Critically evaluate and examine TALA as a cultural product PDF

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Critically evaluate and examine the brand TALA as a cultural product. ...

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1804231 Kiera Sowery Critically evaluate and examine ‘TALA’ as a ‘cultural product’. The cultural product I have decided to critically evaluate and examine is TALA, a sustainable fashion brand, selling workout wear. Launching in May 2019 by fitness influencer Grace Beverley, TALA has a strong focus on sustainability, the environment and making people who wear it feel both confident and empowered. Sustainability can be referred to as a way of ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p43). Sustainable fashion first materialised in the 1960s, when consumers became aware of the impact that manufacturing clothing had on the environment, which saw people demanding for the industry to change its practices (Jung and Jin, 2014). This therefore makes TALA, and its sustainable aims very relevant within today’s society as it is becoming more important to people to protect our planet in various ways and buying from sustainable fashion retailers is one of them, thus being a reason for me picking TALA to critically evaluate and examine. Due to this, consumers are always in charge, and the market has to react to changing demands and wants of consumers, therefore Grace took this opportunity and saw a clear gap in the market for a workout wear brand who offered sustainable, yet affordable clothing and created TALA as a result. TALA communicates very strong messages of body positivity and self-esteem through its branding by not retouching any of their photos on social media, and this is core to the business’s ethos. The fact that TALA represent all types of people through their branding also shows how they strive for inclusivity, by including different sizes, races and body types, furthering how they aim to make people feel positive about their body’s. TALA’s clothes cater for a size four to twenty, making it possible for all women of all sizes to feel comfortable and empowered by gym clothes”. As a brand, TALA was aware of how underrepresented these groups of people are, and this has only been highlighted by the huge success of the business. Hundreds of fitness influencers, young people and other customers have posted themselves wearing various products, hyping up how confident the product makes them feel. This created a large online buzz where women offer encouragement to each other, and women can also empower others and feel empowered themselves. This shows how fashion can be seen as a structuring force for social groups (Simmel, 1904), as TALA’s branding allows customers to become someone else; confident and liberated. According to Eckarhardt and Arviddson (2015, pp 168), ‘consumption is not about stuff, it is about what you can become with stuff, how it can transform you’. This highlights the notion that fashion can create an identity for people. Another strong aspect of TALA’s branding is the fully recyclable packaging, as well as the plantable tag made from seeded paper, which can be planted in soil and grown into a seasonal tree. Grace Beverley also hosted a ‘conscious concept store’, which was effectively a pop-up shop where influencers and TALA fans could get their hands on the latest unreleased collection as well as exclusive products before anyone else. Experience economy is becoming progressively important and this event highlights this. The shop was dressed to look like a laundrette, making it very Instagramable, with even the press tagline conforming to this; ‘sustainability never looked so cute’. For many brands now, everyday life has become full of aesthetically charged moments which can be used for profit (Thrift, 2008), meaning many campaigns and launches are executed in the way they are just for profit, however in this case it is used positively and in alignment with TALA as a brand. Vegan food was served from a pink truck and there was a TALA game machine encapsulating different limited-edition products. This event created a memorable experience for those who attended, and created a huge buzz on social media, with Grace herself sharing pictures and videos of the event all night. Whilst at the event, people got taught about plastic waste and how to wash

