University of Rhode Island
Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design
Professor Suzawa talking to the class
TMD 402K The Art and Science of Fashion - Speaker Summaries
Gilbert S. Suzawa: Gold, Baubles and Fashion: An Economic Perspective, by Sara Rhodes
Gold, Baubles and Fashion captures the interaction between the precious metal, costume jewelry and the apparel industry. We must consider how fashion is defined. When we discuss fashion are we talking about the apparel or the jewelry? As a TMD student I would consider apparel as fashion however Suzawa considers jewelry to be the fashion statement and the apparel as a means to accentuate the jewel.
The jewelry trade is very similar to that of apparel. It operates using two seasons, Spring and Fall, and has sales peaks at Easter and Christmas. Suzawa has spent a considerable amount of his professional life researching the jewelry manufacturing industry and how the gold peak in the 1980’s affected it.
Chanel first popularized costume jewelry in the 1920’s, and since then it has been widely used by consumers in all walks of society. The question is how does the consumer decide what is fashionable, and how much of this is related to the price of goods?
Retailers tend to look at sales in terms of profit and units rather than the reasons for those sales, they tend to miscalculate these reasons. The industry explanation for the drop in Jewelry consumption was based on the link between apparel and jewelry consumption; a new outfit needs fewer accessories as it speaks for itself, whereas an old outfit needs accessories to make it exciting again.
Gold prices peaked at $850/oz in the 1980’s and this meant that the cost of manufacturing precious jewelry also went up. Gold cost more to buy, therefore more to manufacture, jewelry cost more to buy and ultimately increased the retail price. The majority could therefore not afford to buy precious metals and jewelers made less profit, due to poor mark up. During these times costume jewelry was more attractive to both the retailer and the consumer. It was cheaper to manufacturer, had a better mark up and the production price would rise slower than that of precious metal. Ultimately the consumer could still afford the product. Suzawa has called the switch in popularity during these periods the Substitution Theory.
Fashion is no longer all about the ‘glitz and the glamour’ it’s about being comfortable in your clothes and within yourself. People are willing to invest in a product to be comfortable, rising price points are turning the market upside down. Fashion is no longer about making people look good, it’s about the profit that can be made, subsequently many leading firms have invested in fashion as they know it will provide a significant return.
Who can say what fashion is, and what is in fashion? How can we rationally explain what will be the driving force behind the next big thing in apparel? The only way to do this is to analyze apparent and occurring trends, their diffusion and potentially durability. Suzawa identifies that what is considered fashionable can be predicted based on economic analysis and assumptions through past observations.