De-influencing: the trend taking social media by storm is a real countermovement. If social media were your go-to place for shopping recommendations, now you will see the other way around but what does it really mean?

For many businesses, this is a time of stress and getting noticed online feels harder than ever. Do not despair, this Lancashire-based digital company is here to offer their help.

Gen Z is by far the most ecological and social sensitive generation, making it the most conscious consumer group. Zoomers know which are the most inclusive brands to choose, new research by UNiDAYS unveils.

The festive season is over and the first month of the year is a time of mindfulness and recuperation. Still, many Brits are spending valuable time on the web looking for new outfits to only wear them once.

Newsletters are a mine of information and, especially, discounts. With January sales almost upon everyone, knowing who has the most appealing offers is a must before filling our virtual baskets. Market analysis shows you the most generous retailers on the net.

The public concern about the state of the environment is not a temporary fashion trend, although they influence how people shop and what they ask their favourite brands.

On Oxford Street, the Capital's shopping avenue, a corner shop like no other made its temporary appearance. LTK celebrated its relaunch and makeover with this peculiar pop-up space and a panel to discuss the future of retail and the role of content creators.

Image courtesy of LTK

Fashions Finest team stepped into LTK abstract store for an exclusive panel discussion with LTK co-founder, Amber Venz Box, Vicky James, head of brand marketing at Missguided, and LTK creators Mollie Campsie, Louisa Hatt, and Josie LDN.

The world is literally in the palm of our hands as many actions can be taken with a simple tap, including shopping. The pop-up space in Oxford Street had a door like many other stores but the QR codes stuck on the window opened the real shop for us. This is a very peculiar 'store': LTK.

LTK Creator Shops in Oxford Street. Ph. V. Chirico

A popular name among the youngest and social addicted, LTK - formerly known as LikeToKnowIt - was founded in 2010 by Amber Venz Box and her then-boyfriend, now husband, engineer Baxter Box. Back at that time, blogging was an enjoyable hobby but the couple managed to turn Amber's passion for blogging and fashion into a means of living. With the monetisation platform rewardStyle first and the app LikeToKnowIt soon after, the Boxs changed the way people shop online forever but also, and especially, the way people source for inspiration.

At the LTK exclusive panel discussion with Missguided: 'The Role of Creator Commerce in Retail'

The panel discussion hosted by Robin Ward, head of sales at LTK, delved into this topic and explored today's shopping landscape brought by LTK with the four panellists.

What Is LTK And How It Works

LTK is an app and platform where content creators - bloggers or influencers - brands and the audience meet, creating a virtual space beneficial for the creators and helpful for the shoppers.

LTK inglobes Amber Venz Box and Baxter Box's brainchildren: rewardStyle and LikeToKnowIt. Ever wondered what the person next door, more realistically an influencer or a celeb, is wearing? LTK answers that question for you. You can tell this is a winning idea by its long 'shelf life'. Ten years of LKT suggests it is a brilliant concept with a real purpose. It could not be otherwise. Amber, a former personal shopper and fashion-obsessed from Dallas, knows the market as she turned her free shopping services as a blogger into an empire with 350 people working with her all over the globe.

CEO and Co-founder of LTK, Amber Venz Box

What Amber knows is that people do find shopping-related content entertaining and they actually spend on goods worth 10$ billion dollars after social recommendations by LTK creators. However, she is also well aware of the short lifespan of online content and the many new platforms launched every single year. Not so many 'spaghetti stick on the walls' and content is easily forgotten, lost under a shower of freshly made posts. The new updates implemented the LTK platform with helpful features for both the influencers and users. LTK creators will have a creator shop, a technology with marketing built-in, and access to analytics. Analytics are not just addicting and fun to explore, as noted by Molly, but also 'keep you in touch with your audience' - added Josie

LTK Makeover: New Functions For Your Experience

The LTK updates were made to create an 'elegant shopping experience' (Amber). Old and new uses can find now a richer tool to fish for inspiration and then shop online. The new LTK app features:

