It’s that time of year when the brands and retailers bring out the big guns in holiday store windows, flash collections, special promotions and enticing marketing campaigns.

It’s also the time of year when gift suggestions are poring through the inbox and the Twitter feed, which is where YSL released news of their “online gift book“. As I was virtually flipping through the pages, I started thinking about what a “luxury” experience is, and how that is or is not conveyed online.

In luxury retailing, there are several points that are critical, including:

• Prominent location
• Evocative presentation
• Exceptional customer service
• Advanced product experience (relates to external communications, display, customer service & knowledge conveyed from the clerk to the customer)
• Comfort & ease of acquisition

Therefore, it naturally follows that these points of distinction should be prevalent in the online environment to maintain brand image consistency and appeal. How might that work?

Prominent Location

Think of the the luxury fashion districts of the world. While brands have, in recent years, been focusing on store proliferation in secondary and tertiary cities (which really helped to convey the sense of mass-marketization in luxury, which is the reason most luxury leaders claimed to have avoided the internet for so long), we can all identify the traditional luxury districts in our respective regions (Fifth Avenue in NY, Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills, etc).

Luxury brands have traditionally stuck together in the prominent areas, working as “complimentors” instead of outright competitors. Just as no two brand styles directly overlap, no two store images are the same. However, just as all of the brands cooperate to produce regional fashion weeks, they have also traditionally cooperated in grouping their retail properties together to further boost the allure of the neighborhood, therefore collectively building hype.

What’s my point?

First of all, just as on Earth, there are many unsavory places on the internet.  A luxury company avoiding the internet to avoid appearing “mass market” is the equivalent of that same company refusing to open a store anywhere on Earth because there are also some shady, ugly, dirty places out there.

Via Montenapoleone luxury district, Salone del Mobile Week, 2009

Secondly, because it is the nature of the luxury industry to work cooperatively, it seems that the best approach to the internet would be to maintain this communal action. For example, having a highly evocative central website with branded sites linking out can have the same affect as our physical shopping malls had in the 80s and 90s, and as our traditional fashion districts have had for the past 50 years. It might also go further to help instill some much-needed courage into the management of the lagging luxury brands, while also giving them easily accessible examples of some best practices that their “virtual neighbors” might provide, just as walking down the street of Via Montenapoleone here in Milan could give a store manager some cool ideas based on what his neighbors are doing in their shop windows, for example.

Evocative Presentation

If you remove the logo and all signage from the facade, how do you know a luxury store when you see one? Walking into the Gap, you might take a look at the folded piles of basics, the tightly-packed side aisles of seasonal touches, the back walls of sale items and jeans, the overhead photos of “real” people looking happy, relaxed and casual… Walking into Gucci, you feel as though you have walked into a sort of high-tech personal closet, where the clothes are spaciously organized by color and occasion-of-use, often featuring no more than a couple of SKUs in each style. Walking into Ralph Lauren, it certainly seems as though you have walked into a Rockefeller estate, with perhaps a full living room display and artifacts such as walking sticks and massive portraits hanging from the walls.

Luxury brands provide an added layer of emotional involvement in their retail environment, because the customer is buying more than an object upon purchase. They are buying a symbolic gesture that communicates a part of their personality (whether aspirational or real) to their community, which says I am (or want to be) a part of this group. If the brand image and personality is not coming through loud and clear, what is there to buy? A pair of sunglasses is a pair of sunglasses (perhaps with the recent exception of Oakley), and an equally-amazing suit could perhaps be made for less money (and better fitting) by hand at talented tailor’s studio.

The point? If the website isn’t conveying the brand image and the community attitude in an evocative way, the brand can wave a tearful goodbye to the next generation who has already built their own personal “brand identities” online, and has very little patience for a brand that is supposed to be “more than…” but has not done the same.

Furthermore, a luxury brand should put some considerable thought and effort into creating an evocative presentation online, just as in the store. Setting the luxury brand image apart from the online image of the Gap should not equate to eliminating the e-commerce function. What it should equate to is creating a brilliant user experience that is emotional and inspiring for the consumer, and which creates communities of aspiring teenagers eager to blow their first corporate paychecks on something/anything from your brand to show that they’ve “made it” and they “belong”.

