remain in the wardrobe longer than others. As time wears on, so do we: our bodies age, moods change which may alter the way we wear our clothes. In short, women have evolving relationships with their clothes and it is those active relationships which we have attempted to capture in this book.

Ordinary Women with Conform Fashion

          These women, we would argue, although portrayed as the embodiment of fashion and our aspirational icons, actually stand outside the real experience of clothing. Their clothing is designed for them, made for them, chosen for them and may be cleaned for them before it is auctioned off to support a charity. Not only are such icons thinner and prettier than the rest of us, but they do not own and wear their clothes in the same way ordinary women do. Our ‘everyday’ woman has to keep within a financial budget, making decisions about which clothes she can afford to buy and how long they might last. She has to juggle clothes shopping, clothes maintenance, washing and selecting the daily outfit alongside the demands of work and perhaps family. She has to contend with her less than perfect body. Finally, with no personal hairdresser, style consultant or make-up artist; she alone is responsible for the appearance she creates for her public. Everyday women have to balance time and effort when assembling wardrobes and outfits in relation to the other tasks they have to fulfill. A theme consistently raised concerns the debates around the extent to which women's clothing choices and experiences are dominated by the structure of the fashion system. In almost all of the literature, the fashion system is assumed to be capitalist and patriarchal: meanings which support these powerful structures are inscribed upon clothes which, in turn, are passed to the consumer (see e.g. Barthes, 1983). Therefore the fashion system exerts a hegemony of meanings (a dominant ideology) which are communicated around clothes that tells women how to appear as women. Multiple images of the idealized, heterosexual female body which proliferate in popular media – e.g. women's magazines – promise us the dream of happy fulfilled lives as desirable women (see e.g. Winship, 1987; Craik, 1994). Women are encouraged to aspire to the idealized body and the clothed image wrapped around it. In this sense, women become not only the consumers of clothes, but the consumers of the meaning and promise of idealized womanhood. On the one hand these exclusionary practices can be seen as a product of the fashion industry's characteristics in postmodern society (capitalist economics, i.e. there is less demand for these more specialist items so there is less of the competition which ‘normally’ drives prices down). But they can also be seen as a product of patriarchal discourses around the ‘normal’ acceptable female body. Clothes for women who contravene such norms are confined within specialist shops or relegated to obscure sections of the department store. The message transmitted by such placing of clothes reminds us that these bodies contravene the white westernized ideal. Their bodies are different and fail to conform; clothes tailored to their ‘special’.

          This approach to understanding women's use of clothes focuses on the downward movement (top down) of meaning from the cultural world to the goods (clothes) and then to the consumer (see e.g. McCracken, 1986a and 1988). Women, it is argued, buy and embody the meanings associated with clothes and thus transfer the created meanings to themselves as wearers. In this way, women become the dupes in a system of manufactured meanings and an interest in beauty, fashion and clothes-consciousness becomes associated with less healthy dimensions of functioning – i.e., to be interested in fashion is seen as a feminine obsession with trivia. (But see Davis, K., 1991)

          There have been, thankfully, many challenges to this concept of the ‘taken- in’ woman who colludes with her own oppression. Women may be surrounded by dominant images of ‘normal’ womanhood which they are encouraged to consume but they are also presented with opportunities to contest, create and transform them through playing with the images on offer (e.g. Wilson, 1992; Butler, 1989 and 1993). More importantly, women can at times, choose when to conform and when to subvert. Authors such as Smith, D. (1990) and Harrison (1997) note that women actively participate in or ‘do’ fashion through using their clothes and that at this level they can be creative agents. Again this is where the experiential, everyday level is an important place to study and to understand how women can also dress for themselves. In short, both top-down and bottom-up meanings of clothes and the images they convey are negotiated by women as they wear their clothes on a daily basis. The fashion system is fluid enough to show ‘gaping seams’ which allow women some control over their clothed images and identities, spaces which permit personal agency and negotiated images. Maybe it is indeed possible for women to ‘fashion their way to freedom’.

Trendy Clothes-Line

          The ‘trendies’, in general, follow the fashions displayed in the shops and are generally seen to represent what young people are wearing. They are by far the largest group numerically. However, within this group there tends to be two types. The first of these follow what is, as it were, ‘catwalk’ fashion and buy their clothes at the less expensive end of the market in shops such as Miss Selfridges, Top Shop, Mark One and so on, and at the more expensive end, the designer labels, such as Calvin Klein, DKNY, Morgan and so on. They tend to wear tight clothes, short skirts, tight trousers, skimpy tops and high-heeled shoes. They look in a conventional way ‘smart’, they are seen to be fashionable. The second of what might be called the trendy group follow the ‘sporty’ fashion, epitomized by role models such as Mel C, otherwise known as Sporty Spice, from the Spice Girls. Girls in this group tend to wear the fashion labels of the ‘sporty’ world, such as Adidas, Kappa, Ellesse and so on, wearing tracksuits, shell-suits, trainers and so on and generally looking very sporty. However, sporty-ness is not actually followed through to participating in sport; the wearing of the sports label is the statement in itself.

