Video 1

Hi everyone. This week we are going to investigate product development in

fashion. We will try to understand why fashion industries and businesses are so
complex. We will try to understand what is behind some interesting concepts
within the fashion language, such as iconic products and the concept of stylistic
identity. We will try to decode the product development process; understanding
the different processes, activities, and roles within the product development. So,
let's start with the concept of complexity in fashion. Within fast moving
consumer goods, fashion's considered to a unique industry because of some
elements. First of all, the concept of seasonality, short product life cycle. Second
the huge variety of categories, typologies, sizes, and models within the fashion
collection. Third, a product life cycle that is short,
corresponds to a supply chain that on the opposite
is quite long and quite rigid. Last but not least, this is a business
with a lot of activities in the product development, a lot of roles
between creativity and management. And don't forget the fact that each
business model has a different way to
approach the product development process. A fashion designer might have many
very creative collections. While a premium brand math book could be more
classic or offer more basic styles and items. Let's focus at the beginning with a
major difference between, luxury and fashion companies in dealing with the
product development process. While in luxury collections most of the products
are not seasonal and therefore at the end of the season are not discounted. In
fashion products are mostly seasonal and therefore we enter into seasonal sales,
mark-downs. Another element that makes a distinction between luxury and
fashion in the product development concept is that, of course, in luxury products,
in particular the leather goods category does have a longer product life cycle.
That are iconic that are timeless and long lasting, and in fashion its more or less
the opposite. Products are seasonal. Sometimes they're not even replenished,
and within a season you might even have different collections. So starting from
the main collection autumn, winter, spring, summer, but also some different
deliveries of capsules of products within a season, such are the flash collections,
the cruise collections, or the pre-collections. But, no matter, the positioning or,
the higher or lower in fashion content, nowadays on the market. Each company
follows trends. In fashion collections or even in luxury collections trends
are in a way more or less incorporated. But, what is a trend then? A trend is a
certain direction followed by actors in the industry in terms of materials, shapes,
patterns, and/or colors. Trends might last a season, or even less, in which case
we talk about fads, or maybe are long lasting, and then they might become a
classic. An interesting thing of this industry is that when a certain trend is
accepted in a certain moment in time, the seasons after the trend that was
established will usually be the opposite of the trend that we had in the past.
Think about for instance in early 40s the trend in terms of dresses were about
dresses that were simple, plain, and then in the end of the second World War, the
new look of came into play that was the opposite of the style with very feminine
and curvy lines. In the 80's, we had trends that were exaggerated in terms of
shapes and very bold colors, well into the 90s we, we entered into minimalism.
So the question is now who makes trends? Who decides that this season we have
yellow and next season we have blue? A very simple answer is that trends, so
yellow this season was decided almost three years ago, by the actors within the
textile pipeline. So the reason there is, there has been in fashion for a long time,
a consensus among textile companies, trends companies, retailers, and
designers, about certain direction in terms of material shapes and, and color, but
this was the past. Nowadays, with the internet and social media actually other
influencers, such as, for instance bloggers, came into play in order to new
sources for trends. And the possibility to see collections online, shop online so
this new technology also allows consumers to scout trends in a very short time,
and also create trends themselves. So in a business that was in the past trickle
down in terms of trends. So from top designers, down to the street, now trends
are moving in that process that is name as trickle across, or even bottom up,
from the street up to the catwalk.