1804231 Kiera Sowery sportswear which reinstates the importance of sustainability to TALA as a brand and shows how it underpins everything that they do. These various factors all enhance the fact that TALA as a brand is a product of its social environment due to there being such high demand for an affordable, fashionable and sustainable activewear brand. However, the strong messages exhibited from the marketing alone, show how TALA is more than just an athleisure brand, it is a community where women can feel empowered, confident and most importantly, everyone can be included. Following on from the inclusivity that this brand creates for all customers, TALA appeals to more than the sustainability conscious. Sustainability is emerging as a ‘megatrend’ (Mittelstaedt et al, 2014) and fashion changes continuously and dramatically, and as a result sustainable fashion becomes increasingly mainstream (Watson and Yan, 2013; Mora et al, 2014), demonstrating how more people have become conscious of buying sustainable clothing, whether that be because the environment is just a trend or not, with even the successful fashion magazine Vogue labelling the environment as a new trend in fashion (Lundblad and Davies, 2016). TALA aims to make sustainability mainstream and want people to choose to buy from their brand because of the way the pieces look, making the sustainability aspects a bonus. TALA has the demand that a fast fashion retailer would have, whilst being slow fashion, which means that consumers have fast fashion expectations of a slow fashion brand when it comes to being able to meet the high demand for their products. Fast fashion retailers introduce new clothes weekly or even daily and older items become quickly irrelevant, whereas slow fashion brands promote ethical conduct and reduced fashion (Fletcher, 2010; Erteiken and Atik 2014). Slow fashion and sustainable fashion seek to empower workers throughout the supply chain, utilize recycling as well as upcycling, and integrate renewable raw materials. This means that TALA has to plan ahead and be realistic when developing new launches, shown by the first ever collection completely selling out of stock within twenty minutes, leaving plenty of consumers disappointed they could not get a hold of any items. Consumers treasure environmentally friendly products (TsanMing Choi, 2017), thus, highlighting the huge audience that TALA has, as they aim to appeal to everybody, not just the sustainability and environmentally conscious, aiming to prove that caring about the environment is more than just a trend. Studies into buying behaviour have suggested that consumers have been showing growing levels of ethical concern in the context of fashion consumption (Niinimaki, 2010). It is noted by Joergens (2006) that consumers have limited choice when it comes to sustainable clothing, as the prices are not comparable to the low-cost fashion which is more readily available. Her discovery was that consumers consider the appearance and style of sustainable fashion un-attractive, and therefore say that price and appearance of clothing would beat ethics when it comes to making clothing decisions, further suggesting how clothing cannot just be sustainable but must also suit the customer’s aesthetic needs (Beard, 2008). This is where TALA comes in, as the brand offers luxury quality without the high price point, and the clothing is fashionable and attractive whilst still being sustainable, thus conforming to these needs of consumers. . Other sustainable brands are marketed to a particular type of person with a high income, insinuating that these brands see sustainability as a ‘trendy thing’ which can have a high price point attached to it. As taste is socially patterned (Bourdieu, 1979) linking to the idea of some brands using sustainability to be trendy by marketing it in this way and therefore some social groups, especially those with a higher income, have a particular taste in sustainable activewear because of the way it is marketed towards them as being fashionable and thus more exclusive because of the high price point. This distinguishes social groups as not everyone was first able to afford sustainable activewear, however this is where Grace Beverley spotted the huge opportunity to create inclusive sustainable athleisure wear at a much lower price.

1804231 Kiera Sowery TALA fits in with broader issues in society by combatting problems relating to power relations within the fashion industry including sustainability, honesty about the supply chain and minimising environmental damage whilst still being affordable and available to all. It is well known that the fashion industry contributes more to climate change than the airline industry, showing just how important the issue is. With an increased global focus toward implementing sustainability in a common way across all sectors, industries such as fashion will need to align their social and environmental actions accordingly throughout the supply chain (Pierson-Smith and Evans, 2017), this will then help to tackle the broader issue within society of climate change. During manufacturing TALA are conscious of their water usage, reducing co2 emissions, recycling and avoiding harmful chemicals, and these factors all need to be considered carefully in order to market themselves as truly sustainable. In order for TALA to offer their products at such reasonable and accessible prices, they are a minimum of 92% sustainable rather than 100%, however they are still working on improving this. Along with this, clothes are all created from recycled materials using sustainable dyes and are either 100% compostable or recycled. In addition, all of the factories that TALA are in business with are higg index and eco label certified, meaning that the sustainability of the brand can be accurately measured so TALA can be scored on their performance. This shows how as a brand, TALA are acting in a socially responsible way by operating sustainably and creating fashionable sustainable activewear for everybody to consume. This slight compromise of the sustainability means for example that a pair of leggings can be bought for £40 rather than double the price, making them even more readily available to all. A current example of how TALA have benefited wider society is through donating half of the revenue from the sales of their ‘flare’ collection to help fight the fires and those in need in Australia during the bush fires, this in itself shows how TALA are having such a positive effect on wider society and that they are aiming to be much more than just a sustainable workout wear brand. A significant issue relating to this within the fashion industry is that many brands have become involved in ‘greenwashing’, which is where a false impression is conveyed to consumers about how environmentally sound their products are, as a marketing ploy. Terms such as ‘organic’, ‘eco’ and ‘green’ are used so a brand is considered to be part of a global trend toward ethical fashion production and consumption practices (Peirson-Smith and Evans, 2017), this is also used as a way of impacting on customer perceptions of the brand and to help them to remain competitive (Black, 2008). Despite this, one of TALA’s missions is to be transparent about every aspect of the supply chain and sustainability of each item, therefore no false impression can be conveyed to customers, creating an honest relationship between the brand and consumer. To conclude, TALA as a brand is a product of its social environment as it focuses on bringing attention to issues of sustainability and helping our planet, which are both very relevant within society as over the past decade, sustainability and ethical conduct have begun to matter much more within fashion. Through their superior social media presence, excellent branding and wide target audience , TALA has communicated their strong message of achieving 100% sustainability to their consumers and created a huge awareness around sustainability and ethics within the fashion industry, which could potentially lead to more sustainable behaviours from their consumers in the future as the brands ethos is continually the focus of everything they do (McDonough and Braungart, 2002). Whilst fashion and sustainability may seem like two completely contradictory concepts; with fashion being defined by short product life cycles (Ertekin and Atik, 2015), and sustainability being defined by ethics, durability and the reuse of products (Cervellon et al, 2010), TALA as a brand makes the two seem as though they are one. This is because of the creation of an

