Molly_Southern_PR

This blog will explore attitudes amongst consumers to develop a strategic promotional campaign and content that will inspire individuals to have a voice and make a long lasting change in the sustainable fashion industry. I will respond to the open "CALL TO ACTION" by Fashion Revolution and will be working alongside the company to produce an affective campaign,

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Campaign creation

As part of my campaign to sway consumers away from fast fashion, I would like to set up vintage pop up stores at events around the country to encourage people to create an emotional attachment to their clothing and live a more conscious lifestyle. Below is a digital illustration of what the pop up store would look like.

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Campaign poster - Rediscovering your retro

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Re - write your narrative

“I just can't help but disagree with everything about todays culture and values” - Steinmetz

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Nostalgia - My campaign

We’re obsessed with documenting and recycling the past on social media, there is never a time where we are just living in the moment. In a digital age our sense of time becomes warped. Why not connect this to a fashion conscious lifestyle? Using the idea of nostalgia allows us to make a connection to a lost moment in fashion and to make an emotional connection to our wardrobe, meaning we are more likely to sway away from fast fashion and make our clothed last! Revisiting a certain time in fashion which is personal to you creates a comforting atmosphere and the nostalgic idea of “vintage” clothing becomes trendy for new and upcoming audiences, whether you're recognising the old or discovering it as new.

As a whole we can reconstruct our clothes which enables you to write your own narrative. We live in a fragmented reality where things change around us at a great speed and we will start to long for authenticity.

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The Fashion film table of elements

To gain some perspective of what elements I could start to put in to my own fashion film, I am starting to research existing sustainability fashion films and comparing them against the table of elements.

H&M Conscious - Sustainable fashion through recycled clothes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4xnyr2mCuI

Distribution - Online 

Structure - Story telling and experimental

Techniques - Non - diegetic sound

Aesthetic - Cinema of narrative

Director - Designer

Approaches - Experimental

Perspective - Fashion media

Sub Genre - Pastiche and non binary

Stella McCartney’s world of sustainability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqyOlGyvtpA

Distribution - Vimeo and online

Structure - Story telling

Techniques - Non Diegetic sound

Aesthetic - Cinema of of attractions and narrative.

Director - Designer

Approaches - Experimental

Perspective - Brand building

Sub Genre - Realism

Diesel - Go with the flaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYxG1ASrYKo

Distribution - Social media and online

Structure - Experimental

Techniques - Non - linear time

Aesthetic - Cinema of attractions and beauty

Director - Brand/ Designer

Approaches - Experiemtnal and political

Perspective - Fashion media and exposition 

Sub Genre - Pastiche

Umasan - In transition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cis1yhmkx0g

Distribution - Online

Structure - Organic

Techniques - Linear time

Aesthetic - Ugliness and cinema of narrative

Director - Photographer/ Image maker

Approaches - Experimental

Perspective - Exposition

Sub Genre - Realism

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Persona for my target audience

To create a successful campaign I need to know who I'm targeting it at, the persona below gives a general idea of the type of individual who will be connecting with my campaign.

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VOX POP - Inspired by Fashion Revolution. A research film asking audiences ages 18-25 what they know about sustainability in the fashion industry. Click on the video to find out if they know who made their clothes!

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SWOT analysis

By creating a SWOT analysis, I have looked at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Fashion Revolution. This will certainly help to gain an idea of the gaps that are present in the current campaign and start to gather together some ideas of how to bring in a new audience.

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Persona for the existing Fashion Revolution audience

In order to develop a campaign for a new target audience for the brand, I need to get an idea of what the current target market is like for Fashion Revolution. I have created a persona for a typical Fashion Rev follower at present which is attached below.

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Getting to know Generation Z

https://youtu.be/znggH2k7Y6Y

Thomas Koulopoulos talks Generation z: “Generation Z is the largest cohort to sweep humanity at 2 billion strong. However, it's not just a birthright, we all have a choice to be Gen Z if we adopt the behaviors and attitudes of this new generation; and while some of these behaviors are odd, even aberrant, many are improving the way in which we create a more connected and inclusive world.”

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We can change our mindset.

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Made in inhumane conditions

Inhumane working conditions are happening all over the world, do you think about that when you're buying your clothes? I’m assuming not and thats because many of us put it to the back of our mind, maybe to reduce guilt. We all know it goes on but it doesn't affect us so we don't think about it. No one really knows the extent of the problem.

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Over consumption

The problem is over consumption, we are never satisfied with what we buy, we end up buying too much and get into the habit of never having enough and never feeling content. We need to change this together.

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Legal requirements

Thinking about the supply chain, only 5% of companies have full transparency in their campaigns and marketing. Take FYRE festival for example, the social media content and marketing across Instagram went crazy due to influencers posting about the festival, however all of this was fake. There was no transparency in the project or company and no relationship between the consumer and FYRE was built. The UK and US have now put laws in place to gain more transparency between companies and their audiences.

Fashion Revolution also focusses on the rights of workers across the world, their campaigns are strong across all social media and get consumers involved in their work. A union representation is always needed to validate a workers voice and encourage enforcement and have their opinions taken more seriously by employers.

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Care for your clothes, like the good friends they are.

One of the ideas that Fashion Revolution focusses on is caring for your clothes that you already have in your wardrobe, making sure you secure an emotional attachment to them and start drifting away from fast fashion.

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Being social! (Fashion revolution)

If you think of the word social, it has many connotations that impact the consumers buying habits and lifestyle. Fast fashion fits into this category as it is a way of life for many consumers. What we need to do is stay away from fast fashion, cheaper and less durable clothing and start to create a long lasting wardrobe. 

“Green clothes” could be seen as a new marketing opportunity for the fashion industry. Green fashion has become one of the latest trends of the decade, with veganism rising 400% in the last five years. In order to achieve a sustainable relationship between the economy and the environment, it is the responsibility of both consumers and businesses to consumer natural resources efficiently. 

We also have to think about influencers, an influencers job is to persuade consumers to buy. If they didn't do that they would be out of a job. If we’re trying to be sustainable, the people that influence us from all over the world makes it very hard to keep a conscious lifestyle and mind. Social media is the biggest platform for persuasian but we can use this to make green and sustainable living trendy. 81% of individuals are influenced by a friends buying habit and 85% are influenced by celebrities on Instagram.

We all turn to social media to find the next trends and newest styles, here we start to disconnect with the idea of conscious living and emotional attachments to clothing. 

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Let’s be political and economic - Fashion Revolution

Politically, we are forced to look at the external factors which my influence the Fashion Revolution campaign. Take BREXIT for example, it could be suggested that fashion is likely yo slow down due to a higher demand for clothing when we leave the EU. At present, three quarters of materials are imported therefore we wont be able to get a hold of them so easily. The UK imports almost £10 billion worth of clothes from Europe, more than 10,000 staff members are also from Europe, with BREXIT we are most likely to lose these as the boarders get stricter.

Economically, we have to think about the cost of living. If we want people to make #LOVEDCLOTHESLAST but consumers don't want to spend a lot on a product, we need to think of an alternative way to avoid consumers buying fast fashion. Although a buyer needs to find an emotional attachment to their wardrobe, luxury clothing isn't always in the price budget. This is where globalisation comes in, due to international competition this will lower the cost for consumers, as brands are wanting audiences to buy their product.