Gatekeepers - How designers add value in the fast fashion process

The topic of my thesis is the value added by the designer in the fast fashion industry. The fast fashion phenomenon has made a significant impact on the fashion industry in the past two decades. However, there is little research done focusing on the design and the designers in the fast fashion industry. The purpose of my study is to address the fast fashion phenomenon from the designer’s perspective. My research question is: How do designers add value in the fast fashion process? To answer this I interviewed five designers working in the fast fashion industry in four countries. Fast fashion is defined with three elements: quick response, frequent assortment changes and fashionable design at affordable prices. In the core of a successful fast fashion strategy are forecasting customer demand and reacting to emerging trends that drive the fast fashion product offering. These functions lay largely in the hands of designers. The key findings of my study show that designers add value in the fast fashion process through the two roles they adopt: the strategic gatekeeping role and the practical executor role. The designer is a gatekeeper between the trends and the end product using customer, company strategy and brand as frame. The executor role is implementing the strategy in practice to make products that represent the value proposition of the company. These roles act as a pair for professional designers and value is added in all the phases of the fast fashion process, from the idea to the end product. Both, the idea and the execution must be successful to add value. The results of my study show that the designer’s role in the fast fashion industry goes beyond the actual product design. Fast fashion designers are creative and business savvy designers who are sensitive to consumer needs and emerging trends. The dual role of the designer is a noteworthy finding of this study and it solidifies the importance of design as a strategic function and designers as strategic thinkers and doers in the fast fashion business. Nixon and Blakley (2012,. Fashion Thinking: Towards an Actionable Methodology. Fashion Practice, 4(2), 153-175.) present the idea of “fashion thinking” as means for brands and services to attain value by incorporating the analytical and intuitive thinking from the fashion industry. The findings of my study support the idea of fashion thinking and present the fast fashion designers as fashion thinkers, especially through the gatekeeping role. Fashion designers should realize their full potential as creative, trend sensitive and adaptive creatives and apply their skills in industries other than fashion to embrace new career opportunitiesKirjallisen opinnäytteeni aiheena on suunnittelijan luoma lisäarvo ”fast fashion” teollisuudessa. Fast fashion, eli nopea muoti, on noussut merkittäväksi ilmiöksi viimeisten kahdenkymmenen vuoden aikana, ja sillä on ollut suuri vaikutus muotiteollisuuteen. Nopean muodin parissa toimivia suunnittelijoita ja suunnittelua on tutkittu hyvin vähän. Opinnäytteessäni tutkin fast fashion -ilmiötä suunnittelijan näkökulmasta. Tutkimuskysymykseni on: Kuinka suunnittelijat luovat lisäarvoa nopean muodin prosessissa? Haastattelin viittä vaatesuunnittelijaa jotka työskentelevät nopean muodin parissa neljässä eri maassa. Nopea muoti määritellään kolmen elementin kautta: nopea reagointi, useasti vaihtuvat valikoimat sekä edulliset ja muodikkaat tuotteet. Menestyksekäs fast fashion -strategia nojaa onnistuneeseen kysynnän ennakointiin sekä nouseviin trendeihin reagoimiseen, ja nämä tehtävät ovat suurelta osin suunnittelijoiden vastuulla. Tulosteni mukaan suunnittelijan luoma lisäarvo muodostuu kahden roolin kautta: strategisen portinvartijan roolin sekä käytännöllisen toteuttajan roolin. Suunnittelija toimii portinvartijana trendien ja tuotteen välillä käyttäen asiakasta, brändiä sekä yrityksen strategiaa apunaan. Toteuttajan roolissa suunnittelija jalkauttaa strategiaa käytännössä suunnitellen tuotteita jotka vastaavat yrityksen arvolupausta. Suunnittelijat luovat arvoa kaikissa suunnitteluprosessin osissa ideasta tuotteeksi. Sekä portinvartijan että toteuttajan roolin täytyy onnistua jotta arvo muodostuu. Tulokseni osoittavat että suunnittelijan rooli nopean muodin kentällä on paljon käytännön tuotesuunnittelua laajempi. Vaatesuunnittelijat ovat luovia ja bisnestä ymmärtäviä ammattilaisia, ja he ovat herkkiä ennakoimaan kuluttajien tarpeita ja nousevia trendejä. Suunnittelijan kaksoisrooli arvonmuodostuksessa on merkittävä löydös ja se vahvistaa designin merkitystä strategisena toimintana sekä suunnittelijoita strategisina toimijoina muotibisneksessä. Nixon ja Blakley (2012,.Fashion Thinking: Towards an Actionable Methodology. Fashion Practice, 4(2), 153-175.) esittelevät fashion thinking- toimintamallin arvon luonnin keinona brändeille ja palveluille omaksumalla muotibisneksessä yleistä analyyttistä ja intuitiivista ajattelutapaa. Opinnäytteeni tulokset tukevat fashion thinking -toimitamallia, etenkin suunnittelijoiden portinvartijan roolin kautta. Vaatesuunnittelijat ovat luovia, trendeille herkkiä ja sopeutuvia designin ammattilaisia, ja heidän tulisi rohkeasti soveltaa osaamistaan muillekin aloille muodin ulkopuolella

