Can Marketing Master Rihanna Really Innovate The Underwear Industry?

Rihanna is a popular icon, and a marketing guru as a new brand. Savage x Fenty stay After the high-profile completion of the show, it immediately attracted the envy and uneasiness of the entire underwear industry. With the diversity and inclusiveness of skin color, figure and sex, we can rewrite the rules of the underwear industry that have been established for many years. Nothing is clear until financial performance and market share are measured.

        During the fashion week of New York this season, the woman, who is also a singer, songwriter, actor and fashion entrepreneur, has held a high-profile Savage x Fenty show. The media has praised her pioneering and diversity in the selection of models and the supply of products.

        Industry executives said Rihanna's efforts are undoubtedly worth praising. She has made other brands never dare to try in the market, but her big show is not very different from that of Wei Ming. Despite all the criticism and controversy, Rihanna has brought a great shock to the whole industry. Many companies claim that they are going to innovate and learn from her. Victoria s Secret, a lingerie giant, decided to suspend its own secret show when its parent company L Brands scandal continued, but fans did not seem to care. "Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show is the most realistic expression of women's status and a good example of the marketing of underwear industry," Mary's Praag, President of the underwear group Chico's FAS, told WWD. Nevertheless, it is easy to see that there are many similarities between the Savage x Fenty show and the Wei Mei show. For example, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Alek Wek and Joan Smalls as models are all involved in the big show and Savage x Savage show. In addition, musicians Halsey participated in the two shows. The underwear style sold by Savage x Fenty, Victoria 's Secret also had a similar style. Without doubt, Diversity is one of the biggest differences between Savage x Fenty and Victoria's Secret. Secret Angels are generally skinny, and too thin models will overexert their confidence and enthusiasm in ordinary women. Although it did hire the first big code in October, it seems too late.

        Indeed, Rihanna has always been a leader in skin color diversity, but her brand is far from the only brand that has an inclusive body. Brands like Adore Me, Wacoal and ThirdLove have tried before her. Rihanna has been praised for its innovative underwear industry, which is still dominated by the secret of Vitoria. According to data from market research firm Euromonitor International, In 2018, the market share of women's underwear market in the US and the international market ranked first, 24% and 4% respectively. In the same year, Victoria's Secret sold bra and underwear products worth $7 billion 400 million. According to Stylophane, a digital marketing agency, it is also the most popular clothing brand on Instagram. According to the data, in September 2019, it received more than 14 million 700 thousand compliment on Instagram, and the second Savage x Fenty was only a small part of the figure, with more than 2 million 900 thousand people in the same month.

        All of this raises a question: what exactly is the brand product of Rihanna? The answer may be: Rihanna itself.  "The core strength of Savage x Fenty is Rihanna," Cora Harrington, founder and editor and chief executive of Lingerie Addict blog, said "Products are similar to those of other brands. " Harrington also wrote a book entitled "In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear and Love underwear", which once pointed out that "there are many brands because the diversity is not enough to be criticized by the society."

        Savage x Fenty provides bra size cups from A to H, but Natori also has A to H cups; ThirdLove and Chantelle have a cup of I; the bra comes to the cup; the bra number is from the cup to the cup; from the cup to the cup, there are 130 different sizes of underwear. "But the difference is that other brands do not have Rihanna," Harrington said. "In terms of public awareness or public image, Savage x Fenty is entering the field that has been occupied for many years. Last year, the models were talking about how to become a secret angel. Now we are seeing models and others saying that Savage x Fenty is their real goal. " The parent company L Brands declined to comment on the matter. Despite the difficulties and criticism, there are still some competitive advantages, including 1143 retail outlets in the United States. In some parts of the United States, it is basically the only option to buy bra.

