Saturday, September 28, 2013

Plus Sized Clothing - Fashion Business Vs Fashion Fantasy

The Plus Sized clothing market is a booming industry. And there is finally some evidence that the Fashion Industry is finally embracing this growing market rather hiding it at the back of the store.

Mintel, a leading market research company, has recently released a study highlighting the importance of this segment. According to Mintel:

  • Nearly 25% of UK women now wear a size 18 plus
  • Over 33% of UK men are squeezing into XL or larger.
  • The women's plus-sized clothing market has grown 45% over the past five years, compared to a 15% increase for total womenswear.

But, while the plus size is a tremendous opportunity, it also presents retailers with a conundrum; how to promote plus sizes next to regular sizes.

  • Over 50% of women who are size 18 find that not enough shops offer a range of choices to cater for different sizes.
  • More than 40% of women wearing size 18 and over believe that plus-size clothes tend to be less fashionable than smaller sizes.

For example, we've seen Macy's open and close Plus Sized boutiques, as it struggles to find the right tone to appeal to the plus sized woman (without making here feel uncomfortable) while not damaging the brand's fashion forward image.But there seems to be hope. The popularity of certain models/body types is the best leading indicator of fashion direction (remember Twiggy and Kate Moss). And, the latest news from the runway suggests that the designer attitudes are finally getting their head's around the idea of a fashionable plus sized woman.

  • The emergence of Super Plus Models (e.g., Ashley Graham).
  • For the first time, NY's Fashion Week will have a Plus Sized runway show.

This suggests that over the next few years we'll finally see Plus Sized womenswear emerging from the racks at the back of the store. You can expect to see greater integration of Plus Sizes and regular sizing, as well as the emergence of more Plus Sized designer boutiques. This also suggests that ad agency's will soon start putting more Plus Sized models in ads for unrelated products and services; as the stigma attached to a larger body size diminishes.

In-Depth Research, www.in-depthresearch.com, is a full service market research firm providing strategic research services to global market leaders in many industries.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Unconditional Success In The Fashion Business

From summer to Winter Collection, Unconditional is a brand that meets the highest standard of both fashionable and comfortable aspects of a clothing line. Whether you are aiming for a casual or elegant style you need not to look farther because this brand carries it all.

The History and Success

At its launch in 2003 for men's apparel, Unconditional clothing immediately made a reputation in the great city of London. Men who wish to wear hip and trendy clothing opt for their design because of the brand's innovative style. From its launch up to date, Unconditional has made its way into the heart of fashion enthusiasts and is even featured in the New York Fashion Week, which by the way ends up with more positive reviews from New York fashion industry.

Today even Hollywood celebrities' support its name and it has easily became one of London's top notch designer labels.

Unconditional Clothing Style

As a designer tends to create more fashionable trends, there will always be one carrier style that would outstand them all, and for unconditional clothing, it is their varying neckline. Most designers opt for traditional and simple neckline, Unconditional's varying, and innovative neckline made huge statement and easily made them one of the most sought after designer brand.

The designer Philip Stephens made sure that each of his collection is hugely different from one another but all share the same innovative concept..

What made this Unconditional Clothing collection the Best?

Aside from its very unique designs, Unconditional clothing also features comfort, trend, and has combined both American and British style all in one tasteful concept. Their collection made a huge impact on its launch on the New York's Fashion Week.

High end clothing are made from high grade materials and so they both promote comfort and style. These are rarely found on one clothing line but are made possible by Unconditional clothing.

Best Seller Products

One significant style is the basic T-shirt combined with a trendier overlay. One their outstanding combination is the Scoop neck combo Scarf T-shirt, a simple and casual top with elegant definition.

The Waxed cord Raglan Funnel Sweat is a perfect wear for cold fashionable night, the neckline made a huge effect on the entire style. It creates a clean look but with on the edge factor.

How to become a part of unconditional Success?

Unconditional Clothing is a successful clothing with its name known all over the world. Shopping may be quite difficult considering their shops' location, but no need to worry for their online stores and carrier shops are widely marketed all over the internet. Website that carries Unconditional clothing line, you are guaranteed to get the updated collection of all its latest apparel. Getting inside London may be a bit tricky but getting into London's fashionable style is easy. With comfort as today's fashion trend, Unconditional clothing will surely make it big time!

