requirement for the award of the degree
BA (Hons) Fashion Management
“ I, JIA HAN TUNG, CERTIFY THAT, THIS IS AN ORIGINAL AND INDIVIDUAL PIECE OF WORK AND THAT NO PART OF THIS HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY ANYONE ELSE;
I HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED ALL SOURCES AND CITATIONS BY APPLIYING HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM;
NO SECTION OF THIS ESSAY AND REFLECTIVE STATEMENT HAS BEEN PLAGIARISED;
THIS WORK HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR ANY OTHER ASSESSMENT ”.
“ I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY SUPERVISOR, , FOR HER GUIDANCE THROUGHOUT THIS DISSERTATION.
I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK THE DESIGNERS SELECTED ON PROVIDING ME DATA AND SPENDING TIME ANSWER MY QUESTIONS THROUGHOUT INTERVIEWS AND THOSE PARTICIPANTS FOR FOCUS GROUP FOR TAKING PART IN THE RESEARCH. ”
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
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1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
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2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
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3.1.
3.2.
3.3.
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTION
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4.1.
4.2.
4.3.
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
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5.1.
5.2.
5.3.
REFERENCE
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Reference List ..
APPENDICES
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Appendix 1. Interview Questions
Appendix 2. Focus Group questions
Appendix 3. Interview Transcript 1 - Robert Wun
Appendix 4. Interview Transcript 2 - Shaoyen
Appendix 5. Interview Transcript 3 - Lulu Liu
Appendix 6. Interview Transcript 4 - Masha Ma
Appendix 7. Interview Transcript 5 - Apu Jan
Appendix 8. Interview Transcript 6 - Jamie Wei Huang
Appendix 9. Focus Group Transcript 1 - 20s Chinese
Appendix 10. Focus Group Transcript 2 - 20s European
Appendix 11. Focus Group Transcript 3 - 28+ Mix
Appendix 12. Information Sheet for Participants
Appendix 13. Consent form for Participants 1
Appendix 14. Consent form for Participants 2
Appendix 15. Consent form for Participants 3
Appendix 16. Research Ethics Approval Form
Appendix . Reflective Statement ..
LIST OF TABLES
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Within the past five years, Universities in London have experienced an unanticipated rise on Chinese students joining to study creative arts and design with over 150 percent in numbers and with 80 percent within the subjects that focus on fashion, many graduates either going on to work for some of the world’s most renowned fashion houses or setting up their own brand labels in the UK (London and Partners, 2014). As the reporter mentioned, there were 8 Chinese graduates with 5 of them come from University of the Arts London, showcased their collection during the AW15 London Fashion Week. The increase Chinese designers in the UK could be the result of recent consumption shift in China as well as being influenced by a strong British fashion culture.
With the significant amount of money invested in fashion for Chinese people in the past decade, they comes down to have a sense of awareness on the object, while most consumers are self-educated on fashion, fashion begin to float to the surface. This being the base cause when millennials decide to going after such a career path, however as fashion in China is far from developed and that traditionally Chinese would perceive those who wish on pursuing a creative career as ‘losers’ (Apparal Magazine, 2014). It is still difficult for either older generation or the society to accept, therefore the reasons became noticeable for Chinese coming abroad for having a fashion career. In addition, creativity itself in China is less encouraged in the society, as children since young are so used to the pattern of ‘imitating’ the best in class (Karperer, 2009). Designers often find it difficult to have a long-term survival in the industry as innovativeness would often stand against and violating the legal and political terms, where as coming to the UK brings a completely different spectrum. Within a more liberal society such as UK, Chinese students are able to unleash their creative talents in Universities as well as after graduate as there would be less cultural and legal barriers for designers when developing their collections.
1.2. Contribution of study
Within amount of news being reported on Chinese talents appearing on the stage of London Fashion Week, there were however none study had researched into the effect causing this movement to become visible in the UK, of the factors that triggered them on entering abroad of setting their labels. The study will be covering most aspects from series of incidents on why younger generation decide to come to UK to study at the beginning to how they setting up fashion business in the market, as well as to how they corporate their native culture with this entire new environment. While searching for the secondary data, information shown on the related topic are quite fractured, this research is to put together the information from both existed reports combined with in-depth primary research to form a new aspect that circled on the emerging fashion in the modern era.
