Introduction to the Fashion Marketing- into the Global context :

Fashion is driven by creativity, desire and ambition. Consumers want to buy unique items that are significant, personal to them and reflect their taste and status. Fashion designers and buyers have to provide clothes that meet these ever changing needs and are available at a given price point. Also, they define and reflect trends. Trend forecasting influences the colors, the styles and textures that are abundant in stores.

However, if even the slightest hue or shade of color or style fails to match consumers tastes, then these items will not sell.
So, it is challenging to predict and order volumes of clothes way in advance of when they are likely to appear in store. Technology drives innovation in textiles and is a dynamic force in fashion. Think about aromatherapy to enhance a sense of well-being delivered in clothes, think improvement in sports ware, etc. Price deflation, getting the quality and design to match consumers desires, needs and tastes and managing the supply chain to provide innovation to the high-street make fashion marketing exciting and challenging.

As well as the fashion item, e-tailing and other ways of selling, promotion and managing the supply base are affecting the organization and management approaches to fashion. Fashion leadership is only attained by being one step ahead in being aware of the multiple impacts on the fashion business, learning how these may improve the fashion business and implementing change at the right time. Our suppliers, and the various intermediaries supporting production located throughout the world moving merchandise from producer to consumer. This is not easy fashion changes constantly. The traditional seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter may be less visible than they once were but they are still apparent, with frequent in-season changes. Color, form, texture, label, etc. can be extremely short-lived.

This makes forecasting, planning and marketing risky and multipart.

Traditional retailers offering Internet sites has inspired Internet shopping. Boundaries between retailers, manufacturers and dotcom companies are becoming unclear. Alongside this re-organization of the industry, consumers are less loyal. Consumers do shop around for the best deal, based on price, quality, convenience or brand awareness, but how they shop on the Internet for fashion is not predictable. It is in business to business transactions where the new economy seems to be gaining a grip. Ordering and shipping dyestuffs from Japan to factories in India, tracking the movement of goods as they are being transported from China to the UK and other similar business activities are where the e-commerce is beneficial.

The old pattern of management thinking in the fashion industry are being challenged.

Quick response, flexible approaches and the constant drive to offer innovative products to consumers have to be managed effectively.
How can new design talent be marked and given the opportunity to grow, always thinking..

Uneven markets make it difficult for retail marketers to identify prospective target markets and to segment customer groups.

Retail organizations constantly renew and refresh themselves and their identities through the Marketing activities.
Constant newness of design not simply in their products but in their store-designs, merchandising displays and theatrical approaches to retailing refresh their brand identities. Witness the variety of developments in the marketing of fashion merchandise through non-traditional outlets such as supermarkets and opportunities for expansion into different segments that is mens wear into womens wear and from domestic to overseas markets. And yet there is still a place in the highly complex, competitive fashion market for the traditional or classic retail offering.

There are more important changes, supermarket fashion has taken a larger market share. Many traditional retailers have felt the squeeze as supermarkets have steadily untidy out their markets particularly in categories such as childrens clothing and leisurewear. It is now possible to pick up a mans two-piece suit for under USD 40 in your local supermarkets. Ten years ago this would have been unthinkable.

Fashion futures are influenced by new materials and advanced technologies.

These will present new challenges and create new aesthetics and sensibilities.

Seamless garments offer a comfortable fit.

Partly finished garments may be bought and then finished by a local micromanufacturer based at a local supermarkets;

Dyeing a garment may be available at the touch of a button

There are often press reports about abuse in the industry. For example, clothing manufactured in the undeveloped parts of the world is exported to markets in the developed world to be sold at very high prices. Workers in these factories often exist on subsistence wages. Their employers are a part of a global supply network to satisfy demand in markets in the developed world.

Fashion markets and fashion marketing:

The textiles, apparel, clothing and footwear industries are considering in a fashion industry. Textiles in the shape of home furnishings, fabrics, curtains, various upholstery, wall and floor coverings are considered by many to be fashionable items, as indeed are clothing and footwear.

However, the term fashion can be used more broadly and cover a much greater range of goods.
At a glance to any contemporary style magazine would lead one to conclude that fashion could equally apply to food, housing, music, automobiles, perfumery and beauty products. Indeed, modern lifestyles and consumerism rely heavily on and are influenced by these wider fashion trends.

