NEW FASHION GEOPOLITICS
At the moment China, India and Africa account for 30% of branded fashion consumption. What if these emerging countries weighed 60-70%? That’s a goal not so far away. In the decade 2010-2020, the market segment defined as “next billion consumers” generated 10 trillion wealth, coming from those markets. There will no longer be sub-cultures, but real post-globalization multiculturalism. We are moving towards localized globalization.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
What if the consumer of “Z Generation” decides to buy only completely sustainable (fully sustainable) products? There are potent signs that go in that direction. Even school education launches powerful messages on circularity. There should be complete transparency regarding the production of clothing and the systems adopted. There will be a considerable growth of the so-called “access, not ownership”, that is the “second hand”, the “renting”, any form of sharing that extends the life of the products, reducing waste and consumerism as an end in itself. The second-hand clothing market is estimated to double by 2025.
ONLINE CLOTHING
From 2014 to 2018, the online clothing trade grew exponentially, reaching 40/50% of total volumes transacted.
FUTURE MARKETS
China, India and Africa are overgrowing. The birth rate in the West is firm, so all the demographic indices go in that direction. Many countries in that area are still in a state of poverty. An increase in wealth is, therefore, necessary. The markets of the future are undoubtedly those in that area. Already today, 35% of luxury goods are purchased by Chinese consumers, who combined with the other two countries, bring consumption to 50% of the total treaty.
ECO-SUSTAINABILITY DEMAND
From research conducted on very young luxury consumers, it emerged that 60% of them think that luxury and fashion brands should be more sustainable and ethical than others. They are consumers who expect excellence at 360 ° from luxury brands, not only at a creative and aesthetic level but also from moral values. 80% of them say they prefer socially responsible brands. We begin to see consumers who boycott unsustainable brands or who switch from one brand to another, again for that same reason. Something unthinkable only five years ago. The second-hand clothing market is estimated to double by 2025.
PROBLEM SOLUTION
There is no real solution to the problem. On the complex issue of sustainability, the most important thing is an active collaboration among all stakeholders of the supply chain. It is in vertical teamwork, from upstream to downstream, that we can find a solution. We must think of the sustainable product as such. The virtuous production wave must propagate from the concept. Another element that will characterize future success is the study of human behaviour, in continuous evolution, making use of technology and constant monitoring.
METHOD OF PLANNING
Because of the fast and continuous changes, the future becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to predict. Classical strategic planning, at five years, is now obsolete. The budget must be made to have a general indication, but it is just a sterile exercise, due to the sudden turns of the markets and the technological evolution. The new way of planning consists of “future back”, setting an image of the future and where we want to be in that image of the future, and then “present forward”, like a river to wade in which there are many stones. You jump on the first stone, making a decision that you think is right, and then you begin to see many other stones in front of you and choose the most convenient one to proceed on a subsequent stone. The winning companies, today, are those that innovate every day, trying the system “trial & error”. A stepping stones approach and continuous improvement, without thinking of planning for the long term.
EXCELLENT ITALY
Italy will play a key role in the future. Five trillion wealth, in the decade 2010-2020, was generated by what is called “Everything but Better”, understood as the production of the same products but more beautiful and more functional, made in a better way. Italy is Better. A better rich in meaning, not only in terms of creativity and quality but also sustainability and ethics. Italy can play an enormous role in the world if it regains this positioning. Quality is the first element of sustainability. Buy better to buy less. Posing as the interlocutor of “Excellence for Excellence” is the remedy that can bring our country back to the top of the wave.
THE WORLD IS DYING
The intervention by the photographer and entrepreneur RANKIN was decidedly interesting. He began by saying “The world is dying, I’m sorry”. The point, according to Rankin, is not only how to earn more money or how to convince new and more consumers to buy our products. The most important thing to understand is that the world is dying and sustainability is the only alternative to avoid it.
Fashion has become something that everyone wants. That is why some companies have invented fast fashion. A form of trade that facilitates accessibility to trendy apparels to a mass audience, but which is unquestionably the least sustainable form of purchase.
Indeed, generations are no longer divided. Today we are a psychographic generation. Whether you are 7 or 70, access to products and services of interest is effortless. A condition that made everyone very lazy. We want things quickly and want to spend little, and then throw everything away. Rankin continued saying the social media that entered so forcefully in our culture were invented by people who want us to become addicted to the fear of not feeling good on our own. We must return to the joy of feeling good on our own. Young people want to be protagonists of their choices. Many go to second-hand shops, buy clothes that they like, then dismantle and reassemble the pieces by mixing them with other garments of different kinds, creating their unique style and making a political statement against issues such as fast fashion. The young people, that influenced we all and who, within a few years, will become the biggest consumers, look at us. They observe our way of relating to issues like fast fashion and laugh at us. They think that we are selfish, egocentric, individualists who have screwed the world stealing their future. They are beginning to reject our way of working and living. So, the future of consumption is not only eco-sustainable but ethical. It is necessary to become ETHICAL upstream of the supply chain until delivery to ensure that the clothing business continues to produce wealth. Today’s young people are not interested in luxury, quality or trends, but are interested in knowing if the company which provide their apparels is ethically valid. That is not a trend destined to disappear. It is the young people who will change the world in that meaning. The social network has introduced a very positive thing, namely that everyone has a voice. Young people will call companies for a change and will not buy the products of those who do not comply. This change is more significant than the invention of printing, the industrial revolution, the internal combustion engine. It is something that goes beyond our understanding. There can be no creativity on a dead planet. The pushed interconnection makes it impossible to deny this metamorphosis that will not stop. Indeed it will get worse. Accepting change and adapting is the only way to survive.