FASHION BRAND MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS IN A VOLATILE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The article seeks to explore the contemporary issues of fashion brand management specifics in a volatile global business environment. Based on the survey on the fashion industry market dynamics, the study has identified the key reasons for its drastic slump associated in the first place with shutting down of offline stores, supply chain disruptions as well as with a drop in the purchasing power of population. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a massive global "reset", changes in mind-sets, norms, rules and everyday life which has spurred the need to adapt to new business settings by all market participants including the fashion industry sector. The modern fashion industry in Ukraine has undergone radical transformation and has become an influential actor of the world fashion market. Following a comprehensive approach to review the phases of brand creation and brand building process, this study suggests a designer brand development and promotion strategy to be implemented in the current realia of Ukrainian fashion industry. In this context, it is argued that brand management in the area of fashion industry should focus on imposing systemic effects on market environment, maintaining stability in holding positions in promising market segments and implementing robust crisis strategies in brand building. It is emphasized that the purpose of creating a crisis strategy in the fashion market is to search for the key priority pathways to enhance business development subject to the market environment and resources available. Based on the Porter's competitive forces model, the study offers an in-depth-analysis of the fashion market by identifying factors that affect this segment development and determine market competition. It is concluded that a good crisis management paradigm should involve a well-designed strategy for business information collection and monitoring of external and internal environment. It is also argued that to be effective, a crisis management action plan should involve a consistent integrated systemic approach.