Fashion Industry, Marketing Communications Research

The marketing communications of Fashion Industry has never been so dynamic.As the voice of consumers is getting more and more powerful, however, in Fashion Industry, mainly in High Fashion, the diffusion of fashion follows a long- existing way from aristocratic society, where trends pass down from the top class to the bottom one, or from upper social levels to lower ones. On the other hand, after 1990's, a nearly opposite situation appears in Street Fashion - consumers sometimes are the trendsetters. This means, sometimes it is the consumer who initiates fashion.According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, a "Pyramid of Human Habilatory Needs" has been stated here, which points "Physiological Habilatory Needs", "Social Habilatory Needs" and "Habilatory Needs of Self-expression" compose a mental base of Fashion Industry. It thus decides the alternation of Fashion, Fashion consumers, the consumptive and diffusing models of Fashion, and etc. As High Fashion and Street Fashion are emphasizing different Habilatory Needs, they are two parallel systems of the present Fashion Industry. The former continues the "Hierarchical Diffusion Model" from the past, while the latter has a "Democratic Diffusion Mode", which reflects the spirit of democratic society - diversification and acceptance.As human's needs for Fashion stay stable, these two Fashion systems and Diffusion Models will coexist and interact for a long time. Fashion brands should first discover their positions of the industry, and then make communications strategies accordingly.