1804231 Kiera Sowery affordable brand adored by thousands of women for the inclusivity, empowerment and confidence it gives people to wear fashionable gym wear, whilst minimising damage to the environment, treating everybody in the supply chain ethically and being sustainable, which in turn creates a community for these women where they are able to continue to thrive. References Beard N. 2008. The branding of ethical fashion and the consumer: a luxury niche or mass-market reality?. Fashion Theory. 12(4): 447–468. Black, S. (2008), Eco Chic: The Fashion Paradox. Black Dog Publishing, London. Bourdieu, P.(1979) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. International journal of cultural policy. 16. pp 63-65. [January 2020]. Available from doi: 10.1080/10286630902952413 Cervellon M, Hjerth H, Ricard S. 2010. Green in fashion? An exploratory study of national differences in consumers concern for eco-fashion. Proceedings of 9th International Marketing Trends Conference. [January 2020]. pp 20–21. Choi, T.M (2017). Pricing and branding for remanufactured fashion products. Journal of cleaner production. 165. Pp 1385-1394. [January 2020]. Available from: doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.163 Eckhardt, G and Arvidsson, A (2015). Ad agencies. Consumption markets and culture. 19(2). pp 167171. [January 2020]. Available from: doi: 10.1080/10253866.2015.1079960 Ertekin, Z.O. and Atik, D. (2014), Sustainable markets: motivating factors, barriers, and remedies for mobilization of slow fashion. Journal of Macromarketing, 35. pp. 53-69, doi: 10.1177/0276146714535932. Fletcher, K. (2010), Slow fashion: an invitation for systems change., Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process and the Fashion. 2(2), pp. 259-266, doi: 10.2752/ 175693810X12774625387594. Joergens C. 2006. Ethical fashion: myth of future trend? Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 10(3): 360–371. Jung, S. and Jin, B. (2014). A theoretical investigation of slow fashion. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 38. pp.510-519. [January 2020]. Available from: doi:10.1111/ijcs.12127 Lundblad, L and Davies, I.(2015). The values and motivations behind sustainable fashion consumption. Journal of consumer behaviour. 15. pp 149-162. [January 2020]. Available from: DOI: 10.1002/cb.1559 McDonough, W. and Braungart, M. (2002), Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. North Point Press, New York, NY.

1804231 Kiera Sowery Mittelstaedt, J.D., Schultz, C.J. II, Kilbourne, W.E. and Peterson, M. (2014), Sustainability as megatrend: two schools of macromarketing thought., Journal of Macromarketing. 34(3), pp. 253264, doi: 10.1177/0276146713520551. NiinimVki K. 2010. Eco-clothing, consumer identity and ideology. Sustainable Development. 18. pp. 150–162. Peirson-Smith, A. and Evans, S. (2017), Green words and eco language: an examination of the consumer perception gap for fashion brands promoting sustainable practices. Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry, 9(3), pp 1-25. [January 2020] Peirson-Smith. A and Evans. S (2017). The sustainability world challenge: Exploring consumer interpretations of frequently used words to promote sustainable fashion brand behaviours and imagery. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 22(2). Pp 252-269. [January 2020] Available from: DOI 10.1108/JFMM-10-2017-0103 Simmel, G (1904). Fashion. International Quarterlry. 1(22) pp 130-155. [January 2020]. Thrift, N.J (2008). Non-Representational Theory: Space, Politic, Affect. Routledge. Watson, M.Z. and Yan, R.-N. (2013), An exploratory study of the decision processes of fast versus slow fashion consumers, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 17(2), pp. 141-159, doi: 10.1108/JFMM-02-2011-0045. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford....