COMM296 BLOG

After reading the post from Jing’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jinghui1990/2010/10/17/adidas-originals/, I realized that when I was in China this summer, Adidas was introducing a new line named “NEO Label”.

Adidas set the price of this new line lower than its Original brand. However, they similarly combine sports wear and style clothes in this brand. Most of the Adidas Original stores in my hometown Guangzhou have turned into Neo Label and they are selling cheaper products than before. It seems Adidas is trying to target lower-income-level consumers by this brand.

Adidas has now several brands in order to make different segments in the market. Adidas Performance for basic sports wear; Adidas Original focus on its classic products and makes stylish casual wear; Y-3 with its chief  designer Yohji Yamamoto and tries to create a hi-end sporty and stylish clothes; and of course, the new Neo Label. In market segmentation, Adidas seems to do a better job than its major competitor NIKE.

However, I personal do not like the Neo Label and its products. I think they are just using the great brand image of Adidas to make some so-called trendy sport wear. In fact, I think most of its products are bad designed. It may work in the short term in some developed countries like China, but may not be good for the firm’s long term development.

During the discussion of  our group project, I realize it is helpful for products like condom to promote its products in the porn movies. In many movies, car manufacturers sponsor cars and that would improve its brand image by repeating the products and the brands shown to the audiences. For example, having the same handbag which Blair is holding in Gossip Girl may be “cool”. I mean, it may help to increase your sales  of condoms if your brand is repeating exposure in the porn movies which billions of guys may watch in a day. Your brand would be finally develop an image of trust and quality since the actors use them in the movies.

However, I never noticed any products were trying to promote themselves in the porn movies. I have no idea why they did not do it because I think it is a good way to promote relevant products.

http://www.styleite.com/retail/valentino-for-gap/

While the whole fashion world is talking about the H&M’s new collaboration with Lanvin, we almost ignore there is going to be released another exciting crossover collection by Gap. Last  time, it was Stella McCartney who brought her hi-fashion design to Gap’s Kids’ collection. Stylish mothers were crazy about how their kids could get such fantastic outfits in a reasonable cheap prices and they might be jealous about that. Gap is giving the chance to its female consumers and let them to experience the fantasy made by Valentino. Compared  to the H&M collaboration collection, we can actually see how two brands combine their signatures in the Valentino x GAP collection. The material and color from Gap come with  the 3D Flower patterns from Valentino. In this case, I think Gap did a better job with Valentino than H&M with Lanvin. It is much more impressive and creative to put two brands’ personalities together rather than just making the cheap edition of a hi-fashion brand.

http://www.style.com/community/lookbooks/view/mylookbook1198975?iphoto=0

I have to say carmel is really hot in this season. It is so classic that people say it is the new black. However, in the fashion industry, “one day you are in and the next day you are out”.

Color is not a excluding case. Carmel may not be black and white. I will not spend $90on the carmel scarf sold in Club Monaco. Actually I finally bought the black one, even carmel looks trendy.

As usual, H&M is using famous top models in its commercial. The company actually gains much profit from spending lots of money on promotion by hiring popular top models in the commercial. Those top models are also usually modeling in some advertisements  of the luxury brands such as LV and Chanel. By having collaboration with high fashion brands and designers  and using top models in the commercial, H&Ms seems to be trying to be closer to the high fashion world.  However, the fact is that this fast fashion producer cares more about how to be more famous and earn more profit by expending its border.

UK Vouge already post two pictures of this collaboration series, even though there are still 4 days to the release of it on hm’s website.

There is no surprise that all the outfits are just a way to simplify Lanvin’s ready-to-wear.

However, it still looks so Lanvin and what important is, consumers love it.

The price is higher than normal H&M products in general. However, we are glad to see the women’s outfits are pretty close to Lanvin. As a male consumer, I may be a little worried about the men’s product in the collection. I can still remember last time when Comme des Garsons designed several plain shirts for its collaboration with H&M. That really disappointed me even though I actually bought one white plain shirt because I ewa late.  Designers are always doing things in a safe way when they design men’s clothes.

However, since Lanvin’s men’s collection was so amazing in season 2011s, I still  have my hope that Lanvin could do a good job in this collaboration.

I personally like the old logo of Gap. It is the symbol that I can link to the original image of Gap.

That is also how many consumers think about Gap and its image. The old one that people are familiarly with,

represents  this brand’s value of vintage, easy-to-wear and casual. However, the new logo looks more like a hi-tech

software company and it cannot link to Gap any more. Gap Company is taking a risk to use its new logo which also costs lots of  cash to renew its image such as the store and the bag.  Actually, consumers assume that  new logo may bring the different style of Gap’s design. Some loyal consumers may not accept the new logo and their loyalty finally result the lost of these consumers.

new single from Edison Chen

#mce_temp_url#

I recently read a post from a blog. It talks about how Riccardo Tisci (the chief designer of Givenchy) enlisted his transgender assistant, Lea T., as a model in the 2010 fall advertisement campaign. I agree with the blogger’s statement that “the campaign is certainly a step in the right direction” (Harmon).

Tisci is not the only one who breaks the boarder of tradition of sexuality and gender. When Hedi Slimane establish the image of Dior Homme, he was inspired a lot by women’s fashion. Hedi manged to lead the trend of metrosexuality. Both men and women were crazy about his design. Dior Homme has also  produced its products in female size.

Raf Simon used a female model in his 2011 s/s Men’s Collection

H&M recently announced that the next designer collaboration is going to be with Lanvin. ” Designed by Lanvin’s artistic director Alber Elbaz, and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, the collection will go on sale on November 23 in around 200 H&M stores worldwide” (hm.com).

hm x lanvin

H&M is one of the famous fast-fashion producers in the world.

Nowadays consumers, especially youth, are more willing to spend their money on inexpensive but still trendy clothing. Recession decreases the demand for luxury fashion and increases the demand for fast-fashion. Moreover, Y generation are more likely to spend their money on clothes compared to other generations. This group of consumers may not afford the high price of luxury clothing. However, they the most potential people to buy luxury goods in the future. Even though it takes a long time to develop their loyalty to luxury brands, many luxury brands started to pay the attention on this group of people and make them to be the loyal supporters of the brands couple yeas ago.

H&M designer collaboration is one of the good ways to get more market of Y generation and potential consumers. People pay much lower price to purchase the products designed by famous designers and named by luxury brands. Consumers love the clothing, they are more willing to spend money on it once they can afford the regular price of these  luxury products.