Reflection Breeds Invention: How do Trends Survive?
In my very last semester with SNHU I was able to take a Fashion Management course where trend was the word. This course took the idea of innovation trendsetting and taught us to turn it into a marketing plan for retailers. During this time I truly grasped another side of the passion I have grown, cultivated, and matured over the last two years of my education. For this course we were given the opportunity to develop a marketing plan for either a fashion trend, to create a brand new retailer, or to help develop a new concept for our favorite retailer for promoting successful continuous loyal customers. I was so excited and so nervous at the same time. What could I offer the fashion retail industry? As I began thinking of my own career goals and what I wanted my future career boss to see in me. I knew I needed them to see me as perceptive, honest, with trend knowledge, and, courageous, but most importantly I wanted them to see I was willing to grow and learn. Then it hit me! As a plus sized woman getting ready to enter the career world even in the fashion world you have to look professional: SUITS! Me being me, I love color. I'm a happy bubbly kind of person who says that can’t show in my professional side as well. Monochromatic suits were the answer. As my research continued to unfold I began to see where my trend development plan could come from, career women in their prime of life searching for that signature look that will set them apart from the rest of business world. One way I would help my trend to continue and become timeless is to make sure that this trend changes with the times. Even though right now the highest buyers in the retail industry is the Millennial, but in the next 10-20 years that target market generation will be Generation Z. Generation Z is looking for an inventive immersive shopping experiences. This was mentioned at the NRF conference this year in New York City.
"Ben Kaufman, chief executive of Camp, a network of experiential retail stores with rotating themes, also discussed ways to engage younger shoppers. The chain’s five stores—three in New York City, one in Dallas, and one in Norwalk, Connecticut.—may look like a traditional toy retailer; however, each location has a “magic door” to lead shoppers through a tunnel to an experience that changes every eight to 12 weeks, he said. Themes include Base Camp, Travel Camp, Cooking Camp, and Toy Lab Camp.
Camp’s business model is based on three components, Kaufman said: selling products, selling tickets to experiences, and offering sponsor-ships to brands that can tell their own stories" (Williams). To keep your trend going the goals need to be to fulfill the desires of your target market. Where's our story? Our story is simple we are helping those see there beauty from the outside in, everyone is beautiful now we are creating those moments of our customers seeing their true beauty by created tailor made suits to fit their needs. I truly believe that this trend would indeed become timeless for the reason that it will grow and change with the next rising generations to come in order to get our story across as a fashion industry creating magical moments for their consumers.