Big Data in Fashion Industry: Color Cycle Mining from Runway Data

Color is a powerful selling tool, especially in the fashion and textile industry, in which products aim to inspire consumers visually. Color Cycle Analysis studies the recurring cycle of trends. Traditional fashion color cycle analysis and prediction is performed by observing and extrapolating from trends apparent on fashion runways. With the emergence of big data, there is a potential to apply data analytics method in fashion industry. We propose and develop a data-driven methodology to analyze color trends by mining online textual data of global fashion runways collected from the Style.com website. By capturing three important elements in color hue, saturation and brightness, we are able effectively extract their presence and variations in textual data. We illustrate the re-occurrence of seven Color Cycle phases: High Chroma, Multicolored, Subdued, Earth Tones, Achromatic, and Purple Phase from runway review data

Computational Aesthetics for Fashion

The online fashion industry is growing fast and with it, the need for advanced systems able to automatically solve different tasks in an accurate way. With the rapid advance of digital technologies, Deep Learning has played an important role in Computational Aesthetics, an interdisciplinary area that tries to bridge fine art, design, and computer science. Specifically, Computational Aesthetics aims to automatize human aesthetic judgments with computational methods. In this thesis, we focus on three applications of computer vision in fashion, and we discuss how Computational Aesthetics helps solve them accurately

Oral-Care Goods Sales Forecasting Using Artificial Neural Network Model

AbstractSupply Chain consists of various components like supplier, manufacturer, factories, warehouses, distribution agents, customers, etc. Supply Chain Management encompasses all the activities from moving goods from sourcing to consumption. Sales forecasting is a part of downstream activity of supply chain and is the process of predicting future sales of the product. It helps in making informed business decisions. In this paper a study of various sales forecasting algorithms is done and results of sales of oral-care products are calculated using Back-Propagation Neural Network Model. The error rate for different products is also calculated

Colour forecasting: an investigation into how its development and use impacts on accuracy

