TOTAL SALES OF FASHION ITEMS IN EUROPE: MENS WEAR VS WOMENS WEAR

to the Tecnica group are just a couple recent standout examples. That desire to preserve the iconic elements by reinterpreting them in a moder n tone is a leitmotif destined to reinforce brand identity, above all in men’s fashion.” Another winning trend is the fusion of apparently clashing genres with the aim of creating a new way to communicate style that appeals to otherwise difficult-to-reach target markets.Valentino’s partnership with Undercover shown in Paris during the A/W 2019/20 men’s fashion season is clear example of this. Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative director of the Italian brand, partnered with the Japanese label led by Jun Takahashi for the joint creation of a shared decorative language of futur istic graphics reproduced in the collection as inlays, embroideries, jacquards and prints. Piccioli also enlisted the Ger man health shoe company Birkenstock for a Valentino-flavoured reinterpretation of the iconic Arizona sandal. “In this way brands with an establishment heritage create a direct dialogue with the millennials,” says Professor Prandelli.

Get Changed

The fashion week catwalks set the tone. Across the masculine category the key word is fluidity, on all levels. Even masculinity itself is subject to re-appraisal. Among the latest examples on this front is the new unisex collection by H&M with the Swedish streetwear brand Eytys. As H&M observes: “The design of Eytys is anchored in the digital era and free from all the notions of gender or age.” Another fluid area is the “casualisation” of men’s fashion: the progressive erosion of the formalwear market in favour of a deformalised one. And the consumers who are creating the demand that has stimulated this fundamental shift in the menswear market are not necessarily who you would think. “Surprisingly, it is primarily the most mature generations, the baby boomers and their precedents, the silver generation, that are driving the change,” explains Nicola Pianon, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Milan’s senior partner and managing director. In a piece of research prepared for L’Uomo Vogue, Pianon calculates the incidence of casual clothing purchases rather than formal as 77% for baby boomers and 86% for the silver generation based on the latest available data. So baby boomers, in over 7 out of 10 instances, purchase casual items. And the silver market exceeds that. “At the same time Generation Z and millennials stopped at 63% and 71% respectively”, adds Guia

Ricci, principal for the fashion & luxury area of BCG. For almost all men, then, the rule is to mix and match gar ments and to lean towards the casual.

New Values

Pianon adds: “Times have changed. And ‘casualisation’ risks impacting on the price point, too, eroding the margins of companies”. Increasingly as a consequence businesses are betting on cutting-edge fabrics, high-tech details or even customised garments as a point of difference. Ermenegildo Zegna exemplifies this trend with My Cesare, its first completely customisable sneaker, launched in January 2019. The customisation process is possible in Zegna stores, in some worldwide boutiques, on Farfetch, and even on WeChat. “It is a multi-channel approach,” summarises Maurizio Castello, KPMG’s partner, and fashion & luxury manager. And he adds: “Today, those who bet first on integration between digital and physical stores win. And among the men’s fashion players, Ermenegildo Zegna is an example of excellence.” It is not the only one. The big luxury conglomerates LVMH and Kering have invested heavily on the integration between online and offline. But the road is still long. Castello says: “The real challenge which everyone is facing is how to better control its distribution network”. The goal is to avoid finding the same pair of shoes which could cost 1,000 euros at online and/or offline single brand stores or in wholesale and/or author ized resellers at a cost of 70 0 euros, or even less, on more poorly identified platforms. “That’s why we launched the KPMG Global E-commerce Tracker, which monitors online prices in real time for any brand in the world,” explains Castello.

Finery online

BCG has crunched the data for “58% of men’s fashion buyers are influenced by the internet,” says Guia Ricci. And she specifies: “In 38% of cases it means that it is common to search online and then finalise the purchase offline. Then there are the 10% that do the opposite, that is, they make their choice in physical stores but buy on the internet. And finally, another 10% that buy exclusively through digital channels.”

For everyone looking to cater to these consumer patter ns there is one main challenge: consistency. In everything; in the look, in the integrated services for delivery, in recognition of the status of customers regardless of the channel chosen and so on. “But consistency is also measured in the values of the individual brand,” explains Professor Prandelli. And on this front, the declinations can be the most diverse. There are those who focus on the policies of diversity and inclusion. For instance the US sports apparel brand Under Armour, which has made the official push for greater protection of culture and people in the workplace by appointing a “chief people & culture officer.” Other companies such as H&M, Levi Strauss & Co and VF Corporation have all moved in that direction by inserting managers solely dedicated to diversity. Another core theme is the environment and sustainability, something that is rapidly emerging as a key consumer consideration. It is no coincidence that at the last World Economic Forum in Davos, Global Fashion Agenda, created with the aim of making fashion sustainable, announced the top eight priority green objectives for fashion companies. These are; supplier trackability, climate change, efficient use of energy, water and chemicals, respect and safety in the workplace, circular economy, the fourth industrial revolution, use of sustainable materials and the promotion of better wage systems. Asos, H&M, Kering, Li & Fung, Nike, and PVH are among the strategic partners in the non-profit organisation that also includes the Copenhagen Fashion Summit. A virtuous circle of conscience and of business.

Money Talks

And, speaking of business, we should mention the finance world, which continues to speculate upon and influence the course of the fashion business. One of the latest transactions is Trussardi’s acquisition by the QuattroR fund. In 2018, there were other deals like the Spanish group Puig’s acquisition of Dries Van Noten and Missoni’s sale of a stake of its business to the Italian Strategic Fund (FSI). The biggest news has been Michael Kors’ (now Capri Holdings Limited) acquisition of Versace for 1.83 billion euros, or 41 times Versace’s Ebitda, achieved in 2017 and equal to 44.6 million euros. These kinds of numbers have not been seen for some time. In terms of men’s fashion, Ermenegildo Zegna bought 85% of the New York-based brand Thom Browne in August 2018 for 370 million euros. As Castello observes: “in general, the industry pays more than pure finance, but is able to activate cost synergies unimaginable for the funds.” What is certain is that in 2019 and beyond the financial headlines in f ashion will be all about M&A deals, with the spotlight focused mostly on Europe. That’s because Europe is the essence of heritage, and the value of heritage - when leveraged ably and managed with intelligence - is liable to go up rather than down.