Fashion Merchandising - Essay Example

“The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry” Proposal: Indicate a problem andpresent a solution to that problem, possible sources, working thesis statement. Thesis statement: The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry which include Quality, Credence and Profit Issues. Fashion industry is the most advancing medium in today’s world. From the merchandizer to the retailer; from the manufacturer to the customer; it is a strategically process based on buying fabric, stitching it up to the latest trend, getting it advertised and setting cost according to economic and social trends and customer’s taste. Ethical fashion is the approach to maximize the growth and profit rate meanwhile providing quality assistance to customers, society and environment (“What is Ethical fashion?” n.d.). According to (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354), the ethical issues of counterfeiting in fashion merchandizing are rooted among the fashion industry itself. This global issue can be analyzed by the statistical analysis which shows that the counterfeit market is worth $350 billion (Turner). This problem is comparatively increased in Western countries because of the non-involvement of legal system in designing sector of fashion (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354). According to Skov (1-18), counterfeit is also a legal and economic issue which results into “misleading the consumer into believing that the goods that are presented are the real thing (Skov 1-18)”. Counterfeiting is done on the basis of “credence goods” which are defined as: “Goods whose quality is difficult to assess before or after purchase and use (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354)”. According to (Turner), “Credence goods are what are most copied because their value can only be determined by the credence or faith given to them by others, therefore they are easily exploitable. These items are usually of medium quality that has a high-perceived value, which can be easily copied (Turner).” In order to elaborate the importance of credence in fashion industry, let’s consider the nature of fashion world. According to (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354), “credibility” is the main entity which lay the basis of fashion industry. This credibility is gained through buyer and manufacturer. In present era, this credibility is majorly gained through fashion “indicators” which can be fashion designer, movie starts and other celebrities. The designers are the leading indicator of credence. Now coming toward our problem i.e. ethical issues in counterfeiting are categorized into four theoretical concepts: i. Utilitarianism: It is an ends-based reasoning. Its goal is to produce maximum benefit on larger scale for maximum number of consumers. ii. Distributive justice: It is an equity-based reasoning. As its name indicates, it strives to provide equal distribution of costs and benefits. iii. The Moral Rights of Man perspective: It is based on the moral values that everyone must have basic human rights by following vital universal laws of society, culture, professions etc. iv. Ethical Relativism: It is a ‘‘comparison-based’’ reasoning. It assesses the reaction of various people, parties etc. within similar circumstances. Moreover, counterfeit is divided into following four types of products: a. Vanity fakes: These are the low intrinsic and low perceived value products (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354). They are very damaging to the brand in the long run. It majorly affects the designers. However, the counterfeits claim that they do social service by providing affordable brand copied items to that part of the society and customers who cannot enjoy the expensive fashion products and apparels etc. b. Overruns: These are basically the copies made from left over material (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354). However, these copies are of the best quality and contain all required specifications and characteristics as that of the original branded item. The only thing it lacks behind and which makes it a counterfeit is the absence of its proper authorization. c. Condoned copies: These are those copies that are made by other designers or fashion houses (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354) i.e. the other designers try to simply the fashion idols they see and provide them to larger number of consumers in lesser prices and more quantity. This act is mostly taken as positive attitude toward the copied item since it is believed to enhance its “worth” that people are willing to make its copy for its great value. d. Self-copies: These are the copies that are made by the fashion house themselves (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354). Thus, this do looks as the least affecting act of counterfeit but still it is considered an ethical issue since it affects negatively on the exclusivity of the product (Hilton, Chong Ju and Chen 345-354). In addition to above counterfeits acts, the misuse of modern technology is also affecting the fashion industry. The counterfeits, making use of the up-to-dated expertise, develop and sale the counterfeited products even before the original product come into the market. This badly affects the real fashion designer or merchandizer and hence exploits the true identity, value and brand of the product and fashion merchandizer itself. Another major counterfeit problem in fashion industry is regarding the unethical and illegitimate trade of fashion product’s supply chain (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). It has prevailed a lot due to the nature of fashion industry itself and the credence items. In order to fight back this ethical counterfeit issue, various solutions can be put forward, as explained here under: The first step toward fighting counterfeit is through educating the customers. All consumers must be educated to distinguish between the original and fake product by making a comparison between the name, logo, design, quality, fabric, details, price etc. (Frerichs 19-35). It has been surveyed that travel experiences and geographic locations also affect the attitude of the customer toward counterfeited items i.e. the people living in Midwest have no idea about the product being available in larger cities. Thus they would be not available to distinguish between the actual and counterfeited items (Frerichs 19-35). Hence, the education regarding counterfeit reduction must be provided in larger dimensions considering the global world-wide