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The future of fashion

As London Fashion Week 2013 fades away, among the international designers who sent their latest creations down the runway were a host of British stars including established names such as Christopher Kane, Henry Holland and Vivienne Westwood, as well as up-and-coming talent.

British fashion has becoming increasingly popular across the globe, putting the nation well and truly on the fashion map and offering big opportunities for fashion outlets of all shapes and sizes.

The appeal of UK fashion

British fashion is undeniably becoming more popular overseas, with figures from OC&C Strategy Consultants showing the number of consumers searching online for British brands and retailers from outside of the UK has been growing on average by 46 per cent a year since 2010. Brands such as Asos, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Net-A-Porter and Topshop already receive more than half of their traffic from overseas.

It is thought that online sales alone generated by UK retailers from international markets will increase sevenfold to £28 billion by 2020.

So what exactly is it about British fashion which appeals to overseas buyers?

Last year’s London Olympic Games, the Diamond Jubilee and then this year’s Royal baby media frenzy have all attracted positive attention for the UK and placed the emphasis on traditional, heritage brands which have suddenly found themselves at the cutting edge of fashion.

In addition, since the engagement was announced, we’ve witnessed the rise of the ‘Kate effect’. The Duchess of Cambridge has become the darling of the fashion world with women across the globe striving to mimic her look, and she is a big champion of British designers and high street stores.

To take advantage of this, big names such as Burberry and Mulberry have been promoting their British roots as part of global advertising campaigns and smaller brands such as maternity wear brand Isabella Oliver and cashmere company Johnstons of Elgin, which sells 25.5% of its products to overseas markets, are also benefitting from their British heritage.

And it’s not just the heritage aspect which has attracted a new audience to UK fashion. The nation also has a reputation for using quality fabrics and production processes. A lot of British brands have realised that they simply can’t compete with overseas competitors on price and are instead charging more for their garments but guaranteeing high standards.

British fashion is just as famous for its uniqueness, and many shoppers would rather splash out on one special piece which no-one else will have than lots of cheaper, more generic items.

New markets

Coupled with the rising popularity of British fashion is a shift in the countries importing clothing. While Europe and North America remain primary customers for the UK, a number of developing markets within Asia, Latin America and the Middle East are offering significant opportunities to British brands.

The recently-released A.T. Kearney Retail Apparel Index highlighted that China offers the biggest opportunities for Western retailers looking to expand their market. The nation has the second largest luxury market in the world behind Japan and also boasts a growing appetite for high street fashion, with chains such as H&M, Uniqlo and Gap all opening new stores in the country in recent years.

Latin America was close behind in terms of growth opportunities offered, with Chile, Brazil and Mexico ranking 3rd, 5th and 9th in the index respectively.

The Middle East was represented by the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia which ranked 2nd, 4th and 6th.

These countries have large, young, fashion-conscious populations with rising disposable income levels; making them the perfect target for retailers. And thanks to the growing popularity of ecommerce, it is not just local brands which can take advantage.

Ecommerce allows British companies to expand their target market across the globe with minimal investment and without even leaving the UK. All they need to do is add a shopping cart function to their website or add their products to an online marketplace like Tmall.com or Amazon.

And it seems likely that overseas consumers will snap up the goods, as British products are proving exceptionally popular.

Other than the fact that British fashion is going through something of a renaissance at the moment, overseas buyers are attracted to UK-based retailers as they have a reputation for offering high quality goods. The OC&C report also suggests that UK retailers perform well against their domestic and other overseas competition as they are seen as offering better choice and a compelling site and service experience.

Supply and demand

With the continued shift to online retail, the fashion industry has had to up its game and make changes to its supply chain to keep up with growing demand.

Customers can now order clothes from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, through a variety of channels and compare prices to other retailers with one click.

A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group identified that in order to cope with this new ‘fast fashion’ model, retailers need to be fast, so customers can receive orders in as little time as possible; flexible, to cope with changing demands; and lean, to help keep costs under control.

One way for fashion retailers to ensure their supply chain meets these criteria is to use customer analytics.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alibaba.com .