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Different profitability mindsets

No sales-discounts

Good products deserve reasonable pricing. This works two ways; neither should a product be overpriced to create a false perception of value and quality, nor should a product be underpriced to encourage impulse buying and the idea of a good deal. A good product has a price that is linked to its production process and quality manufacturing. These days brands either work with economies of scale (Primark) or economies of exclusivity (Dior) to determine their pricing. When something seems too cheap or expensive to be realistic and fair, it probably is. Sales-discounts play a part in this too. When a product can still be sold for a significantly reduced price without a loss, it means the consumer has been fooled with the original product sales-price.

[BRAND NAME] wants to offer products that are priced fairly to sustain a good product quality and a reasonable and publicly communicated growth percentage (revenue). This means products shall be priced accordingly, and any devaluation in pricing won’t be possible nor necessary.

No out of stock items

Sales-drops and limited edition products have become a mainstay within the global (fashion)economy. They are a sales tactic with revenue as the prime incentive, not creativity. Why else would a great product design only be offered to a limited amount of people. This sales-tactic is used mostly to lure customers to a baseline product offering by creating the perception of scarcity and belonging. The scarcity is false, as it’s entirely within a brand’s power to make as many items of any product as they wish. The sense of belonging is created by making people think they are part of a select group of people that are “in-the-know” or these special editions/drops. Even if they couldn’t actually make a purchase of said item, by buying any other mainline product they feel connected to this urge they have to belong to the in-crowd.

[BRAND NAME] wants to offer products fairly and indefinitely based on people’s desire to purchase, through either pre-order listings, item inventory or archive reproductions. A product might be produced and launched in a specific quantity at first. Afterwards it might immediately be reproduced based on consumer demand or placed into a product archive from where re-runs and reproductions can be requested by prospect buyers (in active communication with the brand).

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Idea nuggets

  • Offering a guaranteed take-back option, no matter the condition
    Used clothing can have a certain charm that is unparalleled to new sometimes. Receiving used products could provide with an amazing treasure-trove of “vintage” items of the collection which then can resold. Even if items need repairs, this shouldn’t be a problem as that can bring additional charm to a piece of clothing. When the returned items are not salvageable, they can potentially still be used for off-cuts. It might be necessary to offer in return a monetary reward or discount of some sort to make it mutually beneficial. Potentially adding a grading scale could work for items that are immediately re-sellable.
  • Offering a repairs service
    As not everyone is capable of repairing their own clothing, it might make it hard for some people to keep wearing their clothing for long extensions of time. Offering this service helps them with that effort and hopefully keeps them happier longer with the clothing they bought. It also establishes a stronger more personal connection between owner and brand.
  • Offering repair kits
    Sometimes repairing clothing items is hard because the fabric make-up of the item is very specific. This can create problems for people that don’t want their mending and repairs to be visible. Offering fabric swatches that are made from the same cloth as the collection, as well as offering them a nice and nifty sewing case/set with it can make that people can keep wearing their clothing for longer and stimulate their creativity.

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Celebrating locality

Multicultural positive

No matter if we are able to travel to far-flung places or not – the mixing of cultures, nationalities and heritages happens all around us. It has done so for generations, though today it happens on a larger scale and to a wider demographic. Living in a multicultural world provides us the opportunity to see and understand life on earth from different perspectives, from which we can learn and grow. Globalisation has contributed to a faster and easier transfer of goods and thoughts. We have moved away from locality and diversity to a shared global aesthetic. The modern world stimulates homogeneity globally.

[BRAND NAME] wants to stimulate a more diverse understanding of our modern world by creating clothing that takes locality as inspiration for transforming globalised garments into localised expressions of our multicultural world.

Locally made & sold

Some things can only be found in very specific places in the world. However we have now access to almost anything from anywhere through the convenience of online shopping, international shipping and an interconnected world economy. Almost everything from anywhere is within our reach. The accessibility to such a wide gamma of goods from around the world has made us into greedy and unappreciative consumers. There is value in things being made and sold locally only, as it means the producer and consumer create a stronger connection; in physical contact the meeting of cultures can exist.

[BRAND NAME] wants to stimulate a cultural, personal and emotional exchange between brand, people and product by making certain products only available locally, close to its source of inspiration and/or production.

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Business model v1

Ideas to be more fully formed and formulated:

Direct to consumer. Describe what that means for this brand and for me. Make a diagram in which you can see how currently my income is fully made up of my paid job, and my brand is secondary to that. This means that time spent on the brand is limited but income from it also will be, so product costs can stay relatively low as they mainly need to support production instead of generating a living wage. A projected diagram can show how shifting the time spend and income earned through each channel can affect creative output and pricing, although it doesn’t necessarily have to mean products get more expensive. Maybe it’s more about the profit being used to support different things (at first it’s about stimulating growth and R&D, and once that has been achieved, income can and will support wages).

Think about a business model of funding, where a product will be released/produced once there has been enough backing in place. This can be done with time limits in place; if not reached before so-and-so the fund will be refunded.

Describe why these models are important to the brand’s ethos; forever growth is hurting the planet, our quality of life and our pockets too. There are different ways to undertake a business endeavour and this is one of them. Production in itself doesn’t have to be the problem, over production at the wrong cost can.