1.3. Aim and Objectives
The study will systematically brings out an investigation on this recent social movement of Chinese fashion designers moving abroad, UK in particular, for setting their business. The Chinese being mentioned here including all population from the mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau for creating a fuller and more comparable spectrum. By carrying out the research, it will mostly be replying on the primary explorative data, with limited supports from secondary’s.
This particular group, as being Chinese fashion designers, coming to the UK for creating their labels has major affects on pushing the emerging fashion forward in the mainland Chinese market, while they shining on an international stage. The distinctive features of these designers will be discovered within the research, both cultural and belief wise as well as on the personal and business wise, of how they differ from the British local fashion businesses. This objective will be evaluated within the literature review in chapter 2 as well as during the interviews in Chapter 4.
Culture as set as the interpersonal aspect for designers, this factor majorly impacted on their inspirations while handling collections. This objective nevertheless will be discovering how far would cultural influence play a part in designers’ choice on coming to the UK when they first realised that they looking forward of entering fashion industry and that why they have come to decide on operating business in a foreign market as well as how culture has benefit their career in certain ways. This objective will be covered within part of Chapter 2 and will mostly be taking part in the interview process.
Objective 3 centralise on the business strategies that these designers took on their survival on the UK fashion market, from company structure to marketing, to have a stand in this extremely competitive field. Emerging designers are the industry’s new-comers, where they usually perceived as unexperienced and having limited networks. Therefore owning an Unique Selling Point for them is crucial, besides asserting efforts on the constant innovations to understand and satisfy their customers, the designers are also required to deal with cultural difference and social diversification on searching a connection that emotionally triggered customers locally as well as internationally. Objective 3 will be carry out during the interview process when asking directly to the selected designers, and also have a section discussed in literature review.
Even though the currently growth on emerging fashion business are considerably high in the UK, there are still uncertainties exist for the future dimension. As consumers’ demands are constantly shifting, people’s attitude on emerging fashion brand would alter as well. This objective will take part in the second research method, becomes the base for conducting focus group. By looking into customer’s side of views, including all aspects on how they perceive the emerging fashion business as well as their current shopping habits and how far they see this fashion will go in the future. Besides having purely on customer’s viewpoint, the doubt on future of business will also bring up to designers during the interview, and then to have a comparison between designers and potential consumers’ viewpoints.
1.4. Methodology Overview
The study is built on phenomenologist as there were very limited research being done within the subject area, with regards to explore this recent movement of Chinese people entering the UK for establishing their fashion label. Applying this philosophy on the study will bring on a direct link to the aim of research, where the subject relies heavily on experimenting social elements, and where data are collected to discover and inform a new phenomenon. The research implants inductive approach by taking a bottom-up strategy and will only be taking qualitative approach. From forming particular actions, in this case would be in-depth interviews and intense focus group discussions to detect and examine the patterns to form possible hypothesis and to the last of developing theories. Therefore the research will be explorative as most information will be found during the data collection. Secondary research is conducted through several channels, with University’s online and library resources. It will also be including in the second part of Discussion within Chapter 4 and small amount in Introduction. When comes to the proper research methods, interview is set to consist of 9 questions with total 6 designers who have completely different background story are selected. The interviews are set to address on Objective 2 & 3, with separations to two parts: business wise and personal wise. While objective 4 will be addressed in the focus group discussions, it is comprised of 6 open-end questions with each group having 5 participants and with age differ from 20s to 30s in order to have a more conclusive result.
1.5. Structure Overview
The introduction covers brief insight of current emerging fashion market in the UK, how China are fashion-hungry on searching creativities. The chapter mostly focus on explaining the flow of the paper, starting by asserting concept of UK fashion market in general and explaining how the continuously grow on fashion education attracts younger generations in China on coming to study in the UK, then to the business setting after educations in the UK. It looked at when the series of incidents happened and what caused them. Chapter 2 carries a more general point of view on past paper that explored on single element, with regards to some cultural events in China as well as people shifting consumption that potentially leads emerging fashion talents into the UK to an international stage. It also looked into the cause for Chinese demand on studying fashion abroad as well as how they distinct themselves while settling business in the UK. Chapter 3 focus on research approach that relates to qualitative research as interviews and focus groups are carried out, while Chapter 4 will be discussing and analysing the findings from both research methods as well as carrying out research on secondary data, including market reports, news, trend casting. By taking several implications on discussing the findings from the collected data, it therefore to form a more considerate conclusions.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Chapter Overview
The chapter discussed how the shift in consumptions moving Chinese people’s interest from luxury to emerging fashion as well as how cultures shaped the idea of creativity and as this being one of the main reason of Chinese moving to UK for study fashion subjects as well as on the possibilities of staying for establishing business opportunities with references to relevant literatures.