Exceptional Customer Service

I recently spoke with a manager (aka: “Mr. Smith”) from Hennessy Cognac, a division of LVMH, who told me a great story about customer service in the luxury sector. To paraphrase:

Mr. Smith said that he had been to the local Cartier store 4 times in his life: once to buy his first “status” watch as a young executive, then to buy an engagement ring, later to buy his wife a gift after the birth of their first child, and most recently to have the watch repaired. He said that not only did the sales staff recognize him upon entering the store, but they asked about his wife and daughter by name. (Yes, there is software to help assist with this kind of CRM- it’s the same software that Quintessentially and the Bulgari Hotel uses.)

After being delighted with the service at Cartier and dropping off his watch, Mr. Smith went around the corner (being in the fashion/luxury district) to a store that is part of the LVMH family. Not only was he not greeted upon entry, but he was also not assisted by the staff, who preferred to gossip behind the counter although he was clearly interested in making a purchase. When he approached the desk to make his purchase, he presented the clerk with his LVMH executive credit card. A bit flushed, the clerk stepped into the side-office where Mr. Smith heard her ask the store manager if she should provide him with the employee discount. The store manager replied, “Not if he didn’t ask for it.” Needless to say, the store manager in charge of that operation was quickly replaced.

It remains the case that in some luxury stores, customers sometimes report feeling intimidated, ignored or even insulted by snobby staff. However, this is never the intention of the brand managers (or it shouldn’t be), who have recognized that, since the grunge era and the dotcom boom, the wealthiest clients might walk through the door in sweats or, in the case of Alice Walton (above), the richest woman alive, a cowboy hat and a studded blouse. This trend less common in Europe, but with the popular introduction of Juicy Couture and now Abercrombie, even the Italians are beginning to dress-down down these days. If anything, it is the strategy of luxury retailers to make the customer experience the best one possible, whether that means having articles delivered for private in-home/office fittings, or even just spending an hour talking with one client about the leathers and creative techniques used in making two different handbags. (I have seen the latter in Bottega Veneta, where a clerk actually helped a customer to empty her existing handbag and pack all of her possessions into the Bottega bag, just to understand if it would fit, how much it would weigh, and how the shape would change.)

So, what makes a great customer service experience online? First of all, the ability to buy what you see, to be able to ask questions and get immediate, intelligent and friendly responses. But also, I believe it means having advanced access to the product, beyond what you might see at TopShop which, by the way, is some pretty cool stuff!

Advanced Product Experience

An emerging segment within the luxury market is that of the connoisseur: the more discrete luxury consumer who has a thorough knowledge of the product category (watches, sailing yachts, wines, whatever) and is more interested in obtaining the most exquisite items from that category and communicating with others “in the know” than she is in flashing logos.

In addition, it is unlikely that the post-recession consumer will return to having much interest in buying expensive stuff without some serious validation behind it… and I’m not referring to celebrity validation. Like it or not, our world is becoming evermore transparent, and fleeting are the days when companies can slap a “Made in Italy” label on an item (most of which was actually made in Indonesia), apply a premium markup, and sell the item with full consumer trust. A post-Lehman Brothers transparent market demands ethical behavior. For the brands already practicing sustainable production, ethical trade agreements and so on, this is like a big gift (see AscensionOnline and the Ethical Fashion Forum for more). For all the others, it’s a big loud wake-up call.

What does this mean online? It means that consumers buying a $2200 “shiny calf shopper” want more information than:

BRUNITO FINISH HARDWARE
DOUBLE TOP ZIP CLOSURE
INTERIOR ZIP POCKET
CELL PHONE COMPARTMENT
SUEDE LINING

They want to know what a Brunito finish means, and why it’s special… What part was made by hand, by whose hands, and where? Where did the calf leather come from and what are the ranching practices there? What was the process by which the leather was treated, thus rendering it “shiny”? They also want to know the story behind the product and the brand, and so in the case of Bottega Veneta, it would be beneficial to talk about the unique leather-weaving technique (intrecciato) that they teach to young artisans at the Scuola della Pelletteria Bottega Veneta in Vicenza, Italy for example. That’s something very special, and yet it’s not communicated. These are the little points that convince educated consumers to become “fans” and love a brand.

Furthermore, the consumer should be able to manipulate the views on-screen to really understand the art and craftsmanship employed in the product. Two flat-angle views are fine if I’m buying something standard online, like t-shirts or Post-It Notes, but if I’m making an investment purchase, I want to be able to spin the thing around, open the hood and take a look inside.

