Written By: Kioa Long
I have been following the fashion industry and how they advertise and market their products very closely for over a year now. Just as much as fashion changes throughout the decades, so does advertising within it. There are so many different ways that companies use advertising these days. The most popular way in the fashion industry that I've seen is brand collaborations, as well as the use of influencers and brand ambassadors.
Brand Collaborations
Brand collaborations are huge these days. Even luxury brands are partnering with smaller streetwear brands to create special products and advertise. This is a really smart way to get brand recognition overall in a way that benefits both sides.
The most recent collaboration I’ve seen is Supreme x Tiffany & Co. where they came out with a jewelry line together and a basic box logo white tee. This was interesting because Supreme is notoriously known for being a popular streetwear brand, while Tiffany & Co. is more of an upscale brand.
The popularity of high-end designer brands partnering with smaller brands seems to be growing. Louis Vuitton x Nigo is another example of this. Nigo is a fashion designer and music producer that founded his own streetwear brand, Human Made, in 2010 which has become very popular over time within the streetwear industry specifically. This has to be my favorite collaboration as of recent because Nigo is one of the most inspirational fashion designers. All of the products he creates are timeless, simple, and unique. The line that this collaboration released had the same type of feel but in an even more high-end look.
A really cool collaboration that I didn’t see coming at all is Balenciaga x Fortnite. This is really different from the others because it’s a designer brand partnering with a videogame. Fortnite is popular amongst the younger generations, and it did the brand a favor by partnering with Balenciaga to make their brand even more recognizable amongst older audiences-- even more than it already is.
Influencers
Influencers and brand ambassadors are becoming a crucial part of advertising-- especially in the fashion industry. Many of us have seen the rise of influencers and brands working together to advertise products, but I don’t think many people realize how fast and how crucial influencers are for advertising these days. There are even different levels of influencers: nano, micro, mid, macro, and mega. Each level is important depending on what the company is wanting.
According to Grand View Research, the influencer market size is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 35.7% from 2020 until 2027. This research just goes to show that influencer marketing is only just starting to get really big. I personally can’t even scroll through social media without seeing at least one influencer or brand ambassador post.
This affects the fashion industry and the way advertising works because companies are now having to work with influencers one-on-one and start brand ambassador programs in order to effectively advertise to the younger generation.