Fashion interview - Research Paper Example

FASHION INTERVIEW For any company to be successful, self-promotion needs to be undertaken. It facilitates the advertising of the company so that customers can learn of its existence. I conducted a survey as well as an interview of a fashion design company to gather important information about the fashion business. An interview was performed on Nayla who is one of the up-coming fashion designers and it was as follows. Interviewer: Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from? What is your educational background? What are your general professional and non-professional interests? Nayla: My name is Nayla. I am from Bahrain and I am studying graphic design. I enjoy all areas of design. I like to draw and listen to music in my spare time. Interviewer: How did you get into fashion design? Nayla: It has always been an interest while growing up. I just finally decided it was time to pursue it.  Interviewer: Did you want to become a fashion designer when you were young? Nayla: As I said earlier, it has always been an interest growing up. While in high school, I kept going back and forth not being able to decide what to major in and one of the choices was fashion design. Although it is not my major, I do enjoy it very much. Interviewer: What inspired you to get into fashion design? Nayla: The joy of wearing good clothes. Interviewer: What do you enjoy most about designing clothes? Nayla: Fashion really is about who you are and how you want to be perceived. So designing something that helps a person achieve that and feel confident makes me happy. Interviewer: What is the most challenging part?  Nayla: People’s taste. You never know how the public will react to a piece you design until you test the market. That is what makes me nervous and challenges me to create something likeable by a bigger audience. Interviewer: What do you think are the latest fashion trends?  Nayla: I think the boho/ ethnic style is trending now, especially after Coachella and since summer is approaching, it is fun and carefree! Interviewer: What do you like best about designing clothes? Nayla: I mentioned this before; it is seeing people happy with the clothes I design. I also love all the creativity and thought that goes behind everything I design. Interviewer: What are some of your favorite books, magazines or fashion websites? Nayla: Vogue, net-a-porter, urban outfitters, and going through fashion blogs on tumblr and instagram ! Interviewer: Where can readers find out more about you and your work? Nayla: You can find me on Instagram : @Paisley_bh Interviewer: How do you self promote your business and designs? Nayla: Since I am a beginner, I started promoting myself with posting pictures of my designs in instagram. I also had the privilege of having my friends wear my designs and posting pictures of them in their personal accounts. I also attended in several events to display my designs. From the interview, I was able to gather important information about the market, fashion design companies, as well as the designer’s situation. First, I was able to find out that people’s taste is the major challenge in the fashion industry. One cannot be able to predict the reaction of the public once something new is released to the market. The fashion industry is mainly based on trial and error. Designers usually take the risk of creating a new design with the hope that is going to receive a positive reception from the market. This is one of the characteristics of fashion designing that makes most designers nervous. They try to design a piece of cloth that its probability of the population is high (Steinmetz & Brooks 2006). Since summer was approaching, there was a high demand ethnic style. Concerning this, most of the designers were designing clothes to suit the summer season. Through the survey, I also found out that there is ready market for clothes. The trick is to design high quality clothes that suit the needs of the customers. Being a beginner, the designer had to do a lot of advertising for her clothes. However, she was fortunate since her friends contributed towards marketing by wearing her clothes and posting the clothes in the instagram accounts. Apart from that, she posted pictures of her designs in instagram. She also had to attend several events to display her designs. According to Nayla, these are some of the methods that a fashion design company can use to promote itself. A company could also have a website to promote the business online. This can be able to increase the customer base for the company. Self-promotion is one of the most essential aspects of the fashion business and the other businesses alike. The business owner markets his /her products or services as a way of gaining popularity among the customers by this process. For the fashion design company, self-promotion will enable the customers to be aware of the different clothing designs that are offered by the company. Customers cannot learn about the existence of the company or even the designs that are provided by the company unless the company as well as the clothing designs is advertised. Therefore, it is a necessity for the owner company to make an effort to advertise the company to the customers (Hill, 2004). At some instances, self-promotion becomes challenging. In most cases, the owner can be torn in between the many different methods of promoting the business. For one to successfully conduct self-promotion, he/she needs to analyze which of the various methods of promotion is most suitable for their specific business. It is by doing this that the owner will benefit from the promotion. The owner should also be ready to invest in the promotion programs. Apart from conducting self-promotion, for the fashion company to be successful, it should learn the different strategies that could be employed to deal with competitors. Competitors are companies that also engage in the fashion industry and are operating in the same market niche as the company. Focusing on one’s competitors is essential, but the company should ensure that in the process of monitoring the competitors, it should not deviate from the most crucial task, which is focusing on the needs of the customers (Paulins & Hillery 2009). As much as the company might concentrate on the weaknesses of both the company as well as that of the competitors, the goals of the organization should always be paramount. Therefore, this implies that the goals should drive the operations of the company. Some of the techniques that could be used to deal with competitors in the market are: Identify the competitors: This activity may seem to be easy, but it might be challenging in some instances. The company could focus more of the competitors that are known, and fail to realize that it faces a greater threat from the emerging companies. The emergent companies could be operating on new technologies, which obviously grant it an advantage over the existing companies. It is therefore of essence for the company owners to identify the companies that are emerging (Calkins 2012). Analyze the competitors: After identifying the competitors, the company needs to analyze the general aspect of the companies. The company could employ the SWOT analysis to examine the competitors. It is through the analysis that the company will gather information regarding the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the competitor companies. This information will provide a better platform for the company to identify which strategies to use to beat its competitors (Calkins 2012). Gathering important information in regards to the competition: Some of the information that could be important includes the sales forces, information about suppliers, market research, trade relations as well as the data that is published. These sources could benefit the company in regards to collection of information that relates to competition. In the instance whereby the company has a former competitor employee, the employee could serve as a reliable source of information, since he/she could share some of the strategies that the competitor company uses to make profits (Calkins 2012). Another source of information could be the websites of the competitor companies. Their sites could provide information about the type of designs that the companies create that seem to attract customers. In most cases, the companies post adverts about the new designs that are available. This knowledge will give the owner of the company with some insights on what he/she needs to improve on in terms of the design and quality of clothes. Formulate strategies to attack the competitors: With the proper information regarding competition in place, the owner need to device methods that the company is going to use to beat the other companies to achieve a competitive edge its competitors. The guiding factor that could enable the formulation of tactful strategies to beat the competitors is their weaknesses. The company should take advantage of the weak points of its competitors to create a competitive edge (Calkins 2012). However, some factors ought to be avoided when dealing with competitors. Such factors include (Calkins 2012): Reduce Prices: A reduction in the prices of clothes would in most cases lead to the collapse of the company because it will not be in a position to make profits. This is not an advisable strategy to adopt, especially in the company is just starting. Badmouth the New Competitor: This would make customers lose interest in the company. This is because the customers might not like the fact that you are talking ill about the new company. Instead of badmouthing the company, the company could ensure that it provides clothes of good quality, as well as friendly services to the customers. The company will be secure from facing the risk of losing its customers since they have gained their loyalty. Work Cited Calkins, T. (2012). Defending your brand: How smart companies use defensive strategy to deal with competitive attacks. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. As seen in Vogue: A century of American fashion in advertising. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press. Paulins, V. A., & Hillery, J. L. (2009). Ethics in the fashion industry. New York, NY: Fairchild Publications. Steinmetz, L. L., & Brooks, W. T. (2006). How to sell at margins higher than your competitors: Winning every sale at full price, rate or fee. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Read More