Detailed product and brand information adds intrigue and validity to the purchase, and gives consumers something to share with their friends. After all, these days what’s important is not what you have, but what you share. The virtual customer should have as much if not more information available to them than the in-store customer.

Comfort & Ease of Acquisition

When you think about the stereotypical butler, Jeeves (or the more modern version: Dorota), he’s generally pretty helpful and courteous, right? He knows how you take your tea, and when and where to bring it. He orders the other staff around behind-the-scenes to make your life as easy as possible because you are Important, and shouldn’t have to bother with those things, much less witness them.

The same thing goes for the luxury brand. The store manager is Jeeves, whether that’s virtual or not. If you want something, he should make it as easy as possible for you to get it, and he should also build up an idea of what other things you might want. You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to make an online purchase, and you shouldn’t have to stalk the customer service people if there is a problem.

In many online luxury organizations, the operations department faces great challenges in what products they can ship to specific countries (for example, any ivory that is less than 100 years old and does not come from a warthog is banned from the USA). It is therefore reasonable to deny requests from consumers in certain countries where the fulfillment of that request would be a crime. However, these kinds of issues should be stated upfront, before the purchase is made, and an alternative arranged. This goes hand-in-hand with customer service and product information, but it is often overlooked.

The Online Gift Book

So why did I bother ranting about all of this?

As I mentioned way up there at the top of this post, I received this Tweet from YSL and I took a look at their gift book. It’s literally a virtual scroll-through… I mean, they literally put the catalog on the internet as if it were in paper form, sent out a Tweet and walked away. That alone was pretty baffling, seeing as how the technology exists as a way to improve the experience… it was like putting a radio ad on the TV.

Anyway, I “flip” through a few pages and come across a necklace that I love. At least, I think I love it.

The necklace in question (right)

I click on it to get a closer look, hoping that a second window will open where I can get multiple views and hopefully spin the object 3-dimensionally, and possibly see it on a model. What I get is a message that said: “Double click to zoom in.”  Okay, so I double click. The thing zooms in 2 settings: too small, and too big to see anything. I zoom back out and take a look at the product description for more details on material, size, price. The description says only: “Interlocking YSL Necklace in Gold Tone Metal.”

There is no option to get details, to buy it on the spot, or to transfer to the e-store. I can only download the “book” or print it, neither of which I find particularly helpful.

So I’m still slightly curious, and I google “YSL” to get the online store. Here’s problem #2: From the main page, the following is my click-stream…

Fashion & Accessories –> YSL e-shop (US only) –> Online Boutique (yes, AGAIN) –> Women –> Jewelry –> View All … no necklace

Next I google “Interlocking YSL Necklace in Gold Tone Metal” and while LuisaViaRoma.com came up with some mouth-watering necklaces, mine was not to be found.

So, YSL paid someone to make this online catalog for products that don’t exist online.

What this probably amounts to is a bottleneck in the transfer of information between the in-house marketing at YSL and their online store’s marketing team, and that’s to be expected whenever 2 companies merge across overlapping functions (in this case, design house and e-commerce service provider). However, what a glitch like this ends up accomplishing is transforming a customer who was possibly interested in making a purchase into a frustrated non-customer who was eager to blog about it.

I’m thinking that’s probably not the experience either of us were seeking.

There are many differing opinions out there, most of them obviously well-meaning, and so I’m going to throw my hat into the ring now with my own…

Why a Complete Ban on Child Labor Won’t Work

Having had the opportunity to attend several workshops, events and discussions on ethical fashion and child labor, I am aware of the sad fact that some children around the world must work in order to provide for their families, and an all-out ban on child labor is neither possible (first, labor inspectors have little power, and it is nearly impossible to verify the existence of child labor in many manufacturing/agricultural set-ups), nor is it completely beneficial to some of the most poverty-stricken communities.

For example, UNAIDS has estimated about 12 million children under 18 years of age have lost one or both parents as a result of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. When a child becomes the head of the household, they have little option but to seek employment. A ban on industries that employ children would do little more than make than make a dire situation worse for these young people.

However, improved inspection policies, enhanced education and services supporting the eradication of poverty can have the desired impact of eliminating exploitative child labor. If a child must seek employment, we can at least do everything possible to ensure safe working conditions, an education and basic health services.

