Choosing my direction

Choosing my direction

Topshop is a big High Street brand. It has 500 shops worldwide, 300 of them are in the UK. It’s a very popular within teenagers which is their target market. Their target market is 16-30 year old women. As some of their products are classed as highly priced this puts the majority of the target market off as the3y don’t have the budget. Top man is quite reasonably priced for menswear and is seen on the same level as Burton, New look (including New look men), Zara, H&M, Boohoo (including Boohooman.) Topshop and Topman both have quite normal styling and they follow trends. They don’t necessarily have originality within their clothing items.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topshop 
http://elliedigitalpublishing.blogspot.com/2016/02/topshop-customer-profile.html
https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/competitors  https://craft.co/topshop-topman/competitors

Ben Sherman is a British clothing brand selling a wide variety of products. It was n shirts for other people and then began to create his own shirts. Leading then to be ready in 1963 to create the brand. The design of the Ben Sherman shirts was inspired by the American Ivy League shirt. Ben had a passion for fabric, making his designs original and unique. He only used fabrics from America because he wanted the quality of the products to be very high. Ben liked to box each shirt individually which at that time it was not normal; making his brand be seen as more original. The target market of the Ben Sherman brand would typically be men from the age of  20-45 years old. The shirts they sell are around £40 which is nearly the average price of shirts nowadays which mean they are affordable for a wide target market.

Umbro is a an English brand selling sportswear. Umbro has gone less popular for sportswear and recently become more popular as vintage clothing. As vintage and retro styled clothing is very on trend this is making Umbro become back into fashion but in a completely different way; making it relevant to teens as this is the fashion style majority are interested in. Umbro’s competitors include Nike, Reebok, Balance, Converse and Adidas. All these brands include clothing as well as shoes. Brands such as converse don’t sell sports clothing however this is mixing some older competitors to more modern day competitors as Umbro became less well known and beaten out by its competitors when selling just sports clothing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbro

Victoria Secret is an American brand for womenswear focusing on women’s lingerie. As Victoria Secret is a designer brand this means that it is harder for a younger audience to buy their products because of the pricing. Their target market is 21 to 49 years old. The younger side of their audience look up to some of the models in the Victoria Secret fashion show, making them want to have the same or similar underwear/ lingerie that they have modelled. In the stores there is also the real outfits from the fashion shows over the years. This encourages the younger part of the audience to go to the stores to feel like they have a better understanding of the outfits and feel more privileged relating to the brand. Competitors for Victoria Secret include: Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Armani and American Eagle Outfitters. all which have similar intentions with what they like to sell and similar target audience.

Abercrombie and Fitch sells casual wear for men and women. In recent years Abercrombie and Fitch has gone out of style as bigger designer brands took over. It is an American brand however is also in the UK. The price of the clothing they sell could be seen as overpriced for a brand that is not as popular anymore. The brands competitors include: H&M, Zara, Urban Outfitters, J Crew, Gap and Tommy Hilfiger. The competitors are a mixture of designer and High Street brands showing that Abercrombie and Fitch may not be classed as designer anymore because of the way it been taken over by other brands.

Dolce and Gabbana is an Italian designer brand selling clothing, perfumes and accessories. It was founded in 1985 and has remained well known since. There is a lot of articles written about their ethics including animal cruelty and sustainability. Their competitors include Armani, Gucci, Guess, Oakley and Kaenon Polarized. All these brands are well known; selling similar products to Dolce and Gabbana. Their pricing is what you would expect from a big designer name meaning their consumers could be a little bit older to other brands such as High Street brands so they can afford it. However their target market is aged 15 to 25 years old who are trendsetters. They expect the women who shop in their stores are very original and unique and want to create a fashion statement. Their target market is not a wide range of people making it difficult for Dolce and Gabbana to get as many consumers as other brands. They get criticised for some of their ads and ethical ways making them appear on social media or in newspapers a lot.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolce_%26_Gabbana