Fashion is an extremely vibrant and exciting industry that employs more than a million people across the US and attracts billions of aspiring designers and professions. However, certain sections of society, workers and other talented and well-deserving individuals are often overlooked, especially people of color and different body types. These people have struggled to break into the industry, and those who have managed to enter often feel out of place. Consequently, various brands have taken note and are adopting solutions to become more inclusive, but these attempts seem to fall short. In such scenarios, customization is the best bet for fashion brands as they can be more transparent and manufacture designs that are inclusive. The clothes design software is one such customization tool that allows your buyers to select and wear apparel that matches perfectly with their personality, fashion taste, body type, and color. It also has digital features that make it easier for buyers to preview the product before heading for the final payment.
Apparel Design Software Offers Solutions to Embrace Diversity and Inclusivity
For many fashion lovers, the apparel industry is considered racist and ignorant to the discrimination it has been leading to in society. However, significant barriers had started to break down over the last year, when a black designer was installed at a leading luxury house. In fact, black photographers were called in to shoot the cover of Vogue for the first time and to help the leading magazine to shun its age-old exclusivity. More people joining the cause of people with diverse backgrounds joining the fashion industry is making its more marketing images. The sector is still riffing with systematic barriers for non-white creatives and executives, especially for the back designers, as the sector gradually begins to recognize and address their issues. It also leads to increasingly troubling gaffes for fashion's leaders, such as Prada's monkey trinkets that closely resembled racist caricatures or Dolce & Gabbana's stereotype-heavy China video campaign.
Additionally, for a long-time, diversity and inclusion have become buzzwords in the fashion industry in recent months. The terms have been bandied about by brands and companies keen to show their alignment with both causes, yet too many are using them incorrectly, putting us steps behind rather than finally moving forward. It is best and high time that both elements are used at the forefront of the business goals, but with caution. Fashion brands must establish transparency and promote progression so that they can display to the world that they are sensitive towards the persisting injustice done to the overlooked customers. It is imperative that they clear their consciousness and understand what these two words really entail and the difference between the two. The problem the apparel sector is currently witnessing is that diversity and inclusion seem to come as a package, and when the 'diversity' box is ticked, it is wrongly assumed that the inclusivity one has, too, but this is far from the case.
Diversity on its own is open to various interpretations because it is arguably, an outward-facing achievement. For instance, brands are increasingly using catwalks as the medium to display their diverse range of models, such as age, size, race, and ability. This display satisfies customers that the brand is working on the aspects related to diversity, and inclusivity will follow from it. But what people tend to forget is that were these models were happy, safe, and comfortable when they were asked to do the catwalk. Were they valued? Were they paid the same as their male or younger counterparts or white models, for that matter? One of the most underrated questions inclusivity asks is whether, in that instance, the models would take part again. Do they truly believe that that brand understands the need for diversity? These questions will help fashion brands introspect about what they are offering and the difference in what they practice and preach.
A comprehensive New York Times piece published earlier this year highlights the executive level's problems and the height of ignorance when they were asked about diversity issues. The top-level executives allowed interviews via emails or questions well in advance, relied heavily on PR jargon to describe initiatives and completely shied away from sharing hard numbers to support their claim. As per CaSandra Diggs, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) president, brands should focus more on quotas, which will help them emphasize quantity over quality. Though quotas undermine the diverse representation of people and their talent, it is crucial in identifying the loopholes and enable brands to work towards them. The president isn't completely wrong about focusing more on quality to measure progress.
Besides, the rising consciousness among consumers has taken centre stage across all forms of social media. Generation Z voices and their sociopolitical movement for embracing all body types and skin colors are being heard everywhere in recent years. After the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police, the protests that ensued during the summer of 2020 cornered a number of industries, including the fashion sector, into publicly declaring their support for the Black community. Brands for a long-time were indeed known for their less-than-stellar reputation for racial diversity, and post the protest, brands across all facets of the business made formal and informal commitments to do better. The industry that had specifically faced a broad array of criticism, including diversity, inclusivity, ethicality, and sustainability, and despite fashion brands making progressive efforts that were previously unheard of, there is still a long way to go. And with diversity and inclusivity becoming the essential components of online retail for consumers, brands must acknowledge the need for racial diversity, body inclusivity, sexual representation, and disability community representation. They are the future of fashion. One of the first culprits of fashion inclusivity was and continues to remain the size inclusion. The narrative of skinny, long-legged models with light skin tones and sharp features gradually disappears in favor of body positivity movement. The women and men of all body types and sizes are represented in the collection introduced by various labels. The unrealistic beauty standards and sizes for women ranging from 0-4 have become intolerable among the public. According to Luxiders Magazine, the body positivity movement is the "largest push-back against a lack of diversity and positive self-images in the fashion industry."
Apparel Design Software Helps Brands to Maintain Body Positivity Promises
Body positivity was one of the first aspects of fashion inclusivity highlighted in the public eye, largely because traditional modelling agencies demanded white, skinny, and young females. The narrative of being slim was so strong that women who were didn't fall in the category lacked self-esteem. It was so vividly present in both men and women that according to Park Nicollet Melrose Center, nearly 70 per cent of perfectly healthy women desire to be thinner, and 80 per cent don't like how they look. Besides, size inclusivity is only one part of the problem, and with a growing demand now, the fashion industry needs to look for diverse options in the fashion industry, specifically to embrace racial and ethnic diversity. According to The Business of Fashion, the practice of "occasionally putting a non-white face on a magazine cover" is no longer enough, nor has it ever been. Fashion is meant to reflect the audience for which it serves, which means finally representing people of color community rather than exclusively targeting white people. However, the 3D clothing design software, a customization solution, allows brands to deal with this problem to a great extent as it allows buyers to determine what they want and how they want to wear. It thus reduces the influence of brands to dictate what should be manufactured and help them produce and design clothes that celebrate each customer and embrace their differences.
To know more - https://idesignibuy.weebly.com/blog/apparel-design-software-helps-fashion-brands-to-keep-their-diversity-and-inclusivity-promise