Yet one must always be careful when buying online; be sure to check a sites legal claim and its numbers of years in service.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Hong Kong Fashion Week for Beginners

Hong Kong is a prosperous and exciting place. It is renowned for the amount of investment that it attracts and the business opportunities which it offers. This, combined with the fact that Hong Kong also has an established infrastructure and enjoys great weather for most of the year, makes it an ideal location for a fashion week.

The Hong Kong Fashion Week is now into its 18th edition, and with each year it grows in popularity and credibility. Each year thousands of people descend upon the island to revel in the cacophony of garments which are displayed so elegantly by hundreds of models. The show is now regarded as one of the leading fashion events in Asia and is an essential visit for anyone who wishes to make an impact on the fashion industry in this part of the world or who intends to obtain a supplier from this area.

Despite being held in Hong Kong, the Fashion week is an international affair with exhibitors from all over the world, making it a great opportunity for designers who wish to access the local market. Similarly it represents a good opportunity for retailers based in Hong Kong to access designs from around the world. With the exhibition taking place in the summer it is natural that the show is concerned primarily with spring and summer collections, with around 1,100 exhibitors displaying their offerings over the course of the week.

Whilst there is a distinct professional feel to the fashion week, the show is also open to the general public. The majority of the visitors at the show will consist of buyers from a whole range of department stores and commercial outlets, but there is still plenty to keep the average member of the public entertained.

The items on display at the fashion week cover the whole range of categories, including smart evening wear, casual wear, sports clothing and accessories. These items can be viewed either by attending the number of catwalk shows and parades or by strolling around the large exhibition area.

The fashion week is held at the Honk Kong conference and exhibition centre which transforms its 5 floors during the event in order to become a huge fashion paradise where visitors can meet with buyers, create good links within the industry and find some unique items of clothing to add to their wardrobe.

The city as a location is also a wonderful place to visit and with some outstanding restaurants and views, do you really need an excuse to visit Hong Kong Fashion Week as part of your work?

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Secrets Of Turning A Small Business Into A Business Empire!

Every year thousands of small businesses are started, but a majority of them fail within a span of one year due to various factors like competition, lack of profit, limited sales or lack of growth.

A major reason for failure of most businesses is that, most of them start the same type of business that thousands of others have already established. There are people who start a business by establishing a road side stall, but even after generations, it still remains a road side stall. On the other hand there are people who start a roadside stall and turn it into a billion dollar empire. The secret behind such success stories lies in offering something really unique and innovative to the customers that their competitors fail to provide.

There are millions of small businesses, but only a few are converted into a billion dollar empire.

Some people start a small business with the aim of merely earning hand to mouth because they don't have the urge to think beyond a limit, while there are a few others who start off a small business by merging an innovative business idea with their capital. The ones, who start their business with an attitude of a millionaire, can grow their business into an empire and leave everyone else behind. Say, a person wants to establish a global fashion business; he will have to provide different types of exclusive styles at economical rates. He may push his brand with some innovative and unique ideas. Once, the brand starts to get noticed and its popularity gradually increases, he can provide franchise of the brand or he can set up his own stores. With increase in popularity, there will obviously be an increase in the profit, thereby the turn over because more number of people will start buying the branded product. So, the secret behind the success of a business lies in attracting more and more customers with the uniqueness and exclusivity of the product so that it may help the business to grow into a global success.

SECRET BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF SMALL BUSINESSES

The pages of history are filled with the examples of people who started their business with a limited amount of capital but transformed it into a billion dollar industry. Let us consider McDonald's for example. When it was started, there were thousand of such businesses but, why did only McDonald taste success. Today, it is a multi- national business empire with over 25000 franchises world wide. All restaurants have great recipes and appetizing food, but most of them do not achieve great success. They either limit themselves to a city or are satisfied with a few stores. The recipe for success that McDonald's used is in applying certain unique and extraordinary ideas. Apart from delicious recipes and speedy delivery services, it also concentrated on attracting children and made provisions for playgrounds, toys and games at every McDonald restaurant making it an enjoyable experience for the kids. Also, they created many advertising campaigns that showed thinner, leaner people getting healthier after having their food. Such ideas clicked with the audience, thus making it a global success. They also introduced the concept of happy meals by providing free toys and gifts, so that children may enjoy.