        One of the owners of underwear boutique Journelle, Cosabella co chief executive, Guido Campello, said: "department stores are the place to buy underwear, and then Victoria" s Secret. " Although the market share of Wei's market is getting smaller and smaller, it accounts for only 32% of the US market in 2015, but the market share of competitors is far less than that of the secret market. According to Euro international data, the market share of Fruit of the Loom ranked second, but only 5.1%. The Aerie of American Eagle Outfitters is only 3%. Ayako Homma, a fashion and luxury consultant at Euromonitor, said that it is too early for Rihanna Savage x Fenty to occupy much market share. Since Savage x Fenty does not have any physical stores, products can only be found through savagex.com and Amazon, so the current market share may be comparable to that of a company such as a company. Although the Rihanna has been criticized more and more for cater to the male aesthetic standards, the audience seems to be interested in labeling the program of "Female Aesthetics". Few people can clearly express what the meaning of Female Aesthetics is. Emma Parker, founder of Playful Promises, the British lingerie company, said: "I'm sure there will still be men who are concerned about the big show of Rihanna and see what kind of underwear women wear. It's a strange idea that men only like to look at a woman of figure. I don't think men's preferences are so simple. " TechStyle fashion group said that according to the company's consumer survey, 88% of the customers said they would recommend these products to their friends. 81% of the customers said that the products were worth the value, while the rate of return of the products was only 8%.

        Bob Vitale, who served as chief executive officer of Wacoal America for more than 7 years, told WWD that "If it's a new company and a celebrity's name, then the press will be able to report and praise it. This is a fashion, even though the brand has just appeared. " Some critics say the problem in the underwear industry may lie in the fact that too many men are monopolizing power. Harrington thinks this view is "fallacy". She said, "I understand that most lingerie brands have female designers, and women tend to hold the highest positions. It is generally accepted that most lingerie companies are run by men, which in fact does not reflect the reality of the industry." Aerie global brand President Jennifer Foyle, Lively CEO and founder Michelle Cordeiro Grant, chief executive Michelle and Lam, Knix founder and chief executive officer, Joanna Joanna, they are all female leaders. "Male dominated culture will tell women what sex is, which is ineffective. Today, this is meaningless for today's young women. " Consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow said.

　　 Wacoal's Vitale points out that although there are some men in senior management, 100% of Wacoal's design team is female, and as a man, it has not put him at a disadvantage. Vitale added, "I've been in this industry for 42 years. I'm not sure what men's disadvantage is in the underwear industry. The only disadvantage is that they can't try fitting in the fitting room."

        Savage x Fenty is a joint venture between Rihanna and TechStyle, but Goldenberg said, 75% of Savage x Fenty employees are women, and 82% of the company's management is women. Regardless of the composition of TechStyle employees, Rihanna is still the spokesperson for Savage x Fenty. She is a female leader, especially a female leader in the underwear industry, which seems to resonate with those who wish to be represented.     

        "Rihanna is honest, it makes people feel that she is our representative," says Yarrow, a consumer psychologist. "She has a sense of intimacy. She allows herself to be more fragile and imperfect, which makes other women feel connected to her." These imperfections and inclusiveness are shown in many forms in the Savage x Fenty show. Models transcend race backgrounds, have different stature, cross gender models, and even disabled models. Although the angels seem to have been modified, even on T, the models on Rihanna show no disguise of their stretch marks, artificial limbs and babies' uplift on the lower abdomen.

        "Women prefer to be dynamic at any stage. I think this is what contemporary women want to see," said Candace Corlett, President of WSL Strategic Retail, a retail consultancy in New York. Another notable thing is that the Rihanna shows its angels as a unique and perfect female image, and the models are more inclusive; they seem to represent everyone.

        The secret show is still full of fantasies, giving women a vision of their own bodies. "Basically, women want men to look beautiful," Yarrow said. "They always want to make themselves look more suitable for men. They want to make themselves look more beautiful, which is part of human nature, especially when you are young. Another thing that Rihanna is doing is to make the underwear world fun and sexy - yet still inclusive. Journelle's Campello said: "one of the problems in the current market is that the sexy market in the past is out of date, and people want to get rid of it now. Rihanna is making underwear fresh and exciting. But Corlett retorts, "in fashion, we are still surrounded by zero code clothes. I don't think we have reached the saturation state of women of all sizes." "We are one of the first brands to let women see their passion, influence on the community and the true self. We strive to create a tolerant and all the world that we all feel to be represented, and together with like-minded leaders. The purpose of Savage x Fenty is not to knock down the secrets of Vitoria and sell products. Homma said that it is too early to assert that Savage x Fenty can get much market share, but it is obvious that Minority brands are reforming the underwear industry in an all-round way. They are rewriting the rules of the competition.