The Growing Men’s Fashion Market
Let's talk about how mens' clothes are better then ever
The fashion industry is one of the niches that most moves the economy and men’s fashion shows uninterrupted growth year after year. These results come from the strong influence of the communication vehicles that propagate the image of the beautiful, however, in the past, as people did not have access to information and needed to consume to fit into a single model. Nowadays with the advent of the internet and more accessible information it is possible for each individual to seek representations of beauty in the most diverse fields making consumption more conscious.
Male fashion was for a long time reduced to financial power and not necessarily his dress, we can notice a change representing the vanity of man along with the freedom of expression that the new media brought.
The paths of development
The first representatives of men’s fashion clothes can be considered the kings and emperors of medieval times. The owners of the crown wore hand-embroidered garments rich in details, precious stones and gold threads, at that time it was also common for court men to wear wigs and white makeup, the lighter the face of a more noble individual he looked. King Louis XIV, who reigned around the 14th century, was known for popularizing the use of high heels, according to history the king was short and had a preference for shoes that made him bigger.
The movements known as Renaissance XIV and Baroque XVI were times of great discoveries in the field of science and philosophy. Male fashion also experienced its peak, clothing with ornaments and embroidery work were present everywhere and the slightly effeminate and vain European heterosexual man was considered the ideal of masculinity of the time and coveted by young ladies.
Mens’ fashion revolution and changes
Later with the changes caused by the industrial revolution that took place in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, artisanal work was gradually replaced by machines and the dress and behavior of society also changed.
Access to money through work became easier and the idea of getting rich made the man’s vanity change from clothes to bills. The need to eat and survive that founded capitalist society reinforced this stigma and now man is the mainstay of families, definitely without time to think about clothes.
The small slice of the gentlemen who managed to make a fortune and get rich had as their trophy the financial power and the presence of the beautiful young woman next to them, the more jewelry a wife wore the richer and more powerful her husband was and thus a new model of vanity began. that accompanies us until today.
The tribes brought new identities
For a long time, fashion has been forgotten by consumers and companies alike. This time the changes came from the young people, children of the metropolises and from a rational lifestyle that went against the grain with new ideas and behaviors, since the 1950s many tribes appeared in the great centers. We highlight the hippie movement and a lifestyle more connected to nature and the rescue of artisanal work, on the other side we have the punk movement with spiky hair, leather clothes, piercings and tattoos.
But it was from the 2000s that men’s clothes started to gain more attention from the consumer and the manufacturer, the male skinny pants is a landmark of this renovation, nowadays every man has at least one pair of tights in the wardrobe which was difficult in the early 2000s.
As we saw at the beginning of the text, more accessible communication brought new ideas to maturity for men’s fashion. If before the man did not go to clothing stores due to lack of time due to work, now he can do it in the comfort of his home by accessing a virtual store. According to data collected by Google Fashion Trends in 2016 of all purchases made by men in an online environment 40% were for fashion articles.
Mens’ fashion a potential audience
The profile of the man who is interested in fashion goes much further, most are not interested in renowned brands and prioritize more the comfort of the product and aesthetics, almost always preferring a piece in the line of the basics. Another characteristic is the frequency of acquisition, men take longer to buy compared to women, but tend to spend a little more for a single purchase. There has also been considerable growth in the areas of aesthetics, body and hair care.
Nowadays there are specialized segments, from casual to formal, fashion stores totally focused on men, t-shirts, shorts, shoulder bag, including perfumes and also cosmetics suitable for their skin. The big brands and retailers continue to invest and expand their research to understand and offer the best for this public with great purchasing power and whose vanity, health and personal care were rescued.
