GARMENT INDUSTRY.. Why do women the world over wear the clothes that they do?

Is it because we see them on a famous actress walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards? Do we buy a new dress because weve seen it in a magazine and we know it is the latest trend? Are women shelling out money to buy clothes because an Internet website says this is a must have item for the fall season? It is likely that all these strategies are influencing women today. The question is; how does the fashion industry use marketing strategies to set trends for women? Today, the fashion industry has almost unlimited resources at its disposal. Information and photographs that appear on the Internet instantaneously reach millions of women the world over. Immediately, they know which fashions are in and which are out. They see the colours and trends on splashy, popular websites. They find out very quickly what they should be wearing and what they shouldnt. A time-honoured tradition used by the fashion industry to set trends and market their designs has been to work with famous people to model their clothes. With the advent of such shows as MTV and other music shows, the multiplicity of award shows, the public is barraged with a plethora of designs to choose from. However, the ultimate message from the fashion industry is; if a famous person wears this it must be cool and therefore you must have it too! As author, Anne Paxton (October 2001) writes in a savvy Internet article; Everyone from Gloria Swanson and Marilyn Monroe, to Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly have helped fashion influence the public, but the media craze over celebrities is hotter than ever before. TV and movies have taken center stage when it comes to both entertainment and fashion. Magazines spend endless ink on what Madonna and Jennifer Lopez wear to award shows. Paxton even suggests that this marketing strategy may well end the need for models to strut their stuff on the catwalks (Ibid). This strategy proves to be a win-win situation for both the fashion industry and celebrities as they cash in on the free items that various designers throw their way. Another specific strategy used by the fashion industry is online advertising. The use of the Internet involves several strategies which include: creating an online version of a print magazine, banner ads (ads placed on specific sites for greater exposure) and well-placed photographs and articles about the fashion industry. According to an industry report on the Internet and marketing strategies by womens magazines, The Internet has become a billon-dollar business [] (Industry Report). This article also reports that according to Nielsen Net Ratings, more American women use the Internet than men at a rate of 51% 49% (Ibid). It goes on to say; Women online readers in the United States tend to visit general interest sites on the Internet, such as shopping sites, beauty sites, and health sites. Therefore, magazines discovered the Internet several years ago as another method to better serve the customer since magazines (Ibid). By targeting the large numbers of women who regularly participate in online activity, fashion magazines that maintain an Internet presence provide themselves with continuous, free advertising. It is an extremely effectively strategy to [] offer other information, such as press releases or news that relates to the company or to their industry, or provide information about special events that relate to the company to their industry (Ibid).

According to a report in, Senken Shimbun (2005), a leading apparel industry newspaper in Japan, another successful marketing strategy is using terminology taken from popular culture in order to catch the attention of young women consumers. While the report states that young Japanese women are also influenced by consumer magazines and celebrity fashion, it goes on to explain more detailed marketing strategies. Two of the terms used by the fashion industry to catch womens attention are: street casual, office casual, with the latter sometimes referred to as conservative elegance. The reason behind using these terms is because Japanese working women dress more casually than American women do. Not many wear business suits: they may wear shirts or sleeveless light sweaters and/or a cardigan instead of jacket, a dress with a cardigan or a jacket, or ensemble [] (Ibid). In addition to using the Internet and celebrity culture as a marketing strategy, the fashion industry also creates markets by following sociological. One current trend that is strongly influencing the fashion industry is the notion that plus-size women are a huge, new market for them. According to an industry analysis by UK expert, Marcella Marcheso (2002) Until recently, the plus-size market was considered an afterthought by much of the fashion industry. There was a limited range of available styles, and little to no trendy clothes. However, with the concerns over weight issues, population trends, and an increase in demand, retailers are beginning to take notice, and have entered the plus-size market []. This particular market necessitates a shift in marketing strategy by the fashion industry. In addition to creating designs that are flattering for plus-size women, they must also market to these consumers in a respectful way. The fact that this consumer need is available means that the fashion industry can no longer afford to market all their clothes to fit women with perfect, model-like bodies. According to the same report the fashion industry can not simply create clothes in larger sizes, nor can they assume that plus-size women simply will buy a line of clothes because they are in the right size for them. The number of middle-aged women is set to increase over the next 4 years. By 2006, there will be 7.7 million women aged 45-64 years old, compared with 7.2 million in 2002. This is the time of life when women tend to put on weight and some of these women will be purchasing plus-size clothing for the first time. This Baby Boom generation is characterized by a degree of rebelliousness and nonconformity. This means that the demand for plus-size fashions will not only be strong, but also for younger styles. Consumers will be looking for casualwear, smart clothes for working women, and stylish eveningwear (Ibid). At the same time, the fashion industry can not afford to neglect the younger generation. However, an interesting demographic was found in a retail research report which indicates that women 18-24 are []becoming taller and heavier than in years past (Ibid). If this statistic is true, then women from a broad age range will be interested in purchasing clothes in larger sizes. To accommodate this need, the fashion industry uses marketing strategies such as the UK Chain H&Ms slogan; Big is Beautiful (Ibid). Another trendy slogan is being used by Fruit of the Loom who now markets the Fit for Me brand of plus-size lingerie for women (Matis 2003). A similar example is, David Coles Big Girls Bras Etcetera, an online company selling larger sized intimate apparel (Ibid).

