upheaval in fashion

Burberry advert A/W 2011 When Christopher Bailey announced an entirely new paradigm for runway presentations other companies rapidly followed suit. Seasons will now no longer apply, no Autumn/Winter 2017 instead clothing will be adaptable to any season, Northern or Southern Hemisphere. This also seems sensible, given global climate change, NYC's 70 degree F temperatures in January come to mind...The sleeveless trench coat, or one with leather sleeves may be a sensible approach. Runway presentations have long created hype and media frenzy that seems to fade as the actual season approaches, and to remedy this, Burberry now offers the possibility for consumers to purchase the clothing presented immediately following the presentation, capitalising upon the attention given to these presentations. via social media and traditional. Both strategies should certainly enhance Burberrry's financial well being.

"We still travel around the world attending men's women's and haute couture collections for months on end, We embrace social media and the internet, but the timing of this communication is out of   sync with the availability of collections, which arrive many months after the consumer has seen them. We try to respond to the customer's need for newness, but in doing so, we have created an over-proliferation of products that don't have enough time to sell before the next collections drops, leading to waste. In doing so, we are constraining the creativity of our designers, exhausting the buyers and press, and overwhelming the consumer. 

This opening paragraph in today's BoF Letter from the Editor, Imran Amed, clearly addresses the environmental and economic issues cited by another BoF article regarding teenagers spending on clothing, which has dropped from much higher levels 10 years ago. Of course it has, many teenagers now purchase their clothing on eBay, Etsy, or trade with friends, primarily reusing clothing that owners no longer need. Another factor confronting the fashion industry is the newer focus of consumers on experiences, i.e. travel, museums, music events among others. ecomodista endorses recycling, reusing, and reducing consumption, a trend that may conflict with making consumption from fashion presentations immediately available, a conflict that may be ameliorated by the fashion industry focusing on wasteful practices within the sourcing and manufacturing of clothing.
Burberry A/W 2011

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