Different place, same shoes: Are we losing cultural divergence and diversity in international fashion?

Fashion and style used to be something highly local, often associated with a certain place and a certain style that people would have in said place. Just think of women like Sophia Loren, embodying what people perceived to be the southern Italian way of dressing, sensual, donning Capri pants, named after the picturesque mainstay of the jet set, Catherine Deneuve as an emblem of French chic, in Yves Saint Laurent sets, glamorously smoking cigarettes, put together yet always effortless. These women, who made it from European countries to worldwide fame, did not just become silver screen legends but also metaphors of style prevalent in the place they hailed from, in turn often making them national treasures, cherished not only by people from their respective country but all over the world for embodying a style, that while familiar (at least from a western centric point of view) seemed different, exotic and covetable. It was cultural divergence that made them so famous, that they were able to harness to their benefit. During the time these women became famous, this might have very well had something to do with the actual place they did come from. In a pre-globalized world, where shipping and travelling was manifold more expensive than it is today, consumers from different parts of the world would have often exclusive availability to certain products, not only making their way of dressing and carrying themselves unique to a place as a result of cultures and traditions of a place, but the mere product they chose to put on themselves. It goes without saying that this has very much changed in nowadays world, especially when looking at fashion, fashion brands and fashion icons. How to navigate cultural divergence, that is ever changing and, by means like media such as the internet, moving to cultural convergence, is thus a challenging and often frustrating feat for marketeers within the fashion world. (Routly, 2018)

Different place, same feed: Influencers

Brands nowadays send influencers identical product, meaning that a German influencer might film the unboxing of the same merchandise that a French, American, Chinese and Thai influencer might, therefore also promoting the same merchandise in very similar ways to culturally extremely heterogenous audiences. (Spruch-Feiner, 2022) I often talk to friends and colleagues all over the world, that have seen the identical ad campaign on social media, something that arguably was not as likely pre-social media. This is smart for both the brand and the consumer in certain ways. Brands get to safe advertising and marketing budgets they would otherwise have to allocate to making a campaign or product uniquely for a country, or adjusting certain products in ways that would make them more attractive to a certain audience in a certain country. On the other hand, when making a hedonic purchase, therefore one that is made not for need, but for want, conspicuously and often to show off status, (Bettiga et al., 2020) a consumer can be certain that a brand and product that is seen as desirable in a certain part of the world will also be seen as such in other parts. While status symbols would differ from country to country ( and even between different subgroups in that country, think Jock vs. Geek), they are now increasingly becoming similar, meaning a move from cultural divergence and diversity, to greater cultural convergence. (Nicovich and Cornwell, 1998)

Influencers with often global reach, might be a rather logical example for International marketing when it comes to the fashion industry. However these marketing tactics have also been used when it comes to in person activations, the most popular ones when it comes to fashion inarguably being fashion shows. Fashion month usually consists of a tightly packed schedule starting in New York, moving to London then Milan and then ending in Paris, with couture and Resort shown during different timelines. Especially shows that are outside of this schedule are often utilized by brands to travel to different countries. Examples of this are countless, most notably arguably the Fendi Show on the great wall of China, one of the longest catwalks to ever be held in High Fashion, (Socha, 2020) garnering international headlines and creating a whole new level of brand awareness in a country that, at the time, was growing like no other, home to a whole new class of people able to buy into luxury fashion. While Fendi showed a special collection, inspired by traditional Chinese influences, a stark contrast is the Spring Summer 2022 Prada show. (Turra and Turra, 2021) This show was live streamed not only from Milan (where Prada, an Italian brand usually shows), but also from Shanghai, models timed exactly so they would walk at precisely the same time on opposite ends of the globes. Not only was the set and the music the same, but also the outfits and the demeanor of the models wearing them, inarguably standing incredibly emblematic for the way a generation that mostly consumes fashion and marketing through the internet, congregating on very similar sites, has moved away from something that is unique to a certain locale but much rather global, that is divergent to convergent. From a marketing point of view, by live streaming a certain event with incredible synchronicity, an emphasis is much rather put on technical advance than is on the uniqueness of a certain place that could have inspired the collection.

Dressed to kill, but no license

In fact fashion marketing is moving away from highly localized strategies as is fashion production. While even a decade ago it was extremely common to license out designs, cuts and brands, far less designers are doing this, in order to firstly not dilute the brand equity but also, in a world of falling import and shipping cost, not lose valuable profit. (Colucci, Montaguti and Lago, 2008) This however also leads to the original design creation, when western brands venture into other markets, not happening in the market itself and no adjustment whatsoever taking place on the side of marketing and product, leading to an increasing monotony of styles available in retail worldwide and furthering the loss of cultural diversity for more convergence. When years ago you could go to Brick Lane, Harajuku or Pigalle to find unique pieces available only in one certain boutique, this is not the case anymore, even furthered by the rise of online shopping. Yet, when looking at certain emerging markets this is also an advantage. As shown in various case studies, certain countries carry a heavy positive weight in terms of branding, in fashion arguably most prolifically Italy, and the made in Italy label.(Cappelli et al., 2019) By not licensing and producing the same product in bigger quantity, brands can therefore even price more highly and sell a product that has more innate branding prestige.

