fashion essay

 Brands inthe News (I ~ V)

You are asked to find anews article relevant to course topics using digital resources(newspapers, news articles from industryorganizations).Topics of your articles should be related to course topics discussed up toeach due dateas you would need to mention specifically about this in your brief report(any topic prior to due dateis fine).Requirements:Submit a copy of the article in a PDF format along with its synopsisand a brief opinion about the newsfor its implications for the fashion industry or consumer market and relevance to a course topic. The report should be approximately 1-page longincluding the source citation in APA(cite the article first). You can use single-spaced for brands in the news if you have more opinions.  

Brands In The News: 1
J. Crew Exits Bankruptcy

Synopsis
J.Crew was struggling with a debt load of $1.7 million before the global pandemic hit, but in
light of the virus closing store doors, J.Crew fell into total bankruptcy. The brand has had a lot of
time to review their store portfolio and make adjustments to financial practices in order to
turnaround the business. The restructuring process has put the company’s lenders, Anchorage
Capital Group in control of the business which has ultimately forgiven J.Crew’s debt load. With
the improvements this brand has made, J.Crew has shifted its values and mission statement to
focus more on iconic-timeless products, elevating the brand experience and deepening the
relationship with customers, and prioritizing frictionless shopping. These adjustments have put
this company back on its feet and set them up for a refreshing new start.

Opinion
I was initially surprised to find out J.Crew was filing for bankruptcy back in May because it was
a store I had shopped at in the past and the local outlet store was always familiar to me. I
consider this retailer to be a big brand in the industry and I couldn’t fathom why they were
undergoing financial hardships. This implies for the rest of the fashion industry that every brand
should have a strong emergency fund should another global crisis occur. Afterall, it was the
pandemic that sent a lot of businesses under. For this reason, companies shouldn’t overexert their
spending and should always have substantial savings to keep the brand running during a
troubling economic downturn.

Relevance
Finances are an important topic in this class when it comes to building and maintaining a brand
in the fashion industry. As evidenced by J.Crew’s almost bankruptcy, it is important for brands
to keep their store portfolio fresh and their mission statement relevant to the customer as well in
order to keep them coming in the store. No business can function without monetary support, and
this remains relevant to class topics because we have been evaluating what makes a brand, brand
basics, and how to build a brand.

Wilson, M (2020). J.Crew Exits Bankruptcy. ​Chain Store Age ​https://chainstoreage.com/
j-crew-exits-bankruptcy

Emma Kate Davis
September 7, 2020
Professor Jung
FASH430

Brands in the News #1
Citation:
Hall, C. (2020, June 24). Inside Michael Jordan’s Eight-Year Trademark Battle in China.

Business of Fashion. https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/professional/michael-
jordan-nike-air-jordan-ip-china-trademark

Summary:
This article details the long-ruling court case of Michael Jordan vs. Qiaodan

Sports which began when the Chinese company was sued for the distribution of its logo featuring
a red silhouette with an uncanny resemblance to the pro basketball star and his widely-
recognized Nike symbol. Media outlets have framed the outcome of this lawsuit as a palpable
victory for Jordan because “Qiaodan,” which is also notably a transliteration of Jordan’s last
name, lost its trademark, but the situation is far more comprehensive. The court determined that
the outline alone did not violate Jordan’s portraiture rights because of its lack of defining
characteristics, thus allowing the company to continue advertising with the image, just not in
tandem with its pinyin name. Conflicts between Michael Jordan and Qiaodan Sports have been
long-standing, as Jordan has failed to overturn 74 of Qiaodan’s trademarks due to the five-year
statute of limitations that currently applies to trademark disputes, so while the newest ruling is
not ideal for Jordan, whose collaborative merchandise with Nike is directly competing with
Qiaodan’s in the Chinese market, it does alleviate some of the advertising noise that Chinese
shoppers are exposed to in the sportswear retail sector.

Analysis:
This case is very similar to the Louboutin example that we discussed during lecture last

week. Abubaker & Ors, the Mumbai-based company that was selling shoes with red
soles, won Louboutin’s lawsuit against them because single colors are not protected under the
Trademarks act of 1999. Both of these situations exemplify the complexities of trademark law
because rulings can seem clear-cut when brands in competing markets are using
promotional material or design elements that closely resemble those of another retailer, but
outcomes are often much more complicated than they appear at face value. This story also strikes
up an important conversation about brands’ perceptions in different countries. The article

mentions that in China, Qiaodan’s products are considered “less cool” than Jordan’s so while the
logos are incredibly similar and IP rights still arguably infringed upon, the market implications
in regard to consumer behaviors may not be extremely detrimental. While this is the case with
Jordan’s merchandise in China, other brands may have a much more difficult time maintaining
market share when competing retailers copy their ideas, which highlights one of the many
reasons why trademark protection is important.

Tiffany Orlando
Professor Jung
FASH430
September 11, 2020

Why Nike is Still a Successful Brand

The article I read, “4 Reasons Nike is Still King of Branding” by Casey Lewis outlined
why the brand Nike is still a well known, successful brand. Besides Nike using the highest
quality of materials for their products, Nike also uses a handful of marketing strategies to
promote their brand and make the Nike brand distinguish itself from others. The first branding
strategy Nike uses is partnering with big names such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Cristiano
Ronaldo, etc. All these celebrities give Nike an influx in sales, more than they already have,
because people look up to these celebrities and want to use the same products they use. The
second strategy Nike uses is leaving an impression on their audience. Nike is notorious for
creating emotional, yet encouraging commercials that make it hard for their audience to forget.
These commercials play on the audience’s emotions, making them trust and respect Nike as a
brand. Next, Nike uses the same message consistently: Just do it; almost everyone knows this as
Nike’s slogan as well as Nike’s logo: the swoosh. Lastly, another great strategy Nike uses is
partnering with schools/universities by providing uniforms for them such as helmets, pants,
socks, etc, for sports such as football. By having the sports teams use Nike products, Nike gets
another boost of publicity towards their brand.

In my opinion, the way Nike has gone about growing their brand makes them so
successful in the fashion industry. Although their products are not really about fashion, but more
about having comfortable, athletic wear, they still play a huge role in paving the way for other
brands to learn from their branding strategies. In relevance to what we learned about why brands
are so important, we covered that a brand can differentiate a commodity. In reference to the
orange quote, this relates to Nike because a consumer can buy running shoes anywhere, but some
choose to constantly buy Nike shoes because it’s a brand they know and can trust. Nike is
persistently growing as a brand and from all the experience they’ve already received, they can
only grow from this point on.

References

Lewis, C. (2015, March 13). ​4 Reasons Nike is Still King of Branding​. Rhino Digital Media

Incorporated. ​https://www.rhinopros.com/blog/4-reasons-nike-is-still-king-of-branding

https://www.rhinopros.com/blog/4-reasons-nike-is-still-king-of-branding