• Price drop alerts - Real-time notifications telling shoppers when one of their saved items or something in their wish list goes on sale.
• Automatic follows - A new function allowing users to follow a creator's LTK Shop automatically when they click through to any creator LTK post from Instagram or any other social media.
• Home screen badges - A little badge appearing on a creator’s avatar, showing how many new posts are waiting to be seen
• Gift Guides - A separate section for festive shopping (i.e. Christmas, Black Friday and Cyber Week) with gift guides within creator LTK profiles.
• Search filters - A much-awaited function to filter by brand name and media type on a creator’s LTK Shop.
• Localisation - Shoppers in the UK are now immediately recommended UK-creator content first in product search.

Asked by Robin on the meaning of influencer marketing, the panellists explored the role of influencers in today's virtual landscape by recalling their personal paths (Mollie, Louisa and Josie) and what is the relationship between brands and creators (Vicky).

LTK creator Mollie Campsie, Vicky James next to her

Coming from different backgrounds and representing different niches, the panellists offered a larger spectrum of opinions on the matter. For Mollie, a former plus-size model who joined LTK 18 months ago, 'an influencer is somebody in a given space - which for me was cut due to my size - (someone) who has authority in that space and who is able to influence purchasing decisions and add value to their audience.'

LTK creator Louisa Hatt shares her view and experience

Louisa, from Edinburgh and in LTK for 18 months, shared the same vision and deepened the view by pointing at 'trust and credibility', two strengths and essential components in the emerging role of influencers. Trust, authority, credibility, engagement, and humanity have been highlighted throughout the discussion.

LTK creator Josie LDN
Josie, who has a background in marketing, knows that marketers have to count every pound spent in their campaigns and found the positive side of being a creator as 'she can truck what she invests in because it is all digital.' She has been with LTK for seven years when the platform for influencers was called rewardStyle.
'Every penny has to make worth a pound', Vicky agreed with her and moved on by offering her experience as the voice of a brand dealing with the 'new brands', the creators. A brand like Missguided seized this new opportunity. Influencers' creative works can actually benefit different areas of marketing. In fact, the brand has been engaging with creators as a catalyst during that time when working from home made shooting particularly difficult to organise. Creators provided new content from different points of view as well as a source of inspiration for styling.

Robin Ward, head of Sales at LTK, hosts the panel

What emerged during the panel - probably the most relevant conversation topic for us at Fashions Finest - is inclusivity. Influencers and content creators are people like us and represent the variety of today's society with its different social, aesthetic and ethnic backgrounds. Mollie is sorting problems for many women who do not feel represented by models at all. Her activity has something emotional for her, 'it humanises everything which is the core of what influencer marketing is'. Louisa has never seen herself as a brand until other fellow creators suggested to her some products which might have been suitable for her personal style. That ordinary experience opened her eyes but it was the collaboration request from a British traditional heritage fashion label that brought her to a new realisation. People got back in touch to tell her they finally saw themselves in the brand's wealthy style code.

Content creators may have a privileged relationship with brands and enjoy enviable attention but what they really do is give voice and space to the real people. Creators are not models, they stand for those who were invisible in the media and marketing products ten years ago.

After London, LTK is planning to open more pop-up spaces around the globe (image courtesy of LTK)

When questioned by Robin, Vicky sounded quite comfortable with the statement 'creators are the new brands': 'as a brand, collaborating with creators strengthens your own brand. They are that authentic voice that people are looking for'.
'Creators are filling that gap between consumers and commas', added Josie. Creators like Josie, Mollie, and Louisa do something they love and, Josie continued 'while doing something you love, you do not realise but you are building this incredible relatable organic brand'.
Josie is not wrong at all. The equation is real and actual: 'creators are the new retailers; they are the ones curating new products for their followers', stated Amber while introducing us to LTK new makeover. Content creators are not competing with brands but they are now recognised as perfect partners and an endless source of inspiration for shoppers who finally find shapes and personalities closer to them.

LTK proved to foresee the change and shape the industry, surviving the coming-and-going destiny of all digital products. What we can wish for in the future is a democratic market, a fashion reality open to everyone and we can feel it is already happening.