Colour forecasting is a sector of trend forecasting which is arguably the most important link in the product development process, yet little is known about it, the methodology behind its development or its accuracy. It is part of a global trend forecasting industry valued recently at $36bn, providing information which is developed commercially eighteen months to two years ahead of the season. Used throughout the garment supply chain, by the yarn and fibre manufacturers, the fabric mills, garment designers and retailers, it plays a pivotal role in the fashion and textile industry, but appears in many different forms. Colour forecasts were first commercially produced in 1917, but became more widely used during the 1970s, and in recent years digital versions of colour forecasts have become increasingly popular. The investigation aimed to establish the historical background of the industry, mindful of the considerable changes to fashion manufacturing and retailing in recent decades. For the purposes of the investigation, a period spanning 25 years was selected, from 1985 to 2010. In reviewing the available literature, and the methodologies currently used in developing forecasting information, it became clear that there was a view that the process is very intuitive, and thus a lack of in depth academic literature. This necessitated a considerable quantity of primary research in order to fill the gaps in the knowledge regarding the development, use and accuracy of colour forecasting. A mixed method approach to primary research was required to answer the aim of the thesis, namely to investigate how colour forecasts are compiled, and examine their use, influence and accuracy within the fashion and textiles industry, suggesting methods for developing more accurate forecasts in the future. Interviews were conducted with industry practitioners comprising forecasters, designers and retailers to better understand how colour was developed and used within industry. Two longitudinal studies were carried out with the two largest UK clothing retailers to map their development and use of colour palettes, and understand better how colour contributes to the critical path and supply chain. Two colour development meetings were observed, one with a commercial colour forecaster, the other with an industry association, and two colour archives were studied to establish whether or not any identifiable and predictable colour cycles existed. Data from the interviews and longitudinal studies were analysed using a grounded approach, and revealed some new insights into the influences upon the development of colour forecasts both commercially and from the retailer's perspective. The sell through rates of merchandise, EPOS analysis and range of practices between those interviewed and the two retailers studied provided an interesting insight into working practices and how colour forecasting information is changed when used by the retailers. It was found that a group of core colours existed, which were used season after season, and consistently demonstrated a high sell through rate, such as black, white, grey and navy. In order to establish whether or not colour cycles were consistently predictable in their repetition, two colour forecasting archives were assessed. If predictable colour cycles existed, they would be a useful tool in developing more accurate forecasts. Unfortunately this was not the case, as no clear colour cycles were found. However, the archive, together with evidence from the retailers demonstrated the 'lifecycle' of fashion colours was longer than expected, as they took time to phase in and out. It was concluded that in general the less fashion led brands used their own signature colours and were able to develop colour palettes far later in the product development timeline. This approach could be adopted more widely by retailers and designers as it was discovered that although accuracy rates for colour forecasts are generally accepted to be around 80%, the commercial forecasters provide colour update cards closer to the season where at least 40% of the colours are changed. Very early information, two years ahead of the season is no longer necessary in the contemporary fashion and textiles industry

Zara and Benetton: Comparison of two business models

The project analizes and compares two very important and diferent business models in fast fashion industry: Zara y Benetton models. Their models are so diferent but have been a great success, due to their capacity to respond quickly to demand of the market, then due to their flexibility. In this regard, the project also demonstrates how information sharing have a big role to the success of a company. It improves the efficiency of a company and helps to achieve the customer satisfaction . To achieve a good sharing information, it' s important a good and strenght relationship between manufacturer and retailer

The use of consumer preference data in forecasting sales

The problem of this study is to find a more reliable method of forecasting sales than the system presently being used by the Lady Wrangler Division of Blue Bell, Incorporated. Sales forecasting is perhaps the most difficult problem in the apparel industry today. To a large degree, the success of a business depends upon the skill of management in accurately predicting sales. This study investigates the use of consumer preference data in forecasting sales. Three sets of data were collected and compared statistically. In addition to the consumer preference data collected from 292 female consumers, a forecast made by Blue Bell management using conventional forecasting methods was used. The final Spring 1968 sales for the styles being forecast constitute the third set of data. Each of these sets of data were reduced to an index of 100 for this study in order to mask the actual sales figures and place all three variables on a common base

THE ACCELERATION OF THE FASHION TREND CYCLE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Fashion is known for its cyclical nature, but this cycle has been careening out of control in recent years. To deduce the cause of this acceleration of the fashion trend cycle, research was conducted to determine social media’s role in the trend cycle. Since coming into prominence in the last 20 years, social media has monumentally impacted countless different areas of modern culture, this paper analyzes its impact on the diffusion of fashion objects into societal relevance. This analysis is conducted through Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation curve and an in depth look into both short and long term fashion trends from before social media’s effect as well as after