Question
Write an opinion piece on a current issue in fashion.
http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/trade-in-fake-goods-now-worth-461-billion-says-oecd
Tips for Writing Opinion-Based Pieces?
Search your notes for good quotes or interesting facts.
Develop a focus.
Condense — and write down! — the focus of the article into two or three clear sentences.
Remember that you are the narrator — the story teller — and your take on the topic is important.
Answer
Counterfeits in The Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is one of the most dynamic industries in the world that has evolved significantly over the last few years. Right from the word go, human being has been wearing clothes, and this has brought about designs and fashions. The first human being, Adam used leaves to cover his body and later on human moved to using skin clothes. Fashion is of wide range ranging from hair, style, shoes to purses. Globally, fashion is widely associated with ladies since they have the strongest taste when it comes to dressing. In the last decade, men are increasingly interested in fashion and thus making it very competitive with companies refining their processes and products to overcome each other (Juggessur, 2009). Cultural influences are high when we consider economic aspect of the fashion industry. Fashion is also influenced by the age of the clients, location, and body size. Fashion does not only affect a person on individual-level but also as a group or community. In an attempt to take the fashion industry by storm, some investors create multiple cloth lines and footwear lines for the mass production of these commodities.
Despite fashion becoming one of the cherished industries of all times, some wicked people do not care about the efforts of others and sabotage their efforts by bringing fake goods into the market. Fake goods in today’s market worldwide are on the rise accounting for 2.5% of the global trade. Our quality standards corporation and business authorities should ensure that these fake goods are abolished and taken out of the market. Counterfeits are killing fashion industry.
Related: GUCCI FW2016 Fashion Review
Counterfeit fashion commodities cost European brand of 9.7%of their total sale
Business consultants believe that counterfeit fashion commodities cost European brand of 9.7%of their total sales. The internet has made it worse owing to the emergence of e-commerce and the anonymity it gives those who participate in frauds. In the olden days, fashion criminals would go to Paris fashion with the sole motive of sketching those designs and sell those reproductions in France and other parts of the world. The fashion industry is ever changing day in day out, and this makes it a target for counterfeiters. With the ever changing trends in fashion, a new and hot cake product today may be old tomorrow, and this nature of fashion industry makes it suitable for counterfeiters (Kim, 2010). The effects of fake goods are far much greater is developed countries than in the developing states. European countries are widely known for manufacturing highly desirable branded goods, and this makes it the most seek out target and victim of counterfeiting.
Paris is one of the most renowned fashion cities in the world. Most of the designers have identified China as the largest producer of counterfeits in the world. Most of the Chinese companies are famous of infringing intellectual property rights of other businesses. People have different opinions when it comes to effects of counterfeits. Some think it is a criminal act that should be identified as theft and those who by fake good are responsible for aiding illegal activities. This group of people argues that fashion design and creative is personal assets and stealing such an asset, it will cripple the original designer and kill his or her morale. On the other hand, there are those experts that think counterfeits have a positive impact in the industry through forcing the brand to improve to surpass the counterfeits. Clearly, designers cannot develop their brands when most of their profits generated through designing go in the hands of impostors. Money is one of the factors of motivation, and if our designers cannot be fully motivated through proper remuneration, I am afraid fashion industry will not be creative as we expect it to be.
Economic effects of Simulation in the fashion industry
Simulation has significant economic effects in the fashion industry worldwide today. Market experts believe that counterfeits of apparel and accessories lead to a loss of an estimate of 26.3 billion Euros. This costs around 363000 jobs globally across retail, manufacturing and wholesale sectors. These funds could have benefited the designers who in turn would have brought new designs in the industry, but rather we find more counterfeits in the market since forgers have enough money to massacre the industry (Staake, 2009). These losses have bigger adverse effects let alone in the fashion industry. If such losses lead to the loss which then leads to less production, this means that fashion industry will buy few raw materials, and the chain goes on. Counterfeits can make an economy stagnant.
Every other person needs to look attractive and attractive when in a crowd of individuals. With fashion, we all fulfill our own desires to look good. To make that our designers continue to make classic and presentable work, we need to come together and help fight counterfeits. By deciding not to buy counterfeits regardless of how cheap they are, we will win this tough battle and help our industries to grow. A human being cannot live without fashion; it is part of our lives and each day we need new designs. As a result to fight counterfeiting we need collective power. To have a super collection of designs and fashion, we need original designers and not forgers.
References
Juggessur, J. &. (2009). Is fashion promoting counterfeit brands&quest. . Journal of Brand management, 16(5), , 383-394.
Kim, H. &. (2010). Consumer attitudes toward fashion counterfeits: Application of the theory of planned behavior. . Clothing and Textiles research journal, 28(2), , 79-94.
Staake, T. T. (2009). he emergence of counterfeit trade: a literature review. European Journal of Marketing, 43(3/4), , 320-349.
