The Fashion Industry
Whenever the word fashion is mentioned there is always a stereotypical process that follows. The thoughts that come into mind include snobby attitudes, supermodels on catwalks, expensive clothes and of course money. Despite all these people fail to understand is that there is more to the industry than what they think. Fashion is a social force that is usually underestimated but it is quite effective. The fashion industry comprises of a mass amount of places, people including buyers, sellers and many different types of stores. I choose the fashion market since it can be found virtually anywhere and everywhere since there are so many people involved (Pereira, 2012).
There are various factors that affect the fashion market. Some of these factors include macroenvironmntal factors. These are factors that are beyond the company’s jurisdiction. Business owners have little or no control over these external factors and therefore they have a minimal impact in changing them. In fact business owners are forced to adapt these microenvironment factors in order for the business to stay relevant in the fashion market. The important macroenvironantal factor within the fashion market is consumer characteristics. Consumer behavior tries to examine the buying behavior of consumers in a specific market. Consumer behavior will therefore enable one understand why individuals buy specific goods and at the same time why they opt not to buy the goods from the market (Deschamps, & Walker, 2012). Consumer micro environmental factors include cultural factors, norms, lifestyles, demographics and population changes. The paper will focus on cultural factors such as beliefs, values, norms and folkways which affect consumer preferences and behavior within the fashion market.
The buying decision of consumers is influenced by various factors cultural factors being one of the most important of them. Cultural factors include set of values and ideologies that have been set within a particular community.it an individual’s culture that determines how they behave.in simple terms culture is nothing short of the values an individual holds. Culture is termed as a handed down way of life which is considered as having a great influence on the behavior of consumers. But how are the beliefs and attitudes created? When a child is growing up they are influenced by their parents, siblings and other family members who teach them what is perceived as right or wrong ( Suttle, 2010).Children learn about their culture that helps them in the development of their own beliefs and attitudes .what a child learns from their parents and relatives ends up being their culture.an individuals culture gives a prescription on how they are supposed to live thus greatly influencing the things they buy. Culture is seen to build the value of the society an individual’s vein which ends up driving a person’s style. Deviation of a particular dressing sense is not only seen as being imprudent but it is also toilsome. Today, it is a common trend to promote a specific kind of dressing which advocates and promotes a specific culture and its unity in a nation (Yakup, Mucahit, & Reyhan, 2011)
Many people hold the belief that clothes are not just a necessity but they are a representation of cultures and beliefs of people. With this in mind people will focus on buying of clothes which they perceive as being a representation of their culture. You will find that consumers will only buy a specific type of clothing simply because other people in their community are wearing that .they associate the specific clothes with their culture and therefore their preference and behavior towards those particular clothing is greatly influenced by their cultural beliefs. They view these clothes as a form of expression their culture and that is the main reason why they wear them. For instance saris are a common cloth among the Indians.it is a representation of the Indian culture and therefore those who wear saris. Women Indian has grown up wearing saris and they take it as a representation of their culture. Therefore when they wear the saris they feel as though they are full Indians and they have represented their culture fully as required ( Ijaz , 2013).
Cultural factors therefore have a significant role in any individuals buying decision everyone has their own sets of habits, principle and beliefs which they develop from their family from their childhood and ends up becoming their culture. When it comes to the fashion market we can say that cultural factors play quite a significant role when it comes to the consumers buying decisions. There decision on whether to buy a specific cloth will be majorly influenced by their cultural beliefs. The cultural beliefs also impact the preferences individuals have when it comes to the specific clothing they wear and hence buy.
An example is females who stay in Asam have preference of buying saris as compared to the westerners. This is because it is the culture of these females from Assam to put on Sires which is not the case for westerners. Therefore these females from these regions would prefer buying saris and not any other clothing. This means that no matter what form of marketing or advertising to carry out for other clothing apart from saris there will be no market for these clothing apart from saris .those who are in the fashion industry within the regions where wearing saris is a way of life have no option than to sell saris and nothing else. This would be quite different in European countries where saris are not that common. People in western countries have no cultural ties to saris thus do not buy or wear them.it could be quite useless to open a big store for selling saris in a western country knowing very well that there is no preference to this particular type of clothing.
There are some regions where culture does not allow women to wear trousers.in such regions trousers are only meant for men and they are the only ones who are allowed by culture to put on trousers. Therefore in such regions it is clear that women can not be found buying or wearing trousers.in such a region the behavior of women not wearing trousers is culturally determined. There will be no market for trousers for women in that area thus it would be a waste of time to even venture into the manufacturing of trousers for women.
There are also areas where it is culturally unacceptable for women to wear any short clothes or clothes that are reveling.in such areas women are allowed to wear long clothes that are decent and do not show any part of the body. This is a common culture in Asian countries. There is no where you can walk in streets of such countries and come across a woman who is wearing short clothing.it means that the preference of the long clothing has been created by the cultural factors .in western countries particularly during summer skimpy clothes are acceptable. This is something that is unheard of in countries that have strict cultural beliefs and norms.in countries like Lebanon, Beirut it is common to see women wearing miniskirts.in these countries there are no cultural restrictions when it comes to women wearing miniskirts. However this is quite different in a country such as Afghanistan, a woman found wearing a miniskirt could face bodily harm or eventually death. What is acceptable for women in Afghanistan is burgas which cover them completely from their head to their toes.in the same way women in Saudi Arabia are expected to put on abaya or very long black garments. This is why abayas have become great business in this country over the years .this is because there is no other acceptable clothing that culture in Afghanistan allows. This means that this is the only marketable form of clothing in the region which is acceptable culturally.
Within cultures there are also some subcultures that might have an influence of the markets and purchasing behavior. A subculture is a group of people that are from a different dominant culture but usually a specific thing in common like job, religion, common interest, ethnic background and so on. For instance a particular job can be a subculture that influences the fashion market. This is because there is some particular clothing that is acceptable in a specific line of duty while others are completely unacceptable. An example is decent clothing that is required for anyone who is working in an office.one is expected to wear a nice suite and some clothes which can be termed as indecent are not acceptable in such areas. Therefore, the subcultures also have a great influence on the buyer’s decisions when it comes to the fashion industry.
Clothing manufactures should ensure that they create styles that are appealing to different cultures particularly when the cultural groups are a representation of a large segment of the fashion market. Those in the clothing industry should also ensure that they do not create clothes that fall outside the society norms .for instance it would not be logical for the continued manufacturing of clothes that were worn over 100 years ago. These clothes would not have any market today if they were made since they are outdated.no one especially the youth would wear anything that they peers term as outdated ( Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 2011).
The youth normally like to go with the trends and fashion. They have created their youth culture whereby they have some form of clothing that is acceptable to them .it is not common for you to find the youth especially in western countries to wear loosely fitting clothes. The youth like wearing clothes that is tightly fitting to their bodies. This is a culture they have created among them and it is only acceptable by them. The older generation find some of the clothes the youth wear to be quite indecent. However, the youth often do not care provided this is what is acceptable by their peers.
Globalization has contributed to the growth of fashion industry and marketplace attractions have become a significant driving force to the cultural attributes of consumers along various segments of consumers. A focus on cultural values, consumer preferences and the intention of purchase towards the fashion products is a very critical issue that those in the fashion market face today.
Most of those in in the fashion industry are trying to counter intercultural differences and ensure that they build cultural consonance along the consumer segments in a variety of context which will lead to the stimulation of interest in fashionable clothing. If the retailers and manufactures of fashion apparel correctly identify the preferences of their target consumers they will end up attracting and maintaining this target consumer group (Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 2011).
References
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