With several fashion brands including Boohoo and Abbott Lyon naming influencers and celebrities as brand ambassadors, collection designers and, in PrettyLittleThing’s case creative directors, influencers have certainly stolen the show in recent years.
As former Love Island contestant Molly-Mae Hague recently stepped down as PLT creative director and the fashion brand also made headlines for bringing onboard Naomi Campbell on a design collaboration basis, there is a shake-up happening in the world of fashion collaborations.
Not only is there now a larger pool of influencers to choose from as reality TV shows and social media continue to boom, there has also been a shift to a focus on pre-loved clothes as fast fashion is frowned upon by sustainably conscious shoppers.
Retail Week explores the competitive nature of influencing, the pressure on fashion retailers to make the right choices and whether the influencer model can continue to be successful.
A growing talent pool
Despite Hague citing motherhood as her reason for stepping away from the brand – after telling her YouTube subscribers that the chapter had “naturally come to an end” – her stint as creative director was certainly one for the books as it marked the first time an influencer has taken the lead on the creative direction of a whole brand.
While her appointment is still something of an anomaly, since her rise to fame the volume and prominence of influencers has only continued to increase.
Jewellery retailer Abbott Lyon’s influencer portfolio of brand ambassadors ranges from TV personality Stacey Solomon to actor Maisie Smith and former Love Island contestant Indiyah Polack, among others, but how do you choose when new influencers are being launched into the sphere every day?
Abbott Lyon brand director Andrew Roscoe says the team are always eyeing new talent to find the right fit, while also monitoring the momentum of the current portfolio.
Love Island contestants seem to come up trumps when it comes to securing brand collaborations. Roscoe says despite the talent from the show being of interest to various fashion retailers, there are many more influencers that are of interest outside of the villa.
“Our new strategy is leading to a much deeper understanding of the target audience, tapping into what they are interested in and having more meaningful conversations,” he says.
“You quickly can identify where the momentum is being lost on anyone that you’re using and then you’ve got some choices to make. You either work with that influencer to correct and adapt that content or you look at alternatives.
“Generally, in that world, people go through highs and lows. We’ve just got to pick the sweet spot of the moment and know when to exit.”
GlobalData apparel analyst Louise Déglise-Favre emphasises that while there may be more influencers to choose from, retailers need to make more informed choices.
“The rise in the volume of influencers is a bit of a double-edged sword,” she says. “It does make it harder for brands to choose the right one to collaborate with but it also allows them to choose an influencer with a community that more closely fits their unique consumer targets.”
Double tap for authenticity
Influencer marketing agency Goat told Retail Week that a recent survey showed eight out of 10 consumers have purchased something after seeing it recommend by an influencer (The Social Shepherd, 2023), while 69% of consumers (Marketing Dive, 2023) trust influencers over information coming directly from a brand.
Goat senior campaign director Emily Hall says that as influencer culture continues to thrive, authenticity is more important than ever before.
Hall says: “Where the industry has evolved is in a move towards data-driven, considered brand and influencer partnerships. It’s no longer enough to just gift loads of products to masses of influencers, but instead identify the ones that will align with your brand’s message and target audience, create a unique brief, and give them the freedom to run with it.
“The eBay partnership with Tasha from Love Island, for example, was perfect, as the sustainability and pre-loved fashion angle felt authentic to her brand and so the audience really resonated. Whereas Oh Polly’s partnership with winner Ekin-Su just felt like another ‘off the rack’ influencer collab.”
Roscoe says the influencer model is sustainable but it has to change to mark its territory moving forward.
“Consumer behaviours change and they have what you could call scepticism about the life that influencers lead as suddenly they are now not living the life the audience expected them to live.
“You’ve got to find the people who are resonating the best with that audience. That audience might be smaller than what we have typically gone for, so you might be trading off scale versus authenticity and credibility,” he says.
While influencer collaborations aren’t going anywhere yet, the toughest hurdle for fashion retailers to overcome is selecting a popular and likeable influencer who is also aligned with its core values, and who shoppers will buy into as a result.
Sustainability at heart
Looking at eBay’s partnerships with Love Island contestants Tasha Ghouri and Tom Clare, there will certainly be no U-turn when it comes to pre-loved fashion and influencer partnerships.
Upon naming Clare as its newest ambassador earlier this year, eBay revealed that recent data showed 51% of male customers admit to “never or very rarely” shopping for secondhand fashion.
As influencers continue to promote second-hand fashion to be trendy and a first option, shoppers will inevitably buy into the concept more and more with a little push from their favourite social media personalities.
In the same way that shoppers will be influenced to buy secondhand, they are also becomingly increasingly critical of a false sense of ethical and sustainable promotion.
Shein faced a huge amount of criticism after a group of influencers posted glowing content about their visit to a Shein factory, in which all posts ignored the negative attention Shein gets around labour and environmental issues.
Déglise-Favre highlights that influencer success relies on trust and relatability, which is especially important when it comes to sustainable fashion.
“Another good example of that was the backlash Boohoo received for naming Kourtney Kardashian-Barker as a sustainability ambassador,” she says. “Many questioned the legitimacy of her in that role and ultimately perceived it as greenwashing.”
As Abbott Lyon head of influencer marketing Chris Bolter emphasises, influencer marketing is here for the long term. The trick for fashion retailers is future-proofing and evolving with influencers and collaborative partnerships, rather than being stuck in old ways that may not stay successful.
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