2.2. Consumption Shifts in China
China has been the second largest market for high-end fashions, in spite of the recent slowdown in Chinese economy, the country has achieved high demand of consumption into fashion goods. Especially with the booming on middle class that follows with their financial status, there is no doubt that they are going to invest heavily on prestige goods. The recent studies shown however, as the demands are shifting in China over the consumption on high-end products, as it could reflected on Bain’s report as stating that ‘China’s luxury spending continued its decline in 2015, however emerging signs signal a reversal in 2016’ (2016). Despite for the products that are covered in large logos, the consumption now are more towards on exclusivity, with buyer’s intention on seeking uniqueness rather than attentions (Li et al., 2012). The literature also revealed on the percentage of recent purchases over high-end designer goods for per Chinese visitor while they travel to the UK is as high as 75 percent out of total expenditure during their trip. This shift in demand from luxury purchase to designer goods, demonstrated Chinese customer’s thirst on creating uniqueness.
On the other hand, a research by Seo et al. has stated that as China is on the process of undergo a ‘lull’ in accordance with the transformation in Chinese consumers’ mindset towards fashion, where people nowadays seeks on personal styles, this significantly impacted luxury sectors to occur a downturn on consumer spending (2015). This drop on figures has been ‘misleading’ in a way that people assume it has to do with the recent economic downturn in the country, which in fact has no relationship to. This decline is regarding to the shifting demand on consumptions and that fashion companies are in need of altering themselves on business strategies as to become adjustable for the majority’s taste now. Even ‘until last year, a fashion luxury company could establish itself in China and rapidly expand by relying on its global brand recognition as a guarantee to success’, this has become negative as in more recent practices, consumers take into account on making thoughtful purchasing decisions rather than being purely dependent on a reputation of a brand (Ordonez, 2015). Having desires of experimenting new brands becomes a gradual trend in China nowadays.
2.3. Fashion Educations and Business in the UK for Chinese
While consumption shifts in China has resulted a rise on emerging brands, and with continuously increase on consumptions on apparel being made abroad, It was during Chinese people’s visit to the UK, when they were deeply influenced by the overall fashion atmosphere, with later comes to choose to be educated in the country on the subjects of fashion. Subject on creative arts has now exceed long-time favoured subjects such as science and engineering on the track of becoming the second most popular course to be studied by Chinese coming into the UK (Gu, 2015). The study presented that one in five graduates for Womenswear design course in Central Saint Martin went on establishing their own labels and and over 40 percent of the students remaining in the UK on pursuing a fashion career. This has therefore indicated the importance of British fashion industry, where it becomes a symbol of originality and innovativeness and that people perceiving London as the ideal city of developing a career in fashion.
The rising trend on studying abroad on fashion in the UK leads to question on the whole creative education system in China, of what resulted in such movement of Chinese youth generation moving to the UK. Despite the visitor flow coming from China to UK, the problem lean back to China itself, on how culturally ‘unacceptable’ for the creativities to be existed in the society. According to Jiang (2012), she examined on the lack of creativities on Chinese society, as most creative arts are derivative, ‘Chinese enterprise is merely a carbon copy of an American one’. Traditionally, children since young were educated on remembering facts in order to achieve good grades in tests so as when they are used to be called to imitate the best in class and that whenever they tend to bring up a new idea, they are soon to be silenced from the teacher. This is in fact what kills the creativity, that is deeply asserted into the education system where it is described in the study as what schools in China revealed the psychological model of ‘separating emotion from memory by making learning an unemotional experience’.
It was according to the lack of environment on creativity that China has become one of the most saturated country for counterfeit productions. It is still difficult for Chinese to step out of that imitating zone for nowadays, as the society has limitations on idea development, Chinese company are far from skilful for being innovative (Ebrahimian, 2015). Limited education on art related subjects also bringing Chinese people for studying abroad, where the place it has no limit on expressing yourself however you wish, where the place that government’s restrictions and dominance on innovativeness is no longer applied. It all leads to the trend when Chinese coming into a foreign market for experience a more open-minded culture with practice on creativities.
