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January 17, 2019
There's nothing like a new year and January to start thinking about change, and in particular the change that's coming in fashion. Right now the clothing manufacturing and design business are going through all sorts of gyrations to figure out where to go after this horrid 30 years of sloppy, ill-fitting, poorly-made, and cheap garments. The fashion industry, having so
cheapened and bastardized the process of garment manufacture for the last 3 decades can not turn on a dime and suddenly start making garments that are durable, stylish and finished.
The retailers are working very hard to figure out ways to get customers to pay 10 more times than what the customer was used to paying last year or two years ago, and that's a very hard sell. Some have come up with the rental dress - rent a $700 dress for $40 for a couple of days - Oh and let me tell you the things wrong with that (I've sewn up more than one wedding guest into her "rental dress" that has dysfunctional closures) - but that's a whole other
post.
There's proof of this out in the market place of how well these durable, well-made products will sell. It's the young wealthy Chinese. There has always been a wealthy Chinese class (I can remember watching them show off in the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, for high tea during the early 80s). But today they can not only make the money, but it's politically OK to spend it, IOW, they won't get sent off to the Chinese Lubyanka for purchasing expensive
goods. These kids didn't have a lot of $$$ or even exposure to outside fashion much when they were growing up and neither did their parents, but the recent wealth in China and the change in political view on spending that money has caused a very recent (like the last 5 years) availability to this luxury market with brands like Hermes, Celine, Lora Piana, Bulgari, Fendi, Dior, Givenchy, Pink Shirtmakers, Marc Jacobs, Kenzo, Emilio Pucci, Fred, and Tag Heuer. Many of these names
may not be familiar to you, but they are very high-end European names, which is what LVMH has. (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy which is a large European conglomerate specializing in luxury brands).
So what's going on here? Take a group that hasn't even been exposed to the fashion because they weren't exposed to the clothing market for 25 years, and suddenly the fashion they see now is a choice between cheap/fast fashion or luxury goods and what do they choose?.....the luxury goods hands down. It's become a huge market in China.
From the Business of Fashion newsletter, an excerpt from their Decade in Review, China section is here:
"Luxury Met It's Most Important Consumers
"China's Digitally native younger spenders have proven especially vital for brands' bottom lines this decade. Increased spending on high-end products from bags to jewellery have driven growth for what would become, by the end of the decade, the largest global market for luxury goods. So-called "Post -'90s' and 'Post-'00s" shoppers also helped shape the
marketing strategies of luxury brands globally by incentivising the chase for new formats and mediums -- from collaborating with hit video games to community-focused youth culture gatherings -- alongside a deeper focus on merchandising to cater to each generations' unique characteristics."
BTW, it's important to note here that the US younger market has more wealth, however they also are more ingrained to expect a much lower quality and prices. They haven't caught up to the market yet, but they will and it will overtake the Chinese market incredibly. So much so that for the last couple of years there has been the attempt to set up a US based LVMH corporation, but to no avail
yet.
This is a huge change
And this is the change I'm talking about that's coming our way. The retailers and marketers and fashion industry can not turn on a dime, but we sewists can. I used to do this regularly in my design company and for myself. When I would see something really fashion-forward, my friends would have to wait at the minimum a season, but more like a year before it would be available for them to purchase it. I never had to wait that long. I could have the
garment on my back in weeks as my friends would have to wait months, and add double or more the price.
The First Change
The most dramatic first tick I see is the dress. If you don't have a dress, you need to make one. A pretty one. One in a pretty floral. I know, I can hear it now, "Claire, I don't look good in something like that. I don't wear floral. I have nothing like that in my closet and I have no where I could wear something like that!" Well, get ready, cause the change is coming.
What you'll soon see is the fashion leaders or advancers who are the first to wear a look or a fashion trend will start wearing this. I've already seen it on Anna Wintour. Or even this one will open your eyes - Kenneth D. King's Barbie looks are all dresses!
Kenneth is nothing if not on top of what's going on after all he's a professor at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where he instructs young designers every day! He sees the change and what's happening with fashion and the markers - and one of them is the dress.
From the movie "All About Eve": designed by Edith Head
So "Buckle your seat belts. It's going to be a wild ride." And she said all of that in a dress!!!
And speaking of change, I'm sure you've notice a lot is changing on the website. We haven't gotten everything finished yet, but it is a work in progress right now. If there's any comments, please let me know. I love hearing from you, even if it's negative - actually, especially if it's negative. But don't let that stop you if you want to say something positive too! All you need to do is respond to this email and I'll get
it.
We're working on simplifying it and changing it to a more functional and easier place to get around.
If there's something you liked from before and don't see, LMK.
If there's something you've never seen, but would like, LMK.
And of course if there's something that seems haywire or good, LMK!
You all will be the first to know when it's more settled, but for right now we're still moving the furniture around!
PS - I do a lot of posting on Facebook as SewingArtistry - if you want to like my page and see all the goodies over there!
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