Gen Z is fashion-forward and makes a big slice of the global fashion customer base with its generous $200 billion (more than £147 billion) annual global spend power. A new study by UNiDAYS shed light on the decisional power of the 'zoomers' and their commitment to clean and ethical fashion.

A new report commissioned by UNiDAYS, the world’s largest student affinity network, looked into the approach of Gen Z toward fashion, trends, e-commerce, and more. The result: Gen Z demands ethical fashion out loud.

Nearly seven in ten (68%) of Gen Z members demand that their clothes are manufactured to the highest ethical standards and 57% feel brands championing sustainability, equality and diversity are getting it right. These figures come from the recent report run by UNiDAYS surveying a panel of more than 18k Gen Z students to explore Gen Z’ fashion trends and preferences, their attitudes to retailers, sustainability, pricing and more.

Ph. Rodnae Production, Pexels

UNiDAYS Gen Z Fashion Report – Clean Fashion And Gendered Clothing

UNiDAYS asked a panel of their 20m+ verified student members for their opinions on all things fashion, in a series of surveys and polls. Over 18k Gen Z students provided insights about their relationships with their devices, platforms, fashion favourites and retail habits. The polls revealed passionate feelings towards clean-washing, conversation commerce, brand intrusion, third gender marketing and lack of trust when shopping through new social media checkout features.

As the role of real-world fashion adapts, fluid and device-driven business models must emerge for the fashion industry to serve the world’s first, and largest, generation of digital natives.

With global digital ad spend on social platforms predicted to hit $517 billion by 2023 (more than £380 billion), insight into the world’s biggest consumer demographic will support the bricks-and-mortar survivors and define the establishment of new fashion brands rising through the metaverse, all with Gen Z at their core.

Meet Gen Z

Born between 1996–2012, Gen Z is the most hyper-informed, hyper-connected and demanding generation of consumers in history. At 40% of total consumers, 'zoomers' are the biggest generation globally with a $3 trillion indirect annual spending power.

Unique Behaviours

Zoomers expect customised, personalised products and services plus value, across every device and every platform all with free delivery. Their real-world and digital existence are basically one and the same, with nuanced values that can seem contradictory on the surface: they love filters but resent retouching, they live and breathe social media, instant messaging, video games and live-streaming often all at the same time.

Gen Z' attention span is 8 seconds. Compared to 12 seconds for Millenials.

Make Connections

Their unwavering style, ethics and thrift make Gen Z the ultimate Apex Consumer. Brands must urgently connect with this high-potential, savvy, digital-native generation that is reshaping social commerce. Both start-ups and legacy brands could find this new world order daunting, but it represents great possibility.

• 2 BN direct annual global spending power
• 92% use discount codes 
• 40% of total consumers in the UK, US, Europe & BRIC

Fashion-phoria

• 90% say looking good is important to them
• 96% say fabulous clothes make them feel confident
• 93% love how great clothes make them feel
• 80% enjoy a mix of styles
• 87% say great clothes make them feel sexy
• 56% say they do not follow fashion trends

GEN Z members are full-on fashionistas, their style, habits and ethics drive and dominate the trends and patterns are seen through social media and the surrounding generations today. 87% of zoomers agree that great clothes make them feel sexy, 96% say fabulous clothes make them feel confident and 79% state sustainable fashion is important to them. But they never pay full price. For anything.

If Gen Z Is Not Your Core Consumer Now, They Soon Will Be...

Gen Z maintains its own personal brands physically and across their platforms, with defined standards and values that dictate the brands they associate with. The average Gen Z spends 10.6 hours a day online (Adobe), 93% love great clothes, and 85% of them research everything online before buying. Zoomers' appetite for social is huge and brands have been quick to embrace the fun and engagement that quality content generates. But with 75% of Gen Z stating they do not trust shopping on social media, there is a disconnect between entertainment and commerce which brands must fast address. Gen Z is consuming culture and marketing in a fundamentally different way than Millennials or Gen X (the over the forties).