perspective. More specifically, the target consumers must be firstly the students since their minds are sharper and keen toward learning facts and making decisions. They must be taught that through buying counterfeited products, the revenues go to the counterfeiters, not to the actual merchandizers. Thus, they must be educated to restrain from buying cheaper products and help in regaining the actual name, brand, logo and products of the actual designers (Frerichs 19-35). Moreover, in order to control the illegal trade of fashion goods, following technologies can be employed: A. RFID technology: RFID is an acronym of Radio-frequency identification. It identifies and tracks the product via using communication signals in terms of electromagnetic waves. It is an automatic procedure that detects the objects and after collecting the related information, stores the data in the server (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). This technology is the appropriate approach in identifying the true authenticity of the product. B. LISC model: LISC is an acronym of Legitimate-Illegitimate supply chain model. According to Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo (1-15): “This model tracks down the activities along manufacturing, distribution and retail stages that a fashion product must go through in order to arrive to the consumer (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15).” The objectives of LISC are stated here under: To consider all the counterfeiting acts included in false production, illegal trading and copying of the original fashion goods. To study the relation between legitimate and illegitimate supply chains and try to improve the weak points of the original fashion merchandizers so that the counterfeiters does not get the chance to get their counterfeited goods mixed with the original ones (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). To graphically present the reduction path to be adopted in order to diminish the counterfeited acts by employing RFID technology along with item-traceability (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). This model gives various interactions between illegitimate and legitimate supply chain. These counterfeited acts are elaborated here under: 1. Legitimate: It is an authentic product which has legitimate production, distribution and legitimate sale through a legitimate retailer (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). 2. Pure counterfeiting: In this process, a counterfeited product is sold via illegitimate means, retailer etc. It is also defined as either Vanity counterfeits or non-deceptive counterfeiting. 3. Illegitimate product – legitimate channel: In this process, a counterfeited product is produced illegitimately but sold through a legitimate channel. 4. Illegitimate product – legitimate channel: In this process, a legitimate product is produced legitimately but sold through an illegitimate channel. 5. Factory overruns: In this case, the left over products are sold through unauthorized retailers in order to sale them. 6. Almost illegitimate products: In this case, the supply chain contains illegitimate products along with legitimate products and they are so difficult to be differentiated that they are sold through both legitimate and illegitimate channels (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). 7. Almost legitimate products – legitimate channel: This is a strange scenario in which the legitimate products are not supplied through legitimate supply chain; rather they are sold through another retailer (smuggler) after a proper agreement of sharing the profit margin (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). C. MID-FIDO project: It stands for Made in Italy Fashion Identity and Originality. This project is basically an invention of Italian government in order to “investigate, develop and implement innovative Solutions to track product legitimacy thwart counterfeiting and illegitimate trade and thus protect the integrity of the “Made in Italy” label (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15).” By considering its characteristics, same project can be utilized in all fashion industries to control the ethical issue of counterfeiting. According to Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo (1-15), the major goals of this project are as follows: To protect the logo and main characteristics of the fashion goods in the industry and within supply chains as well. To implement a joint mission of the fashion merchandizers, designers, retailers, customers and police in order to detect, control and demolish the illegal trade of counterfeited goods. To carefully monitor and track down the illegitimate designers and actors involved in the illegitimate trade activities (Amato, Papadimitriou and Enzo 1-15). In short, it can be seen that ethical issue of counterfeiting has become a major dilemma in the fashion industry. The involvement of designers themselves and other counterfeiters are badly affecting the true identity, brand and originality of the actual fashion merchandizers and the product itself. Through proper education of customers and by employing latest technologies of RFID and traceability, counterfeiting can be controlled. Moreover, the on-going projects of LISC and MID-FIDO can also play a major role in detecting the illegitimate goods and thus striving to promote the actual products in industry. These technologies must be promoted and utilized for suppressing much prevailed ethical problems and thus protect the true fashion icons, products and trademarks that make the fashion world brighter and well-imaginable. Works Cited Amato, Iolanda D’. Papadimitriou, Thanos and Baglieri, Enzo. “The Anti-Counterfeiting Potential of RFID Technologies in the Fashion Supply Chain.” Medifas.net. (n.d.): 1-15. Web. March 8. 2013. Frerichs, Amy. “Attitudes toward Counterfiet fashion products: A south Dakota State university Case study.” Sdstate.edu, n.d.: 19-35. Web. 8 March. 2013. Hilton, Brian. Choi, Chong Ju and Chen, Stephen. “The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry: Quality, Credence and Profit Issues.” Journal of Business ethics. 55 (2004): 345-354. Print. Skov, Lise. “Ethics and the fashion industry in Europe.” Creative encounters. 18 (2008): 1-18. Web. 8 March. 2013. Turner, Chelsea. “The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry: Quality, Credence and Profit Issues by Brian Hilton, Chong Ju Choi and Stephen Chen.” Fashion and power.blogspot.com. 28 March. 2011. Web. 8 March. 2013. “What is Ethical fashion?” ethical fashion forum. N.p. n.d. Web. 8 March. 2012. Read More