Dissertation title - To what extent are street wear brands reliant on advertising and promotion through social media?
As the streetwear brand ‘FOURE’ is due to be released for the Spring/Summer 2016 season, from information gained from research, it would be ideal create the branding for the company and promote it through the social media sites of Instagram or Facebook.
The research into branding for the dissertation helped to achieve an understanding of what is needed to create a successful brand. This raised awareness of the importance of marketing through appropriate brand creation and brand identity in order to encourage loyalty amongst the target audience.
It was found that a unique selling point also needed to be created to establish product preference. This gave inspiration regarding creating practical work, using brand guidelines.
From research it was found that streetwear originated from West Coast skate boarders and surfboarders. This culture gave streetwear a casual aesthetic which is acknowledged as fashionable.
Within the last five years, the streetwear style was adopted by Hip Hop culture, which elevated its image through limited edition products with high prices. This was an example of whoever has the political power, sets the trends.
This prompted an idea to produce a brand which was inspired by the Hip Hop culture, but that differed in that the items would be of better quality at an affordable price range for a young target audience.
Firstly, the full brand guidelines will be created for the company, as research showed that this was the initial stage of branding, in order to decide if the marketing would attract the target audience. These guidelines would then be created into a publication so the brand has a physical copy.
The visual brand identity was created with the logo, which was then produced on a sample t-shirt, which would be appropriate for an ‘essentials’ range. These t-shirts would be manufactured from a company in the United Kingdom for higher quality products.
The first photoshoot for this project was for promotion through the social media platform Instagram, as research for the dissertation had identified this to be the most successful modern method of promotion for streetwear brands. This is because both Instagram and streetwear have the same age range within their main target audience.
The photoshoot reflected the luxury lifestyle, similar to the Hip Hop culture. Therefore photographs were taken of luxury products and luxury cars within a street context. These images would add luxury status to the product, as the audience would associate the clothing with someone who could own the luxury cars.
To further the luxury aesthetic of the brand, luxury packaging in the form of boxes will be created. Other luxury items such as watches, glasses and shoes inspire this idea. The box gives the products a feel of greater value, as well as greater customer satisfaction.
The research for the dissertation will also continue into extended practice, as the first collection (Spring/Summer 2016) of ‘Foure’ will be, developed, produced and released as a brief.
Using all the research from both the dissertation and the practical, a publication will be made with the topic of ‘How to start a streetwear brand’ as a separate brief. Following this, many other fashion briefs will also take place, for example a high end fashion brief collaboration with Mo Mitchell, as well as a Fashion website re-design brief. This will all be influenced by the research gathered from the dissertation and the practical elements produced.
Within the last five years, the streetwear style was adopted by Hip Hop culture, which elevated its image through limited edition products with high prices. This was an example of whoever has the political power, sets the trends.
This prompted an idea to produce a brand which was inspired by the Hip Hop culture, but that differed in that the items would be of better quality at an affordable price range for a young target audience.
Firstly, the full brand guidelines will be created for the company, as research showed that this was the initial stage of branding, in order to decide if the marketing would attract the target audience. These guidelines would then be created into a publication so the brand has a physical copy.
The visual brand identity was created with the logo, which was then produced on a sample t-shirt, which would be appropriate for an ‘essentials’ range. These t-shirts would be manufactured from a company in the United Kingdom for higher quality products.
The first photoshoot for this project was for promotion through the social media platform Instagram, as research for the dissertation had identified this to be the most successful modern method of promotion for streetwear brands. This is because both Instagram and streetwear have the same age range within their main target audience.
The photoshoot reflected the luxury lifestyle, similar to the Hip Hop culture. Therefore photographs were taken of luxury products and luxury cars within a street context. These images would add luxury status to the product, as the audience would associate the clothing with someone who could own the luxury cars.
To further the luxury aesthetic of the brand, luxury packaging in the form of boxes will be created. Other luxury items such as watches, glasses and shoes inspire this idea. The box gives the products a feel of greater value, as well as greater customer satisfaction.
The research for the dissertation will also continue into extended practice, as the first collection (Spring/Summer 2016) of ‘Foure’ will be, developed, produced and released as a brief.
Using all the research from both the dissertation and the practical, a publication will be made with the topic of ‘How to start a streetwear brand’ as a separate brief. Following this, many other fashion briefs will also take place, for example a high end fashion brief collaboration with Mo Mitchell, as well as a Fashion website re-design brief. This will all be influenced by the research gathered from the dissertation and the practical elements produced.
