People are Perplexing?
As stated in Perspectives On Psychological Science by Bandura (2006), “Human forebears evolved into a sentient agentic species. Their advanced symbolizing capacity enabled humans to transcend the dictates of their immediate environment and made them unique in their power to shape their life circumstances and the course of their lives.” (Bandura, 2006) Correlating to this, humans or people, the second pillar of the FBS, the sentient species has now accustomed itself to the present culture with an emerging generation of zoomers known as Gen Z.
Gen Zers are the “digital natives”, a generation waking up and sleeping in the presence of internet, with the range being as widespread as pre-teens to working and in-debt adults in their 20’s. Amidst various pessimistic environmental conditions like the Covid-19, wars and global unrest, the Gen Z is known for their idealistic mindset. From becoming the trendsetters for “inclusive consumerism” to playing a responsible part in checking the worsening climate changes, Gen Z seeks transparency and a higher goal that is for betterment of diverse group of people. (Mckinsey Insights, 2023)
In a podcast from McKinsey and Company, that talked about having Gen Z as the consumers, shed light on the aspects that Gen Z pursue as consumers. The podcast talked about “individuality” being the core driving force behind their shopping habits. Bo Finneman in the podcast spoke, “The piece I would add, too, is it feels to me like the convergence of generational mindsets, where you have Gen Z saying, “I like the aspect of being an individual. I like the aspect of having true thoughts of my own.” And we see in the marketing where Gen Zs will say, “I’m not interested in what the brand is saying about itself. I’m interested in coming up with my own perceptions based on all these sorts of sources.”” (Rahilly, 2020)
Another value Gen Z delegates for is being “woke”, which can be defined as being vocal towards social injustices. As stated in the article “The influence of ‘woke’ consumers on fashion” published in the Mcinskey and Company, “Many brands and retailers, including Levi Strauss and Nike, are on board, and both companies have taken a clear stance on social issues in recent months…” Anither example stated was, “Some fashion players have attached collections and ranges to specific causes—for example, H&M launched a Pride collection in 2018 in support of the LGBTQ+ community.” (Ahmed, 2019)
Thus, a conclusion that can be taken from the information gathered, Gen Zers are the upcoming prime consumers of the fashion industry. Hence, for a brand to attract the zoomers and have them as their loyal consumer, there must be certain values and skill sets that the brand establishes for itself and the consumers; these values and skills sets could be being vocal about pressing issues, flexibility and individualism, creative sustainability and maintaining those skills over time.
References:
Ahmed, Imran. et al (2019) ‘The influence of ‘woke’ consumers on fashion’, McKinsey and Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-influence-of-woke-consumers-on-fashion (Accessed: 13 October 2023)
Bandura, A., 2006. Toward a psychology of human agency. Perspectives on psychological science, 1(2), pp.164-180. Available at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4c530339369cff0093101ba611b28e48620f3493 (Accessed: 13 October 2023)
McKinsey Insights, (2023) ‘What Is Gen Z?’, McKinsey And Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z#/ (Accessed: 13 October 2023)
Rahilly, Lucia. (2020) Meet Generation Z: Shaping the future of shopping [McKinsey Podcasts]. August 4. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/meet-generation-z-shaping-the-future-of-shopping (Accessed: 13 October 2023).
Image References:
Figure 1: https://kotopopi.com/millennials-evolution-chart/
Featured image: https://stock.adobe.com/uk/search/images?k=generation+z&asset_id=484689516