Chapter 8 - The Idea: a Fashion Label

Chosen idea, Fashion label

Selection of the chosen idea

Coming up with a great idea is not enough, how ever there remain two key stages:

1. evaluating wheather the idea is viable, something that can be achievable in the long run.

2.       bringing the idea to reality

This venture has proved to be viable and realistic in comparison to the rest of the ideas, though it may take along time to be well established in the market.

Secondary research

Market definition

St. Noire exists within the menswear sector of the UK market, with a distinct over lap with the youth market. In 2004, Barclays Bank asserted that “the menswear industry has enjoyed considerable growth recently and is estimated to be valued at almost £ 6.5 billion.” In 2005 the UK clothing and footwear market was worth an estimated £44.45 billion. Although it is apparent menswear has a small market share of the clothing market, it is a significant amount in various terms.

Fashion is increasingly seen as a life style trend and its importance and influence are not restricted to clothes. It is difficult to separate fashions in cloths from those in the rest of the life style-associated products that have sprung up, and marketers will have to take this into consideration. These new industries mainly target the young, and the increasingly, retailers see fashion as a package rather than individual items, ad they tend to offer a wider choicer of merchandise, including items such as mobile phones and accessories, which add value to and existing range.

In the UK street fashions is a category that plays role in the youth apparel and has evolved as a result of the imaginative talents concentrated talents concentrated in this group. Bars, disco, and all other places around the country where the young congregate are highly creative ground. Designers and stylists have long drawn inspiration from these trends and utilize them in their creations, which leave a strong imprint on the youth apparel sold in the high street.

The youth market is fickle and hyper- trendy, and trends in this sector have a very short life span. It is important to be thoroughly up to date when aiming for a younger market that trends to be very fickle where clothing and fashion are concerned. The high fashion consciousness and frequent purchasing habits of the teenager make this market extremely attractive in monetary terms, but second-guessing fashion trends is risky. The large assortment of sizes among this group, even within the same age, is also a problem. This makes it more difficult to target label merchandise especially as fashion trends can have a lifespan of only a few weeks.

This business idea is an idea that already exists but I aim to do this business better than it has been done by other entrepreneurs. This business is about starting up a clothing line and label that reflects the positive attribute for the black culture and its association with the hip hop genre as well as lifestyle. This is a fashion label that has been inspired by black history and that helps promote the diminishing negative stigmatisation of blackness and it association with the hip hop culture. My label will promote the raw talents of urban artists, charisma and depth of “clean” hip hop and the sentimental value of past black legends. By developing a fashion label as a business project which is similar to those developed by Hip-Hop gurus such as Jay-Z, and P-diddy with Sean John, It is easy to use the big patronage of young people who currently follow this musical brand as a market sample for the project. 

Since this label is new the main concern would be the finances required to penetrate the market, using elite marketing and promotional strategies as well as to establish fundament roots within the retail sector. This idea first developed from the simple idea of attracting a market audience with something that everyone loves, and that thing is music. Then I though why don t I include fashion as well this is something that everyone loves and patronizes. With the two combined what kind of by product could be developed from that then I thought a label. Many musician with a lot of money use their publicity to start a record label, but since fashion is a major function of this firm I thought to myself why I don’t include a fashion label that mirrors HIP-HOP. This innovation has concluded the idea to this.

Line of development of chosen idea 

T-shirt: the market for printed t-shirt is very strongly driven by fashion. This has a bearing on fabric colour, cut and print design. What is popular one season can be rejected the next, and successful designers make great efforts to anticipate and keep up with the latest trends. T-shirts are purchased mainly in summer months. Fewer T-shirts are bought during the autumn and winter months as consumers stock up on warmer clothes. However, the growing appeals of t-shirt as fashion items mean that they now year round appeal then before.

Slogans: demand for T-shirts feather individual designs, logos messages and photographs is fueled by the  increasing adoption of t-shirt as fashion items and the growing demand for leisurewear overall, in recent year men’s high street fashion t-shirt design has been dominated by styles incorporating risqué or witty slogans. Consumers under 30 are the most likely to demand slogan t-shirts. But fashion is constantly changing and it is vital to keep up to date with high street trends.

Dressing down: the trend towards dressing down at work has paradoxically made people spend more on casual garments than would need to spend on conventional formal clothing for the workplace. Leisure wear or clothing has become acceptable, even in the work place, jeans are acceptable and t-shirts popular.

Brand identity: Brand Identity: Image is important. There must be a strong product or brand identity with which the young can identify. The image- and status- conscious young consumer is very interested in the finer details and added value of the product. Most of the successful companies catering to this market, such as Gap and French Connection, have built their operations on this understanding. Their market strategies and advertising campaigns are shaped to develop and deliver a particular identity and image. In addition, brand awareness is key in competing against both cheap imported mass produced and local products in the IK market. The intrinsic qualities found in designer and brand-led goods means that customers tend to study intensely non-brand goods for any flaws, which may dissuade them from purchasing.

Media effect: the youth marker “utilises their spending power with care and are no slaves to industry-or media-created trends.” When marketing to the small circles of independent fashion, where exclusivity is perceived as important… advertising may actually be a liability. Individualism is key. However the media influences body image and fashion through images of pop stars and supermodels.

Business development

After conducting research on the barbershop and on then t-shirts I concluded to choose the t-shirt label idea as the most suitable business venture to get involved in this is because the barbershop would need a lot of funding to start off and would take a very long time before the firm breaks even. The lable design would need a lot of finance to start of but this finance can be accessed from various sources not the owners own savings.

This is because St. Noir which is the name of the label takes advantage of the current popular trend toward dressing down. Factors such as the current cautionary UK economic climate, obvious political instability in Zimbabwe and the influence of media and information technologies are amongst various market trends that directly impact, St Noir establishment Zimbabwe being the source of print outs. These elements that I have discovered through my secondary research reports that fundamentally this research determines the label is more viable and so finance can be out sourced from government grants and sponsorships in addition to bank loans and personal savings.

The research I have conducted details the current market situation, future trends and assesses the potential for St. Noir in the UK market. St. Noir is a fashion brand. This research has proven that the label idea to be a more awarding business venture than the barbershop and has a lot of potential to grow exponentially. This is because the demand from this market is continuously changing and is high; this can be noticed by the gross value of the market. To enter the market and attract high demand the secondary research shows that the market is very competitive but by opening a niche industry concentrating on a particular age group, the firm could innovate to differentiate its self from its competitors.

Most retailers in the fashion industry offer more than just one specialist fashion type which means the firm would not be able to focus its resources and ideology onto just that one particular fashion type thus means that there is a gap in the market which St. Noir could penetrate and exploit. This is the main reason for choosing this idea and developing it into a real business. The nature of this business type allow as for St. Noir to utilize modern day marketing and enterprising, through the use of. This would include facilities such as e-commerce and e-marketing.