About Creative Industries – Fashion
The first article in this Creative Industries series looks at one of the most influential, dynamic, growing and controversial creative industries – Fashion.
The fashion industry took shape around 1850 when clothes were sewn by and the concept of fashion was still strictly linked to utility. Later, the concept behind the industry began to take shape more and more. With the Renaissance, fashion took on new meanings with the first fashion houses, it changed completely. to this rapidly developing industry. Fashion would become a key player in creative expression of individuals, in direct relation to the socio-political events specific to each period, one of the classic examples being British punk brand Vivienne Westwood.
Today, fashion is in a continuous global development, being one of the most dynamic creative sectors and covers a wide range of activities, such as the transport of materials and their importance – natural materials and the trend towards sustainability or artificial materials and the trend towards fast-fashion. There are therefore two main trends related to overconsumption of clothes and their production in factories exploiting underdeveloped countries and combating them by a return to materials that are as natural as possible. The fashion industry is also closely linked to footwear, accessories, jewellery, watches and food products, and as a whole, with a turnover of 1.1 trillion a year (€0.9 trillion).
The high-end fashion industry is probably one of the most prosperous, with more than 1 million employees and exporting more than 60% of its products abroad Europe. Fashion houses such as Hermes (fon. 1837, Paris), Burberry (fon. 1856, UK), Tiffany & Co. (New York), Cartier (1847, Paris) and many others are leading global luxury houses in a continually expanding. According to CEOWORLD magazine, Dior was the most influential fashion brand of luxury fashion brands globally in 2020, followed by Burberry, Chanel and Gucci. So the fashion industry is becoming increasingly complex, with a series of interlinked chains, starting from design, followed by production and finally distribution.
Although not a luxury brand or a highly commercial one, “Patagonia” is one of brands that play a key role in the fashion industry. Thanks to an innovative, smart approach and sustainable business models, it maintains an important role in the global market.
We have chosen to showcase this, perhaps less predictable brand, precisely because of its importance in fashion industry today and especially in the context of 2020. This American brand founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard, has been producing sportswear, outdoor and since its inception until today, thrives as an ethical, sustainable brand that protects the environment and is actively involved in environmental and social-economic movements.
The brand is renowned for everything sustainable and recycling in terms of production itself, but also commercially encourages the ethical principles it stands for – advertising campaigns, messages to company employees to implement different environmental movements, messages to consumers such as ‘reduce, repair, reuse, recycle’, 1% of the company’s total sales or 10% of profits is given to groups that support the environment, a rare aspect in the fashion industry, and this is thanks to the founder Yvon Chouinard.
So the fashion industry, and the entire chain that makes up the sector, is becoming more and more important, especially with the pandemic year and the meteoric rise of online sales. Global fashion industry is going through this major shift to digital adoption, and companies such as Net-a-Porter, Farfetch and the partnership with Gucci, are increasingly raising the bar on online services on offer. Online sales are growing extremely fast not only in emerging markets but also in Southeast Asia, where on average consumers spend eight hours online, and one of the major activities is online shopping for clothes and shoes.
#TransylvanianMoviePreneurs is an entrepreneurship education project in the field of Industrial Creative and Cultural Industries.
The promoters of this project are Civitas Foundation for Civil Society, 23 FILM and PROJECTS – Iceland.
The project is funded by EEA Grants 2014-2021, under the RO-Culture Programme of the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit (UMP).
