fashion marketing

Timeless Fashion Beyond The Buzzword

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

Do you know what timeless fashion really means?


The concept of timeless fashion, beyond the buzzword, is misleading. It’s one of the many empty claims you hear everywhere. Unfortunately, when you put together fashion and marketing, the risk of pointless shit is pretty high.

In brand profiles and social media, you read about clothes sold as timeless, but the misinterpretation is clear. For instance, brands or retailers describe the features of their magnificent timeless garments to introduce discounts! So, is that the point of timelessness? We don’t think so. On the other hand, people cannot understand that, even if from the previous season, meaningful pieces aren’t outdated. There’s value in good design and quality.

At first, timelessness in the fashion field may seem like a contradiction because fashion is about periodic changes. But these changes have become so frequent that the industry is out of hand. Indeed, it makes sense to go back to past times when a made-to-last vision prevailed. Timeless guides us towards an evolved mindset facilitating a sustainable lifestyle.

The impact of fashion and textile overproduction on climate change is tangible. Unless you still choose to ignore it. Lately, the industry has moved from fast to ultra-fast fashion, generating mountains of waste. And so, timeless is our way out. It represents the possibility towards a conscious lifestyle. In fact, by refocusing our shopping habits, we contribute to limiting the disasters we have made so far.

What does timeless mean?


So, what does timeless mean? It refers to items that last forever—things that remain unchanged as the years go by.

Therefore, timeless design doesn’t change completely season by season. Items are classics. And classics are made to last: higher quality and good design. And so, heavy discounts on these products aren’t consistent.

Finally, refocusing on a caring and evolved attitude should also help you to change your vision of “new.” Timeless design is the opposite of disposable fashion. And has nothing to do with a compulsive desire for novelties, destructive behaviour that doesn’t understand the value of garments and work. But it is just a frenzy reaction to a consumerist society.

So, forget empty marketing claims. We don’t search for convenience, but we search for worth. Beyond the buzzword, this is what timeless fashion means: meaningful garments with no expiry date!

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Generation Z & Sustainability

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Exploring what young consumers truly know about sustainability


The topic of sustainability has a warped meaning and understanding amongst most consumers today, Generation Z included.

Gen Z is said to be the upcoming generation for a positive environmental shift in our society. This generation has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement. Pushing companies and brands to conduct sustainable practices in an effort to save the planet we are destroying.

What sustainability means to Generation Z

But does this young generation truly know what sustainability means?
Unfortunately, this “green movement” has become misunderstood as greenwashing. With the lack of research and education on environmentalism, brands have been able to blatantly lie to their consumers. By engaging in greenwashing tactics, they conveyed an image of sustainability and ethicality that simply does not exist to them.

It is now the responsibility of the younger generations to wake up, and do their research. And hold these brands accountable for their greenwashing schemes and harmful environmental practices.

The research on Gen Z

I spent some time interviewing college students currently studying abroad in Milano to understand their point of view. What sustainability means to them. And how they practice it in their daily lives. From these conversations I concluded a distorted idea of greenwashing and an unhealthy practice of overconsumption.
All this is due to a lack of transparency between brands and consumers. When discussing the students knowledge of sustainability or familiarity with the term ‘greenwashing’, I received a variety of answers. Many had never heard of greenwashing or how it affected the choices they make daily.

The truth on Gen Z & sustainability

Students told me that sustainability meant being cautious and putting the environment first. Also, an item or lifestyle alleged to be sustainable, can be trusted with no further questioning. Such contradictory answers surprised me. How can one be cautious yet trust that the word ‘sustainable’ is 100% true?

Students attest to practising sustainability by donating clothes, vintage or thrift shopping, and creating capsule wardrobes. But, when asked what brands they typically shop from, the most common response I received was some of the brands guilty of the greatest greenwashing techniques. The brands these students shop from attest to caring for the earth and market themselves as “conscious” or “committed” to sustainability. Yet still participate in mass overproduction.

Although students brought up capsule wardrobes quite often, overconsumption still seems to have a huge hold on this generation due to the hyper-fast fashion movement. Students claimed to go shopping regularly, at least once a month.

An advice I can give to this generation who yearns for a more sustainable lifestyle is to question everything you see. Don’t support brands that shout about sustainability to sharpen their image for the purpose of gaining social acceptance. But a brand that does good because they care. The word ‘sustainable’ is not regulated and, ultimately, does not need to hold any truth. So, when you see that buzzword word on a tag, don’t forget to fact-check that claim.

Generation Z seems to have an interest, and desire for a more sustainable earth. But, unfortunately, lacks the inclination to question the brands they shop from. Hiding behind the term “ignorance is bliss” is not a viable excuse for a dying planet screaming for change.

✍️ A piece written by Leyla Jackson – apparel merchandising student from Washington State University. Currently studying at Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore in Milan and interning for suite123. Passionate about working towards a more sustainable future for not only the fashion industry, but our planet.

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The Fashion Month: A Step Backward

Reading Time: 2 minutes

What did you expect from the SS23 fashion shows?


The fashion month is over, and the idea of changing the sytem vanished among global hysteria.