Video 2
All companies follow in fashion trends. But at the same time, they need to
maintain a certain individual character, and maintain their positioning,
preserving their individual style. Here comes the concept
of stylistic identity. The individual style that each company has
on the market and makes it recognizable. The concept of stylistic identity is
related to the collection of stylistic and aesthetic codes that
belong to a certain brand. Think about, for
a company such as Bottega Veneta, the Knot, or the Interciatto leather
that is part of the iconic products. Or, think about the check for Burberry. Think
about the zigzag in neat wear with
many colors of a company such as Missoni. So, each company should
have the original and unique stylistic identity in order to interpret the styles and
trends on the market. Otherwise, they would all look the same,
more or less. And the interesting thing is
that not only designer companies do have a stylistic identity, but
increasingly, also in the medium and premium market, more and more brands
do have their own style on the market. A retailer such as Gap has a certain
American classic with a twist. The Denim. The Color Blue. Or, a fast fashion
retailer such as Zara has a specific point of view
on the market proposing a concept of collection
that usually is very cool, very refined, for
a certain kind of customer. A very important element
of the stylistic identity is the origin in terms of country of
origin and heritage of the brand. The idea is that the country
of origin of brands and designers are influencing
the way they see style. The Baroque, the Sicilian Baroque for
Dolce Gabbana, the Milan's fogs for
the greyish color of Giorgio Armani, the colorful bold style of Calabria for
Gianni Versace. So, the country of origin
is a very powerful and strong inspiration for
many designers in the world. The lifestyle behind countries,
even if it is a stereotype, is still something very aspirational that
many customers are willing to buy in. Think about Ralph Lauren and his idealized
vision of the East Coast
style of the US or the fantastic world of
Native Americans and Indians with their colors that
are art of Ralph Lauren DNA. Another element that belongs to the
heritage and therefore, to the stylistic identity is the country of origin in
terms of competences and know how. When companies such as Tod's and
Bottega Veneta are talking about craftsmanship and
hints behind their style, they also claim that, for
instance, made in Italy. The value of made in Italy. The country of origin in
that case works very much as a guarantee of authenticity for
these brands. Within the style and
stylistic identity of each brands, there are usually some iconic products. As we
said,
iconic products are more relevant for luxury brands rather than for
fashion brands. But increasingly,
icons are a part of product strategies of these companies because,
let's say, quite easy to sell, and
they make brands very recognizable. Icon products do embody the heritage and
the DNA of the brand, are re-proposed season after
season in the collection, maybe reinterpreted according
to the seasonal trend, and often icons are also made in
collaboration with bloggers, celebrities, or even retailers. All brands in many
product categories and
price ranges do have icons. From the Kelly bag of Hermes to
the business jacket for Armani, the Chanel purse, the Burberry trench,
or the D bag for Tod's.
Video 3
In this session, we are going to talk about the development of the seasonal
collection. We will analyze this in terms of the entire process of the collection
development, the single activities within each phase of the process, and the roles
that are cooperating within each activity and process, between management and
creativity. But let's start defining the concept of seasonal collection in fashion. A
collection is seasonal group of products, usually structured and organized on
different bases, price ranges, occasions of use product typologies, product
categories, and this collection is the seasonal offer of each fashion and luxury
company on the market. Historically concept of the collection was developed in
France by the haute couture in that case the couturier of each collection was
developing a group of products that were completely seasonal. So completely
new models that were presented in fashion shows, every six months. Autumn -
Winter; Spring - Summer. Modern collections are a mix of model, Mix intended as
products that are totally new and seasonal, together with products that are so-
called carry overs. So carried over from previous seasons. There are also icons
within the seasonal collections, what maybe with minor change in terms of colors
or materials. Usually a company that works on seasonal collections start working
on the collection from three to twelve months before the presentation to the
retail and to the buyer. And usually works on up to three collections a year in
parallel. So, quite a complicated management of time and activities. Let's take a
look now to the product
development process and how it works in terms of roles first of all; and activities
second. Let's start from the beginning of the process. The process starts with one
phase that is named as, collection planning. The collection planning usually is a
phase where managers drive the process, and these managers are brand
managers or merchandisers. The activities that they perform are the analyses of
the past seasons performance. They sell in in case the company's selling to the
wholesale business. Or they sell out, in case the company is selling to its own
retail network. After the analysis of the performance of the past season
merchandisers usually prepare a collection briefing. A collection briefing is a tool
for designers and in general, product managers; Where some guidelines in terms
of price levels, bestseller categories, typologies are addressed, and ask to
designers in order to be developed. After the collection planning, the second
phase is the collection creation. This phase is typically in the hands of creative
people. The process in this case is driven by the design director or design
directions in different product categories and teams of designers specialized by
gender or by product category. What are the activities here? First of all designers
based on the briefing, but also based on their own inspiration, they create the
mood, the inspiration for the collection itself. This mood and inspiration can be
connected related with the seasonal trends, but also be authentic and original for
the specific company. After the inspiration phase, then designers develop specific
themes and product concepts that will be part of the collections structure. And
they start to work on individual products and their costing and their positioning.
There are some checks, along this process, in order to work with product
managers and
understand the pricing and the margins connected to groups of products and
individual products. And then there is the collection freeze that is the phase
when the collection, is ready then to be produced. In fact, the following and third
stage of the collection development process is the so called sampling. The
sampling is again a process that is driven by the manager and technical people.
