New Fashion Academy

The Fashion and Textile Museum (FTM) is redeveloped and home to a new Academy to provide education and professional development within the fashion, textile and jewellery sectors. Martin Tolhurst, Principal of Newham College, which now owns and manages the FTM said: ‘The fashion business can be a tough environment in which to flourish and yet the creative industries are vital to the UK economy. However, until now there has been no one place where education, learning and industry support has come together.

The Academy will be open to all who want to broaden their skills in the fashion industries, from those looking for full-time courses, short professional courses or more tailored for businesses. Next to offering education and training, the Academy will work in partnership with industry bodies such as Skillfast-UK and the Creative and Cultural Industries Sector Skills Councils as well as individual companies to design and deliver high quality apprenticeship programmes.

For those who are interested in the creative side of the fashion industry FTM offers workshops, seminars and masterclasses. Some recent workshops have focussed on copyrighting ideas, manufacturing offshore, and promoting your own business.

As well as the new Academy, FTM is developing a programme of changing exhibitions exploring elements of contemporary fashion, style and couture. The FTM’s first exhibition is being staged in collaboration with the Getty Images Gallery. Peacocks and Pinstripes A Snapshot of Masculine Style, will zoom in on men’s fashion and will run from February to May 2008.

When it comes down to shopping, men and women have different priorities purchasing their products. Where women like to be treated to grand decors and try out products, men are on a shopping mission and don’t like to be distracted, according to Wharton’s ‘Men Buy, Women Shop’ latest study. Researchers at Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and consulting company Verde Group concluded a stronger relation between women and personal sales assistance in comparison to men. Male consumers turn out to rate their retail experience on parking spaces, product stock and the length of the checkout line.

Female customers appreciate the shopping experience and have higher expectations. Marketing professor Stephen J. Hoch believes women approach shopping in a social and personal way, whereas men are interested in actually buying the needed product. Due to the high expectation level of women over age 40, 53% vs. 48% men experience problems with lack of assistance. 29% of the questioned women consider shortage of help as the top problem.

The research findings can be helpful for retailers to understand the shopping behavior per gender. According to Wharton’s research it can be of great assistance to tailor products and presentation per shopping population.

You cannot turn the page in a fashion magazine without seeing an image of a luxury brand. From exquisite diamonds seductively draped over a models neck, to aspirational designer fashion shoots showcasing the latest it-bag and must-have clothes, we are living in an era of surplus luxury marketed to please each of our consumer senses. But how sustainable are these brands?

These days, the big luxury houses have the power to influence consumer aspiration and behaviour by editing our choices through product design, distribution and marketing. However, many luxury consumers are part of an affluent, global élite that is increasingly well educated and concerned about social and environmental issues. These consumers use luxury products as a symbol of success. The definition of success – and the way it is perceived by others – is changing. Many successful people now want the brands they use to reflect their concerns and aspirations for a better world. This is true not only in Western luxury markets, but, increasingly, amongst the affluent middle classes of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Given a lack of public information about corporate performance on this agenda, WWF-UK analysed and ranked the ten largest, publicly-traded luxury brand- owning companies on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. These brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, IWC, Garnier and Louis Vuitton. The ranking is derived from a combination of two types of information: what the companies themselves report to the ethical investment community; and what media and non-governmental organisations have been saying about them. This information was scored, weighted and combined to create a score out of 100, expressed as a grade from A (best) to F (worst). Not surprising, no company was awarded higher than a C+.

The French luxury group, L'Oreal, topped the ranking and the Italian group Tod's came tenth. As reported by themselves and others, the ESG policies and performance of luxury brands is inferior to that of other types of leading brands. Richemont and PPR, whose brands include Chloe and Gucci respectively, are both graded D for their ethical efforts. The report recommends that with their greater budgets, producers of luxury goods could in fact be leading the way in social and environmental performance. Researchers found that in some cases the luxury goods industry, which is worth £77bn worldwide, is depleting natural resources, exploiting labour and hiding its supply chain from outside scrutiny.

Celebrity endorsement of ethically questionable luxury goods also comes under fire in the report, which says that while Hollywood stars such as Sienna Miller are good at raising ethical issues, they do not apply the same principles to the labels they choose to promote. Miller, who has given her face to the Global Cool environmental campaign, also promotes Tod's, the worst offender in the ethical audit.

Luxury companies must do more to justify their value in an increasingly resource-constrained and unequal world. Despite strong commercial drivers for greater sustainability, luxury brands have been slow to recognise their responsibilities and opportunities.

A key impact of luxury brands on sustainable consumption is through its influence on people around the world. The brands promote concepts of quality, style and, ultimately, success. The scale and urgency of the sustainable consumption challenge requires all those who communicate widely, including iconic brands, to promote a more authentic understanding of quality, style and success, which includes respect for each other and the planet upon which we depend.

In reality, the most successful and iconic brands, especially in the worlds of fashion and technology, do not so much respond to consumer demand as create and influence it. Anthony Kleanthous, senior policy adviser for WWF, said: "This report is a call to action for the world's top brands to improve the way they do business. Luxury companies must do more to justify their value in an increasingly resource-constrained and unequal world.