What Millennials Really Want: How to Create Effective Clothing Brands

There’s a reason why market executives are so obsessed with millennials: they are the single largest generation alive today. Estimates by analysts at Goldman Sachs pin the number down to somewhere between 90 to 92 million, and this spells opportunity for both SMEs and large business empires.

The only problem with millennials is their extremely unpredictable behavior, which is arguably a reflection of the abrupt economic changes brought about by the advent of revolutionary technology such as computers and the internet. It makes sense therefore, to try tapping into this market segment by finding out what drives them. Let’s try figuring out what this highly elusive generation really wants when it comes to style and fashion.

Millennials don’t like over-the-top designs
Over the top, quirky designs were a feature of the 1980s era, when movies such as Rambo and Ghostbusters dominated theaters. A far simpler approach to fashion has been adopted since the 90s rolled away. Classic hits such as Pulp Fiction, The Silence of the Lambs and The Shawshank Redemption have redefined fashion to emphasize comfort wear, non itchy clothing labels such as damask or satin woven neck labels, durability and simplicity of clothes with tagless clothing heat seal or super soft printed satin labels.

Millennials are obsessed with social media
In the age of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest; Social media allows millennials, to keep track of all the latest fashion trends and build their own unique identity around their newly acquired online tastes. It is quiet common to find young people subscribing to their favorite brands and discussing them online. Fashion has always been social. The definition of “social” has been for century and now the expansion is truly visible. Millennials do not ask friends for their opinion what to wear or where to buy. They read fashion blogs and sift photos on Pinterest. Who wear what… The most influencer brands, outspoken fashion role models and fashion activists have spread marketing campaigns with powerful messages

An example would be Gucci’s Instagram content, which is currently among the most discussed fashion-related topics on the internet. Millennials want to strike a healthy balance between uniqueness and being part of the crowd.

The trend of DIY: if you can do it, so can I
We find that millennials like poking their noses into every industry. Their preference to take matters into their own hands interferes with virtually every facet of life. They want to repair their own computers, air conditioners, and even create their own businesses; create clothing fashion brand.

Crowd platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo allow millennials to become their own bosses: call them entrepreneurs for hire, which befits the slogan ‘for the people, by the people’.

Ignoring popular labels from the past
Millennials are all too aware of what used to be popular with the ‘in-crowd’ from the past generations. And their growing resentment towards this has repelled them into the opposite direction. We believe this could be the primary reason why young people have opted to hop on board the Dollar Shave Club bandwagon in wanton abandon of more popular brands like Gillette and Harry’s.

Millennials can be identified as a ragtag group of indie entrepreneurs who sometimes, just sometimes, borrow from the past if only to pay homage to it.

Millennials are socially conscious buyers
Millennials care about issues like the environment, poverty, war and child labor. As such, they keep an eye out for companies which take an active part in advocacy projects to empower poor communities by creating opportunities. The ability to make a difference while standing out from the crowd is what drives millennials into thinking out of the box. “What else does your brand bring to the table?” “What advocacy groups is your brand a part of?“