Here, we have product managers working with the supply chain. What were the
activities in the sampling phase? Prototyping, so based on sketches provided by
designers, the prototypes are created. In this phase, the company starts to
purchase materials and the sample collection is
then produced in order to be presented to the network of actually buyers or in
the showroom, or during the fashion show. In the sampling phase we have also
the color card creation. And, the pricing is made. After the presentation of the
sample collection to the buyers of the directly operated stores or buyers of
wholesale customers during fashion shows or in show room, then orders are
collected. And the production process can start. So here is the end of the product
development process, and the supply management and the operational process
starts.
Video 4
Hi everyone. In this clip I would like to investigate, the relation between products
and product strategy and the brand strategy. Brands are important in any
industry, because they carry values and meanings. But in fashion and luxury
brands are key, are crucial, in order to deliver benefits. We said many times that
we are competing in symbol-intensive industries when we talk about fashion and
luxury. So we buy products, not only for what the product does, but mainly for
what the product stands for, for the meaning. And meaning is given by brands. A
brand can give a meaning through functional benefits: performance, safety,
durability. Emotional benefits: status, fun, pleasure, coolness. So we will
investigate this second level of meaning that are benefits given on a more
emotional side and level. And then, we will investigate how the product strategy,
can be formulated and implemented according to the different missions that
brands have in the marketplace. Before doing that, let me talk a little bit about
the different kinds of meanings that brands can deliver to the marketplace.
According to a scale proposed by the American Professor, David Aaker, emotional
benefits can be segmented into emotional auto-directed benefits. They do
respond to a need, for a personal gratification of the individual. As suggested by
Aaker, you can identify this category of benefits if you can answer the question:
when I buy or use this brand I feel A second type of benefit is the so-called
hetero-directed emotional benefits. They meet the need of the customer to
express its personality into social context. They answer the question: When I
buy or use this brand I am This is the typical field of luxury and fashion
brands. There is a third kind of benefit introduced by Aaker defined as social.
Social benefits are those that allow the person to express, more than just
individual aspect of their personality, the membership to a certain lifestyle.
Responding at the end to the human need of self actualization. Feeling part of a
community, a group or a part of a society, sharing common attitudes, opinions,
and interests. So, now I propose to you a classification of luxury and fashion
brands as the result of the intersection between the kind of benefits they deliver,
and the brands scope. What is the brands scope? The brands scope is the
actual number of market segments a brand covers. A brand can have a narrow
scope, when it actually specializes, let's say, in one target, for instance, just kids,
or just youth; or just in one product category specialized by product, specialty
brand in shoes or in apparel or maybe in sporting goods. So the brand can be
specialize narrow scope, or it can cover a wider scope becoming more
diversified. So if we cross on the vertical axis the scope of the brand from narrow
to wide and on the horizontal axis the kind of benefits, as expressed by Aaker,
emotional, self directed, hetero-directed, and social benefits, we are able to build
sort of mapping landscape where we can position different brands, and actually
these brands do deliver a different kind of identity to the customer with a
different value proposition, and, at the end, a different product strategy. So, let's
start by analyzing authority brands. Authority brands do have a narrow scope.
Usually they are specialized, considered as real authorities in their business.
They often focus on patents, innovation and distinctive styles or products. And
they are also usually enriched by some experiential product benefits. Let's make
an example. Consider an Italian brand, that now is part of a French group, that is
Loro Piana. Loro Piana is considered to be an authority in adopting in their
fashion products the best raw materials. Actually more than fashion, I would say
that it is really a luxury brand. Authority in the best raw materials means that
they are able to deliver the top in the market for instance in cashmere, where its
the number one western manufacturer of cashmere and baby cashmere, a
trademark that they developed, thanks to the direct relationship Loro Piana has
with government agencies in China, and the fully owned operations they have in
Mongolia. Icon brands. Icon brands are in the mapping delivering hetero-directed
benefits on a wider product scope. Icons are religious signs; therefore, iconic
brands are like entities, personalities. They become carriers of universal values
and stories expressed through a wide range of products. What is the product
strategy for icon brands? Products are usually very much recognizable defined by
their iconic codes. Think about French brands such as Herms, Chanel, Cartier.
They made iconic products part of their strategy right from the beginning. Last
but not least we have the so-called lifestyle brands. Lifestyle brands in the
mapping is delivering social benefits with a quite wide range of products. First,
What is a lifestyle? It's a way a person or a group lives, and this includes patterns
of social relation, consumption, entertainment, and, last but not least, dressing
styles. A lifestyle brand is a brand that clearly and deeply represents an
individual of a group. Its way of living, the way he or she wants to look to other
people. These brands are usually associated, in terms of scope, to a variety of
products.