Sunday 1 March 2015

Garment Research - Part Two

I went to Cambridge city centre to do some primary research on jackets and jeans similar to those I am basing my project around. I looked at brand, price, fabric and target market.



From left to right: River Island, Ted Baker, Topshop #1



From left to right: Topshop #2, Whistles

River Island jacket - £60.00
100% Polyester

Ted Baker jacket - £229.00
76% Cotton, 21% Polyamide, 3% Elastane

Topshop jacket #1 - £58.00
100% Cotton

Topshop jacket #2 - £58.00
80% Cotton, 13% Polyester, 7% Viscose

Whistles jacket - £325.00
100% Lamb Leather

High street jackets all appear to be priced around £55-60 this season, as shown throughout this blog so far in Topshop, River Island and ASOS, despite their style, fabric or detailing. The price of higher end jackets will vary due to these factors, as shown in the examples above. Ted Baker is considered to be a designer brand, whereas Whistles still caters for the high street, yet the jackets have almost a £100 price difference because of the Lamb Leather used by Whistles. The target market is also different for high street versus higher end brands. Ted Baker and Whistles are both found in John Lewis, a store not frequented by those on a budget, whereas Topshop and River Island are very much in competition with each other as their target market is larger and their styles not dissimilar.



River Island Molly Jeans in multiple colours



From left to right: Ted Baker, Whistles


River Island jeans - £45.00
65% Cotton, 31% Polyester, 4% Elastane

River Island jeans - £40.00
92% Cotton, 6% Polyester, 2% Elastane

Ted Baker jeans - £89.00
90% Cotton, 8% Polyester, 2% Elastane

Whistles jeans - £95.00
94% Cotton, 4% Polyester, 2% Elastane

As seen in my previous post 'Garment Research - Part One', the pricing of jeans seems to mostly depend upon the brand name. The fabric quality between the River Island jeans and Whistles jeans differs very little - only 2% between the cotton and polyester counts. It is possible that Whistles take other factors into account such as production quality and cost which causes their jeans to be priced higher, however the seams, fastenings and pockets seem almost identical. I also took note of the fabrics and colours being used in jeans this season. Jeans are in the usual neutral shades but waxy and imitation leather finishes are also popular in black.

No comments:

Post a Comment