How can you ensure that your creative strategy is inclusive of diverse fashion styles and cultures?

Begin with listening to your target demographic by conducting qualitative research to better understand their personal thoughts, and experiences. After gathering and transcribing the interviews. Disseminate the transcripts to people from various departments and demographics in the organization to review and provide feedback. This is a great way to begin the brainstorming process for any project. I know it's popular for people to say, "the data, data, the data", however what I've found as a Black woman born with a disability, is that the data rarely includes perspectives from people who look like me, and live a similar lifestyle. This means the data is skewed and not reliable. It's the reason most DEI programs are ineffective.

Inclusivity in your creative fashion strategy is paramount to reaching a broader and more diverse audience. To achieve this, consider building a diverse team that brings a variety of perspectives to your creative process. Conduct thorough market research to understand the preferences of your target audience. Collaborate with creatives from diverse backgrounds, respecting cultural sensitivities and avoiding appropriation. Prioritize diverse casting, showcasing a range of body types, ethnicities, genders, and ages. Promote accessible fashion for people with disabilities and celebrate diversity in your narratives. Choose marketing channels that reach diverse audiences and collect and act on feedback for continuous improvement.

In my opinion, crafting an inclusive creative strategy begins with a deep understanding of the audience. To achieve this, thorough market research, customer segmentation, and persona creation are crucial. By identifying their needs, values, and cultural influences, we can tailor our approach effectively. It's essential to remain mindful of biases, stereotypes, and assumptions, challenging them with data and insights to ensure a genuinely inclusive strategy.

As a Black woman born with a disability. My experiences are often overlooked or undervalued. This is why when Cur8able conducts research we prefer to begin qualitative research that has been vetted by people from various demographic groups. Doing this allows us to provide nuanced feedback to our clients, as well as create nuanced campaigns that considers various people groups.

I am a huge advocate for co-creation. Modern consumers expect brands to engage with them on a personal level. The process of co-creation enables consumers to feel as though they are playing a role in shaping the brand's identity. Gone are the days of simply purchasing items from brands that adhere to specific aesthetic. Modern consumers want the ability to influence aspects of their favorite brands. Co-creation helps brands secure customer loyalty and enables shoppers to develop a deeper personal connection to the brand.

This is often a stage which is skipped out in my experience. Many different opinions and views are sought in the early insights stages but rarely do we see that continue into the creation stage. Co creation sounds good on paper but is rarely realised. The priority here is actually having representation of the groups you’d like to be better including, within your working teams so that designs are created with, not for people. This is the only way to stay accountable and avoid falling back into existing design practices which we already know, do not have inclusive outcomes. There are examples in other sectors, particularly in technology, where this is done very well through large co-creation sprints and frequent user testing.

It's amazing how much better a product can be when the final end user is included in its creation. Co-creation is thus a bullseye way of ensuring the product is embraced quickly. The buyers will feel heard if their suggestions are included in the creation process. They will be happy ambassadors for the products. What's more, the products will have a higher buy-in since the market will feel that their needs are being met, as opposed to a company trying to convince the market that the new products will be good for them. So start with the company values and what it believes it is here for, integrate collaborative engagement in the co-creation process. Let experts consider the feedback then come up with the product the market is happy to buy.