The rich are losing to the poor… and clothing designers have figured out the link between shape and class and the smart ones are profiting from it.
Here’s the trend… in mid to down market all the women’s clothing are cut like a paper bags. The up market/designer stores clothes are cut slimmer and more form fitting. Then when you go to couture runway clothes, they are cut just as slim or slimmer, however add back material to create a shape from a stick… think bubble dress. This is not limited to one brand, rather it is brands within a price-range of clothes. Why?
Then it hit me…. the mid to low market designers are cutting their clothes so their demographic will feel more comfortable in their over-weight underused bodies. Ingesting 99 cent meals because you can’t afford to shop at Trader Joe’s or don’t have time because you are working two jobs, leads to a fatter waist line from all that wonderful corn syrup. In the news today LA is banning new fast food chains for a year to respond to it (which is the author(s) do not endorse and actually find it quite ludicrous).
If you do happen to work out and eat healthy, well that means you can afford to do so and therefore the designers are going to make you pay more for the clothes that fit your cardio’ed organicly fueled shape.
Then if you are super rich or rock star rich and never eat you can buy couture cuts to give your waif like figure… well a figure.
Some clothing stores haven’t figure this out yet (The Gap… well they do online only but that doesn’t count) and still wonder why their profit falls. While others (Torrid) profits go up. I suspect in the upper market designer labels will also do well.
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theffernan4
Tim Heffernan has experience leading and advising Fortune 500s through all phases of market development, business development, research, government relations, public relations, crisis, branding and internal communications. Tim has advised government, corporate affairs, marcoms and market development executives in the areas of healthcare, financial services, retail, entertainment, supply chain, consumer behavior, environment, technology, and enterprise policy.
Prior to Aperio Consulting, Tim was vice president of Government Relations and Emerging Business Opportunities for NCR Corporation. He was responsible for policy-driven growth initiatives that drove innovation, revenue and aided in reducing NCR's cost structure. He sat on NCR’s Innovation Council where his team incubated approved council ideas and holds two patent-pending technologies. In addition, Tim managed corporate and marketing communications for the company, including external media relations, executive communications, events, multimedia, graphics and digital services, community relations and thought leadership activities.
Prior to joining NCR, Tim headed Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Division’s (formerly Symbol Technologies) Government Relations, Public Policy and Affairs. Prior to working at Motorola, Tim worked for communication firm KCSA, and began his career at Weber/Shandwick (formerly Shandwick.) He also held public relations/marketing research positions at Nexgenix and the NPD Group.
Heffernan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island. He has been rewarded with both challenge coins from the Department of Defense and a token of appreciation from The White House. He lives in Brickell, FL.
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