In the post-mao era china competed successfully for a place in the international trade in textiles and apparel, but its economic success has not been matched by recognition of chinese fashion design on the world stage. one reason for this lies in the obstacles posed by the existing hierarchy of fashion capitals, which has proved notoriously difficult to subvert. shanghai may mean fashion in china, but unlike paris, it does not mean that to the world at large. yet the chinese fashion industry is also bedevilled by problems of its own. a high degree of national self-consciousness on the world stage is evident in international fashion shows featuring rather predictable pastiches of chinese culture. it may be the case that state-sponsored nationalism militates against both a more interesting approach to cultural heritage on the part of designers and a more receptive climate for chinese fashion on international catwalks.
post mao - international trades in textiles and apparel
chinese fashion designs is also bedevilled by problems of its own - a high degree of national ‘self-consciousness’ on the world stage - featuring predictable style or elements taken from chinese culture on an international fashion stage
3.1. Chapter Overview
In this chapter, the philosophy, approach and methods of data collection used in this dissertation are described and justified. The reasons why these approaches and techniques are suitable for the research topic and how they relate to each objective, are elucidated. ‘The Research Onion’ research model is adopted, whereby the methodologies are presented in an order corresponding to the model. The phenomenologist philosophy is discussed first. Second, inductive research and secondary data are discussed, as well as the research procedures: developing interviews and focus groups.
3.2. Research Philosophies
A phenomenological approach is adopted here. This is one of the ten research philosophies, and consists in collecting qualitative data on topics in which the constructs have not been previously established. It involves investigation and exploration of social phenomena, and attempts to develop theories based on new data (Bryman, 2003). Research is scarce on the recent trend of Chinese people moving to the UK to establishing their fashion labels. The current study will thus be informed by broader, established concepts of culture and business. This particular philosophy is justifiable given the aim of the study, which is to experimentally manipulate social phenomena, and collect new data in order to contribute to philosophy, and ‘based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived’ (Smith, 2013). The grounded aspects of data collection are based on the cultural backgrounds of the participants, their behaviours and attitudes towards operating businesses in the UK and business strategies.
3.3. Research Approach
The research takes an inductive approach. First, it examines the recent trend in Chinese students studying fashion in the UK, as well as why those students remain in the UK to develop their own fashion label after education. Second, it examines the behaviour, beliefs and psychological inclinations of this particular group of designers, taking account of cultural context. The strategies whereby emerging designers create profitable businesses at this stage as well as in the future, are examined. The perspectives of both designers and potential consumers of emerging fashion are explored. The purpose of this study is to research the above content and to generate new theory from the data collected. The study will thus be exploratory and is consists in the mono method: only qualitative techniques are applied. This is appropriate considering the research objectives to investigate a previously unexplored topic.
Figure 1. Process of Research Methods.
3.4. Secondary Research
There are several channels through which secondary research is conducted. Online University resources, such as Mintel and Verdict, were used, as well as physical resources, such as past essay papers and books sourced from the library, as well as online resources for news, economic and financial data for specific markets and for information on emerging designers. This paper will cover secondary research with discussion and analysis in Chapter 4. Before analysis, relevant news reports and economic data on social change are evaluated. Secondary research on the topic was conducted prior to analysis and is outlined in the Introduction. Academic journals combined with secondary online sources were also included in Chapter 2.
3.5. Qualitative Research 1: Interview
Qualitative research was conducted. One-to-one interviews were conducted with six emerging designers. Interviews are the most effective phenomenological approach to obtain direct responses and insights. This method was appropriate to address Objectives 2 & 3. The first half of the interview will addresses Objective 3, in which questions relate to business status before becoming more personal towards the second part of interview, which relates more closely to Objective 2, concerning backgrounds and motivations. Objective 2 is to determine the factors that influenced designers originally from China who decided to remain in the UK to develop their labels. The strategic marketing approach to attracting potential consumers is also explored. This deepens the study and is consistent with the secondary research.
The interview consisted in nine open-ended questions. Each interview lasted approximately 25 minutes. Six designers from different parts of China were selected to participate in this study: Robert Wun, Shaoyen Chen, Lulu Liu, Masha Ma, Apu Jan and Jamie Wei Huang. As the age of these designers varies from 25- to 32-years old is a strength of the study, rendering the business model more generalisable. The location of each interview differed. Robert, Jamie and Shaoyen were interviews at their own designer studios, Lulu at a café near her studio, Masha via email and Apu via a LINE call from Taiwan. Interviews conducted with three of the designers are considered insider research, as the researcher knows Robert and Shaoyen from a previous work relationship, while Lulu was recruited through a family connection. Apu was contacted through Shaoyen, and Jamie and Masha through Lulu. The six designers are all at different stages of building their brand, and were chosen accordingly. Robert was interviewed first and was used as an informal pilot of the interview questions.
