Global Implications for Your Profession Fashion Industry - Assignment Example

Implications of the Corporate Power Global Trends to the Fashion Industry The global trend in corporate power isamong the reasons behind the constant change in industries worldwide. Since the 16th century, the world’s economy has been global to a certain extent especially western economy. The globalization started with the emergence of capitalism that sprung from colonialism, slave trade, and the intercontinental trade. However, globalization did not pick up until the early 1980s, which ushered in a web of connections due to the spread of cyber technology, transnational corporations, and electronic mass media. Consequently, global culture, world economy, and individual lifestyles continually take on new shapes aws the world opens up to trade. The fashion industry is among the many areas that have experienced these dramatic changes as corporate companies compete to produce and market new fashions and clothing to meet the demands of global customers. Corporate power has greatly influenced the fashion industry in terms of variety within locations, uniformity across borders, environmental, and labor concerns. As corporate organizations advertize their fashion goods in magazines, films, and other media channels, a global style evolves now and then across different cultures and borders (Rabine para 2). For example, athletic shoes, T-shirts, blue jeans, and baseball caps find their way to the remotest villages in Africa. African, Asian, and Western fashion copy each other in designing their clothing. Almost every large shopping mall around the world is now housing all the styles. Every consumer can be sure to get his or her taste regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, subculture, and profession. Rabine says that customers in dominating Western countries have come to perceive globalization as an abundance of fashions that giant retailers sell (para 3). The retailers upgrade inventory and conduct transnational trades at the click of a button or a key. Rabine comes from the Western economy, where people perceive that the corporate brand or logo such as Victoria’s Secrets or Nike more important than the clothing itself. People are buying the fantasy images of athleticism, sexual power, and “cool” attitude that the brands promise to offer. They do so through high-tech media, where companies lavishly, hyper-visibly and ubiquitously market their brands. Susan Kaiser asserts that the global trend in fashion is paradoxical in that there is a tendency towards both increased homogenizing influence across locations and increased variety of specific locations (Rabine para 7). While marketing campaigns make people associate fashion with power, pleasure, individual fulfillment and personal creativity, corporate finance officers, and business economists present a differing view. Contrary to fashion magazines, The Wall Street Journal and other business organs anxiously analyze consumer behavior. They hold that consumption is neither individual nor personal, but it is required to uphold a capitalistic global economy. The economy depends on the massive use of clothing in affluent countries accompanied by cheap labor in less wealthy nations. The global trend of corporate power that responds to political, social, and cultural changes has affected the movement of targets in the fashion industry. Large companies change their target markets quickly to look for markets in countries that have less competition (Wilson 56). There is a rapid aging of the global population in terms of the expenditure and the share of population size. Furthermore, the world is experiencing a shift in power from the traditional western countries to the eastern regions. About 15 out of 20 cities that are doing well in fashion are from outside America. China is witnessing a trend of the men’s increasing purchasing power as their taste for fashion and clothing increases. Increasing migration is another factor that is propelling new customer profiles. Experts say that by 2020, Hispanic Americans in the U.S. will likely increase their buying power. Consequently, large fashion brands can no longer control their privacy when it comes to conducting business due to enhancement in the information technology. Traditionally, apparel and fashion companies tightly controlled their product design, sourcing of raw materials, marketing and distribution. It enabled them maintain service levels and brand-appropriate quality. While firms that served a large mass opted for outsourcing to production and sourcing of materials to enhance increased growth, purveyors of fashion and clothing continued with their old ways. However, the advent of the Internet has altered all that. Different organizations around the world are using the internet in marketing and distributing their goods. The internet enables the consumer to have more power by giving him a platform to shop on their terms from where they desire. The customers are currently in a position to get and compare information of price, place, quality, deliverance and other items. Executives are rushing to loosen the tight control common in the industry (Masson et al. 26). The ubiquitous access has reduced the exclusivity in the fashion and apparel industry. The corporate power trend has also led to some local, multinational, and international companies exploiting workers in the fashion industry to reduce expenditure. Working conditions are rarely safe due to limited or inadequate enforcement of employees’ legislations. Employees also receive small remunerations for the garments produced yet large retailers get hefty earnings. Consequently, the quality of workers’ lives diminishes each day while it encourages inequality among employees. Therefore, brands such as Zara and H&M have embraced the practice of using the most efficient way to bring trends to the marketplace. The global trend in corporate power has also led to the depletion of the environment and resources. As demand for clothes expands around the globe, manufacturing companies continue to develop. Consequently, the fashion industry has led to the depletion of water sources since it requires huge amounts of water to manufacture the clothes (Boone para 3). For instance, production of 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, requires 20,000 liters of water. For example, the uncontrolled irrigation of cotton led to drying up of Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. Apart from resource depletion, toxic chemicals are finding their way into the environment from fashion supply chains. Animals for the production of leather and fur are increasingly receiving cruel mistreatments. Furthermore, many unwanted textiles end up in landfills annually. Lejeune says that there is a need to change in the way people produce and consume fashion products to avoid dire consequences in the future (Rabine para10). Worldwide actions and outcry against the damage of fashion industry through the trend of corporate power has made companies focus on ethical and sustainable fashion. Ethical fashion aims at ways of sourcing, manufacturing and designing clothing in a manner that maximizes customers experience and community benefits while reducing depletion of the environmental resources (Chandak para 4). Therefore, companies are now working towards reducing poverty, creating a sustainable livelihood, and reducing environmental concerns. Sustainable fashion needs many stakeholders such as non-profit organizations and governments to create the ecosystem necessary for the penetration of the mainstream fashion. For example, charitable organizations are important to offer advocacy, resources, and other support. The government plays the role of formulating and implementing rules that will encourage ethical enterprise, consumers, and retailers. As large corporations in the fashion industry continue expanding their operations across borders, consumers are getting more freedom to select their favorite tastes at their most convenient price, quality, and time. The world is increasingly witnessing a variety of clothing within regions while uniform global styles tend to crop up now and then. However, the spread of global fashion companies to meet people’s needs are leading to depletion of resources such as water, emission of toxic chemicals, and dumping of solid textile wastes. Some companies are also exploiting workers to cater for a capitalistic economy, leading to depreciation of standards of life. Companies are opting to practice sustainable and ethical fashion to improve the benefits to the customers and the community while reducing the harmful effects on the environment. Governments and non-profitable organizations have vital roles to play in the ethical fashion. Otherwise, the global trend of corporate power may place the fashion industry and the world at large at a dangerous place in the near future. Works Cited Boone, Tonya. "Fashion Industry: A Story of Consumption and Waste .com Business." Rediff. N.p., 17 July 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. . Chandak, Tarini. "Sustainable Fashion: From Niche to Necessity." FG MAGAZINE. N.p., 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Apr. 2015. . Masson, Ron, Laura Iosif, Grant MacKerron, and June Fernie. "Managing Complexity in Agile Global Fashion Industry Supply Chains." The International Journal of Logistics Management 12.3 (2007): 20-31. Print. Rabine, Leslie W. "Globalization and the Fashion Industry." LoveToKnow. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015. . Wilson, Rosie. Fashion Industry. New York: Rosen Central, 2011. Print. Read More