Large scale companies of clothing and accessories all over the world are outsourcing to Mainland China for the huge potential of “Fast Fashion”.The phase “fall fashion is also known as “throw away fashion” refers to clothing fashion that are designed for immediate manufacturing process in reasonable prices sold to mainstream customers.Gap, one of the giant retailers in US has announced its decision to have a flagship store in Beijing and Shanghai before 2010 ends.They also have plans to offer online shopping services for Chinese customers. Like international garment dealers, local clothing producers are also planning to join China’s “fast fashion” market.
Joyo.com’s Vancl, have already commenced their light box advertising offensives in the metro and public transport system on May in Beijing and on June in Shanghai.
Vancl’s ambassadors, famous writer Han Han and teenage idol Wang Luodan have bring forth a lot of attention from the media and internet fanatics during their outdoor advertising launching.
Marketing success.
“Fast Fashion” has been triumphant because of its characterized uniqueness, chic and affordable prices.The approach mainly targets young people.Known to be first initiators of “fat fashion” to the Mainland’s customers are Zara, H&M, Uniqlo and C&A.
“Fast fashion” brands rely on several factors to establish their foothold on the Mainland.For a start, they have a short product life cycle, from product development to marketing.They just stick on the fashion of the season by producing designs which are current and they only manufacture according to set consumption limit.
The second factor is “speed”.Speed is the core value of “fast fashion”.The entire process from planning, design, display, placing orders, production and delivery normally takes between 120 and 160 days.Some can have the produced merchandize within wo weeks of holding their quarterly shows like H&M and Zara.
Since price is affordable in “fast fashion”, more young people are induced to patronize such.The price range of H&M is Rmb99 to Rmb299.With such, Zara’s price is a little bit higher.At Uniqlo, T-shirts sell at only Rmb59 and jeans at Rmb99.Bargain items are also available for Rmb39.Designs of H&M fashions are inspired by famous designers for their brand image to attract attention.Zara’s strategy is slightly different.It basically toes the line as a low-end, big brand by imitating the designs of top luxury brands.Uniqlo usually produces items which are viewed to have practical use.These brands are selling products at low prices but with top rated store images.Their high-end shopping environments and designs help consumers shake off the “cheap goods are inferior” catechism.These brands attract not only students but also a growing middle class following. For example, Uniqlo is a national clothing brand in Japan but its “low price strategy” doesn’t work on the Chinese mainland.It had to close two of its nine stores in 2005.