Careers in Writing - Essay Example

Entertainment Industry: Fashion Introduction This research paper focuses on the larger entertainment industry particularly, the fashion industry as a present day mass media industry under the umbrella of show business. It views the fashion industry as part of the media industry in the 21st century. It also seeks to analyze the industry against the 4cs of entertainment that is; content, conduit, consumption and convergence. It shall address modern challenges and how the industry overcomes them. Brief History of Fashion Development The development of fashion dates back as far as 1700s, however, this paper shall only focus on the latest development in the 21st century, through this, we shall be able to show the current industry challenges during this period, thus meet the objectives of the study. Fashion begun in the 1826 when designers were just dress makers with no sense of high style and any form of style only came from royalty and aristocrats (Jones, 2007).. The 21th century has seen the fashion industry spread to the world over, with the modern outlook and many designers joining the industry such as the Dolce & Gabbana and Calvin Klein among many others. Many have completely misunderstood the concept of the products that the fashion industry make, to some, a mere mention of the word ‘fashion’ denotes making of clothes only and nothing else, and still they view clothe as only the silk-made, cotton-made and others that we put on as skirts or blouses, which is partially right but a narrow view of the facts; these products actually encompass several commodities (Espejo, 2010). Fashion is an art of applying design or something natural on to somebody and this is influenced by culture, social background but the art also differ from time to time. The designers work to satisfy the consumer’s needs. These people try to make clothes that are functional and good to the consumer’s eye. They make accessories such as handbags, swords, umbrellas, watches, socks, scarves, hats and many others. So the composition of fashion goes beyond clothes into accessories that accompany the made clothes. It is therefore a very wide and diverse industry (Cumming, 2004). Conduit (distribution) From the designers table and subsequent manufacture, the product must be sold to the consumer; however, how they reach the consumer is the focus of this study. So the big question is “by what means does the product reach the consumer?” To answer to this question it’s important to note that some designers use two levels of marketing that is, retail and wholesale levels. Various companies that do not reach to the consumer directly place their fashion products through to wholesale stores, boutiques and online markets. Some engage themselves in shows duped “the fashion shows”, catalogs. Some companies do sell to marketing firms ,however, in this case the manufacture must establish a close link with the retailer or the marketer in order to know the customer`s satisfaction. There are also other fashion design companies that have their own marketers, these companies are focused in matching their products to the number of customers they have because in this case it will give the company the chance to know how their products run in the market and the customer base. At both the levels, the fashion industries still engage in promoting the products in order to reach large mass of people, to achieve this they use the print media such as daily newspapers, magazines, and published articles. Internet advertisement has in the present time seen the rise in number of companies that wish to market their goods, the fashion industries included. Considering all these it`s worth noting that media as a marketing tool is integral in marketing the fashion designs to the consumer in this century. Consumption All over the world, every individual has had the taste of fashion, what one wears from clothing to accessories such as hats and handbags are all products of fashion design and therefore implies that we are all consumers of these products. People have been conscious of their physical look since ones good personality and other fundamental things are facilitated by good looks. It is a fact that all use consumable goods of fashion such as clothing and jewelry do tell who people are in terms of their personality and behavior (Phizacklea, 1990). Thus the use of fashion products are all around us and used by all and sundry. Convergence This is the act of things going to a uniform whole. Fashion in the past has reflected the political and economic class of the country of origin, however, in 1960 after World War II saw the break of the fashion tradition where some unceremonious clothes were considered as stylish but later abandoned in 1960 or blended to produce more stylish designs. Several designers have merged the designs of old times; they either bring new colors, designs, make or style. This merger of fashions enable production of a more stylish designs and leads to creation of affordable fashion, and due to the changing times of culture, social, and political landscapes, convergence of fashions enables proper articulation to these changes in the society. Fashion industry just like any other industry faces a lot of challenges among them is the time at which they respond to the consumers ever changing needs, this is a challenge since with the changes in the desires of consumers over a short period of time, it becomes apparently difficult to satisfy their wants in a timely manner. Consumers also come with their own demands on improvement on the quality of designs that is so expensive with these ever changing demands (Pundir, 2007). In order to reach great mass the company had to advertise broadly and this is quite expensive to accomplish. The industry has a lot of issues that affects it`s existence, these issues range from marketing, production and socio-cultural changes. In marketing, there are a lot of companies competing for the sale of their product, these has lead to unhealthily competition where some use brand names of other companies that are well established Conclusion Fashion is a big industry and encompasses many areas. There is the fear of the future of what the industry shall look like in the near future with the sudden cultural changes , preference and consumers’ tastes, these will provide a challenge to the industry that depend on the people to sell it`s products. However, with the introduction of internet, the industry has seen a tremendous success in the marketing of its products. Some designers use technology to sketch their work, in marketing via the internet to reach a larger fraction of their markets allover the world thus internet alone has affected the landscape of production and marketing in the fashion industry (Trevallion & Strazzari, 2003). REFERECES Espejo, R. (2010). The fashion industry: Opposing viewpoints. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Phizacklea, A. (1990). Unpacking the fashion industry: Gender, racism and class in production. London: Routledge. Trevallion, D., & Strazzari, S. (2003). Design and technology. Glebe, N.S.W: Pascal Press. Pundir, N. (2007). Fashion technology: Today and tomorrow. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. Jones, J. (2007). Fashion history: Looking great through the ages. Mankato, MN: Snap Books. Cumming, V. (2004). Understanding fashion history. London: Batsford. Read More