Men and fashion, Excel or ppt?
Men's relationship with fashion has transformed a lot in the last 10 years.
As #researchers we know that not so long ago, men did not even choose their clothes, it was their wives or partners who were in charge of buying and creating a fashion style for them. For fashion brands this conditioned a way of displaying clothes in shops and creating advertising or promotions: it was primarily targeted at these women buyers,
With the passage of time, men have become more active in their fashion purchases, which they now consider to be personal. They have their own fashion references, their own criteria, and feel responsible for creating their own style.
How does this new situation affect fashion brands and their shops?
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It is a challenge, because we all know that men tend to buy clothes for replacement (unlike women, for whom buying clothes is almost a leisure activity).
Shop collections were traditionally organized by product category (the Excel model: shirts with shirts, trousers with trousers, etc.). It is a practical model that favors this replenishment shopping. The man enters the shop, goes directly to the product he is looking for, chooses it, pays and leaves. All in all: 10 minutes!
Nowadays, men are looking to restock, yes, but they are also looking to learn how to combine clothes, get inspired, etc. This leads brands to organize their products by collection (the PPT model: Safari collection, Sunset collection, etc..., where garments are combined to create a complete look). In the men's sections, there are more and more descriptive fashion posters and mannequins. And it is a challenge to teach the difference between a Tencel fabric and a linen with cotton. Not to mention the difficulty of teaching about the technological characteristics of the new fabrics, such as easy iron, Thermolite, Coolmax, etc.
Both display models coexist in the shops and represent an extraordinary challenge for the visual merchandising experts of the brands who need answers to the question: And you, as a buyer, what are you? Excel or ppt?