Follow Trends or Stay True to Your Brand?

The fashion industry has been growing at a faster pace than ever before, as new fashion trends keep showing up on a weekly basis it seems. This growth isn’t showing any signs of slowing down or stopping. One of the biggest reasons behind the growth is the increase in digitization all over the world. That situation was exacerbated by the global pandemic. These days, consumers don’t need to go inside their favorite stores to buy an item of clothing. They can go online, make purchases, and get their clothing items delivered to their doorstep. This shift was the reason why both big and small fashion brands have started shifting toward eCommerce. There are some trends that fashion brands should stay away from. That’s why it’s important to know the difference between a positive and a negative industry trend.

Positive Trends

More and more consumers these days are interested in sustainability, ethics, and politics. Fashion brands will have to become aware and define the ideals that they stand for and support in a more direct way than they have in the past. These are important factors that contribute to the purchasing decisions of many customers, especially younger customers. Consumers are looking to do business with companies that have similar values to their own. The shift means that fashion brands will start showing that they’re contributing to the environment through sustainability practices. It also means fashion brands are going to become a lot more transparent about their work ethics. This is another important factor for consumers, and they’ll have to start to integrate politics. Fashion brands can integrate the politics that they support in different ways. They can include them in their social media content, and website. Some can even create specific clothing lines that refer to specific societal or political issues. In the meantime, they will need to invest in marketing and PR to ensure that the brand is getting the right messages across to its audiences.

Negative Trends

There are some types of trends that the fashion industry should be staying away from, as they can impact their reputation or business operations in a negative way. Those are seasonal trends that the consumers can join in on and then leave. That means fashion brands will need to stay true to themselves and their consumers. This means not trying to join in on the latest fast fashion trend that is going to pass within a week. That’s not the way that companies can promote sustainability. As stated before, this is an essential trend that fashion brands should join in on if they haven’t, to be able to attract consumers. The color, fabric, or design of the products that they create should always remain in line with the core ideas of the brands themselves. This way they can ensure the consumers will be able to differentiate them from their competitors and develop stronger relationships with audiences.