How can clothing brands create sustainable success in a fast-paced and trend infused society? Without a brand, a garment is simply about its style, Hagedorn asserts. She says that French designer Yves Saint Laurent has said that fashion is closer to art, and it needs an artist for it to exist. In fashion, the brand represents the artist’s intention.

It is the brand that creates the item its aura and a deeper soul, the palpable element that is needed for a long-term success.  A brand is more than a logo embroidered on the chest: it’s the essence of the clothing label. It is the DNA that is used to convey the shared values and to give the user an opportunity to relate to them.  

– During this chaotic time a brand is like a common thread the customer recognises running through authentic important issues that matter to them. It’s a way for the company to communicate its values and what it believes in.

Kuluttamisella on kautta aikojen rakennettu omaa identiteettiä ja yhteenkuuluvuutta. Nyt menestyneimmät tuotemerkit ovat vieneet brändikokemuksensa paljon kollektiivista identiteettiä ja kuulumisen tunnetta pidemmälle.  

Conveying the  greater vision

Consumption has through the ages been used for creating one’s own identity and a sense of belonging. Now the most successful labels have taken the brand experience even further from the feeling of collective identity and connectedness.

“I often talk about a brand as a verb instead of a noun.”

– I often talk about a brand as a verb instead of a noun, Hagedorn says. – It then becomes an instrument for developing oneself. It’s also a tool that guides an entire company – ensuring all actions telegraph that single idea or greater vision.

By consuming certain carefully chosen labels the consumer can participate and make an impact on the world around them.

As an example of making an impact, Hagedorn highlights Tesla, a company that considers itself as more of an energy company than a car manufacturer. It does not tie itself to its product category, but rather to a much greater vision, to solving the world energy challenge. Similarly, Nike and Apple rise above and avoid being pigeonholed. 

– The Nike statement that anyone can be an athlete, is brilliant. It gives a direction to everything else you do, Hagedorn says admiringly.

When a brand’s identity is so solid that it surpasses its own product category, we know what to expect even in surprising circumstances. Based on our own brand experience, we can imagine what a Nike hotel would be like. Or if Ikea had an airline company or Dyson manufactured a car.

Regarding Finnish brands, Marimekko has the same way of telling its unique story.

– You can recognise a Marimekko garment from across the room, Hagedorn says. At the same time, it also communicates something fundamental about its wearer and their values.

Branding begins inside the product

When building a brand, instead of looking at the finished product, you need to turn your gaze inward to the source of the inspiration. The emphasis is not on the properties of a product or how the customer is using it. It’s about the feelings and emotions it evokes in its user.

– Does it make the user more confident or perhaps it elicits a sense of belonging.

Sometimes a brand may be born as a result of a conference room think tank session. Then again, sometimes it is better to listen to social media and use it to find out how people perceive your product.

Honesty is important. A fake identity will get you nowhere.

– A story needs to have a point of reference that speaks to you. The story itself can be a myth or a fantasy, but it needs to genuinely be your dream, your vision of a world you want to build. A brand is a way of creating worlds.

In an environment where the amount of images and associations grows exponentially and the circulation of novel products is accelerating, long-lasting stories become more and more valuable. The consumer is interested in what happened in the world when a specific item was created.

– We want to know what was the dream that led to the conception of a specific item.

Only thing permanent in change is the brand

Though we recognise that modern day consumption has consequences, it has become a popular pastime in our culture. It causes a constant struggle between the guilt and the desire to buy – both brought on by fast fashion.

Hagedorn believes that at some point the amount of material things will start to feel like a burden. Consumption will no longer be a representation of freedom of self-expression. It will restrain you.

The moral threshold of consuming will become higher and consumption will become fluid instead of being something of a permanent nature.

Then possession becomes digital, intangible. We will no longer seek to acquire the item itself, we will be satisfied with the right to use it.

– I believe, though, that people want durable quality and things that have true meaning in their life.

The future generations are more well-informed as consumers and critical of the current frame of mind of being in a constant state of wanting to buy something. Recycling of clothes will become more commonplace.

Reselling market will develop, and a garment by a brand that is highly regarded will maintain its value and it will even increase.

Hagedorn sees that in this situation clothing labels that can manage to gather their audience to a common platform of action and provide a channel for participation, will succeed.

Unless you understand humanity on a deeper level, you will never connect to people and their deeper needs and desires. You will provide a source of joy only for a moment. Ethos is the ability to create the feeling of credibility in the listener. That is also what a brand is.