3.5. Qualitative Research 2: Focus Group
Focus groups are conducted to understand the perspectives of potential shoppers on emerging fashions. In this case, focus groups were conducted first to explore the shopping habits of consumers and second provide a view on the future of emerging fashions in the UK, addressing Objective 4. Three focus groups were conducted with five participants each. Participants in the first group of participants regularly purchase emerging fashions, were in their early 20s and are originally from China. The participants from the second group are in a similar age group one but are all from Europe or the UK, and sometimes purchase emerging fashion brands. Participants in the third group are aged between 28 and 36 years and had never purchased emerging fashions, regardless of their nationality.
The focus group comprised six open-ended semi-structured questions, in order to grant participants greater control of the discussion, and to allow flexibility. Consumer perceptions of the subject were sought, to determine whether designers understand the demands of their potential customers. This is related to Objective 3. In the first and second group, the participants are gathered from the University whereas the third group is gathered by contacting them on Facebook, Wechat and from neighbourhood.
Attendees were recruited through various channels, including the fashion or creative industry. 90% of participants were current or previous fashion students, ensuring consistent responses. Participants from the first two groups are in the same life stage and have similar shopping habits but are of different nationalities. This was to obtain opinions from a variety of nationalities, particularly with regards to their experience of shopping for emerging fashions as well as sharing their thoughts on the future of Chinese emerging designers operating businesses in the UK. Participants in the third group had completed their education some time previously were anticipate to provide more mature responses, based on their knowledge and past experience, since they all currently work in the fashion or creative industry and are aware of emerging fashion trends. The focus group was conducted in the private study room inside a studio compound. Private spaces offer flexibility and allow participants to concentrate better. Public areas were not considered.
3.6. Limitations of Data Collection
There are limitations to both research methods. The six selected interviewees of similar age, between 25 and 32 years. Shaoyen and Apu were from the same country, and most participants graduated from the same university, rendering the results less generalisable. Private interview locations might generate different responses than those held in public spaces; environment might affect mood and the recording of voices outside is less clear than indoors. Masha was contacted via email. The information she provided is thus, though solid, perhaps less specific than might have been obtained face-to-face. Apu was contacted via a call on LINE, the main social app in Taiwan. This might have been affected by the contact signal. His responses might have varied based on the place where he was when the interview was contacted. The fact that Robert, Shaoyen and Lulu are personal contacts might bias the study. Although the focus group was help inside a private studio, the formality of the setting might have caused participants discomfort. The focus group sample could be flawed in that participants from the first group are all from China. Their discussion might be more positive than participants from other groups. The age range of focus groups attendees was more restricted, also potentially affecting the results.
3.7. Code of Ethics
In line with the ‘UAL Code of Ethics’, all six interviewees were given the consent information sheet, which it covers the aim of research. The designers were asked sign on the sheet to declare that they have understood the research purpose and are willing to participate. The questions conducted in interviews and focus groups are well-thought through in order to prevent violations on privacy, as age and personals are avoided in questions. The information sheet reassured that the research is ethical.
CHAPTER 4:
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1. Chapter Overview
This chapter covers the review on findings from both secondary and primary research. Combing with the journal research, secondary data first revealed on the opportunities of Chinese studying fashion in the UK. This takes into account from all perspectives. With a previous focus on the cultural construction in China, how the system despite creativity and causing people from younger generations wanting to study abroad, especially with those whom want to pursue a creative career. The research secondly, focus on UK’s Chinese graduates, of their behaviours on starting a fashion enterprise and what leads this in the beginning, in particular, on reasons that encouraged them on remaining in the UK.
There are several outcomes from the research in secondary data, where first, it demonstrated on how consumption shift in China caused a rise of new designer labels. It was discovered, that people in China are changing their status, where in line with the booming of middle class, the demand for unique identities are being appreciated more in the market, therefore they shift from buying into luxury to designer pieces. Such shift is the cause of internationalisation of the market, in this case, city by city is evaluated differently. This then move on to the question on the recent’s rising trend of millennials studying abroad on creative subjects, and an astonishing rise in number on those who wish on pursuing fashion careers, which leads the subject back to the domestic society influence. Children traditionally were educated on remembering facts in order to achieve good grades in tests and they were told by parents and teachers to imitate the best in class. When a new idea is being formed, it is silenced by the surrounding. Education becomes one of the main factor on creativity. As such formation growing in Chinese society, those potentially creative population become more aware of the western policy, especially on how much freedom can be obtained in comparison with the situation in China.