Of those surveyed, 87% of Gen Z mostly communicate with their friends through instant messaging, just 13% call them direct, and only 14% would try a new fashion retailer based on seeing a TV ad. Fashion brands must get creative to establish and nurture these new relationships to ensure they stand the test of time.

Viviane Paxinos, global GM at UNiDAYS, states: 'We found that, for Gen Z, TikTok is the place to be on social, followed by Instagram. Given that fashion purchases made by 49% of those we spoke to were influenced by brands they saw on social media, platforms like TikTok and Instagram are a growth opportunity for fashion retail marketers looking to drive brand awareness and social commerce. Another important factor stems from TikTok's early guidance to marketers: don’t make ads. Make TikTok's.'

Good News For Fashions

• 76% are looking forward to partying again
• 64% expect to spend more on outfits for events now
• 78% plan to dress up party now that lockdown has eased
• 54% will spend more on beauty now social occasions are back

Despite 18 months in lockdown, 90% of Gen Z still value looking good. However, 65% expect their fashion purchases not only to be affordable but to be made to the highest ethical standards. Fashion, fast or otherwise, can no longer rely on value alone.

'Audiences go to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube for exclusive moments, entertainment, advice, humour, and authenticity in content. Fashion brands need to create content that feels genuine for the environment, or Gen Z consumers will swipe to the next video. Fashion brands should also be looking at social commerce as part of their wider omnichannel retail strategy, driving consumers in-store for brands where bricks and mortar play an important role. 84% of Gen Z are looking forward to returning to shops, and it shouldn’t be underestimated how impactful a shareable, interactive store experience would be in driving positive online endorsement and sales.'
Viviane Paxinos, global GM at UNiDAYS

Extreme Value

• 95% always keep an eye out for a bargain or offer
• 75% are used to buying clothes solely online due to lockdowns
• 53% say shopping is a social experience shared with friends
• 85% research online before committing to a purchase
• 82% are loyal to brands that offer regular discounts
• 66% intend to spend more on clothes when they go back to Uni
• 63% spent less on clothes during lockdown while 37% spent more
• 84% are looking forward to returning to shops

Trust And Confidence

• 49% do not mind advertising if it’s relevant to them
• 76% see too many ads on their feeds
• 83% want to cut their time spent on social media
• 75% do not trust shopping directly on social media
• 53% believe social media is bad for society
• 93% say social media promotes unrealistic life and body goals/ beauty standards
• 90% believe that unlabelled, retouched imagery should be illegal for influencers to use when endorsing brands/products

For the majority of Gen Z, online is its preferred way to shop; 85% research online first but 75% do not trust shopping directly on social media. Brands creating Instagram and TikTok content and those collaborating with influencers should be cautious, 90% of Gen Z believe it should be illegal for Influencers to use unlabelled and retouched images, while 93% believe social media promotes unrealistic life and body goals. Despite being the world’s first fully digital native consumer whose digital presence is as real as their physical one, they challenge everything they see.

Clean Fashion

Gen Z is conflicted: 59% of zoomers consider themselves woke, but one in four do not know where their clothes are manufactured.

Fast fashion serves zoomers' obsession for new and fresh, but grates against their ethical guilty conscience of quality not quantity. The rise of Depop and co. signifies a new dawn for wardrobe resale hacks that do not cost the earth, but where does that leave fast fashion brands? How deep does their culture of sustainability go?

Gen Z’s Earth-friendly attitudes and spending behaviours have triggered fashion to clean up their emissions and exploitation records, so a happy medium is emerging. Sustainability is finally being addressed by brands keen to be on the right side of history and stay relevant. Gen Z has zero tolerance for irresponsible brands, they are the sole demographic with the passion, power and platforms to take sustainability into the corporate boardrooms. Their digital and physical life are one of the same, which ensures their social media posts will continue to elevate those brands that champion change and shame those that blatantly do not.

