Brands That Have an Impact on Ethics, Environment and Economy - Assignment Example

GLOBAL FASHION LABEL CASE STUDY al Affiliation) Table of Contents Table of Contents i Discussion These brands have animpact on ethics, the environment, and the economy. Brand impacts on: 1 Ethics 1 Environment 2 Economy 3 Strategic Marketing Decisions 3 Decker Corporation 4 Conclusion 5 References 7 Introduction This report’s primary focus is UGG Australia boots. It examines the various brands sold and acquired by Deckers throughout the years and their impact on ethics, the environment, and the economy. It further assesses the marketing decisions made by Deckers in the light of global competition as well as sustainability. It is a report on Deckers in its competitive environment in a global fashion market. Discussion The study has a number of relevant established brands and fads. They include: Doug Otto founded the Deckers brand in 1973 and manufactured sandals (Labate, 2004). Other footwear brands under the Decker brand are: Teva, a sport sandal line started to meet footwear needs of professional river guides. Simple Shoes a brand that produced sneakers, clogs, and sandals. UGG Australia, which first referred to boots made from sheep skins that were very warm and comfortable. The brand was later expanded to produce sandals, clogs, boots, slippers, and handbags. Tsubo LLC, which produces sports and dress casuals, sandals, heels, and boots. These brands have an impact on ethics, the environment, and the economy. Brand impacts on: Ethics In 2003, Australian sheepskin manufacturers started selling their products online at lower prices after Decker started making millions from UGG Australia sales (Windsor, 2010). Decker sales dropped as consumers preferred the UGG product at lower prices. The actions by Australian manufacturers were unethical because Decker owned the Trademark UGG and using it to sell their goods was ripping off the corporation. In addition, another act that shows the brand’s impact on ethics is through unfair competition. This is evident when competitors imitated UGG and sold fake products to customers who had no idea that they were buying imitations. Some producers went to the extremes of using cow skin instead of sheepskin (Worley, 2014). This is wrong as these actions were taking advantage of consumers whose real intention was to buy and enjoy the benefits brought about by the real UGG Australia products. Brand names, therefore bring about the worst from people who want to take advantage and make money from consumers who lack the knowledge of knowing whether the products they are buying is real or just a cheap imitation. The owners of the products also suffer due to reduced sales after putting in resources to produce, advertise, and market their products. Their image also suffers, as wronged consumers who bought fake products will taint their name saying that the products they are selling are of poor quality. Other people may say that it is also wrong to raise sheep for their skin and use that skin to make products. It occurs as animal cruelty to the supporters of animal rights (Seltzer 2011). There is a query whether consumers are concerned that those beautiful, comfortable, and must have items were due to shaving a poor animal’s skin. Environment The raw material of UGG Australia was sheepskin. This means that sheep keeping occurred with the primary motive of shaving their skin once it was ready for the production of boots, sandals, and slippers. Some people may term this as inhumane. Pamela Anderson even tried to convince people to stop wearing UGG products after knowledge on how the boots were obtained (“fox news”). This has an effect on the environment since sheep are domesticated and encouraged to breed for the development of more skin. Another impact on the environment is air pollution and the health and safety of the workers involved in the process of making those products. These workers are exposed to chemicals that are used to kill germs in the skin and convert the raw material for the products. The whole process emits gases and other products that pollute the environment. Economy Brands have a positive and negative impact on the economy. A positive impact occurs when the sales increase and profits bloom. For example, it results in the creation of more jobs to the manufacturers, sales executives and even in the corporation which is good for the economy as it continues to grow. For instance, UGG sales continued to increase from the time it was acquired by Decker. On the other hand, a negative impact occurs when the stock option of UGG dropped to 31 per cent in 2012 (Berrill, 2012). UGG products set up a noteworthy portion of Deckers business and if sales declined, the monetary performance of the company would be affected. This would lead to loss of jobs among the manufacturers, sales executives, and employees that would affect the economy negatively. Strategic Marketing Decisions With UGG, Decker was able to sell a high quality product that produced warmth and comfort to its consumers. Its sales increased and the price was constant despite competitors selling their products at a discount. Selling high quality goods is a great strategy. Consumers do not mind buying durable goods at high prices since they know that the product shall benefit them for a considerable amount of time. Decker was able to survive while selling UGG products as profits continued increasing as the years went by. The advantages consumers obtained from using UGG products