From NY, London, Milano and Paris, the Spring/Summer 23 runways favoured the physical format plus streaming. But some brands opted to reveal the digital version later, not without leaving a certain perplexity. Because this way of looking for an angle, being the cool ones who pull themselves out, seemed more like a step backwards in a digital era.

However, there were so many outfits on the runways, most of which were ugly with just a few interesting concepts. Also, stealing designs, now the norm, killed brands’ identity. But if you expected a different approach, you would be disappointed. The wind of change, so much discussed during the last two years, is gone. Disappeared. Evaporated!

The industry is back to normal!


In case you were one of those afraid of a back to normal during the pandemic, there we are! Totally there! 100% there! The countless number of outfits put together in every show was impressive. Such an endless overconsumption pattern has nothing to do with change. And nothing to do with sustainability.

Furthermore, one of the most popular shows sent out a model in underwear, and then someone sprayed on her body. From an engineering viewpoint, it can be interesting, even if McQueen did it first in Spring 99. But it doesn’t seem to be sustainable. Indeed the material sprayed contains plastic, so it seems like they are promoting single-use plastic.

Even though facts did not correspond to words, all the big groups claim the sustainability umbrella.

Fashion lacks consistency


The fashion industry seems like an enormous bandwagon with no courage or maybe no real will to change. And the reason is simple: changing the pattern leads to degrowth, which means lower budgets. And so, lower profits.

But if brands are so interested in showing their sustainable standards, why was there no trace of it in their fashion shows? Do we still believe that using a sustainable material or building an eco-friendly atelier makes a brand sustainable? No, it only builds up a facade.

As revealed through this fashion month, this industry, which relies on a polluting and exploiting system, has no intention to change.

So please, forget all the talks you may have heard in the last two years! Industry players just had a reactive moment because they worried about losing everything. Now the fear is gone, so is the will to change!

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Fashion Weeks and Research

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Critical thinking in the real of fashion #formodernhumans


Fashion weeks used to offer ideas for doing research, highlighting details worth considering to put together and defining a specific selection. So it was in the past.

And so, these days, we keep an eye on the international events, from New York to London and now Milano. Of course, Paris and Tokyo too. But so far, we are perplexed about what we see.

Fashion weeks vs change


Indeed, the discussion on changing the industry, which was so popular during the pandemic, has disappeared from the scene.
It seems that the fashion industry is an enormous system that doesn’t know how to renovate itself. And so, brands keep up with the same thing they used to do.

Even the language feels boring, like an out-of-tune mantra. So you realise that words like sustainability, timeless or genderless are on everyone’s lips. Just empty claims for people who don’t think.

And they all talk about the same things, but nothing ever changes. Furthermore, the world is falling apart, but it looks like brands are only interested in dressing music or movie stars. That’s what you can offer? Really? Celebrities! They have the money to buy whatever they want, but they don’t pay for their clothes.

When it comes to design and style, you may be even more perplexed. Clearly, designers cannot deliver brand-new concepts. But lately, what the industry calls freedom or inclusion seems just bad taste combined with a lack of vision.

Fashion weeks vs research


So, when we need to research unique garments for people like us, the widest part of the work happens through lookbooks we receive via email. And through some specific research that we do online. Then, possibly, showrooms too.

In the end, you’ll get more value from brands that have something to say, and you can see it through their meaningful design rather than those who want to attract herds of replicants who look all the same.

Above all, fashion weeks as a pure waste of money having an impact on the environment, are pointless.

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Niche Fashion: What Does It Mean?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

And can it stand on its own?


Niche fashion is a matter of having a personal identity, refusing mass products and somehow having a certain repulsion for what is extremely popular.

The question is: do you want to look like everyone else? Dress like everyone else? And think like everyone else? If yes, maybe reading this post is a waste of your time. Indeed many people like to be the copy of others. But if your response is no, it’s worth a few minutes of reading. Exploring the concept of niche fashion will help you understand that small universe outside mass trends.

It’s an imagery that finds very little space in our homologated culture. Social media flattened everything privileging a single line of thought.

Created by visionary designers, it finds support from a limited number of selected international retailers who still have a passion for research. And by people like you, who love searching for authentic gems.

Niche fashion
Marc Le Bihan tulle skirt


However, niche has a meaning in marketing but has a slightly different connotation in fashion. In marketing, it refers to a group you identify as your target audience.

Niche fashion meaning


In the fashion field, professionals call niche brands or collections those designs out of the mainstream. Cult pieces of clothing or accessories not for all because of their design, quality and craftsmanship. Which image is so unique that only people with a specific taste will understand them.

In essence, niche fashion is about having a different sensibility towards design and quality. It is for connoisseurs, insiders or everyone having an eye to recognise it, people who escape from mass thinking and find pleasure in the unconventional.

Now, can niche brands stand on their own? The news that Calzedonia group just acquired Antonio Marras, taking a majority stake in the brand, opens the discussion.

Niche fashion will never be trending, never too popular. It wouldn’t be niche. And it has nothing to do with algorithms.
Preserving a culture of diversity is vital for niche brands to survive.

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