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Fashion Marketing 101

In a nutshell, fashion marketing is a profession that
takes the latest trends and designs in clothing and
communicates them to a target market in such a way
that the consumer is not only aware of the product,
but wants to and ultimately does buy the product. A
target market is a sector of the consumer market to
which a company wishes to sell (i.e. market) its
clothing. To fully know what fashion marketing is, it is
important to understand that marketing does not stop
at ads in magazines or commercials on TV. The world
of marketing is just as dynamic as the world of fashion.
Marketing clothing includes elements such as
determining which stores the apparel should be sold
in, what price the clothing should be sold for—all
the way to how the in-store displays should look.
Fashion marketers often are as savvy about business as
they are about fashion and popular culture.

Fashion marketers are creative. At the core, the profession is about connecting with the image—the lifestyle—the consumer wants. For example, in the fashion industry, comfort, style, material, color, symmetry, and usability are just the beginning of a list of elements designers must consider when developing a line of clothing. Fashion marketers take the task a step further by determining the best way to promote the characteristics of the clothing to the consumer and to which group of consumers to promote it to. What a 65 year-old female is looking for from a piece of formal eveningwear is completely different from what a 21 year-old male wants from casual everyday wear. Consequently, fashion marketers must stay abreast with the latest fashions as well as know what styles will be successful for a variety of occasions, age groups and demographics.

Fashion marketers play an essential role within the fashion industry because they are the link between designers and the public. The success of a line of clothing does not rest solely on its design. Often, successful marketing is just as crucial, if not more so, to the line as the actual clothing itself. This is because marketing is the tool through which the designer identifies with the public, and the public identifies with the designer. Without this exchange, it would be difficult to establish the consumer base required to have a successful line of clothing.

Ultimately, fashion marketing is a fun profession—changing and reinventing itself just as often as the clothes it promotes. It integrates the artistic nature of fashion with the creative aspects of business—making for a highly rewarding career to the ambitious and innovative.