The Clothing Company's Main Goal

- Power of Rivalry: The rivalry in this sector is intense and forces Abercrombie to continuously work on innovating and merger from the others, in order to maintain its status. The main competitors are:

Patagonia’s diverse product line combined with an increase in the interest in sustainability will help retain current customers and acquire new ones. “Use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” (Patagonia, 2017). From their mission statement, this provides a clear and concise message of the company’s intention. The “more down jackets and cotton fleeces the company sells, the more it can do for the planet” (The Drum,

Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra

J.Crew as an iconic brand targeting young working professional by focusing on preppy and classy look failed in identifying brand focus. Also, their business model is performing poorly in the fast-fashion industry compare to traditional competitors, with its high prices, diverging quality, and undesirable brand image. Hence, the brand perception by customers has changed and many of them prefer to purchase the discounted products rather than full-priced items.

Urban Outfitters, often referring to itself as simply ‘UO’, is the corporate entity that includes retail chains Urban Outfitters, Anthropolgie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN, has became the greatest global retailer in the world. Back in the beginning, the first Urban Outfitter store was opened on a street nearby Pennsylvania University in 1970 by Dick Hayne and Scott Belair, both are the company’s chief executive officers (CEO). The first store’s name was Free People and it sold furniture, second-hand clothing, accessories, and decorative items. The store’s target market was young people, especially college students and it continues to dominate this market segment.

TenTree has created a product with the positioning to give customers clothing options that are environmentally and socially responsible. They promise to plant ten trees for every item purchased and only use factories that are approved by WRAP. (TenTree, n.d.) They also have a large selection of t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, tanks, hats, and toques, in a variety of different colours and sizes. (TenTree, n.d.) Satisfying the customer wants for a wide variety of socially and environmentally responsible clothing has created functional-instrumental value for their customers.

Urban Outfitters is a growing clothing corporation; its popularity has grown from a small store in Philadelphia into a large, multinational company operating in ten countries. Urban Outfitters is an American retail store that was founded in 1970 by Richard Hayne and Scott Belair that were retail novices. In the United States, Europe, and Canada there are over 130 stores and over 400 stores across the world. The company is labeled as a retro, hipster, bohemian, and stylish merchandiser that caters to the 18 - 30 age group. It uses past fashion trends to influence their hipster theme shown through their clothing, shoes, accessories, and housewares. The company manages 5 brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN.

Nordstrom has continued to improve their dedication to the environment, steps such as: reducing carbon dioxide released into the air, using organic cottons and investing time and money into the discovery of more sustainable fabric clarification. Although many of these steps may seem like obvious choices so many large companies are still struggling to make the leap nordstrom has shown in these areas. The hunt for more sustainable fabrics is in hopes to lower the unlawfully logged forests and continue to encourage other brands, which they outsource from to be aware of how and where their fabric materials are made. The ethical decision to improve their own environmental practices and inspire other brands to do the same shows they care about the recent changes in society and are willing to form to these

Victoria’s Secret is a retail chain of lingerie, beauty supplies, and fragrances. The purpose of the line is to make females feel sexy, powerful, and young. They do not have a lot of lingerie for the more voluptuous females; however, what they do have makes the lady feel sexy and confident. Victoria’s Secret was created by a man – men know how they want their women to look like so he took his imagery of beautiful women to make his lingerie line.

GoodWeave is an organization which Target partnered with that prevented child labor in the manufacturing of their own brand woven rugs. The GoodWeave organization is aiming to stop child labor in the carpet industry and to replicate its market-based approach in other sectors according to their mission statement. Target’s goal is to provide their guests with the assurance that their rugs are responsibly sourced through the GoodWeave organization. Target partnered with the Natural Defense Council on Clean by Design, their mission is to reduce environmental impacts of suppliers abroad. Target saved in water, energy and materials from pilots in Chinese apparel textile mills. When that started happening, the saving of materials and such convinced Target to explore how the reducing can be applied to home textiles in 2015. The last of the goals was EcoSet, 420 tons of waste was created from adverting shoots since 2009 and it’s time to act and save that waste.

People Tree was born with a simple idea – to create sustainable and fair trade fashion for everyone. Started more than 25 years ago, People Tree is today recognised as a pioneer in ethical and sustainable fashion by their customers and the fashion industry. The company

Polo Ralph Lauren mission statement, "refine the American style, deliver quality products, create worlds, invite people to participate in our dreams". I think that means polo is trying to create the new American style by offering the best product to its customers, and satisfying their customers with high-end products. They are the savvy innovators of the lifestyle advertisers who tell a story and be the first to create stores that encourage customer engagement in the lifestyle.

The easiest way that we can become more sustainable is through aligning the help of a third-party certifier such as The Rainforest Alliance (TRA) with our own business. We can make small changes, and help the environment as well as increasing our profits. Great Britian: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit, 2009 suggests that TRA is known for the work that they do in sustaining agriculture, forestry, and tourism practices. In addition to playing a large part in sustainability TRA also focuses on education of such problems and addresses climate change and adopt the slogan ‘Shop the frog.”

This model was developed by Tom Peters, Robert Waterman and Julien Philips with a help from Richard Pascale and Anthony G. Athos in 80s and even now haven’t lost its relevance as management planning tool. Model presents 7 key elements of the company such as: Structure, Strategy, Skills, Staff, Style, Systems, and Shared Values. The main point of the model is that all the seven areas are interconnected and a change in one area requires change in the rest of a firm for it to function effectively.

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” Patagonia's unique mission statement shows what they stand for and proves to competitors that their products will always be of the highest quality and manufactured without harming the environment, which is very important to the target market that the brand sells to. With a mission statement this bold, consumers know that they are buying products from a company that cares, which is rare to find because how competitive the market is. What propelled Patagonia into the limelight as a premier outdoor clothing brand was its high quality and sustainably produced line of products. Patagonia was the leading company to pave the way in waste reduction. Patagonia's iconic design and high tech materials allowed for the brand to gain significant market share amongst consumers.