enabled it to become a well-known brand. Consumers are the best marketers because they market products via word of mouth referrals and by wearing the product thereby showing it to others indirectly. Increasing distribution outlets and diversifying the products is another marketing strategy. More outlets mean that more people can easily access the product. As a result, more people shall buy the product. Increasing the variety means that there is more than one product of UGG, therefore more people will become aware of the product due to the different types of the brand being used by different consumers. Advertising UGG using popular magazines increased its popularity among consumers, thereby making it known to many hence increasing its sales. People adore celebrities; imitate their actions and their fashion trends. Thus, Decker’s decision to use celebrities like Pamela Anderson, Kate Hudson, Jessica Simpson, and Oprah Winfrey to promote UGG was a brilliant means of exposing UGG products to the public. Finally, another good marketing strategy used by Decker to advertise and promote UGG were through featuring it in the Winter Olympics, using it to raise money in charitable events, and having it featured in the Oprah Winfrey show (Abnett, 2014). All these forums were considered carefully and they subsequently brought good results, as UGG made global sales that earned millions of dollars to the corporation. Decker Corporation Decker Corporation was started as a sandal manufacturing company producing deckas. It then grew when it started acquiring other popular footwear brands. Companies acquire other companies for various reasons: To increase their chance of survival, to increase their sales, to offer better management skills to the acquired company or as a competitive strategy probably if the acquired company was a threat to the other company (Sentenac, 2007). Decker therefore acquired Teva, Simple Shoe, UGG holdings Incorporation and TSUBO LLC. It also formed a joint venture with Stella International Limited. Decker was therefore able to provide a variety of brands to its consumers through the acquisition of brands and joining with other companies. It was possible to produce many versions of footwear from multiple raw materials using those brands. These brands supported each other and provided finance such that if a brand were not doing well Decker would not close but would instead use finance from another brand. For instance, UGG was a source of income that provided many funds to Decker that was used in a number of ways even to support other Decker brands. Decker expanded its market globally, enabling it to sell its products to consumers in other states of the world. This was made possible by increasing its distribution outlets in other parts of the world and by selling its products online. Sales were made possible by the production of high quality products, word of mouth referrals by customers, product placements, advertisements in popular magazines, and endorsement by celebrities (Berill, 2012). It spent millions on marketing and promoting the products but got millions of sales therefore making it worthwhile. Decker faces a number of challenges, some of which included competitors imitating their products and selling them at throwaway prices, protests against their products due to the use of sheepskin as raw materials, shortages of raw material because of foot and mouth disease. These vulnerabilities affect the corporation as the competitors are coming up with ways to fill in the gaps brought about by Decker. Conclusion Decker Corporation is a huge corporation that produces a number of foot wears brands to meet its consumer needs. These brands have an impact on ethics, the environment, and the economy. The brands have led to competitors, creating fake products to prey on innocent, unaware customers, sheep are being reared for their skin, and the image of Decker is being tarnished due to the imitations and use of sheepskin. The environment is also suffering due to pollution, employee health and the use of sheep as the raw material. The economy has grown due to increased sales. Various marketing methods have been used to popularize UGG that include advertisement, product placement, production of high quality goods, celebrity endorsements, and featuring it in events like the Winter Olympics. Finally, decker is a fashion marketing company that has been able to survive and grow by acquiring other companies and diversifying its products in the global market. References Abnett, K. 2014. How UGG Turned a Fashion Trend Into a Staple. Retrieved from http://www.businessoffashion.com/2014/12/ugg-australia-turned-fashion-trend-staple Berrill, A. 2012. Death of the UGG boot: Sales of sheepskin shoe once beloved by fashionistas plummet 31% - as theyre now more likely to be worn by reality TV stars. Labate, J. 2004. Decker Outdoor, Fortune p 91 Seltzer, S. 2011. Raccoon Dogs Skinned Alive To Make Boots. Retrieved from http://www.care2.com/causes/raccoon-fur-linked-to-uggs-and-other-australia-products Sentenac, H. 2007. Pamela Anderson Learns UGG Boots Made From Sheepskin, Speaks Out Against Them. Retrieved from www.foxnews.com 27th February 2007 Windsor, A. 2010. Decision of a Delegate of the Registrar of Trade Marks with Reasons, IP Australia Worley, B. 2014. Buyer Beware: How to Spot, Avoid Counterfeit UGG Boots This Holiday Shopping Season. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/buyer-beware-spot-avoid- counterfeit-ugg-boots-holiday/ Read More