Executive Summary
The paper presents an overview of Alessandra Rich fashion house, including brand identity, a brief competitor analysis, and a target market. Further, sustainable production is discussed, including sourcing, distribution, the critical path, and the supply chain strategy. Special emphasis is made on the ways of reducing the environmental footprint by using eco-friendly and organic materials to replace toxic ones, as well as those produced with cruelty, such as leather. The prospects of creating a menswear collection are discussed in light of statistics indicating the global growth of interest in men’s fashion.
The paper is logically structured to provide easy access to each of the topics included. In a research methodology table, there is a brief analysis of primary and secondary research sources employed in the project. The paper is highly relevant to present-day fashion industry discourse since it covers acute issues that need thorough consideration on the part of fashion retailers.
Introduction
The industry of fashion has always belonged to the most popular and widely discussed ones. The most recent trends in garment retail are concerned with the sustainability and eco-friendliness efforts of brands. It is no longer enough to make high-quality clothes to be successful. At present, companies have to show that their production and distribution processes do not harm the environment and can be reused or recycled when no longer wanted. Another important emerging tendency is that of menswear fashion. Women have been the center of the fashion industry for many centuries, and recent data indicate that it is time for men to become active consumers in this sphere. The present paper provides an analysis of Alessandra Rich’s fashion house in view of the prospects of creating a men’s collection.
Research Methodology Table.
Brand
Company Overview
One of the most popular fashion companies of modern times, Alessandra Rich Limited, was launched in 2009 in London. Rich is an Italian-born designer who used to be the sole director of the company for the first five years. In 2014, her husband, Steven, was appointed as a co-director (Alessandra Rich Limited n.d.). Alessandra Rich owns over 75% of shares and voting rights, and she has the right to appoint or remove directors (Alessandra Rich Limited n.d.). The company’s financial statement are not publicly available, but it possible to conclude that it is highly profitable based on the prices for clothing items and celebrity clients choosing garments from Rich.
Rich creates clothes for world stars, including Meryl Streep, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Olivia Wilde. Alessandra Rich is currently available in more than 40 stores and retailers all over the world (Italian-born, London-based designer n.d.). Rich has participated in every stage of the formation of her business, from sourcing textiles to establishing the channels of distribution. The designer has also been producing her shows and look books by herself since the day the label was born (Italian-born, London-based designer n.d.). The company is rather successful and profitable, and its owner and designer have many fresh ideas to satisfy the most demanding customers.
Brand Identity
The company specializes in women’s clothes, making a particular emphasis on femininity and tenderness in its items. The brand is associated with light materials creating soft images and classic looks. The best-known feature of Alessandra Rich’s house is the “tantalisingly feminine designs” with the floor-sweeping dresses that are recognized as “a much applauded signature” (Italian-born, London-based designer n.d., para. 15). Starting with the first collection, the designer added vintage necklaces and hosiery to every look she created. Only in 2016, did Rich add mini dresses and playsuits to her spring-summer collection (Italian-born, London-based designer n.d.). However, long gowns made of delicate materials remain the designer’s identity card.
Apart from being known for its floor-sweeping lace gowns, Rich also creates classic comfortable dresses that have become favorite elements of royals’ wardrobes. Rich’s “daylight glamour” collections have earned praise from Kate Middleton, Pippa Middleton, Samantha Cameron, Abigail Spencer, and Emma Louise Connolly (Pithers 2018, para. 1). Hence, at present, Alessandra Rich brand identity is focused solely on femininity and glamour. However, it seems that with the designer’s exquisite ability to create exactly what people love to wear, she would be popular with males’ garments as well.
Competitor Analysis: Positioning Map, Points-of-Parity (POP), and Points-of-Difference (POD)
Competition in the fashion retail industry is rather high, but at the same time, every fashion house fills in its niche and has something exquisite to offer to its customers. Hence, Alessandra Rich has both POP and POD that can promote her brand among others. If to compare Rich to such fashion houses as Dior and Prada, POP include:
- trendiness;
- unique garments for women;
- ready to wear clothes;
- retail stores all over the world;
- prices were higher than average.
Comparing the same companies, Rich’s POD are:
- only women’s clothes (Prada and Dior also have men’s and children’s collections);
- an exquisite selection of materials and garments;
- a classic look is a priority in almost all collections.
Target Market
Currently, the target market of Alessandra Rich fashion house includes women aged between 25 and 70 who are rich and enjoy luxury and comfortable clothes. These females frequently are in cinema or art business. Also, many of the prospective clients belong to royal families or are friends with them. The company looks out for customers with fresh views but not without a love for classic trends. Rich’s target market also involves men who want to buy some elegant outfits for their ladies.
However, in view of modern tendencies in men’s apparel, Rich should also include males in the target market sector. According to predictions, menswear will develop by 2.3% by 2020, compared to 2.2% in womenswear (The global growth of menswear 2019). Hence, the fashion house needs to create a menswear line and attract male customers’ interest to its products. It is possible to do so by creating combined collections and inviting celebrities, especially couples, to advertise them.
Sustainable Production
Sourcing: Sustainable Fabrics
Fashion designers are gaining more and more sustainability awareness, which is reflected in their choice of materials, as well as in production and distribution processes. Companies engage in social and environmental sustainability practices. Social approaches involve supporting local communities and complying with the codes of conduct. Meanwhile, environmental sustainability approaches include exploiting sustainable fabrics, reducing the use of plastic, and employing vegetable dyeing (Lion et al. 2016). To establish sustainable practices in its sourcing activities, Rich has to use sustainable fabrics. Currently, the company uses faux fur and some other eco-friendly materials, but there are many more options to reduce the environmental footprint that the fashion house could employ.
