What are the Links Between Fashion and Advertising?

The fashion industry has always been very adept at marketing and promotion, and is one of the leading examples of just how far a good marketing budget can go. There are a number of methods used by fashion houses to promote their products, including various advertising and branding strategies. The fashion industry is highly diverse and attempts to manufacture clothes which are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Different sectors of the fashion industry conduct very different marketing and advertising campaigns, depending on whether they are manufacturing functional or high fashion items. Some of the leading advertising mediums used in fashion include print, online, billboards, and in-store.

Fashion and Marketing

Fashion has a strong and enduring relationship with marketing, and many fashion labels spend more on advertising and promotion than they do on clothing manufacture itself. Fashion is more than a practical consideration for many people, and marketing provides the gel that connects ideals and expectations with physical products. Many fashion items even use branding on pieces of clothing themselves, as a way to build brand identity and provide free advertising. There are three main categories of the fashion industry, each of which has different ways of engaging with the public and promoting their products.

The high end of the fashion industry is known as haute couture, a French term which literally means high fashion. A couture fashion garment is normally made to order for a specific person, being made from expensive high quality materials and using time consuming techniques and finishings. The middle range of the fashion spectrum is known as ready-to-wear, a term used to describe designer fashion that is not made to wear for individual customers. Mass market fashion is on the lower end, and is the source of the vast majority of fashion items made today. Each of these categories conducts vastly different advertising campaigns, with mass market fashion utilising mass print and visual media to get their message across. However, the entire fashion industry relies on the continual dialogue between the media and the market that takes place through various advertising and promotional campaigns.