Fashions greatest victim: The environment

With this however, also comes the creation of hype around products internationally, that, by more way than one, is a means created by intelligent marketing and product teams that can often be extremely harmful for the environment. Not only are people from all around the world actively motivated to purchase more in both quantity and price, but by producing them all in one place, rather than licensing, brands make a rather active choice to accept the harmful effects of worldwide. This contributes to fashions eye watering emissions quote, making up over 10% of global emissions in total. (Dottle and Gu, 2022) While some of these are created by the mere nature of the product itself, often made of plastic or materials that take a rather high amount of energy to be produced, the marketing practice that often shocks the most is the destruction of clothing in order to keep perceived scarcity higher and to continuously price at eye watering levels in the luxury realm. (Cernansky, 2021).

Lost in translation

Yet using the same marketing for all over the world is not all bad, and in fact can save brands from scandal when facing cultural divergence. While adjusting advertising, marketing activations, messaging etc. for different countries can come with the advantage of speaking to the target audience in a more personalized, relatable and familiar way, it can also cause cultural mishaps, as has been seen time and time again in the past years, when it comes to fashion advertising. The scandal I find most prolific was around the Italian brand Dolce and Gabbana, which chose to not only hold a fashion show in China but also promote this fashion show in ways that by many were seen as utterly racist. (Haas, 2018) The video that caused the biggest “shitstorm” was one of a Chinese woman eating Spaghetti with chopsticks. (Williams, 2022)

While this was probably seen as a fun double entendre in an ad by the marketing department that approved of concept, casting and the image itself, it was called out by online influencers like diet prada as being insensitive, furthering prejudice and ignorant in regards to Chinese culture, which is centuries old and in the image was reduced to chopsticks. Ironically many have also called out the fact that pasta was actually brought to Italy by Marco Polo, is hence more or less of Chinese origin which carries some extra irony. (Williams, 2022)

Yet Dolce and Gabbana’s marketing and product strategy when it comes to catering to international markets is also a success story in other parts. In fact, being one of the first brands to launch a line of modest clothing specifically produced for muslim women and including hijabs and even Burkhas in classic Dolce and Gabbana prints (Ellyatt, 2016)

Rather than choosing not to sell certain clothes in certain countries or change the entire collection, with creating a capsule of certain modest pieces the brand therefore taps into a rather large new target audience. This was arguably furthered by a certain sense of novelty, being one of the first western brands to create such a capsule.

Global markets, global marketing: the future

However the question that remains to be answered is what this means for the future of fashion marketing. The classic fashion influencer, the one that became big on Instagram before it had highly specified algorithms, is slowly dying with the platform Instagram itself. Newer generations, that are the future clients of luxury brands such as Dolce and Gabbana and Prada, are flocking to tiktok, that with its algorithms pushes content that is highly specific to a certain person, thus even when going “viral” does not necessarily make it to the entirety of a target audience (especially in luxury fashion, where the targeted audience is not necessarily based on culture but also income). This also creates a move towards a higher importance of personal style, rather than style that is mainly based on status symbols and luxury brands. Nevertheless the move towards online is without a doubt unstoppable, with the internet and social media being the most important marketing platforms for young millennials and Gen Z. While personalization of certain Ads is obviously possible, the audience of certain creators will inarguably remain international and become more diversified, leading to even greater international demand for the same products. This can be seen when looking at super influencers like Kim Kardashian, who create mega trends that are emulated all around the world. While this will make it easier for Marketers to create certain content, it will also become harder to identify niches. Yet in a counter movement this also means that individual style (rather than trends) is becoming more important, as when everything is trendy all at once, in a way all that is left is individual style, further making it harder for marketing campaigns to stick. In my opinion this focus on individual style will inevitably lead to a focus on product not brand, which is why certain brands are slowly choosing a more quiet approach to advertising, letting the product speak. This comes with one side effect that is not to be underestimated: While certain messaging may be misunderstood in different cultural circles, the sound of silence is the same everywhere.

Reference list

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Cappelli, L., D’ascenzo, F., Ruggieri, R., Rossetti, F. and Scalingi, A. (2019). The attitude of consumers towards ‘Made in Italy’ products. An empirical analysis among Italian customers. Management & Marketing. Challenges for the Knowledge Society, 14(1), pp.31–47. doi:10.2478/mmcks-2019-0003.

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