As more people become aware of the injustices endured by the people that make the clothes for major retail brands, People are becoming hardened toward brands that do not deal fairly in those matters.
Mass producing retailers will sometimes cut costs by manufacturing in countries where labour laws are easy to work around. Using people that are desperate enough for jobs to not command fair wages and purchasing materials that are inexpensive. There are many similarities between companies like this but people are starting to see the truth behind them through the power of social media and documentaries.
Whether or not these companies will resolve these matters is uncertain but one thing is for sure that consumers are yearning for transparency. Particularly for brands to be open about their business practices and methods that bring their clothes to them in an environmentally and overall just way.
Through social media, companies can express their transparency to gain consumer’s trust so that they are not pooled into the same category as those who are unjust in how they deliver consumer goods.
Today through this digital and informational age the consumer has the power, the knowledge and the freedom to choose any brand of their choice. Before they had to take what was given to them but in the last 20 years the circumstances have changed dramatically. It is this empowerment that gives a consumer the liberty to call out brands on what they do wrong and to praise and support those that are contributing to a better, equal and fair society.
Customers have had brands pull one over them through manipulative marketing so now more than ever they want brands communicate with them honestly. They want to know whose hands made their clothing. So much so that there is a hashtag on social media #whomademyclothes. This then should not be ignored.
The clothing market is massive, lucrative and growing. As brands are innovated and grown it is important to understand that transparency in clothing and manufacturing is not going to be a negotiable in this well-informed era.
Knowing who makes their products is becoming an important piece of information. If a picture of where and how products were made were shown along side the item bought in many cases people will be turned off.
If people see fairness in where and how products were made and who made them along side a product they like, they may be even more susceptible to buying the product.
So can your brand transparently answer… Whose hands made this? If yes then now is the right time to communicate this to your customers.
Article by Gabrielle Mixon
TrendER Insights’ Fashion Researcher, Communicator & Trend Analyst
