AN INVESTIGATION OF HOW CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS COMMUNICATE CREATIVE BRAND STORYTELLING AND BRAND AESTHETICS

Abstract

The principle of ‘story’ finds residence in many areas of the brand. This includes areas pertinent, but not solely limited to, brand heritage, brand identity, brand personality, brand story, brand aesthetics, and brand history. Marketers constantly work towards persuading consumers to be part of the brand evolution, which is understood as the most basic principle of storytelling—taking the consumer on a journey. Covid-19 has intensified the need for restoration as the local fashion industry and many others experienced much turbulence. Local and international businesses were thrown off balance. This emerged as an opportunity for innovative entrepreneurial fashion design brands to forge out unique niche segments and present contemporary collections inspired by meaningful stories and aesthetic designs. The possibility to move South Africa into a new fashion renaissance exists. Contemporary, entrepreneurial fashion designers can produce aesthetic-branded goods which communicate a distinctly South African story. The discussion on the zeitgeist of fashion, design, and fashion brand communication where entrepreneur fashion designers are emerging in many locations in South Africa, is prompting questions of viability and survival. The subject of storytelling and aesthetics has been explored through different angles. This study examined the entrepreneurial marketing and brand storytelling activities that South African entrepreneur designers undertake and further explored the brand aesthetics tactics used. However, the fashion studies’ approach to how ready-to-wear fashion design brands communicate stories anchored in brand-relevant content, which discusses fashion entrepreneurial storytelling strategies from entrepreneurial fashion design enterprises, proves scant. The study profiled 14 South African entrepreneur designer fashion brands – using semistructured in-depth interviews. Interacting with participants included face-to-face meetings, telephonic conversations, and a single written response. This study was exploratory. The results, as generated from the thematic analysis, indicated seven themes. The seven themes that emerged were: fashion brands storytelling techniques; brand aesthetics tactics – a positive aesthetic response; entrepreneurial social media marketing channels – online presence; entrepreneurial marketing activities; narrative behind a story; colour symbolism; and South African entrepreneurial fashion brands in iv Covid-19 times: understanding the impact of Covid-19 on local entrepreneurial fashion design enterprises. This research intends to make the following contributions to literature in South African fashion brand communication scholarship. First, expanding the concept of fashion entrepreneurial marketing from the context of South African entrepreneur fashion design brands. The exploration of fashion entrepreneurial marketing through practical business models proves mandatory for the success of a contemporary fashion brand. It is important for fashion marketers to build on this practice in keeping fashion brands relevant. Second, to create a better understanding in the brand-oriented vs business-oriented fashion entrepreneurship typology within the creative fashion industry of South Africa. Third, expanding the knowledge base of fashion practitioners, marketing agencies and Fashion Designers. Many studies hold contrasting convictions in seeing the brand as a business; or seeing the business as a brand; or even seeing them as one entity. This ‘unclear’ typology proves interesting to look into within the discipline of fashion design and fashion marketing as a whole.