Linen is rarely used in Rich’s collections, but it might be considered as a substitute for some of the materials or as a new approach. Organic linen produced from flax may be bought from a Belgian company, Libeco, which is an established world leader in this sphere (Organic linen n.d.). Fabrics created by Libeco have the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 quality label, which testifies their eco-friendliness and social responsibility. Linen is not dyed and contains no toxic substances (Ecological aspects n.d.). Wool, which is necessary for autumn-winter collections, can also be obtained from eco-friendly companies. For instance, Rosy Green Wool company, which is represented in England, is one of the most reputable and eco-friendly producers of wool from Merino d’Arles in France. The organization has the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, which states that wool is 100% organic (Rosy Green Wool n.d.). These fabrics will increase Alessandra Rich’s sustainability and will engage more consumers in the company.
Other highly important materials used in the fashion industry are leather and suede. While they are renowned for their warming and protecting qualities, their production process is highly eco-unfriendly and involves the deaths of numerous animals. Thus, it is crucial for Rich to replace leather and suede with more sustainable counterparts. A new product aimed to replace the use of animals’ skins was presented by an Italian company, Vega, which suggested making leather from wine leftovers (Skrabania 2018). Vega prides on zero animal cruelty and a chemical-free production process. The product is not yet available on the market, but Rich could negotiate future collaboration with Vega.
Suede is another material frequently employed in fashion retail that requires eco-friendly analogs. One of the most productive creators of faux suede in the American company, Majilite (Quality n.d.). Another organization located in the USA that could be of great use for Rich house is Tandem repeat, a producer of programmable textiles that can replace elastane (World’s first programmable textiles n.d.). Elastane is favored by fashion retailers due to its flexibility, but its production is rather toxic and not sustainable. Thus, even though the supply chain might suffer from such a far location of materials, Alessandra Rich may win significantly on sustainability and eco-friendliness.
Production: Sustainable and Eco-Friendly
To make the production process sustainable, it is crucial to analyze its consumption levels, as well as the amount of waste produced during the work on a new collection. As Pedersen, Gwozdz, and Hvass (2016) note, corporate sustainability is closely associated with business model innovation and corporate social accountability. Possible ways of increasing sustainability efforts involve the following:
- reducing the use of textiles with toxic and harmful components;
- finding suppliers within a short distance from the company;
- recycling as much as possible to minimize waste;
- using eco-friendly packaging.
Distribution: Eco and Sustainable Ways of Distributing the Collection
The ways of distributing fashionable clothes constitute a controversial topic in society. The fashion industry presupposes diverse supply chains that involve production, manufacturing of textiles, designing clothes, retail, and final disposal of clothes (Yang, Song & Tong 2017). Distribution as a component of the supply chain is undergoing major alterations. The reason for such changes is that modern societies have taken to the politics of consumerism, which implies buying clothes out of luxury rather than necessity (Yang, Song & Tong 2017). To reduce such an unhealthy method of distribution, Alessandra Rich has to implement positive shipping practices incorporating low emissions, a decreased level of environmental footprint, and sustainable ways of disposal employed to garments that have gone out of fashion. A viable solution might be donating clothes to charities, reusing, or recycling them.
The Critical Path
The critical path of the supply chain depends on many factors, each of them being co-dependent. For Alessandra Rich, the critical path may last between six and eleven and a half months. If any of the steps takes longer than the set maximum to implement, other phases will be frozen until the issue is resolved. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that at every stage, all participants of the production and distribution process know their duties and fulfill them well.
When programming the supply chain strategy, it is crucial to focus on the most convenient locations for the delivery of materials from which will be neither too expensive nor environmentally harmful. It is also necessary to provide transparency and arrange productive networking (Turker & Altuntas 2014). Most of the fabrics needed by Alessandra Rich come from neighboring countries. However, faux suede and programmable textiles have to be shipped from the USA.
Conclusions
The project has helped to analyze the basic processes necessary to enhance the eco-friendly efforts of Alessandra Rich as well as predict the likelihood of developing a menswear collection. The paper has covered significant aspects of the fashion house’s processes. The analysis of the target market has allowed identifying a niche that is composed of menswear. The designated critical path and supply chain strategy helps to predict complications in the production and distribution systems and find approaches to avoid them.
Recommendations
It has been found that the company’s environmental efforts are effective but not sufficient. For instance, it is good that the brand uses faux leather, but it is bad that it uses materials containing harmful substances. Hence, it is necessary for the fashion house to replace some of its textiles with organic ones. Particularly, it is necessary to find textile producers that would be located closer to England, which will reduce waste and the use of energy.
Reference List
Ecological aspects n.d., Web.
The global growth of menswear and what’s next for men’s fashion 2019, Web.
Lion, A, Macchion, L, Danese, P & Vinelli, A 2016, ‘Sustainability approaches within the fashion industry: the supplier perspective’, Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 95-108.
Organic linen n.d., Web.
Pedersen, ERG, Gwozdz, W & Hvass, KK 2016, ‘Exploring the relationship between business model innovation, corporate sustainability, and organisational values within the fashion industry’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 149, no. 2, pp. 267-284.
Pithers, E 2018, ‘How Alessandra Rich became the royals’ label of choice’.
Quality n.d., Web.
Rosy Green Wool n.d.
Skrabania, L 2018, ‘Vegea: eco-friendly vegan leather from wine industry leftovers’, Reset, Web.
Turker, D & Altuntas, C 2014, ‘Sustainable supply chain management in the fast fashion industry: an analysis of corporate reports’, European Management Journal, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 837-849.
World’s first programmable textiles n.d., Web.
Yang, S, Song, Y & Tong, S 2017, ‘Sustainable retailing in the fashion industry: a systematic literature review’, Sustainability, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1266.