DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FASHION BROCHURE SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background Of The Study          

The traditional marketing and management of fashion industry is experiencing a revolution because of the emergence of e-commerce. Since the birth of e-commerce, businesses have been able to make use of the Internet in reducing costs associated with purchasing, managing supplier relationships, streamlining logistics and inventory, and developing strategic advantage and successful implementation of business re-engineering. E-commerce allows companies to improve communications within the supply chain and enhance service offering, thus providing chances for competitive differentiation.

Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behavior and the newest creations of textile designers.

Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers attempt to design clothes which are functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. They must consider who is likely to wear a garment and the situations in which it will be worn. Anthropology, the study of culture and human societies, studies fashion by asking why certain styles are deemed socially appropriate and others are not. A certain way is chosen and that becomes the fashion as defined by a certain people as a whole, so if a particular style has a meaning in an already occurring set of beliefs that style will become fashion. According to Ted Polhemus and Lynn Procter (2008)., fashion can be described as an adornment. Fashion changes very quickly and is not affiliated with one group or area of the world but is spread out throughout the world wherever people can communicate easily with each other.

The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Historically, prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom-made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices.

Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe and America, as of 2014 it is an international and highly globalized industry, with clothing often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold world-wide. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution to retail outlets internationally. The fashion industry has long been one of the largest employers in the United States, and it remains so in the 21st century. However, U.S. employment declined considerably as production increasingly moved overseas, especially to China. Because data on the fashion industry typically are reported for national economies and expressed in terms of the industry's many separate sectors, aggregate figures for world production of textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure, the clothing industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output.

The fashion industry consists of four levels:

1.     The production of raw materials, principally fibers and textiles but also leather and fur

2.     The production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others

3.     Retail sales

4.     Various forms of advertising and promotion.

These levels consist of many separate but interdependent sectors. These sectors are Textile Design and Production, Fashion Design and Manufacturing, Fashion Retailing, Marketing and Merchandising, Fashion Shows, and Media and Marketing. Each sector is devoted to the goal of satisfying consumer demand for apparel under conditions that enable participants in the industry to operate at a profit.         

1.2Statement Of The Problem

Traditionally, customers are used to buying the products at the real, in other words, factual shops or supermarkets. It needs the customers to show up in the shops in person, and walk around different shopping shelves, and it also needs the owners of shops to stock, exhibit, and transfer the products required by customers. It takes labor, time and space to process these operations. An Online shopping system provides a solution to reduce and optimize these expenses. Authorized Customers do not need to go to the factual shops to choose, and bring the products they need by hands. They simply browse their Personal computers or cell phone’s to access shops, and evaluate the products description, pictures on the screen to choose products. In addition, the owners of the shop do not need to arrange or exhibit their stocks products. They just input the description, prices of products, and upload their pictures. Simply, both customers and shop owners do not need to touch the real products in the whole process of shopping, and management. In the end the logistic center will distribute the products required by customers, or products ordered by shop owners to their locations. The payment and products’ quantity will be saved in database through the data flow. These shopping, management and distribution processes greatly simplify and optimize the retail business.

1.3Aim And Objectives Of The Study

The aim of the study is to develop an online fashion brochure system. The main objectives are:

1.     To design an online fashion system

2.      To create an avenue where fashion designers and retailers can advertise their products and services

3.     To create an avenue where people can shop for fashion products online.

4.     To develop a database to store information on fashion products and services.

1.4Significance Of The Study

With the aid of an efficient information system fashion associations can be able to react quickly by giving out information about changes in the market and latest trends to the public.

An online application not only saves time and money, but also minimizes administrative efforts and cost. It provides an avenue to market products to a whole new audience. Here are benefits of having an online fashion brochure system;

1.     Easy advertisement of new products and services

2.     Saves time on the part of the buyer due to the fact that they can do transactions for any product or make enquiries about any product or services provided by a company anytime and anywhere.

3.     It creates an avenue for expansion to national and international markets

4.     An online fashion brochure system improves the brand image of a company

5.     It aids a fashion company in providing better customer service

6.     It helps to simplify business processes and make them faster and more efficient.

1.5Scope Of The Study

Every project is done to achieve a set of goals with some conditions keeping in mind that it should be easy to use, feasible and user friendly. As the goal of this project is to develop an online fashion brochure system, this system will be designed keeping in mind the conditions (easy to use, feasibility and user friendly) stated above. The proposed project would cover:

1.     Fashion Awareness

2.     Creation of an avenue through which fashion products can be advertised

3.     Adverts of new products

1.6Limitations Of The Study

Designing web applications is characterized by some constraints and limitations. Developers are limited to a small set of graphical widgets for use in presenting a user interface. Web-based applications require high investment in software, as well as maintenance costs for the software and personnel for software administration. In this study, verification of credentials for membership cannot be done.

1.7Definition Of Terms

FASHION: Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses.

FASHION DESIGN: Fashion design is the art of the application of design and natural beauty to clothing and accessories.

FASHION DESIGNER: A fashion designer is someone who loves to study fashion trends, sketch designs, select materials, and have a part in all the production aspects of their designs. They contribute to the creation of millions, if not billions of pieces of clothing and accessories purchased by consumers on a yearly basis. Fashion designers create women's, men's and children's apparel. This might include sportswear, maternity wear, outerwear, underwear, formalwear, eyewear and footwear. There are also accessory designers who design belts, scarves, hats, handbags and hosiery.

ASSOCIATION: An association is an organized body of people who have an interest, activity, or purpose in common; a society.

WEB BASED APPLICATION: A web based application is a software package that can be accessed through the web browser. The software and database reside on a central server rather than being installed on the desktop system and is accessed over a network.

WEB BROWSER: A web browser is a software application used to enable computer users locate and access web pages.

BROCHURE: A brochure is an advertising piece mainly used to introduce a company or an organization and inform about products or services to a target audience.

E-COMMERCE: Electronic commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmission of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet.

CATALOG: A product catalog is a file that contains a list of all the products you want to advertise. Each line of the product catalog contains a description of each product, including an ID, name, category, availability, product URL, image URL and other product attributes.