Abstract
This chapter introduces the industry's retail evolution in terms of business models, market structures, and demographic dynamics; explains the cultural and economic forces behind the evolution; provides a chronological analysis of fashion brand establishment, promotion, and proliferation; and shows how brand profitability changed from a reliance on exclusivity to promotion of affordability.
This chapter introduces the industry's retail evolution in terms of business models, market structures, and demographic dynamics; explains the cultural and economic forces behind the evolution; provides a chronological analysis of fashion brand establishment, promotion, and proliferation; and shows how brand profitability changed from a reliance on exclusivity to promotion of affordability. Fast fashion retail has grown from a specific form of merchandising by a few brands to a necessary product line category for all brands. Fast fashion erased the prestige hierarchy of the industry, which had been slowly and carefully built for a century to define the very core meaning of the term "fashion" as signifying social status - a status of prestige. Value retail evolved alongside the "branded retail" model - best exemplified by the traditional department store - as a low-price alternative for selling merchandise to, mainly, younger buyers.