When Larry Page, along with his partner, finished his education, thousands of IT professionals and many billion dollars IT companies were in existence in the same field. So, why couldn't they recognize the opportunity that these young students recognized? Larry Page, along with his partner, found much more innovative and better methods for ranking web pages that helped create an excellent search engine. Today, Google, the search engine that they created, is the # 1 search engine which earns revenues of billions of dollars. They wiped out all the competition and even left behind Yahoo! that had established its monopoly as the king before Google made its presence felt online.

CONCENTRATE ON INTRODUCING SOMETHING USEFUL AND NEW:

The difference is not in the investments made for starting a new business; rather it is the introduction of innovative and unique ideas that may provide better benefits to the customers as compared to the benefits of the products or ideas offered in the past. Why do people spend their hard earned money to purchase a certain product? Nobody would spend a single penny on your idea or product if they are not going to get their money's worth.

If you concentrate on finding and developing new ideas or on improving the already existing products or the services, rather than planning to arrange capital or on increasing profits, then you have definitely taken the first step towards success.

When Amancio Ortega started designing his own line of fashion fabrics in his living room, there were thousands of fashion designers then who had already established their cloth stores in the market. But Amancio Ortega, managed to turn his business into a billion dollar empire. He started off by working as a delivery boy in a certain shirt shop where he observed and discovered the ideas on which a business is grown. He could have forfeited or given up, succumbing to the fear of investing millions of dollars to start his own fashion designing business. But he preferred to concentrate and invest his energy on the creation of exclusive and unique designs that he could sell to the customers at affordable and economical rates. He introduced an innovative concept of instant fashion where, instead of introducing new collections only twice a year as per the industry standards, he started introducing new collections in just two weeks. This just goes to show that, by concentrating on developing innovative ideas, you may attract the buyers which will in turn, help your business grow. You can start by making a list of additional benefits that you can provide to a customer with respect to quality, speed, economy or other features pertaining to the product or the service.

EVERY BUSINESS HAS POSSIBILITIES FOR GROWTH:

It is easy to start a business just like millions of others, but in order to see it expand and grow globally; you are required to develop the habit of constantly coming up with innovative ideas. Whatever product or service you provide to the customers, make sure that you provide an extra benefit or value to your customer. Failing to do so will result in someone else coming up with a new idea and earn the advantage. This is the same innovative idea that helped McDonald grow and become popular, ultimately giving their business the extra push.

Supposing, you own a restaurant and it is not running as you expect it to, what will you do? You might blame the location of the restaurant or the people who prefer visiting only the famous restaurants. But, what about those few people who visit your restaurant and have the potential to bring you thousands of customers more. Here you are only thinking about your limited customers, instead of improving the standard of the services. Why do people go to restaurants? You would say to have delicious food. You are not wrong in thinking this way but you need to realize that this is not the only reason people visit a restaurant. One good idea to understand what a customer wants would be to visit the famous restaurants and observe the services they provide. Make a list of all of their plus points that they have that your restaurant lacks. Their success secrets could lie in their offering of tasty foods, better services, different kinds of varieties, efficient waiters, music systems, comfortable sitting arrangements, quick serving timings, entertainment facilities for children, hygienic conditions etc. People's tastes have changed for almost about everything. Today people want to enjoy their evening and along with quality food they also expect great entertainment. In the past, furniture was used just for the purpose of seating guests, but today, people want more. They want comfort, style and uniqueness along with the function. Similarly, clothes are basically made to cover one's body, but with the addition of the concept of fashion, people look for exclusivity and latest styles as well. So, if you can provide something extra and unique that will prove to be a better experience for a customer, then they are bound to take note of your services, and in turn, you will never have a dearth of customers.