The Effect of Blogging on Fashion Consumption

Introduction

The value of the clothing industry in the UK is currently estimated at £57.7 billion in 2017 and is forecasted to experiment a slow growth of 3.8% reaching £68.69 billion in 2022 (Mintel, 2017). Currently, blogging has become one of the most common ways to communicate as well as share information (Mortara and Roberti, 2017). Fashion blogging has grown considerably over the years and is one of the major topic areas covered by bloggers (Marwick, 2013). This phenomenon is composed of young women displaying their fashion outfits and styles, as well as their interests in fashion (Marwick, 2013). Fashion blogging started around 2000 with the desire of young women to have a distinct place to share their passion and interest for fashion as well as expressing their thoughts on fashion trend with others (Fernandez and Karhawi, 2015). However, the apparition of these types of blogs has created a micro-revolution within the fashion industry and the way fashion practitioners communicate and interact with their audiences. Traditionally, fashion-related information was controlled and strategically disseminate only by members of the fashion industry through fashion magazines, television and fashion week event, giving the impression that being a member of fashion and couture community is something reserved only to a privileged few (Crewe, 2013; Marwick, 2013). Consequently, fashion blogging has changed the old notions of “insider” and “outsider” and allowed those passionate about fashion to be connected to the fashion world (Luvass, 2013; Marwick, 2013). This period of fashion blogging is named “the first-wave” style of blogging. During this period there was not really any professionalization of fashion bloggers or connection with fashion companies for clothes and items placement.

Although there is plenty research concerning social media and blogging, few studies have been conducted in the area of fashion blogging and the influence on fashion consumers’ choices (Esposito et. al. 2015; McCormick and Livett, 2012). The aim of this chapter is to explore the effect of blogging on how contemporary consumers consume fashion. It discusses the increasing interactivity, social networking, the culture of sharing and identity construction social media have engendered and how the spectre of social media in general and blogs, in particular, have created a micro-revolution within the fashion industry, and how fashion practitioners communicate and interact with their audiences.

The combination of fashion and technology no longer exclusively belongs to a fantasy world rather it has become the focus of a new wave of innovators eager to change the course of fashion. The long-term implications of colliding technology and fashion are expected to go as far as to how we market fashion products. New technological developments, materials, and designs appear in rapid succession, making it challenging to demarcate the boundaries of this elusive thing. Mobile and portable technology such as smartphones and tablets have radically transformed our ways of navigating, perceiving, communicating, eating, learning, and living over the past few decades (see, for example, Goggin and Hjorth eds. 2014).

The evolution of digital marketing can be traced back to the publication of AT&T banner on a platform that would become Wired.Com later in 1994. Based on this establishment, Felix et al. (2017) argued that digital space has fundamentally changed since its inception. With the advent of a digital platform, marketers are facilitated to gauge where the audience clicked, the way they behaved. Therefore, social media practically closed the loop, availing marketers to connect deciphered dots of identity as never before. The evolution of social media can further be traced back to early 2000, where social media pioneers such as Facebook considered collaborating with American colleges to display advertisements. In 2006, Facebook emerged as a prime player in social media marketing as it signed its first primary advertisement deal, a certain display partnership with JP Morgan chase, for promoting Chase Credit Credits (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2016). The trend further continued through YouTube, launching its very firsts ads within its own eco system.