American author, Maria Matis (2003) conducted research that concurs with the aforementioned information emanating from the UK. According to her, The plus-size market is growing, and in the next 5 years it is expected to continue growing as more brands respond to its demand. Thats right the trendy trend of the trends is to march to the frontier of full-figured fashion. Many of the most famous names in the fashion industry are marketing plus-size fashions even though they were the same companies who previously designed clothes only for ultra-slim women. In fact, previous marketing trends were very much targeted towards a very specific demographic women with exceptionally good figures. That trend has changed dramatically and the marketing strategies with them. These erred established brand names, which purposely ignored this segment, now desire a recognized brand breakthrough. Companies like Ann Taylor, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, and JC Penny are some of the most recent to dabble in the plus-size division (Ibid). Even though the market for plus-size women is obviously there, the fashion industry continues to use another familiar marketing strategy to target these women as well the use of celebrities. Women like Queen Latifah and Oprah (more so in the past) have often been cited as successful role models for larger sized women (Ibid). A constant theme in fashion marketing is to create ideas or themes for what it means to look good or look attractive. Therefore, marketing to women with various body sizes and shapes makes for good business strategy. However, the marketing of fashion to women isnt just about what you look like but what they want you to look like. That is, part of marketing strategy is to generate ideas in womens heads about what kinds of clothes we need to wear in specific situations the work environment, social situations, etc. As in many other countries, Japanese women seek to wear the latest trends. As a market segment, young Japanese women continue to seek new ways to appear trendy and fashionable. In either theme, clothing that is well designed to make women look more beautiful, has potential (Senken Shimbun 2005). In another well-written article, Paxton (November 2004) points out the various items women have bought (and continue to buy) over the years because of successful marketing that labels them as must-have items: the little black dress, blue jeans, Jackie O sunglasses, A-line skirts and headscarves. She also points out the fashion trend of casual Fridays as a highly successful marketing strategy to keep the blue jean industry and casual clothes selling well. As Paxton and the other authors of these articles have pointed out, the fashion industry continues to use a number of strategies to set trends for women. These include setting up highly popular websites, using celebrities to model their clothes at famous events, creating online sites for successful magazines and broadening the population of women they design for and market to. One of Paxtons timely articles states. The world moves very quickly for us ladies and it is easy to forget that even though fashion can sometimes make us second guess ourselves, there are great fashion inventions that can make us feel good too and give us that little boost of confidence we need from time to time (Ibid). The conclusion of this query is that the fashion industry uses a multiplicity of strategies in order to reach a wide range of women the world over. Their primary marketing strategy is to set trends which dictate to women the kinds of clothes we should wear, what we will look attractive in and what we wont, why certain colours are the ones to wear and

others are not. In the end, it is up to women to buy into these trends or set their own trends as individuals.

This article penned by Dr. K. Abdul Waheed gives an informative and a broad view of Designing Brand Strategy in Indian Apparel Industry. Dr. Waheed gives an overview of branded apparel market by discussing points like Brand are cultures, Brand Value, Reputation value, Experiential value, Symbolic value. He also explains how branding is a strategic issue by outlining some steps. While discussing about implementing the brand strategy, he says that "Marketers' brand strategy will be successful only when it is implemented effectively. Care must be taken in integrating the brand strategy with all aspects related to their marketing mix". "Advertising is an important component of the marketing mix which assists in implementing your brand strategy. Further, the other components such as product policies, packaging, pricing, distribution, sales promotions and public relations also play equally important role in implementing their brand strategy and making it a Success" he includes. Competitiveness of Indian Textile & Apparel Industry India is one of the few countries that owns the complete supply chain in close proximity from diverse fibres to a large market. It is capable of delivering packaged products to customers comprising a variety of fibres, diverse count sizes, cloths of different weight and weave, and a panoply of finishes. This permits the supply chain to mix and match variety in different segments to deliver new products and applications. This advantage is further accentuated by cost based advantages and diverse traditions in textiles. Indian strength in spinning is now well established on unit costs on ring yarn, open-ended (OE) yarn as well as textured yarn, Indian firms are ahead of their global competitors including China. Same is true on some woven OE yarn fabric categories (especially grey fabrics) but is not true for other woven segments. India contributes about 23 per cent of world spindles and 6 per cent of world rotors (second highest in the world after China). Fifty five per cent of total investment in technology in the last decade has been made in the spinning sector. Its share in global shuttleless loom, however, is only about 2.8 per cent of world looms (and is ranked 9th in the world). The competitiveness in the weaving sector is adversely affected by low penetration of shuttleless looms (i.e., 1.69 % of Indian looms), the unorganized nature of the sector (i.e., fragmented, small and, often, un-registered units, low investment in technology & practices especially in the powerloom, processing, handloom and knits) and higher power tariffs. There

is, however, a recent trend of investment in setting up hi-tech, stand-alone mid-size weaving companies focusing on export markets. India also has the highest deployment of handlooms in the world (handlooms are low on productivity but produce specialized fabric). While production and export of man-made fibre (and filament yarn) has increased over the years, Indian industry still lags significantly behind US, China, Europe, Taiwan etc. (Texmin, 2005.) Indian textile industry has suffered in the past from low productivity at both ends of the supply chain low farm yields affecting cotton production and inefficiency in garment sector due to restriction of size and reservation. Add to this, contamination of cotton with consequent increase in cost (as it affects quality and requires installation of additional process to clean and open cotton fibres before carding operations), poor ginning (most equipment dates back to 1940s), high average defect rates in production process (which also leads to increase in effective labour and power costs), hank yarn requirement, etc. and its competitiveness gets

compromised severely. Similarly, processing technology is primarily manual and small batch oriented with visual colour matching and sun drying. This leads to inconsistency in conformance quality. Lead times across the sector continue to be affected by variability in the supply chain defect rates average over 5%, average % of orders on time is about 80%, variance in order size across firms is high (e.g., the coefficient of variability of average order size for spinning firms is about 2.6), and on an average, 16 days of sales as work-in-process inventory (the highest for garment firms) and an average of 30 days of sales in raw material inventory (the highest for spinning firms) (Chandra 2004). Some of the hurdles (eg., reservation in the garment sectors) including tariff distortions between the organized and unorganized sectors have now been systematically removed by policy initiatives of Government of India and have opened avenues for firms to compete on the basis of their capabilities. Trade data of post-MFA performance reveals some interesting trends Indian firms registered a 27 per cent growth in exports to US (against Chinas 52 per cent) during the Jan-April 2005 time period. Most of this growth has been in textiles while apparels show marginal gains. Apparels & accessories constituted 78% of global exports to USA (FICCI 2005). (India is still a relatively small yet growing player in the global apparel market.) It is expected that India will soon replace Mexico as the second largest apparel supplier to the US.

Challenges facing Indian Textile and Apparel Industry Textile supply chains compete on low cost, high quality, accurate delivery and flexibility in variety and volume. Several challenges stand in the way of Indian firms before they can own a larger share of the global market: Scale: Except for spinning, all other sectors suffer from the problem of scale. Indian firms are typically smaller than their Chinese or Thai counterparts and there are fewer large firms in India. Some of the Chinese large firms have 1.5 times higher spinning capacity, 1.25 times denim (and 2 times gray fabric) capacity and about 6 times more revenue in garment than their counterparts in India thereby affecting the cost structure as well as ability to attract customers with large orders. The central tendency is to add capacity once the order has been won rather than ahead of the demand. Customers go where they see both capacity and capabilities. Large capacity typically goes with standardized products. These firms need to develop the managerial capabilities required to manage large work force and design an appropriate supply chain. For the size of the Indian economy, it will have to have bigger firms producing standard products in large volumes as well as small and mid size firms producing large variety in small to mid size batches (the tension between the organized and un-organized sectors will have to be addressed first, though). Then there is the need for emergence of specialist firms that will consolidate orders, book capacities, manage warehouses and logistics of order delivery. Skills : Three issues must be mentioned here : (a) there is a paucity of technical manpower there exist barely 30 programmes at graduate engineering (including diploma) levels graduating about 1000 students this is insufficient for bringing about technological change in the sector; (b) Indian firms invest very little in training its existing workforce and the skills are limited to existing proceses (Chandra 1998); (c) there is an acute shortage of trained operators and supervisors in India. It is expected that Indian firms will have to invest close to Rs. 1400 bn by year 2010 to increase its global trade to $ 50 bn. This kind of investment would require, by our calculations, about 70,000 supervisors and 1.05mn operators in the textile sector and at least 112,000 supervisors and 2.8mn operators in the apparel sector (assuming a 80:20 ratio of investment between textiles and apparel). The real bottleneck to growth is going to be availability of skilled manpower.

