Europe's largest clothing retailer, Spain's Inditex, is taking its flagship Zara brand online. (Jakarta Globe)
It seems that April didn’t dare fool fashion addicts this year, when rumors surrounding Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (also known as H&M) eventually fell to places. If you’re among the brand’s enthusiasts, you must have known that the company finally confirmed that it will open a new store chain under the name “& Other Stories.” And as style devotees around the globe shared in the excitement, their Indonesian counterparts followed a similar craze when H&M named Indonesia as its flagship destination next year.
What does this mean? For Indonesian fashion lovers, new, pretty stuff would find its way into their closets (“hooray!”). For the non-enthusiasts, by contrast, it simply means they would see another international fashion chain making its way to shopping malls (“again?”).
Honestly, I found myself among those dancing and shouting “hooray” (yes, guilty as charged). As a fan of H&M, I always find the high-street retailer has fashionable yet affordable and beautiful things from head to toe. Despite the fact that some of their products were made and tailored in countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia (and surely Indonesia) I still find their quality quite acceptable. I mean, talking about “chic & cheap,” it really is the place, considering people can get a piece of big names like Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo and Marni in H&M stores with reasonable prices.
However, after a day-dreaming session of me doing my weekend ritual in an H&M store in a Jakarta mall, something knocked me in the head. I suddenly doubted that the “chic & cheap” mantra would be applied in Indonesia, where most western fashion brands have been turned into expensive labels. I believe those who have experience splurging euros or dollars for fashion abroad know what I mean. In their home countries, certain brands might be just “some brand,” with reasonable prices and all.
In Indonesia by contrast, all those brands were repositioned as premium or high-end labels. Not just in terms of the price aspect, of course, but more like the way fast-fashion brands like ZARA, Mango, Topshop, Gap, Forever 21, Stradivarius and Bershka were brought to a higher podium where they appear fancier, with more glitter and gold. This similarly goes to casual fashion brands, such as Kipling. In a European country, you can find Kipling’s authentic, latest editions, even in small stores in remote city and hanging like those fake Coach bags in Mangga Dua. No one really thinks they have the air of luxury. Here, on the other hand, the brand appears as some kind of a high-class label.
I think there’s something about Indonesians when it comes to Western fashion brands, and I was intrigued to follow up with this curiosity. At first, I thought it was simply because of our impression toward imported products. But as I went beyond, I’ve realized that for Indonesians, the motivation behind wearing Western brands is to upgrade their image.
Simply said, we want to get our self-representation transformed into something others think better of. So, considering this, I think it makes sense why international retailers or their franchisees took the decision to reposition their brands in Indonesia. They know if something appears more luxurious or premium, it would make a greater seduction for Indonesians seeking a fresh image.
If you doubt this, I found an interesting view from the CEO of global consulting firm Vivaldi Partners Group, Erich Joachimsthaler, in Harvard Business Review. In his reply to the question “What is the right entry point for emerging markets?”, Joachimsthaler said that premium positioning is the only way for brand success in emerging Asian markets.
“The company that enters the middle of the market with an average offering will find it extremely difficult to compete profitably over time,” he argued. Marketing expert Radha Chadha and retail-development consultant Paul Husband, on the other hand, said that many Asian women turned to Western designer clothes because they don’t know how to dress otherwise (ouch!). Especially in countries that emphasize “face” and bringing honor to the family, easy-to-recognize designer labels are a welcome opportunity to flaunt wealth, they said.
So, it’s the moment of truth now: How does this affect your next purchase of Western fashion brands? Will you start to reconsider your fashion statement or continue to make it even bolder? Surely, personal experiences bring different answers. I, personally, stick to the principle of “as long as it’s functional and I love it, and I’ll take it.”
After all, like Oscar de la Renta once said, “When a woman falls in love with something so much that she wants to wear it, it’s at that point that it becomes fashion.”
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/talkback/indonesia-where-western-fashion-labels-get-a-brand-facelift/512254
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