The growing impact of China on world textile and clothing markets:

China has an estimated 40,000 textile and garment manufacturing firms and 24,000 textile mills with 19 million people employed in textile and clothing Manufacture

Indias expected growing share of the world market

India is also a beneficiary of the removal of the MFA and is expected to increase its share of the global textile business from 3 per cent to 15 per cent by 2010 according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The textile industry in India employs 35 million people and accounts for nearly one-quarter of Indias exports. Indigenous experts are critical of the optimistic where China increasingly dominant in position in world markets. Although they agree that there will be growth they argue that India must develop its logistics capability if it is to compete against China. This requires significant public investment in the road, rail and other transport infrastructure. Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey will also benefit from the expected growth of cotton exports as a consequence of the termination of the MFA

Textiles Monitoring Body (TMB) to supervise the implementation of the the textile business against lower wage countries such as China, Brazil and Bangladesh is if it moves up the quality ranking, and produces better goods for large global retailers. Racing to the bottom with Bangladesh is a no win game. The only way to build long-term relationships with large global brands is to produce higher and higher quality under improving working conditions. Retailers demand not only better prices and quality, but also better conditions for workers. Implemented Compliance issues, where they are having a kind of commitment from Manufacturers to users. Code of conduct is considering the 3 PS People, Profit and Planet. Corporate global issues where we are considering Environment the prime issues. Ignoring that there will be no partnering.

Approaching 20 per cent of the world population lives in poverty. This is defined by the World Bank as people living on less than US $1 per day. Supporters of globalization are believers they stress the benefits, they are optimistic and they see it as the culmination of revolutionary structural change. International trade is nothing new. We have engaged in international trade since mankind has been able to walk even before the development of nation states, as we now know them. From east to west is an early example of a supply route transporting products from where they were made in China through to the markets of Europe where they were sold.

Fair trade organization:

Free trade is a powerful concept, highly politicized and of great influence in contemporary society for the ways in which we structure markets and its impacts on the ways in which buyers and sellers in those markets act. Producers of textiles and clothing merchandise, retailers, consumers and governments are engaged in interactions.

Value creation, information and powerful brands

Companies who want to achieve domination in their chosen markets are shaping competitive market landscapes throughout the world. These organizations want to influence their powerful brands in order to go beyond local domestic markets. These organizations need to satisfy their customers by understanding their needs better. They are developing powerful information systems that provide their owner(s) with vast databases that they can mine to identify market trends and utilize for targeted-promotional activity.

New product innovation and creativity to leverage both the brand and the vast arrays of information that these global brand owners have at their disposal requires them to think in new ways about their business and the competition they face.

Owning assets is no longer as important a consideration as owning customers. This belief is evidenced by recent trends to restructure organizations and to outsource many of the functional and traditional activities previously regarded as essential to the well-being of the organization. Efficient and effective supply chains are required to manage customer demand and brand operations. Customer relationship management is supported through e-commerce. Backoffice support activities are more focused on satisfying customers and fulfillment of the marketing promise is critical to the organizations future Organizations are focused on value creation rather than only short-term profitability.

Creating value is important as markets, marketing processes, supplier networks and operations throughout the globe become integrated through elinkages and supply chain moving parts, products and information around the network in order to meet customer demand.

supply chains from concept design to store, and on to the final consumer. Markets and market opportunity may be both local and global. Organizations will be managing networks to influence brand values and this can be achieved using global communication systems from anywhere in the world.
However, many managers and academics remained unconvinced by this formula of standardization, rationalization and centralization. It was true that for some Japanese companies the formula had worked, but it was equally true that for others it had not. During the past 5 years the phenomenon of supermarket fashion has emerged as a significant market trend all over the world. Supermarkets were previously regarded as a place to buy basic clothing often selling socks, underwear, limited offers on shirts, T-shirts, womens casual tops own brand jeans and limited ranges of childrens clothing often to capture particular markets like back to school.

Now more major players have grasped the opportunity of growing supermarket fashion including accessories (Jewelries, bags, gloves, hats and shoes): Wal-Mart, K Mart, Target, Asda, Carrifoure and Tesco putting investment into finding ways of taking more money from the same consumer base. It began by defining fashion markets and fashion marketing. It discussed the relative importance of textile and clothing manufacture in the context of the world economy. Importance measured by size of regional and country trade flows, employment and individual country earnings from exports and the cost of imports. It moved on to examine the impact of China with its phenomenal capacity to produce textiles and clothing. Chinas growth rate as the leading exporter is a cause for concern for many other manufacturing countries that were previously protected under quotas but now the gloves are off, in the battle for markets worldwide. India too is of great importance in this market place.

Finally the connection was made to global sourcing and the trend towards developing global production networks.

Importantly these networks are increasingly managed by full package sourcing organizations which is purchasing organization as an outsourced function.

Examine the history of fashion Develop an understanding of fabrics Understand how garments are constructed Compare the quality of clothing Identify the components of a profit and loss statement Apply principles of fashion show production to produce a fashion show Understand and develop marketing principles Understand the fundamentals of retail buying Create a store layout and floor plan Understand the principles of advertising The impact of technology on marketing research Understanding of electronic marketing Understanding of retail business strategy Compare how social issues, the economy and geography influence the design of clothing How technology could be used in the retail operational environment Considering all above our Fashion products will Market smoothly in to the Global Market.