Cycle Time : Cycle time is the key to competitiveness of a firm as it affects both price and delivery schedule. Cycle time reduction is strongly correlated with high first pass yield, high throughput times, low variability in process times, low WIP and consequently cost. Indian firms have to dramatically reduce cycle times across the entire supply chain which are currently quite high (Chandra, 2004). Customs must provide a turnaround time of day for an order before Indian firms can they expect to become part of larger global supply chains. Indian firms need a strong deployment of industrial engineering with particular emphasis on cellular manufacturing, JIT and statistical process control to reduce lead times on shop floors. Penetration of IT for improving productivity is particularly low in this sector. Innovation & Technology: A review of the products imported from China to USA during JanuaryApril 2005 reveals that the top three products in terms of percentage increase in imports were Tire Cords & Tire Fabrics (843.4% increase over the previous year), Non-woven fabrics (284.1% increase) and Textile/Fabric Finishing Mill Products (197.2% increase) (FICCI, 2005). None of these items, however, figure in the list of imports from India that have gained in these early days of post-MFA. Entry into newer application domains of industrial textiles, nano-textiles, home furnishings etc. becomes imperative if we are to grow beyond 56% of global market share as these are areas that are projected to grow significantly. Synthetic textiles comprise about 50 per cent of the global textile market. Indian synthetic industry, however, is not well entrenched. The Technology Upgradation Fund of the government is being used to stimulate investment in new processes. However, there is little evidence that this deployment in technology has accompanied changes in the managerial regimes a necessary condition for increasing productivity and order winning ability. Domestic Market : The Indian domestic market for all textile and apparel products is estimated at $26 bn and growing. While the market is very competitive at the low end of the value chain, the mid or higher ranges are over priced (i.e., dollar pricing). Firms are not taking advantage of the large domestic market in generating economies of scale to deliver cost advantage in export markets. The Free Trade Agreement with Singapore and Thailand will allow overseas producers to meet the aspirations of domestic buyers with quality and prices that are competitive in the domestic market. Ignoring the domestic market, in the long run, will peril the export markets for domestic producers. In addition, high retail property prices and high

channel margins in India will restrict growth of this market. Firms need to make their supply chain leaner in order to overcome these disadvantages. Institutional Support : Textile policy has come long ways in reducing impediments for the industry sometimes driven by global competition and, at other times, by international trade regulations. However, few areas of policy weakness stand out labour reforms (which is hindering movement towards higher scale of operations by Indian firms), power availability and its quality, customs clearance and shipment operations from ports, credit for large scale investments that are needed for upgradation of technology, and development of manpower for the industry. These are problems facing several sectors of industry in India and not by this sector alone. In conclusion, competitive strategies are developed by sector level firms and its their individual and collective initiatives that secure higher market share in global trade. While one has to be ever vigilant of non-tariff barriers in the post MFA world, the new market will be won on the basis of capabilities across the supply chain. Policy will need to facilitate this building of capabilities at the firm level and the flexible strategies that firms will need to devise periodically.

Creative Marketing Strategies for the Fashion Industry Miranda Brookins is a marketing professional who has over seven years of experience in copywriting, direct-response and Web marketing, publications management and business communications. She has a bachelor's degree in business and marketing from Towson University and is working on a master's degree in publications design at University of Baltimore. By Miranda Brookins, eHow Contributor The fashion industry is a popular and competitive industry. With so much competition, it's imperative that clothing designers, jewelry designers, shoe designers and even boutique owners find creative ways to market their brands. In order to do this, fashion brands must keep the potential customer's prospective in mind from the product development stage to the product evaluation stage. 1. Goals
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Regardless of your niche in the fashion industry, before you start brainstorming creative marketing strategies, it's important to analyze your market and come up with a couple of measurable goals you'd like to achieve with your marketing efforts. As a boutique owner, your goal may be to create a campaign that attracts more visitors to the store to bring in

higher sales each month. As a fashion or jewelry designer, your goal may be to introduce your new fall line and receive at least ten initial orders. Networking
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One of the most time-tested and inexpensive ways to creatively market products in the fashion industry is through word-of-mouth. If you're not personally speaking to your customers, be sure that you have brand ambassadors who can communicate effectively with your customers about your products. These brand ambassadors should be people who actually wear your items and will share their positive experiences with your brand.

Look Book
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A look book is an essential piece to a creative marketing strategy for anyone in the fashion industry. A book filled with glossy photographs provides editors, potential buyers and even potential customers with an idea of what you can create. Work with a photographer who understands fashion photography and consider hiring a stylist for the shoot. Be sure that your look book includes information about you, how your brand got started, your direction and your contact information.

Fashion Blogs
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People are frequently introduced to brands by friends and family, but they often venture online to do their research and look for reviews from other customers. A big part of the online community includes blogs and social networks. In many instances, bloggers are also tweeting about the topics they discuss on their blogs. Because of this, it's beneficial to establish strong, mutually beneficial relationships with local and national fashion bloggers and websites as a part of your creative marketing strategy. Develop interesting angles, as they are inundated with requests from up-andcoming designers daily. Send a professional pitch and your look book. If you need help locating bloggers and websites or determining what to send, contact a public relations professional for assistance.

Fashion Showcase
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Consider hosting a small gathering of 30 to 50 people to debut your line or boutique to key people in the fashion industry. Invite bloggers, editors, buyers and potential highprofile clients. This is a creative way to network and personally introduce your brand through your own vision. During the event, allow time for a small fashion show, and also display items throughout the room. You can use your look book as inspiration and tie elements of it into your event.

The garments industry in India is one of the best in the world. An extremely well organized sector, garment manufacturers, exporters, suppliers, stockists and wholesalers are the gateway to

an extremely enterprising clothing and apparel industry in India. There are numerous garments exporters, garments manufacturers, readymade garments exporters etc. both in the small scale as well as large scale. During April-December 1999-2000, textile exports were recorded as US $ 9735.2 million (Rs.440179.4 million), of which ready made garments comprised nearly 40%. Interestingly, almost of India's total exports goes to the USA. Indian readymade garments and textiles are extremely popular the world over. In fact, exports of readymade garments registered a 6.4% increase in dollar terms and an 11.6% increase in rupee terms during the period April-December 1999-2000, despite a sluggish growth in income both at home and abroad. Indian Garment export growth during April-June 1998 for woolen ready made garments was a phenomenal 150%, for ready made garments made of silk it was 58%, and for other ready made garments it was 39%, in dollar terms. Today, garments exports from India have made inroads into the international market for their durability, quality and beauty. One of the reasons for the economical pricing of India's ready made garments and apparels is the availability of highly skilled, cheap labor in the country. The superiority of India's Garment Industry has been acknowledged in the National Textile Policy (NTP) of India 2000. Having realized the tremendous growth potential of this sector there is a proposal in the NTP for taking the Indian Garment Industry out of the SSI reservation list.

Introduction to Apparel Industry : Apparel is one of the basic necessities of human civilization along with food, water and shelter. The Apparel Industry reflects peoples lifestyles and shows their social and economic status. The Apparel and Textile industry, is Indias second largest industry after IT Industry. At present, it is amongst the fastest growing industry segment and is also the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country. The apparel industry accounts for 26% of all Indian exports. The Indian government has targeted the apparel and textiles industry segments to reach $50 billion by the year 2015 . China on the other hand, has already reached their target of $52 billion in 2004, and therefore, it is very possible for India to reach its target soon. One of the most interesting features of the apparel industry is that, it migrates from high cost nations to the low cost nations. The growth of the domestic demand for clothing in India is linked with the success of the retailing sector. India presently has entered the second phase of growth and is witnessing a massive rise in the domestic demand. This is primarily due to the rise in the standard of living caused by the rise in the middle-income groups. In our present economic world of demand and supply, price and quality are the key factors, which determine the success

of any business. The key element here though, is the cost of labor. India and China have a comparative advantage in this industry though, their vast labor forces and the relatively low cost of labor. Since, India and China have the advantage of making textiles and so fabric costs are lower than in other countries, they have become the Apparel sourcing choice for many international companies. Sourcing choices arise from profitability. This includes considering costs, such as, buying factors of production, like land, buildings and machines versus factors affecting revenues, including pricing, marketing, and distribution. The issues of labor, material, shipping costs and tariffs structure also affect the sourcing choices. Since, apparel production is a labor-intensive activity, wage rates are also a major factor in sourcing decisions. This gives immediate competitive advantage to producers in countries like India and China to export to more developed and high cost countries like the United States and the European Union.