What changed in the fashion industry and what will change

In the past days when everything was still in black and white and people walked in the streets without looking at their phones or tablets, the fashion industry was very different than what it has become today. Back in the day brand was not an issue, the manufacturing of the suit or dress was all that mattered. People at the time were not interested in brand recognition all that mattered was how much money they had to spend on the quality of the product and therefore on the skill of the tailor. I remember I had this conversation with my grandparents once, whom where around at the time when companies like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Prada where just small stores at the corner of some street that used to make tailored suits and dresses. Nowadays on the other hand the world of fashion has shifted from an industry where to get high quality clothes you would have them made to your specification by any tailor in town, to an industry where big brands have arisen thanks to successful branding into producing in large numbers high quality products and therefore pushing the hand made market out of the picture. Companies like Prada, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci produce average quality products and sell them for extremely high prices. They have managed to steal the higher spending sector of the market because they successfully implemented brand recognition where back in the days tailors would usually advertise through its customers rather then openly like these companies.

If you notice, these companies started their campaign to success with a small but important step, an easily recognizable logo, and if you look today that logo is still in effect. Another aspect they used to strengthen the brand and unify the customers was to introduce the concept of a monogram. Basically what they did was genius, they only produced products with their monogram allover the products they sold. As we have seen today, people shifted from not buying the products because of the monotone color the brand uses or the monogram that is splattered across all the products to buying these products precisely for those qualities and to identify with a richer social class. The question now is if this standard for the fashion industry will stick or if companies like the recently exploding UNIQLO will set a new standard for the fashion industry for the masses.  In the past years UNIQLO has been gaining traction and a serious contender at the table when it comes to fashion. Basically what UNIQLO does and stand for is the pursuit for fashionable clothes with no overcharges due to brand recognition or brand weight, they are in the business to provide quality clothes that follow the fashion trend at a price that does not enrich the pockets of greedy owners, and so far it has been successful. UNIQLO has opened stores in every continent with stores opening in new cities faster then ever, I predict this type of fashion to stick and be a contender to provide fashionable clothes for the masses.