A report called ‘The New Consumer Behaviour Paradigm’ conducted by Retail Forward & Price Water Cooper US detailed how the blinkered spending habits of Generation Y (that’s all you fashionistas who grew up in the design frenzies of the 1980’s and label conscious 90’s) could actually bring about an economic recovery.
Never experiencing a great depression or knowing the ration restrictions of a war-torn country; Generation Y were instead privy to the ‘spend, spend, spend’ Wall Street yuppie opulence that came with the fast-paced life of the 80’s. Over-protective parenting skills that brought about the term ‘cotton wool kids’ only succeeded in producing an attitude of infallibility, banks handed us credit cards and offered us loans before we’d even fled the nest and apparently reality television is also heavily to blame, showing an impressionable youth that fame and fortune could be achieved without learning a craft or expressing a specific talent. We learnt to live life in the fast lane and almost certainly in the red and according to EMC, this outlook has brought forth a new emerging trend, leading this latest wave to be labelled as the ‘Bourgeois Bohemians’.
This new lavish lifestyle is further enhanced by more positive aspects, as we now find ourselves in a culture where the element of choice is our most important ally. In nearly every era prior to our current free society, there has been some factor of restriction in what we were allowed to embrace. Although past manipulations were clever, as we felt that we had complete consumer control but the truth is; you can only buy what’s for sale. However, we are now also a generation with information at our fingertips and as we’re always told; knowledge is power. Lessons were learned from the over-indulgence of the 80’s, where unregulated systems lead to the crashing downfall of finance and industry but as a result, safety nets have now been put in place to not only protect companies and our ‘over-spending’ selves but to allow a broader market, giving us back our right to choose.
Industries that have previously come under fire have harnessed the might of the internet to reach new audiences and provide us with more information on each of their processes, alongside working hard to instil systems that allow the co-existence of different methods of production and manufacture. Trusted labelling initiatives for example, have since come into their own, giving options were there weren’t any before. Look to the food industry where you can now trace ingredients to know whether what you’re buying is truly organic, has been reared through the use of agricultural chemicals or produced using GM technology, or indeed, the ability to know that you have helped to alleviate poverty and that your food is subject to sustainable development when you purchase items with the Fairtrade mark. Likewise, the fur trade is now one of the most regulated industries around and the introduction of its OA™ (Origin Assured) label not only ensures quality but also restores confidence to the consumer that fur bearing its logo has been responsibly and sustainably farmed. As a result, there are now over 400 renowned designers in the fashion industry that stand by the OA™ label and have since brought fur back into their latest collections.
Never experiencing a great depression or knowing the ration restrictions of a war-torn country; Generation Y were instead privy to the ‘spend, spend, spend’ Wall Street yuppie opulence that came with the fast-paced life of the 80’s. Over-protective parenting skills that brought about the term ‘cotton wool kids’ only succeeded in producing an attitude of infallibility, banks handed us credit cards and offered us loans before we’d even fled the nest and apparently reality television is also heavily to blame, showing an impressionable youth that fame and fortune could be achieved without learning a craft or expressing a specific talent. We learnt to live life in the fast lane and almost certainly in the red and according to EMC, this outlook has brought forth a new emerging trend, leading this latest wave to be labelled as the ‘Bourgeois Bohemians’.
This new lavish lifestyle is further enhanced by more positive aspects, as we now find ourselves in a culture where the element of choice is our most important ally. In nearly every era prior to our current free society, there has been some factor of restriction in what we were allowed to embrace. Although past manipulations were clever, as we felt that we had complete consumer control but the truth is; you can only buy what’s for sale. However, we are now also a generation with information at our fingertips and as we’re always told; knowledge is power. Lessons were learned from the over-indulgence of the 80’s, where unregulated systems lead to the crashing downfall of finance and industry but as a result, safety nets have now been put in place to not only protect companies and our ‘over-spending’ selves but to allow a broader market, giving us back our right to choose.
Industries that have previously come under fire have harnessed the might of the internet to reach new audiences and provide us with more information on each of their processes, alongside working hard to instil systems that allow the co-existence of different methods of production and manufacture. Trusted labelling initiatives for example, have since come into their own, giving options were there weren’t any before. Look to the food industry where you can now trace ingredients to know whether what you’re buying is truly organic, has been reared through the use of agricultural chemicals or produced using GM technology, or indeed, the ability to know that you have helped to alleviate poverty and that your food is subject to sustainable development when you purchase items with the Fairtrade mark. Likewise, the fur trade is now one of the most regulated industries around and the introduction of its OA™ (Origin Assured) label not only ensures quality but also restores confidence to the consumer that fur bearing its logo has been responsibly and sustainably farmed. As a result, there are now over 400 renowned designers in the fashion industry that stand by the OA™ label and have since brought fur back into their latest collections.
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