SeriesPart 2: The fashion industry is emerging from its cocoon post-recession, a changed sector where consumers are more cautious, manufacturers are on their toes and designers are struggling to stay afloat doing business as usual. In this five-part series, we take a hard look at the fashion world, speaking with industry leaders, luminaries and experts. This week we ask: Has the recession turned us into cheapskates so we can feel like fulfilled consumers?

Since 2007 they’ve popped up like dandelions: The discount clothing venues we love for all the hot bang we get for our hard-earned buck.

Gilt, My Habit, FashionStake, eBay Fashion, and now even discount eco-commerce sites like the recent launch of JP Selects and LovingEco tantalize us with a designer discount warehouse vibe that appeals to our need to shop. Recession? Heck no, we’re all the same when it comes to discounts whether wealthy or middle class, hoarders or sample salers who need to get more for less. If you think this concept is something new, just look back to post World War 2 consumer habits and you’ll see a direct link to the burgeoning of low-profit-margin strategies designed to attract price-conscious consumers.

The only thing that’s changed is the technology and marketing to hungry consumers and struggling designers.

NOW Showcase, 2011

Joslin Van Arsdale, owner of San Francisco’s Ecocitizen boutique, says sites like Gilt affect eco-commerce because they encourage the quick consumption of cheap, mass produced and disposable goods, and therefore skew the consumer’s perception of value.

“In the past a sample sale was last seasons leftovers. Today, designers who participate in Gilt sales are selling are specifically commissioned by the site and its buyers. Most of the items offered at flash sale sites, are past season designs, or popular designs reinterpreted into cheaper versions of  the original which enable companies like Gilt to maintain healthy margins while also offering  60-70% off.  This is similar to how Target and H&M do their designer collections, same name and design, just cheaper labor and lower quality fabrics,” says Arsdale.

If we think about low-pricing power in the classical sense of the term, we might look at the Wal-Mart volume model, with the idea that the more powerful you are (thousands of locations), the more you can drive your cost down. While we can understand that lower prices drives more sales in the short term, what about the integrity of the brand being sold? Do thoughtful designers really want to brand themselves as deep discounters offering bottom-barrel markdowns?

Designer Eliza Starbuck says it’s become a fear-based business for sustainable designers.

“It’s hard enough to be eco and fashion, an oxymoron in itself, but then having to go against the sustainable model and sell a whole lot of stuff seems pretty counter-intuitive,” says Starbuck.

Van Arsdale says sites like these are training shoppers to expect sales all the time and while in the short term this business model can be a great marketing opportunity for designers, in the long term, it erodes a brand’s perceived value.

“Judging from the success and proliferation of flash sites, it seems that the consumer is unaware that there is a difference in product and quality and mostly doesn’t care,” she says. “Shopping is evolving to a scale of extremes between the very cheap and the very expensive, with nothing in between, similar to what is happening to our middle class.”

But with a current valuation of some $400 million, Gilt Groupe appears to have more staying power than most fashion trends struggling to stay afloat in a traditional way. New York Magazine likens it to a safe haven for designers.

“Last year, as incomes tightened and the fashion industry was left with ruinous amounts of inventory, the company’s business model proved to be a counter-cyclical savior, sucking up goods that otherwise would have moldered,” says the magazine’s writer Andrew Rice, adding that some designers have found “Gilt’s model lucrative enough that they’ve decided to do away with their brick-and-mortar sample sales; others are now making clothes specifically for the site.”

As a result, more and more shops are turning to online sales only and closing brick and mortar venues.

Closed boutique on Newbury Street, Boston

We asked an eBay Fashion spokesperson, who insisted on anonymity, about traffic patterns since the company changed its selling model from what was already in the waste stream to recent high-profile collaborations with Alexander Wang and the CFDA. While they weren’t willing to release statistics at this time, they did respond with this statement:

“Fashion has a new home on eBay at fashion.ebay.com – a dedicated destination that delivers an enhanced shopping experience with new features and sales channels like Fashion Vault that make it easier than ever to explore, find and buy items based on favorite styles, brands and popular trends.”

No longer a hot spot solely for automotive enthusiasts – who in 2005 were eBay’s biggest audience –  eBay has evolved into a clothing and accessory mecca for all financial brackets. And sites like Gilt and eBay Fashion aren’t alone when it comes to selling luxe labels for less.

Trista Dedmon, consignment manager of Brooklyn’s best secret Eva Gentry, sells higher end designers that include Zero + Maria Cornejo, Helmut Lang, Alexander Wang, Marc Jacobs, Chloe, and Marni.

Dedmon says business has picked up with both customers and consigners each season since it opened about five years ago.

“There are definitely a wide variety of shoppers we cater to from the college students looking for affordable Alexander Wang to the established professional who wants to save on a mint condition Balenciaga piece,” she says.

Brooklyn’s Eva Gentry

When asked why, Dedmon says, “It is more than likely due to the current economic climate and everyone reassessing their values. If we become more conscious of our spending habits, this doesn’t necessarily mean our taste level changes. Customers still want designer level garments, but like to stay within their new found budget, which is where a store like ours comes in.”

As recently as 2008, stores like Eva Gentry were gaining popularity quickly, not only college students but with wealthy shoppers accustomed to pricey labels. USA Today writer Laura Petrecca wrote: “There have been many euphemistic labels applied to secondhand goods, including ‘gently used,’ ‘pre-owned’ and ‘like new.’ But in the current economy, they have a new and candid label: ‘hot sellers.’

