The vast majority of innovations in the apparel and fashion industry are provided by ingredient brands, said the Head of Braind, an international brand strategy consulting firm working exclusively on ingredient branding and strategic brand partnerships. He added that co-branding or ingredient branding has a tradition in the fashion/apparel industry.
“There is hardly any innovation coming from apparel brands. So, from fibre development to membrane and other performance materials such as synthetic insulation, stretch functionalities or new dyeing methodologies, most of the innovations are provided by technology companies and many of them try to apply the ingredient brand model,” Tomas Vucurevic, Founder & Managing Director, Braind, told.
“At Braind, we have analysed and defined one megatrend in ingredient branding: We call it the Next Generation ingredient branding. We see a shift from performance-driven co-branding of the 20th century towards a purpose-driven ingredient branding today and in the future. In times of social and digital media, the importance of sustainability and the offering of “good products” (good for the people, planet and profit) is constantly on the rise,” he added.
When asked about the fashion/apparel brand that is doing a good job with ingredient branding, he said, “I can clearly say that my number one fashion brand when it comes to mastering the integration of ingredient brands is Stone Island. No other brand is so precise and takes such an effort to describe in detail the functionality of every product and the contribution of each ingredient to the overall performance.”
Braind’s definition of ingredient branding is – pars pro toto: A part taken for the whole. This means that the ingredient becomes the trigger for the buying decision of the final product. In effect, the component can be a product or a material as well as a service of specification, concluded Vucurevic.