Sad But True

It takes 3,781 litres of water and 33.4 Kg of carbon emissions to make one pair of jeans. Up to 175,000 tonnes of plastic microfibres are dumped into the ocean each year, equivalent to over 17bn plastic bottles, all from synthetic clothing. Microfibres cannot be easily extracted from water and pollute the marine wildlife food chain.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Gen Z on Clean Clothing

• 26% unsure where their clothes are manufactured
• 79% say sustainable fashion is important to them
• 68% want clothes manufactured to the highest ethical standards
• 59% consider themselves ‘woke’
• 23% feel peer pressure to shop more sustainably
• 39% would buy pre-loved because it is more sustainable
• 33% pick recycled items because they are cheaper
• 67% prefer fashion brands that appeal to their social conscience
• 33% feel that brands who champion sustainability do so in the right way

Gen Z On Clean Beauty

• 86% say clean beauty is important to them
• 33% always read the ingredients label before a purchase
• 88% prefer natural beauty and skincare products
• 78% have returned a product to the shelf because of the ingredient

Responsibility

Who does Gen Z think should be responsible for regulating the beauty industry to ensure they use sustainable and harmless ingredients in their products?

• 20% the government
• 47% the brands themselves
• 29% an independent industry regulator

Increased Desire For Gender Neutrality

'More than ever, mainstream consumers are being challenged to rethink accepted societal norms and structures driven solely by gen z’s passion for post-gender diversity and inclusion.'
Viviane Paxinos, global GM at UNiDAYS

Gen Z embraces gender-neutral products and marketing. Zoomers acceptance has generated a wave of opportunity for fashion and beauty brands to expand into non-binary clothing and product lines. Six years ago, at its height of popularity, Facebook added a third, customisable gender choice that offers 58 identity options such as androgyne, transmale, trans-person and more other brands soon followed.

The beauty industry saw campaigns for cosmetics start to include trans models and cis straight men. Global fashion brands including Farfetch, Missguided, ASOS and Boohoo have all recently launched high profile campaigns featuring diverse and empowering models to promote their inclusive collections.

Blurred Lines

Generation gender-neutral has the least concern over owning ‘gender appropriate’ clothing, preferring to shop by personal style of self-expression, rather than traditional labels.

• 43% believe that assigned gender does not play a role in choosing clothes
• 23% think gendered language in stores is outdated or offensive
• 79% are not put off buying clothes that are marketed to the opposite gender
• 64% have bought clothing for themselves that is marketed to the opposite gender

Luxury Brands Must Adapt...

'Be aware, brand equity that triggers gen x will not trigger Gen Z. 79% of young consumers agree that sustainable fashion is important to them and 68% want clothes manufactured to the highest ethical standards. Luxury brands must adapt their narrative to apply to the new apex consumer that is gen z. Generic claims of craftsmanship will not cut it with this demanding ethics driven group, they want specifics.' Josh Rathour, found and CEO of UNIDAYS

Label Lovers

Luxury brands obviously find engaging with young consumers difficult as 71% of Gen Z feel designer brands are not relevant to them. But by over-focusing on Gen X (the over the forties) and not connecting with a younger audience, aspirational brands risk not only alienating their appeal to Millennials but their future core consumer too. Brands that underestimate Gen Z risk their relevance and label longevity. Gen Z is the most demanding, informed and least loyal consumers in history, if they find a brand irrelevant now, the likelihood is they will never buy into the brand at all. Affinity is seeded in youth. Luxury brands that do not emotionally engage with their future consumer will ultimately fail.

Designer Desire

• 32% follow designers
• 47% buy luxury clothing as a treat
• 40% have an eye for limited-editions
• 27% buy luxury clothing for the quality
• 54% describe themselves as loyal to certain fashion brands

Loving Luxe

• 30% have bought 1-2 pieces of designer clothing this year
• 50% say they have bought more fashion in 2021 than previous years
• 47% name design as their top consideration when buying luxury fashion
• 64% name price as their top consideration when buying luxury fashion

HOWEVER...

