What Fashion Marketing Professionals Need to Know Today

Discover the most recent and relevant industry news and insights for fashion professionals working in marketing, to help you excel in your job interviews, promotion conversations or simply to perform better in the workplace by increasing your market awareness and emulating market leaders.

BoF Careers distils business intelligence from across the breadth of our content — editorial briefings, newsletters, case studies, podcasts and events, as well as the exclusive interviews and conversations we have with experts and market leaders every day — to deliver key takeaways and learnings in your job function.

Key articles and need-to-know insights for marketing professionals today:

1. Which Fashion Brands Punch Above Their Weight on Social Media — and How They Do It

Today, a large following on social media does not necessarily offer brands a shortcut to driving the cultural conversation online. Many of fashion’s largest names have a relatively low engagement rate on social media, while smaller brands are able to consistently capture and lead online discourse. For example, Jacquemus regularly generates hundreds of thousands of likes on Instagram posts with a following of 6.4 million, while Dolce & Gabbana, a brand with over 30 million Instagram followers, typically receives fewer than 10,000 likes per post.

Jacquemus was the top performer on Instagram, with an average 2.6 percent of its following engaging with each post during the assessment period. For context, Jaquemus’ 2.6 percent Instagram engagement rate was almost double the second ranked brand. Jacquemus cuts through polished Instagram imagery by leaning into humorous and surreal content that blossoms on social media today, with fanciful store designs and whimsical videos serving among Jacquemus’ top-liked posts in the period.

Related Jobs:

Marketing and Social Media Manager, Debute — London, United Kingdom

PR and Marketing Manager, Stine Goya â€” Copenhagen, Denmark

Marketing & Communications Director, Alexander McQueen â€” Shanghai, China

2. Why Influencers Want You in Their Group Chats

Any user with over 10,000 followers can create [a broadcast channel] to share images and text, as well as features like polls and question boxes. Though members can’t respond the way they would in an actual group chat, they can react with emojis. […] Influencers including Courtney Grow, Mallory Goldman, Megan Roup and Sara Walker have launched channels in recent months, as have founders like Gen-Z favourite fashion company Parke’s Chelsea Kramer, fashion and lifestyle brand Hill House Home’s Nell Diamond and lab-grown jewellery label Dorsey’s Megan Strachan.

Just as influencers are using the channels to present a more candid picture of their day-to-day, so are brand founders. Shrugging off the “girl boss” era of the 2010s, which was defined by glossy success stories plastered on the covers of magazines, they’re using channels to give a more realistic picture of what it means to be an entrepreneur. […] But the benefits go further than transparency.

Related jobs:

Internship Influencer Marketing, Hugo Boss â€” Metzingen, Germany

Sr. Manager, Retention Marketing, Stuart Weitzman — New York, United States

Brand Engagement Intern, Gucci â€” Seoul, South Korea

3. What Is Buzz Worth?

“Buzz implies … the brand isn’t pushing the story down your throat. People are reacting and evangelising on your behalf,” said Tony Wang, founder of luxury consulting firm Office of Applied Strategy. “If you can unlock it, it’s infinitely more scalable than paid media.”

In the immediate aftermath, viral moments can move items like handbags and shoes, attract a new audience or for young brands attract well-funded collaborators and sponsors for their next show, said Gia Kuan, founder of her namesake New York-based PR firm. After Beyoncé sat front row at client Luar’s Fall/Winter 2024 show in Brooklyn, for example, it saw a sales bump in new regions, she said.

Related Jobs:

Head of Digital Marketing, UGG â€” London, United Kingdom

Professor, Fashion Marketing and Management, Savannah College of Art and Design â€” Savannah, United States

Senior Marketing & Communications Manager, Moncler â€” Seoul, South Korea

4. How the WNBA Tunnel Walk Became a Fashion Marketing Gold Mine

Tunnel walk outfits have long been a fixation of NBA fans and provided valuable marketing moments for brands. But the unprecedented popularity of the WNBA this season, thanks in large part to a rookie class including Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, is drawing the spotlight to what the women are wearing as they turn up for games. While seasoned WNBA talent like Skylar Diggins-Smith, A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, as well as younger tastemakers Kysre Gondrezick and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, have put together stylish pre-game outfits for years, players across the board are taking their fashion game up another level.

Brands that were slow to embrace dressing WNBA players are now seizing on the opportunity. For example, Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer (male or female), wore Prada to the WNBA draft in April, making her the first player (male or female) the brand ever dressed for a draft. […] Reese’s recent post showing off a pre-game Alexander Wang bodysuit and Chanel sneakers sourced from Revolve, whose account she tagged, fetched half a million likes.

