Bonding: 2017

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Eco-friendly fashion brands

Let’s go beyond fashion design! For most of us HOW WHAT and WHERE our clothes are made matters. As a society, we demand more of to the brands than an attractive design. Luckily for us the number of eco-friendly brands which are aware of how important the manufacturing process is, the materials, where are clothes made, where are the raw materials from and in which conditions. Moreover, our pockets can still be safe given that the market currently offers a huge frame of prices.

The following list brings up some examples of eco-friendly fashion brands:

H&M. The collection called H&M’s Conscious Exclusive collection. Clothes are made out of hemp, organic linen and organic leather, this is a sure fire way to look fashionable and support sustainability for a small low price.

Stella McCartney. No leather or fur in her designs are used making her a leader in sustainable luxury fashion. Speaking for PETA, Stella has previously said: ‘we address…ethical or ecological…questions in every other part of our lives except fashion. Mind-sets are changing, though, which is encouraging.’

Matt & Nat. Using 100% vegan and sustainable materials, Matt & Nat create some of the most stylish ethical accessories to man.

Mireia Playà. Defining themselves as a vegan brand, no type of component or material from animal origin is used in the confection. They work with synthetic components of great quality that provide aesthetic variety and also perspiration.

CUS. Human value and the environment play an important role in their creations. The brand only uses sustainable materials, such as wool and organic cotton, and they work with recycled or ecological fabrics. Moreover, all production is local and work with social projects.

Idunn Bags. Handbags made with ecological and sustainable materials. Idunn Bags use natural and sustainable fabrics and work with small local workshops located in Madrid supporting the craftsmanship of professionals who have been engaged in the making of leather.

PAPP UV. The first sunglasses in which the frame is a single piece, with an innovative design and in which awareness for the environment is present in every detail. The frame of the sunglasses is made from a mixture of recycled wood from the remains of the furniture industry, in which the substances used for the pressing of the wood are totally harmless (even for protection against water, natural oils without added toxic agents are used).

Feel free to post your comments!

Friday, 27 January 2017

Search for innovation

Fashion changes are very frequent, tendencies grow and die in a few months and there is never a single style. Somehow, there is a perpetual search for innovation. While snobs don’t want to look like anybody else to try to distinguish themselves, there are the masses that follow elite fashion.

Who decides what is fashion?

Fashion brands may adapt and respond to the changes of the Industry. Despite the fact that there isn’t one best way of managing the company for innovation I will try to simplify it in only two:

1. Leaded by a designer, the company tries to create products that customers didn't realise they wanted before, so the tendencies are decisions of the designer. Furthermore, they are used to having a stylistic identity that keeps every fashion collection and they are better suited to periods of incremental change than periods of ferment. This is because in periods of transition in fashion, people tend to go back to brands who have their own identity. In this kind of organization for innovation the Firm takes the risk that not all the proposals are going to be successful.

Some examples:

VERSACE (Donatella Versace as a designer)

ESCADA (Daniel Wingate as a designer)

DIOR (Maria Grazia Chiuri as a designer)

2. Firms adapt to the kind of clothes that people wear because this is what they want. For this reason they are open to radical ideas instead of trying to impose a style. Their popularity is based on who is wearing the product, from bloggers to royal members, not in who is the designer. They are better suited to periods of ferment than to incremental change fashion.

DIESEL

ZARA

LEVIS

Additionally, I would like to portray two firm strategies for their success.

Firstly, the location of shops is important because it is vital to be close to where their consumers are.

Secondly, vertical integration of shops and workshops. It is a potential advantage, specially for the creation of the design for the market, given that information between designers and customers with a vertical integration flows more quickly.

In conclusion, when answering the question of who decides what fashion is, there are several strategies that need to be taken into account. It is not just us the people, who have voice on these kind of social trends; the importance and implications of brands is vital to understand the whole process, which can be summarized as a transition in fashion, but as well as a change in society. The brands who have their own identity take advantage of the periods of incremental changes, as they are seen as the least risky choices. This way, they conform an important role as the actors of innovation. Additionally, there are other types of brands who have become successful by tracing their loyal customers´ preferences in terms of fashion. To achieve this, the location of the shops and the vertical integration of the company is quite necessary.

Feel free to post your comments!

Sunday, 22 January 2017

Fashion documentaries

This is a list of fashion documentaries which I personally believe bring us different perspectives of the fashion industry. It is the reason why I highly recommend watching all of them. The complexity of the business made me love it and at the same time be ashamed for the inequalities resulted from consumerism.

The list below portrays the complexity of fashion industry. In this business there are involved a lot of different professions, such as designers, models, photographers or editors. I invite you to discover their point of view.