In the same article, Petrecca notes that three-fourths of resale stores polled said they had higher sales in September and October than in the previous year, and according to the National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops, “The average sales increase was about 35%.”

So what of the plight of the sustainable boutique owner, the entrepreneur supporting conscious consumerism?

Mission Savvy’s brick and mortar store

Vegan boutique owner, Jennifer Miller, has her hands full with her shop, Mission Savvy. Miller has had to forge her way forward through the muck and mire of retail since she opened two years ago in the midst of the recession.

“People want to get more, pay less. Despite its goodwill, the price point on ethical fashion for the average consumer is a big turn off – and I’m in the market to turn people on. Better to purchase something from my store, support the ethical fashion industry, feel good about it with no guilt of over spending and therefore continue to return than not shop at my store at all,” Miller says.

She says her nontraditional approach to operating a boutique has her stocking ethical products but selling at a less than average mark up which is challenging – but it keeps her customers happy and coming back.

“We’re just not there yet as an economy and in commitment. Especially if you are far removed from the fashion industry and the appreciation of the art of it, so that leaves a lot of people spending lots of money on clothes with absolutely no purpose other than to buy something new that looks awesome,” says Miller.

“And as much as people do understand the concept of responsible consumerism, it still comes down to what money can buy and for a lot of us money does buy happiness. Spending too much money on very little is not as appealing as spending a little on a lot.”

The post The Post-Recession Fashion Industry: Discounted Sells appeared first on EcoSalon.

I remember Andrea Linett as Lucky Magazine’s last page caricature that I wanted to emulate – admittedly, as much as I yearned to be Jo, the motorcycle mechanic, feathered hair babe from Facts Of Life or Kim White of Kim White Handbag glory. Put all three of these women in the same room and you get the vibe I love most.

Let it be known these women of inspiration are far and few between so I was relieved to find the temporarily MIA Andrea Linett on her blog, I Want To Be Her! which she runs with longtime friend, coveted Martin designer and illustrator Anne Johnston Albert, who made the caricatures of her on the last page of Lucky every month.

With I Want To Be Her! The two capture fashion forward women on the streets of the city and dissect their outfits into the caricature cool images we love.

Now in charge of curating the over 20 million fashion listings that pop up daily on eBay, we hope to see the Linett touch resurface. And here’s what I love about eBay. What’s more green than clothes already made and swimming in the waste stream? eBay Fashion is not only filled with choice picks of indie and high end designer duds, there’s also vintage and deadstock that needs to move. But unlike a trip to a massive warehouse shopping experience like Marshalls or TJ Maxx – eBay Fashion makes it more boutiqey and easy to navigate.

I recently caught up Andrea to understand how eBay fashion will evolve and learn about some of her own favorite eBay purchases. Here’s what she had to say:

Andrea Linett

With all the amazing clothing, shoes and accessories on eBay, how to you even begin revamping items into more curated collections? The eBay fashion team has always done a fantastic job identifying trends and finding great pieces and presenting them to its audience in a really cohesive manner. We’ll just do a lot more of this by introducing even more editorials (like profiles of cool women, showing their shopping picks), and making shopping on eBay Fashion an even more fun and interactive experience. We also have Fashion Vault, which offers amazing deals on designer pieces, and exclusives like the Derek Lam + eBay crowd-sourced collection which we’re all really excited about.

Do you think people realize how cool eBay is for finding wardrobe fillers? Or do you think there’s a misconception that it’s just a lot of junk (and too much of it?). Maybe there’s an age group that uses it more than others?
The eBay fanatic knows that she can find everything she needs and wants here. Maybe she’s seen a red shirt in a magazine or on a cute girl at a party and she’s just got to have one. She can type “red shirt” in the search engine and literally thousands of options will come up. You can’t say that about any other shopping site! eBay is endless – there are new listings every day. That’s why it’s so addictive. eBay is so big that it’s hard to pin-point an age group. It’s like if you go to a huge mall, maybe there’s a core group of trendsetters hanging out who are young, but there is every age group walking around and shopping. I think there are just different searches for different ages.

I got the eBay Fashion app on my phone and just started exploring it but am already impressed by how organized everything is (and that I have so many pairs of Anthropologie boots in my “closet”). Do you think the app will make eBay even more addictive but to a new wave of eBay babes?
That eBay app is a lifesaver! I was always rushing to computers before to check on my watched lists. It will for sure keep people more engaged in the experience.

What are some other ways you see the site evolving?

We’re planning on introducing more aspirational imagery, including profiling chic women (right now there are mostly still lifes),  generating more fashion editorials, adding styling tips and just more of a voice in general.

What are some of your favorite sites?
Aside from eBay (seriously, the fact that I now work there is akin to a little girl getting a job at American Girl!), I love Asos, Forward by Revolve for its tightly curated stock, Need Supply (lots of good price points) and Ssense.

Have you always been a fan of shopping on eBay? Can you remember the first item you purchased on it? I can’t remember when I discovered eBay, but it was definitely years ago and the beginning of a long love affair. I have no idea what the first thing I bought was, but I have everything from an incredible old mine cut diamond ring and an Hermes watch to a discontinued Tiffany necklace and my all-time favorite oil painting of a horse.

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