Related Jobs:

Head of Marketing Southern Europe, On â€” Paris, France

Creative Director, White House Black Market — Fort Myers, United States

Public Relations and Marketing Manager, Alexander McQueen â€” Shanghai, China

5. ‘Vogue World’ Takes on Paris — and Sports

Vogue — and French fashion — sought to position themselves at the heart of pop culture and sport, kicking off Paris haute couture week with a star-studded celebration Sunday linking fashion history, music and athletic excellence.

Aya Nakamura and Bad Bunny performed, while a mix of sports stars and models circled the square’s central column wearing looks designed to evoke Paris’ fashion’s long love affair with athletics. A horde of young aspiring Olympians opened the show wearing all-white ensembles by Lacoste; models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner rode the runway on horseback in the ever equestrian-inspired Hermès. Venus and Serena Williams wore ensembles by Marine Serre and Off-White, and “Espresso” singer Sabrina Carpenter strutted in a custom Jacquemus look inspired by glamorous mid-century swimwear. A breakdance team closed the show in Louis Vuitton jumpsuits by Pharrell Williams, who sat beside editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (John Galliano sat to her other side). Swimmers, footballers and champion fencers were also present.

Vogue’s focus on sport comes amid the ramp-up to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, as well as a broader explosion in sponsorship activity. Brands are increasingly drawn to famous athletes’ mix of high visibility and an aspirational image: the sports sponsorship market is set to grow from $63.1 billion in 2021 to $109.1 billion by 2030, a report by consultancy PwC found.

Related Jobs:

Marketing Assistant, The Bicester Collection â€” Paris, France

Manager, Special Events, Tiffany & Co. â€” New York, United States

Marketing Special Events Coordinator, Bloomingdale’s â€” New York, United States

6. Beauty Brands Tread Lightly With ‘Tradwives’

A portmanteau of “traditional” and “wife,” the term refers to women who undertake traditionally gendered roles, such as cooking, cleaning and child-rearing, as their primary duties. Some beauty and lifestyle brands have been quick to move in. Nara Smith, who has soared to the height of TikTok fame for both her model-esque good looks and domestic prowess, has promoted the K-Beauty brand Laneige and filmed a beauty tutorial for Vogue.

However, the tradwife trend has a dark underbelly. Creators such as Gwen the Milkmaid mix extreme right-wing views and conspiracy theories alongside otherwise innocuous videos of pasta making or tending to their gardens. Brands are still trying to figure out how to navigate these tricky waters. Though Gwen the Milkmaid’s roughly 65,000 TikTok following is dwarfed by Smith’s 7.6 million, in some viewers’ eyes, they’re all part of the same content stream, or they’re at least on a slippery slope to becoming more radicalised.

Related Jobs:

Digital Marketing Specialist, JOOR — London, United Kingdom

CRM & Email Marketing Manager, DeMellier — London, United Kingdom

Director, Merchandise Marketing, Home/Beauty, Bloomingdale’s â€” New York, United States

7. Are Signature Sneakers Still Relevant?

Signature shoes have long been a crucial element of sneaker marketing strategies, especially in basketball. There’s probably no better example than Nike’s partnership with Michael Jordan, which would later become the $6 billion Air Jordan business that helped make Nike the global powerhouse it is today. These shoes let brands show off their athletic-performance credentials and help them convert a superstar’s fans into buyers of their products. For that, brands shell out huge sums to top names in sports and pay for big-budget marketing campaigns.

But where once only a handful of athletes had their own shoes, now the market is flooded with numerous styles that critics say have all started to look too much alike. If you’re not a frequent basketball player — or a fan of the athlete in question — it’s unlikely you’ll be spending $150 on their shoe. And as sneakers became the default in everyday wardrobes, consumers gravitated towards lifestyle products inspired by sports though not necessarily meant for playing them.

Related Jobs:

Senior Manager, Global Brand Marketing, Coach â€” New York, United States

Internal Communications Director, Banana Republic — San Francisco, United States

Marketing Lead, On â€” Shanghai, China

8. Why Fashion Went Silent on Pride This Year

For the first time since 1999, Nike is not releasing a Pride-themed collection or targeted ad campaign. It also hasn’t recently posted anything LGBTQ themed to its Instagram grid. The sportswear giant will instead focus on corporate giving and “offer exclusive programming for employees,” the brand said in a statement. Nike isn’t the only brand that’s gone dark on Pride. Retailers are stocking 7 percent fewer Pride-themed t-shirts compared to last year, and tagged 36 percent fewer beauty products in campaigns tied to the month-long celebration, according to Trendalytics.

Marketing experts and advocates say the sudden dropoff in Pride advertising and collections is a direct result of the surprise backlash to last year’s campaigns by anti-LGBTQ consumers and activists. None was more ferocious than the boycott of Bud Light after it partnered with the trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in June. The beer lost its No. 1 spot in the US market, and sales still haven’t fully recovered.