dbrenn22's blog

I was inspired by our final project, there is so much thought, consideration and preparation that goes into a brand. I wanted to look into and do a little bit of research on one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie. Anthropologie is a “sister-store” to Urban Outfitter and Freepeople, all of the stores lay under the Urban name. Though each store is similar, known for their visual merchandising and current, up to date clothing each brand is very different because of the people they are trying to target. Each brand chooses a particular customer segment, and once chosen, sets out to create sustainable points of distinction with that segment” and that “the emphasis is on creativity.

Urban Outfitters : Aims to serve an 18-30 year old target market, generally includes single, affluent people who live in cities, with a funky and unique sense of style. Often classifies their ideal customers as a, fashionable hipster.

Free People : For the carefree, confident and curious young woman who appreciates our distinctive assortment of apparel, accessories and housewares; targeting an older crowd than Urban but younger than Anthropologie. The store has been described as “upscale homeless.” The target customers were away from home, but they had lots of their parents’ money to spend.

Anthropologie’s target market is :  Women between the ages of 30-40 who are both affluent and individuals who want to reflect their unique style with what they wear. She is very urban minded and considers their target customer a “friend”; along with being “well-read and well-traveled.” She’s into cooking, gardening, and wine. She has a natural curiosity about the world.

Last week I attend the Ralph Lauren Internship Presentation; representatives from the company came out to discuss all of the different opportunities they offer. Honestly, I never was for or against the brand; I always thought of them as a strong, known company but I never thought of interning for them. Right as you walked into the Student Center a film was playing, the company created a 10-15 minute video of their brand in a net-shell. From all of the different labels, to stores all over the world, to even segments of Ralph speaking about his company; it was a great way to start the presentation while getting comfortable with the company.For a person like myself, who honestly didn’t have the biggest interest in the company before walking through the front doors, it certainly opened my eyes to all of the new possibilities this brand could offer me. A smart marketing tool they used during the presentation was using past SCAD interns, they got up and talked about what they did for the company and how it not only built their portfolio but also their work ethic. Noami Fox, senior fibers major, was the last student to talk about her summer internship in the home department. She worked on a team, but in additional she got to create her own side project that she ended up presenting three times to Ralph Lauren Employees. As a marketing student, I found out they are really looking for a marketing student that is good with programs like excel, powerpoint, photo shop, and illustrator. The presentation was formatted very well, it was well thought out and I learned a lot about not only the internship opportunities, but also about their company! I was very glad I attended the presentation, how I have a better understanding about what companies are looking for in Fashion Marketing and Management students portfolios.

This week I was inspire by a linen paper I wrote for textiles class. I have been wearing linen for years and its one of my favorite fabric, yet I was surprised how little I knew about the textile. This is a little bit I learned about linen…. To be able to dye linen, you need to boil the fibers while adding ammonia; this will increase the PH which will improve the absorbent levels. Fun fact, before ammonia was readily available people had to use stale urine as a substitute. After the fiber’s PH level increases it than has to go through the mordant process, metallic salts and chemicals added to the fibers making them able to easily absorb pigments. Natural dyes don’t work well with linen, the pigments will only attach to the outer layer of the fibers due to the way its bind. Numerous people buy linen due to the fact it is natural, the dying stage adds more unneeded chemicals to the process.