Curing the Disease by Fighting the Causes

The good thing is that the Labor Department (working with the International Labor Organization -ILO) clearly understands that, and is creating programs that will provide education and vocational training opportunities to children and help parents find viable alternatives to child labor.

The ILO launched World Day Against Child Labor in 2002, and it has been held annually on June 12, marked throughout the week by special events worldwide. This year, the theme is “”Give Girls a Chance — End Child Labor.”

“Many challenges remain in the fight against child labor, but the department is committed to raising awareness, improving the quality of and access to education, and building the capacity of governments and civil society organizations to address the issues of children in need. This year’s World Day calls for us to focus our attention on the special circumstances and needs of girls who are being used as child laborers,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

From the Labor Department press statement:

According to ILO estimates, of the 218 million child laborers worldwide, 100 million are girls. More than half of those girls are exposed to hazardous work in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, domestic services and commercial sexual exploitation. In many cases, work performed by girls is hidden from the public eye, leaving the girls vulnerable to physical danger and abuse.

Girls are often forced to carry a double burden by contributing significantly to their own households’ chores, including child care, as well as undertaking other employment outside of their homes.

More Info

Since 1995, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has funded approximately $720 million in anti-child labor programs and rescued more than 1.3 million children from exploitation. This year’s contribution of $60 million from the Labor Department is a great sign of commitment to changing working conditions for many of the world’s fashion and luxury employees at the bottom of the ladder- those working the mines, fiber farms, and textile mills of the developing world.

For a concise PDF summary of this year’s program on the Elimination of Child Labor, click on the image below:

There are many available histories of Dior himself online, so let’s dive into the business side of things.

The Brand’s Origins

As many are well aware, Dior became famous with the New Look after WW2, and was integral to bringing French fashion back to the forefront after the occupation years.

Dior was the first to exploit his name with licensing agreements, which at the time tailored products to local markets and offered unique price per value products at varying price ranges. (It is very difficult to do this today- a company must maintain consistency across all markets because information is so easily exchanged over the internet and worldwide travel. People don’t like to see plastic pens being offered by their favorite luxury brands in certain markets when they are paying the big bucks for couture by the same brand at home. If products are to be specialized for separate markets, they must remain within the same quality and price range as all products offered elsewhere.)

Dior was the first to give a name to each collection, alluding to future generations of designers, both high and low end, who name their collections based on an inspirational theme. He used garment models and made spectacular fashion shows, which are of course used by everyone today (we’ll see how that keeps up as carbon footprints and insane exchange rates mixed with a faltering economy effect travel plans).

Many copies of the New Look and subsequent collections were made around the world, proving that one man could influence the style of the world while isolated in his studio. This is no longer possible today.

From Single Brand to Luxury Conglomerate

By 1984, as a result of diminished stylistic value after the death of the brand’s namesake and a brand image spread thin through various uncontrolled licensing agreements, Dior was on the verge of bankruptcy. Bernard Arnault took a major stake in the textile group Boussac Saint Fréres, to whom Dior belonged, and converted it into the Christian Dior S.A. Holding.  Just 5 years later, in 1989, the holding became a major shareholder of LVMH at 42%. Arnault had become the president and chairman of the largest luxury group in the world in a number of years. Christian Dior was divided into the CD Couture Management Group and the LVMH management group for a brand turnaround.

Reviving Dior

Because the French luxury brands are typically older than those borne of Italy, the UK and the US, they have already faced the brand transition that must occur if a brand is to continue after the death or retirement of the founder (”founder’s dilemma”). We have yet to see examples of this in the US market, with a few notable exceptions, but in Italy, two prominent houses are currently undergoing the transition this year: Valentino and Gianfranco Ferré.

It was, in fact, Gianfranco Ferré who was placed as the Art Director of Dior in 1986, however, he did very little to move the brand forward. After understanding that fashion needs a wow-factor, the company wisely placed wild boy John Galliano at the helm of Dior in 1996. Galliano had a way of making headlines, and advanced through the company as quickly as he helped bring Dior back to the forefront of the fashion scene. He began as the Head Designer of women’s haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, and became the Art Director for all Dior women’s brands by 1999.

Galliano created a buzz through his design of outrageous characters on the runway, making his fashion shows a mix of art exhibit and theater. However, in addition to revamping the look of the brand through his couture creations, he also focused on beautiful ready-to-wear and accessories and cosmetics (the real money makers today). This is where the real success of the brand’s renewal came from.

As you can see by looking at the CD and LVMH websites, a great deal of the marketing budgets are set aside for fragrances (64%) and only a small portion for fashion (6%). Today’s Christian Dior is therefore not so much a house of haute couture as it is a part of the luxury cosmetics industry. However, without the built-in marketing genius of Galliano and his couture shows, all other lines and products under the brand would be devalued. He is needed to sell the dream.

Conglomerates: The Modern French Model for Luxury

Today the French model gives complete freedom to designers in high fashion only. In the end, even the wildest designer must be able to design the bag of the season and design ready-to-wear that is in fact wearable. This is often done in collaboration with marketing and merchandising teams.

Luxury conglomerates such as LVMH allow line and brand extension, as well as brand-buying to serve various levels of clients and all the needs of the high-end clients. LVMH carefully manages brands to have the correct balance of cash cows and strugglers. They also work to ensure that there is limited collaboration between brands within the holding to limit the dilution of brand identities (this includes dedicated production staff per brand, often within the same facility). When buying a tired old brand, the holding company must also decide if it’s worth the time and effort needed to revamp the brand.

A Sustainable Element

The most recent brand acquisition of LVMH is the ethical fashion label Edun, brainchild of U2’s Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson (LVMH took a minority stake, estimated at 45%).  This brand has been at the forefront of sustainable fashion and advocacy, and has implemented guerrilla marketing tactics and pop-up stores recently. It also provides a great compliment to the LVMH portfolio, at a time when consumers want their purchases to mean something beyond frivolity. Caring is the new black, and philanthropy is beginning to represent status at an increasing rate. One would hope that the brand’s acquisition will not hamper their youthful marketing or ethical initiatives. There is every reason to believe that the brand will be nurtured to continue in this way, in spite of the lackluster economy.

At this month’s annual shareholders’ meeting, Chairman Arnault announced that first-quarter revenues gained 0.4 percent to 4.02 billion euros, or $5.26 billion, and added “April continues this trend, with a very slight improvement” [WWD] Louis Vuitton continues to be the group’s biggest cash cow, continuing to grow with their no-sale-ever policy. The profits from the booming brands are used to further nurture the newcomers, and those brands whom might be struggling.

For me personally, coming from a background in sustainability, it is inspiring to see this recent development within LVMH. The idea that the primary example of French luxury, the powerhouse of LVMH, has made a commitment to advance Edun also suggests that the holding will create synergies between the ethical brand and it’s other holdings. Perhaps the future of luxury may be a sustainable one, after all.

By the way, the LVMH site has included some information on the main page about CSR activities the holding participates in.

A Digital Element

In January 2009, LVMH announced that they would be phasing out their e-commerce portal e-luxury. This site pioneered luxury e-commerce for the brands within the conglomerate (in addition to others, including Dolce & Gabbana) nearly 10 years ago, while other fashion and luxury brands continue to struggle with the concept today.

In place of an online luxury “mall,” e-luxury will be transformed into an online magazine delivering news and cultural bits related to the luxury lifestyle.

It is unlikely that this strategic move had anything to do with the conglomerates lack of faith in e-commerce for luxury, but is rather a giant leap in online luxury strategy.

Luxury brands increasingly need to represent themselves as a singular entity online, and many are moving towards developing their own online stores instead of participating in the sort of grouping that e-luxury provided. Furthermore, it is highly likely that the players at LVMH understand that not only is it important for luxury brands to control the supply of their products and distribution (in fact, Louis Vuitton is one of the most protective over their highly counterfeited designs), but furthermore it is important to control the message.

Today, amongst the bloggers, tweeters and other mass-communication savants, it is critical to have a powerful brand voice to deliver a message of identity, and to establish a unique brand voice online. However, as many brands move into conversational online media, such as Facebook and Twitter, they enter into a medium of a dialogue where third parties can completely alter or dilute the power of a message. To control the message, you need to control the media. With the creation of the online magazine NOWNESS, it is clear that LVMH understands this strategic magic bullet.

For now, NOWNESS is a platform providing daily news bursts on items that may be of interest to the luxury market. The “real” site will not be officially launched until early 2010, but it appears that the developers are going to wow us with an algorithm that provides content based on our preferences.

Here’s a word from the website:

So far, I’m impressed. Now let’s see how they execute it…

Another word on digital marketing (because I must): the LVMH site also hosts an “online magazine,” but it proves *visually non-engaging* at best. It is likely (hopefully) that this will serve more as a portal for company news than an online magazine for fans and the brand community.

While Charles Worth and his ilk had monopolized the heavily adorned and radically contorted body cuts, a backlash was brewing. Industrial elite members of the “Grand Denial” sought a more discrete luxury and sober distinction in their fashions. Moralists felt that the modern fashions were shameful and ostentatious, and they sought a return to “worker-friendly” produced clothing that was natural and free from dyes. This was perhaps the first known market demand for ethical fashion! Ironically, these market trends are repeated today.

The Dress Reform Movement was mass-publicized by Amelia Bloomer in the US around the 1840s and -50s, and was closely related to the first feminist movements (and now *sort of* I know why my Grandma used to call “undies” bloomers). In response to the immobility that 18th Century fashion imposed on women, Ms. Bloomer created a costume that included the upper layers of a traditional dress, shortened to form a below-the-knee skirt over Turkish-style pants, tied at the ankle cuffs. This costume did not show more of the body than traditional dresses of the period, but it was still found unacceptable because the trouser shape (in any form) was only for men.

While other notable feminists including Susan B. Anthony wore the Bloomer costume, although the look was heavily ridiculed. It would not take long for Ms. Bloomer herself to abandon the look. Forms of the Bloomer costume were occasionally retained for athletic activities, as witnessed at Vassar College where physical education was added to the curriculum in 1865.

it is specially desired that the dress of students shall not be expensive . . . but rather such clothing as will not be injured by active sports and vigorous exertion.” ~ 1865 Vassar College Handbook excerpt

Ironically, it would not be until after her death in 1895 when Ms. Bloomer’s design would become socially acceptable among the majority of active women.

In addition to radicals, social reformers and feminists, doctors and hygienists also supported the Dress Reform Movement. They stressed the medical dangers of corsets, and claimed that women should wear no more than 6.5 lbs (3 kilos) of undergarments as opposed to the more standard 13 lbs (7 kilos) containing the crinoline, corset and other accouterments.

Perhaps the most notable member of the hygienic/rational dress movement was a designer/producer named Dr. Gustave Jaeger. Based on his studies in zoology and anthropology, Jaeger was convinced that one would automatically appear more aesthetically-pleasing in clothing that drew toxins from the body and allowed the skin to breathe. He theorized that only un-dyed animal fibers could achieve this affect, and in turn began to produce the Jaeger system of undergarments and suiting.

He began to reach commercial success in the 1880s, although his style of liberating woolen suit forms in autumn colors continued to resonate with the British until the mid-20th Century. Among his peers were other outspoken reformers, eccentrics and artists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, who was seldom seen in his youth without his rust-colored Jaeger suit. They pushed the concept that fashion could be used to represent an ideological point of view, and that personal comfort should reign supreme. Within 20 years, this concept would become a given to fashion consumers.

(Shaw’s suit) had become a part of his personality; one can come to think of the reddish-brown Jaeger suit as if it were a sort of reddish-brown fur, and was, like the hair and eyebrows, part of the animal… In any case his brown woolen clothes, at once artistic and hygienic, completed the appeal for which he stood; which might be defined as an eccentric healthy-mindedness.”  ~G.K Chesterton about George Bernard Shaw

Sportswear

The expansion of industry and the improvement of living conditions saw the advancement of leisure activities. Sports became increasingly fashionable among upper-class women, who in turn needed specific kinds of clothing for these activities.

From the last years of the 19th Century through the first decades of the 20th Century, cycling, swimming, golf and riding were especially popular.

Industrial advances had made it possible to begin some form of standardized production which had proven quite challenging to the customized intricacies of more formal women’s attire, yet which proved accommodating to active wear.

The combination of industrial advances, wealth accumulation and social change had led to the fastest diffusion of fashion styles the world had yet seen. The idea that, from this point forward, fashions would continue to emerge and be diffused at an ever-increasing rate has led to our understanding today of marketing dynamics and brand identity. But more on that later…

Sources: personal lecture notes & Fashion by Christopher Breward