          The second of these groups, the ‘alternatives’, tend to rebel against what they see as popular or predetermined youth culture. They are often to be observed shopping in the same shops as trendies, but wear their clothes differently. Alternative styles include ‘Goths’, ‘Hippie’ and the more recent ‘skaters’ style. Within this group there are again seen to be those who wear a sporty style and those who don't. Within this group of ‘alternatives’, the range of clothes then varies from the all-black, long clothes and black make-up of the ‘Goths’, to the more flower-power clothes of the hippie-influenced styles. The skater style – baggy jeans/trousers, tight, skimpy tops, covered by a long-backed t-shirt or such and a baggy jacket has been influenced by the clothing worn by skateboarders. The footwear of ‘alternatives’ is also very different from that of the ‘trendies’. Doc Marten boots in a variety of styles and colors are to be observed being worn with skater clothes, hippie clothes and with Goth clothing.

          There is a relationship between clothes and musical taste. The ‘trendies’ follow what is thought of as pop music. The first group tends to enjoy dance, house and general club music, while the second prefer the chart music, particularly the so-called ‘pop’ music of “Boyzone”, the Spice Girls and so on. The music styles of the alternatives ranges from heavy metal to glam rock, hippie music to the more gothic-influenced ‘industrial’. What binds this group of alternatives is their dislike and distrust of anything popular, or anything that is seen as ‘right to like’. This stems partly from their idea of ‘rebellion’ and partly from the fact that, especially in secondary schools, they are teased, bullied, and generally persecuted by their trendy fellow-pupils and teachers alike for not conforming to what is seen as the norm. However, much of this is fairly superficial and stems from peer pressure to conform, or not to conform. One sign of this is the changes that occur between secondary school, sixth-form College and University, where personal styles and personalities can completely change because of the new-found freedom, and where hostility between groups seems, in the transition, to diminish.

          In research studies shows that a lot of the ‘alternatives’ were used to the names that they were constantly called, and began to accept them, as well as to make fun of themselves, and also jokingly call their friends similar names. The names that we found most used, were ‘freak’, ‘hippie’, ‘devil worshipper’ and other equally derogatory terms. One thing that was often heard was the lines from a popular song from a few years ago ‘I wannabe a hippie’. Young people increasingly seem to accept these labels when they are in public space, but when they are in small groups of very good friends, they do admit that they are very hurt by these labels. Furthermore, while relationships between trendies and alternatives were not overtly hostile in the Sixth Form College, ‘alternatives’ were harassed, bullied and even physically attacked in their local communities and by pupils at the secondary school adjacent to the college. A number of the ‘alternatives’ were concerned for their personal safety in parts of the town and would not visit them even when accompanied by friends.

          However, this name-calling is not all in one direction. The ‘alternatives’ do call trendies names, one of which is the word ‘trendy’, to signify the fact that they see the trendies as ‘sheep’, following the trends of fashions. However, the names given to trendies are not as openly derogatory as the terms that the trendies use to refer to ‘alternatives’. This is, at least in part, because the trendies are in the majority and sheer numbers make it more difficult to be derogatory towards them. The use of the names tends to polarize the two groups, so that friendship tends to be within a group, rather than cross-group.

Fashion and Youth

          Fashion designers, shops and entertainment venues produced goods and services explicitly designed to meet the demands of this new consumer group. They dressed differently, listened to different music and engaged in leisure pursuits distinct from those of adults. There were differences between groups of young people, often based on social class, but young people were also differentiated from adults. They began to form a distinctive consumer market and create or adopt new styles and identities, building upon and moving away from previous styles and fashions. Consumption by young people was conspicuous and markets were created to exploit this. It is important to recognize, however, that young women can experience consumption as pleasurable – the pursuit of pleasure. In other words, young women buy and desire goods and services. The goods and services that they buy are based on desire and not just need. Signs and symbols are used to sell products and attract young women because they are a certain type of person and also because they wish to be seen as a certain type of person. They became what they are through the consumption of objects such as clothes and music.

