By Seham Al Amshan
During these troubling times, many small fashion brands may find it hard to make their own place amongst the big fashion brand names.
With the uncertainties posed by the cost-of-living crisis and subsequent inflation, creating an identity and a space for a brand seems like a hard job to do – unless it has all the factors of catching attention from people to be different and unique.
Many luxury brands have increased their products’ values due to inflation, however, these brands seem to be thriving just fine. That means that wealthy people are obviously immune to the problems related to cost-of-living. But are small brands still struggling?
For a brand to be successful, it must be unique
Founder of Twee-in-one, Niti Singhal, who was seen on Shark Tank India, has showcased her collection at New York Fashion week last year for spring/summer 2022.
She is based in Bangalore, India, and her brand has a unique concept: she designs clothes which can be worn in two different ways, which makes the brand also sustainable.
She told Holloway Express: “I also feel that it is important to have a formal education in fashion to know the techniques of creating and executing aesthetically in the designs…
“My collection is also made in the reversible and convertible clothing concept, as the name of my brand suggests.”
Small fashion boutiques give their own take
Ellie, 24, is a stylist/fashion advisor at Salt Boutique in London, who spoke on the condition that her surname not be used. She thinks brands should do their homework to appeal to a specific target audience.
“I think a brand needs like their own niche to be a successful brand… and know what kind of audience they are targeting in order for them to be known.”
She also said, “The inflation didn’t affect us in the sense that… our customers know they are looking for when they come to shop from our boutique, price is not really an issue.
“It’s completely different for big brands like Hermes, Louis Vuitton etc to be immune to such challenges because they have already made their place in the industry. They are not like other small brands that are still making their way to the top.”
According to an article by Fashion Network UK, luxury goods prices increased by 15% between January 2021 and January 2022, which is not worrying as big brands are not affected as much by such challenges as they tend to simply increase their prices.
Around 32.1% of consumers shop selectively by buying less and also choosing to purchase affordable fashion brands as a result of inflation, according to the globaldata monthly UK consumer survey in Just Style
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