3 Top Fashion Industry Trends for Apparel Brands

While good fashion taste is subjective, there are three non-negotiable fashion industry trends that brands should assimilate into their ecommerce strategies. 

It’s hard to deny that the fashion industry is a lucrative market. Statista reports that it will reach a total market size of $1.103 billion by the end of 2027.

If you want to ensure that your brand receives a piece of the pie, you should focus on creating an omnichannel experience, building a social media presence, and appealing to the conscious shopper.

3 Fashion Industry Trends Brands Shouldn’t Ignore

Here are three trends that are influencing consumer shopping behaviors, with tips for tweaking your strategy to meet expectations. 

1. Consumers Need an Omnichannel Shopping Experience 

The consumer buying journey is no longer linear or predictable. Consumers have a wealth of options available at their fingertips. As a brand, it can be difficult to know how to meet consumers where they are.

Salsify’s “2023 Consumer Research” report, which offers a consolidated view of surveyed countries, says that there is a tie (68%) between surveyees who are most likely to purchase in-store with surveyees who will most likely buy on a retail site.

Omnichannel commerce bridges the gap between digital and physical touch points while putting your brand in front of consumers everywhere they shop.

What Is Omnichannel Commerce? | Salsify Resources

Here’s an example of a potential omnicommerce shopping journey: A customer falls in love with one of your products when they see it tagged in their favorite influencer’s outfit of the day (OOTD) post on Instagram. The product tag then leads them to your brand’s Instagram account, which tells them that you have a brick-and-mortar store located nearby. They go to the store after work one day to try on the item and purchase it. 

This is a perfect example of how a shopping journey can begin online and end in a brick-and-mortar store. The reverse may happen as well; customers may find a product in-store and purchase it online. 

How To Offer a Seamless Omnichannel Experience 

The omnichannel consumer expects a variety of convenient pickup and delivery offerings, such as: 

• Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS or click-and-collect);
• Buy online, return in-store (BORIS);
• Curbside pick-up and returns; or
• Buy in-store, return online.

A product experience management (PXM) solution can help you create a seamless digital experience by ensuring all of your product information is accurate and syndicated instantly across all of your channels. You’ll be able to keep up with apparel industry trends without missing a beat on your product pages. 

Optimize product detail pages (PDPs) and digital search to assist shoppers in finding the products that fit their needs and enhance the online shopping experience.

Think about including enhanced content, product finders, or lifestyle quizzes. You may also want to try artificial intelligence- (AI) based digital stylists and chatbots to give feedback on outfit choices or suggest alternatives to make your shopping experience more personal.

2. Consumers Rely on Social Media for Product Discovery

Shoppers are deeply influenced by social media when searching for new apparel industry trends. 

Salsify’s consumer research ranks social media as consumers’ top method for product discovery. Generation Z also turns to social media for product discovery, according to interactive agency Razorfish. 

If you don’t have a social media presence, you may as well not exist in consumers’ eyes. 

How Brands Can Use Social Media To Increase Brand Awareness

You need to create a social media team that will help define your target audience, create and execute a social media strategy, and stay abreast of top consumer trends. 

First, your team will determine which social media platforms your customers show up on and build a solid community on those sites. When doing that, think about optimizing your profile, highlights, brand image, brand voice, and the like to make your brand searchable and recognizable.

Next, jump on the social shopping bandwagon and allow consumers to purchase items directly from your social media profiles. Take advantage of shopping features (i.e., stories, shoppable posts, paid ads, hashtags) on social media sites to promote your products.

It’s a smart move to partner with fashion influencers and celebrities to reach a larger audience, increase brand awareness, and drive sales. You can ask them to post images or videos of your products, share reviews, run giveaways, etc.

3. Consumers Increasingly Favor Transparent and Purposeful Brands

Another critical fashion industry trend is that today’s consumers want to buy from brands with a mission. 

They expect brands to care about employees, fight for social and environmental issues, and be transparent about what they’ve done to protect the planet.

According to Salsify’s “2022 Consumer Research” report, consumers research a company’s reputation before buying, with 52% of German consumers, 54% of U.S. consumers, 56% of British consumers, and 60% of French consumers focusing on product quality.

If you want to appeal to the conscious shopper, you need to emphasize the steps your brand is taking to make the world a better place. 

How Brands Can Appeal to the Conscious Shopper 

Choose sustainable materials whenever possible and be transparent about them. Publish information about your materials and manufacturing process on the website and regularly post it on social media.

You can also share videos of how you source materials and manufacture clothing to strengthen your trust with consumers.

Be creative. For example, allow customers to exchange old clothing items for new ones. You can upcycle these old items into new products. You can also share tips to guide customers on making clothes last longer and how to reuse and recycle them.

Give back to the community with practical actions. Identify a cause that aligns with your brand and develop a strategy to support that cause.

If you decide to donate a part of your sales to charity, think about what charity you want to partner with, who exactly you’re trying to help, how you can get your customers involved in your mission, and more.

Also, be clear about your message, for example, “one purchase = one tree planted” or “one T-shirt = one donated to people in need.”

Is Your Brand Ready for These Fashion Industry Trends?

As long as you keep a close eye on these top consumer trends, determine what that means for your brand, and adapt quickly, you can win consumers’ hearts and turn them into brand advocates. 

For any brand that knows how to capitalize on these trends, the rewards can be substantial.