Marketing Plan

          A Marketing Plan for a new trendy wear (fashionable/trendy wear) manufacturer who does not wish to distribute goods via traditional retail outlets. The purpose of this report is to develop a clearly structured and efficiently detailed plan, regarding the creation of a business producing and distributing trendy clothes. The business plan is designed to function under a focus-differentiated strategy, via internal resources. In the sense that growth will be achieved through the resources equally provided by the owner of the business. The differentiation point of the product, as reflected by the marketing mix, will be the one emphasizing the good quality of the product and quick service of the business. In order to minimize the risks involved in such an attempt it was decided that the plan should be divided into sections. Meaning that at the very first steps of the effort the writer will focus on our immediate and friendly environment. In order to be able to respond to either circumstance the following plan regarding the business “Trendy Fads”, a name that can be translated to obsession for fashionable clothes, was developed. The company “Trendy Fads” is a clothing organisation, founded by Anthony Goh, a trendy wear manufactures who mainly designs and distributes via mail order casual clothes to serve young professionals with little free time. The business grew wider with the help of a bank loan (now paid off) and “Trendy Fads” is now selling clothes via Internet and catalogues. Mission Statement. Our mission statement is to provide our customers with a selective range of high quality, well-designed and attractive clothes at reasonable prices. Market Background. When we are referring to trendy wear we are mainly talking about fashionable clothing and trendy wear. The separation of fashionable clothing from trendy wear reflects the importance that sector has to the whole market. It is not very easy to segment that particular market because the delimitation between fashionable clothes and trendy wear is not clear. Some people usually wear many items of fashionable clothing on leisure time. Whereas the fashionable clothing market has not seen any great changes within the last three years many of the trends that were obvious in 1995 have become more determined. Some of the most important between these are the increasing influence of fashion over the youth market and the heightened interest in active lifestyles. Whether they are actually participating or not, being seen to be wearing active gear is highly desirable for the 15-24 year old age group. An older market, people who are ‘staying younger longer’ and leading more active lifestyles, is also increasingly embracing outdoor sportswear. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998) As the youth population (15-24 year olds) is forecast to increase by 3.5% by 2002, the core market will be larger and sustainable growth will be easier to achieve. The older generation is on the increase as the 'baby boom' population bubble ages. However, very little of the sportswear on offer from the leading manufacturers is designed for older age groups or tastes. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998) In the sports market the leading brands are quite a lot. A big number of those leading brands still dominate the sports clothing market. However, with the increasing fashionability of fashionable and trendy clothing many traditional fashion labels are making inroads in the leisurewear market.

A market with potential future

          The fashionable clothing market was valued at £1.7 billion in 1997 and is projected to grow further to be worth £1.8 billion in 1998. The market has recovered after the damaging recession of the early 1990s, growing 22% at current prices between 1995 and 1997, equating to 25% in real terms. Clothing continues to increase its dominance of the trendy goods market (fashionable and trendy clothing, footwear and equipment), accounting for 52% of sales in 1997, compared to 1994 shares of 49:32:19 for clothing, footwear and equipment respectively. This is partly a result of consumers buying higher ticket items such as outerwear and branded garments. In the future the “trendy – fashion” look is forecast to gradually increase its shares on consumers expenditure in clothing.

Marketing objectives

          To be useful a marketing objective needs to have five basic components, which are: Specific. Measurable What is to be achieved? Achievable. Realistic. Time Based. What it is to be achieved. Emphasis is given in achieving and maintaining a profitable performance that will gradually improve as years pass by. Such a performance will enable “Trendy Fads”, in three years time, to stabilize its position in the competitive market of home shopping services. In other words, to gain a competitive advantage from that point and on the possibilities are practically unlimited. Ideally, the best development would be to generate such profits to expand not only in the local market but also in other markets worldwide. The main objective is to revive a product/service that tends to extinct within modern societies where lifestyles favor quantity against quality. In other words to create a service that will allow “Trendy Fads” to combine past values with today’s reality and prove that small size companies reflect one of the best practices in doing business.

Marketing Strategies

          To meet the objectives, management needs a plan or a strategy. A strategy can be defined “as a set of decisions taken by management on how the business will allocate its resources and achieve sustainable competitive advantage in its chosen markets” (Peter Doyle, Marketing Management & Strategy). The generic strategy of this company is focused on different market sectors. The marketing strategies to be followed are: - Creation of Web page. - Catalogues selling. Use of new distribution channels (i.e. Internet) because it provides global reach. - Creation of EU base. - Advertise in magazines. - Try to promote our existing products to new markets. - Mail order. Winning strategic direction: High quality clothes and high priced in order to target young professionals with little free time but a lot of money. For marketing “Trendy Fads” will sell its product through catalogues and the Internet.