• 54% do not love labels
• 27% believe designer clothes are of higher quality
• 77% say they cannot afford designer brands
• 54% have not bought any luxury fashion this year
• 71% do not feel designer brands are relevant to them

Do Not Survive, Thrive

If Gen Z is not your core consumer now, they soon will be.
Gen Z is defining which fashion brands survive and which brands thrive. Those labels comfortable with Gen X and Millennials must learn what triggers Gen Z and fast. Affinity is seeded in the young, fashion brands that do not bother engaging Gen Z will ultimately fail. But despite being the world’s first fully digital native consumer with defined personal brands, and whose digital presence is as real as their physical one, Gen Z’s relationship with the platforms they populate is guarded at best.

Brands must work hard to win trust in the social space. Gen Z' unwavering standards, ethics and thrift make Gen Z the ultimate Apex Consumer. Brands must urgently connect with this unfamiliar, contrary, digital-native generation who are reshaping social commerce. Fashion start-ups and legacy brands could find this new world order daunting, but it represents great possibility.

This is a plastic world and much of the plastic littering our environment seems to come directly from supermarkets. A survey conducted by Toluna digs into UK consumers' thoughts.

Celebrities all over the globe are an endless source of inspiration for everything beauty and fashion-related. Admiration often turns into emulation, and a new study can today reveal that Kylie Jenner is officially the world’s most influential celebrity!

The research, run and published by RY, offers an interesting insight into global beauty ideals. The study analyses Google search queries to reveal the most loved and copied celebrity beauty looks and today's top celebrity influencers. 

The Research: How To Spot The Influencers

RY made a list of 232 global celebrities, the most buzzed in glossy magazines of the likes of Allure and Glamour. Then, it put together the most typed queries on Google and combined the two lists to cover a full year. The research found which stars have the biggest influence in our quests for hair and makeup inspiration and more.

The Top 10 Most Popular Celebrity Looks

Kylie Jenner wins the round for the most popular and copied look. It does not come as a surprise; Kylie's look with her signature nude plumped lips made her fortune. Following, we can find Ariana Grande and Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston - who arrived in our houses as Rachel Green in Friends - is an astonishing example of fresh beauty over 40s.

Top 3 Most Popular Celebrities For Hair Inspiration

Jennifer Anniston is the top global hairstyle inspiration with her effortlessly healthy honey-gold locks. Follows Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande with her superbly sleek ponytail.

Top 3 Most Popular Celebrities For Makeup Inspiration

Kylie wins once again for the most popular makeup on Google. On a rushed morning, her nude makeup all about glowy skin and luscious lips is a successful choice. She can sport both natural and full glam looks but - it is not a secret - her lips are behind Kylie's empire with her Kylie Lip Kits. Ariana Grande arrives second with her cat-eye flick and glossy lips; while Selena Gomez arrives in the third position with her warm beauty and down-to-earth presence. We have no doubts, her makeup brand, called Rare Beauty, will reach the top globally.

Top 3 Most Popular Celebrities For Skincare Inspiration

Rihanna's glowy skin gives her the crown as the most popular skincare celebrity. The Barbadian singer is not simply known for her inimitable voice but also for her clean skin. Her cosmetic brand, Fenty Beauty, offers a chance to reach that perfection. Jennifer Lopez seems not to feel time passing. Now in her 50s, JLo can show a superb silhouette and a flawless complexion. She shares her secrets for dewy and younger skin with fans and the public with JLo Beauty. This time, Kylie Jenner settles for a third position with solely 50,000 searches every year for her skincare tips.

Top 3 Most Popular Celebrity Beauty Inspiration From The Past

The research also looks into the not-so-far past with a chart crowded with Hollywood actresses. The most influential of all is, of course, Marilyn Monroe with her iconic bombshell look.
Follows Twiggy and David Bowie, who left an undiscussed mark in the history of music with his talent and artistic self-expression.

Top 3 Most Newsworthy Celebrity Beauty Icons

RY's research spots also the most covered VIPs in magazines and online articles. Meghan Markle has always been in the news since her royal wedding; Kim Kardashian is just second, followed by Taylor Swift.

Read the full research online at RY