Market Segmentation

          In consumer markets five main categories of segmentation are defined: 1. Geographic segmentation. 2. Demographic segmentation. 3. Geo-demographic segmentation. 4. Psychographic segmentation. 5. Behavior based segmentation. Between them, those five categories of segmentation cover a full range of characteristics. (Brassington & Pettit, Principles of Marketing) The target market for fashionable and trendy wear is mainly young people aged 15 to 20 and adults’ aged 30 to 45. Trendy wear is one of the most easy type of clothing a customer can wear despite his/her social class. Trendy wear can be anything from jeans and fabric Lycra to sweat suits. “Trendy Fads” § Target group: Males and Females aged 25 to 45. § Social class: A, B, C1 § Target group characteristics: - Little free time. - Urban life. - Want to be exclusive. Jobs in Media, marketing, fashion. § Price: Medium to high According to the above we can understand that “Trendy Fads” is an online shopping service with free catalogues to choose from. My company is targeting on a niche market, which is young professionals (male and female) aged 25-45 with a lot of money but without free time to go shopping and the need to stay on fashion and be trendy. We can clearly understand from the positioning map below why I choose such a market segment.

Positioning map

          High Quality Cheap Expensive - Low Quality From the map above we can understand that “Trendy Fads” is a company that produces high quality clothes in reasonable prices. Marketing Mix Product: As previously mentioned the product will consist of premium quality trendy and fashionable clothes. However, the product range will be narrow in the sense that only specific types of clothes will be produced and only under order. Exceptions may apply in the future as the business establishes its position in the market place. Cancellations will be accepted only under a 48h previous notice, otherwise the full payment made in advance will not be returned. Packaging will be available for all sizes of order, including both plain and gift wrappings depending on the purpose of purchase. The warranties available will cover refund or exchange in damaged goods. However, customers' views and perceptions will always be our primary concern and that is why any dissatisfaction will be handled accordingly (e.g. discounts, 2 for the price of 1 etc) Price: At the beginning where the products available will be very specific and few in numbers for clothes respectively. As far as it concerns exceptional orders, prices will be respectively adjusted Full payments will be required in advance as a guarantee. Whereas, credit and discounts will not be accepted, as an effort to maintain the smooth running of our business where sales will be the only source of income and profit. Place: The company's delivery system will be provided free of charge and will cover the north and central areas UK. Moreover, as we are in the stage of introduction with ambitions to expand, we decided to cover other distant areas around UK as well under the charge of a delivery fee. The delivery of the goods will be carried via the use of a multipurpose vehicle (van), directly to our customers work environment or to their houses. Promotion: By definition the resources available by a small business are restricted and our case is not an exception. That is our promotional activity will be mainly based on sales promotions and public relations, designed to promote qualitative coverage of the potential customers rather than frequency of exposure to the promotional activity. As far as it concerns PR activities, word of mouth will be the main source of evidence about our products' quality and reputation. For the policies of good business practice emphasize customer satisfaction, our customer service will be suitably formed to respond to such a prerequisite. Additionally, sales promotion techniques will be combined with direct marketing. Specifically, they will acquire the form of a brief catalogue and color leaflets distributed in the target areas (north, central UK) via the business's van. These promotional tools will lie on an informative basis as an attempt to increase awareness as possible. That is why color photographs representative of our distinctive style accompanied by detailed and clearly price lists will be used. The core message of our promotional activity will refer to the return to the traditional lifestyles along with ways of achieving it without being rigid and old-fashioned.

Evaluation

          Strategic statement: Major goal: Our major goal is to grow the company in terms of sales and margins within 3 years. Overall direction: Our target group and thus our overall direction is young professionals with no free time for shopping. Comp. Basis: Generic strategy which will not change. Principal Measure: Internal development of new products. Resourcing: How we will finance this strategy? We will spend on design, product testing and market by increasing gearing to 35%.

Forecast:

          It is commonly acceptable that home shopping will continue to expand because of the huge response people have to the uses of the Internet. Nevertheless, as catalogues still remain the major alternative to High Street shops it will be the emergence of otherwise niche sectors that will change the overall landscape. Moreover new methods of home shopping are forecast to have an almost immediate effect on the market. The new electronic and niche sectors are expected to become more powerful and more targeted as direct marketers use specific databases to target consumer groups. According to Key Note by the year 2003 the market for home shopping is forecast to constitute over 6% of total retail sales. Key Note estimates that the total value of the home shopping market will be worth £20.3bn, which represents growth of 73.5% over 1999 and 99% over 1998. (Key Note Ltd, Home Shopping, 1999)

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