Apart from the support of secondary data, the primary research has further explore the topic, transforming cultural practices into the a trigger for designers to operate business in the UK. With interviews and focus groups being conducted, the investigation deepened the previous knowledge obtained. Six designers are selected to conduct interviews, and with them having different backgrounds as prior to move to UK, the study therefore becomes diverse when drawing out the results (see table 2 below for presenting designer profiles).
The six emerging designers who were interviewed had a lot of information regarding the topic in question. Their understanding on how emerging fashion designers use specific business strategies to bring out emotions from customers target groups was expounded. The business strategies that fashion designers use include product differentiation, increasing their technological advantage, utilizing proper pricing strategies and cornering fledgling markets (I’m going to expound on this).
The interviewees said that the cultural background of the emerging fashion designers boosted their new businesses in UK by a large gap. First, they all mentioned at different forums, that a people’s way of life affects the way they do things and most importantly, it also affects the ambitions and goals in future life. The business goals and ambitions on the other hand, stimulate the productivity of businesses in the fashion design sector (also going to expound on this).
4.3. Findings from Focus Group
The impacts and effects of emerging fashion to the third parties or customers are very important. A lot of information was gathered from the three focus groups who were interviewed in this study. According to the interview conducted on the focus groups, the (also going to expound on this).
4.4. Findings from Secondary research
The secondary research was the mother to almost half of the information gotten from the study (also going to expound on this).
Twenty-first century China is urbanizing on a massive scale, shifting the world’s economic center toward Asia. The reverberations of this shift are sounding loudly in the global apparel market, where the growth rate in emerging markets will increase by 50 percent over the next 12 years. By contrast, the historical growth rates for the apparel market overall is just over 3 percent per year. While emerging markets account for 37 percent of women’s midmarket apparel today, that share is expected to rise to more than 50 percent by 2025—three times faster than mature markets.
http://www.vogue.com/13254753/rising-chinese-designers-fashion-china/
(on designers who decide to move back to china for their label)
CHAPTER 5:
Conclusion and Discussion
5.1. Distinctive Features
5.2. Cultural Backgronds
5.3. Emerging Designer’s Business Model
5.4. Consumer Perspective on Future of Business
5.5. Conclusions
5.6. Limitation
5.7 Recommendation for further study
INFORMATION SHEET FOR PARTICIPANTS
Background and Rationale:
The study will be covering most aspects from series of incidents on why younger generation decide to come to UK to study at the beginning to how they setting up fashion business in the market, as well as to how they corporate their native culture with this entire new environment. While searching for the secondary data, information shown on the related topic are quite fractured, this research is to put together the information from both existed reports combined with in-depth primary research to form a new aspect that circled on the emerging fashion in the modern era.
Aim of this research study:
An empirical study on investigating an emerging trend that consists of Chinese fashion designers operating business in the UK.
The study will systematically brings out an investigation on this recent social movement of Chinese fashion designers moving abroad, UK in particular, for setting their business. The Chinese being mentioned here including all population from the mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau for creating a fuller and more comparable spectrum.
FAQ
How much time will be involved?
On an average of 25 minutes per interview.
Where will the research be conducted?
Depend on your availabilities and choice on location.
What will happen to the information collected?
All the information are only be used by the university, for the purpose of this research study.
How will the data and information collected be used?
Once i have the transcript done, the data will analysed and relative discussion will be made on responding the aim of this research. Every detail you mentioned will be written down for later use.
Will the outcomes of the research be published?
No. It will only be reviewed by the supervisor and exam boards.
Will my name or the name of my company appear in the research report?
Yes, the interview and the study will require your name as well as the name of your company for the research. We can discuss if there’s inconvenience for you.
What will happen to the data on completion of the project?
Data will be written down in the transcription as well as within the analysis. There is no third person to whom the research will reveal to and it will not be publish most certainly.
What happens if I change my mind and I don’t want to take part to this research?
One week of notice is required, I hope it all works out!
APPENDIX : REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
For the dissertation paper, the topic i chose on studying is what i have been work on for a long time. It centralised on emerging designer market in the UK and it did not take me long to decide what i want to research for this project. As I am constantly working with Chinese emerging designers on establishing the UK market, it would benefit me on the research, time and information wise. Three of the designers whom I interviewed are through the past working experience, Robert, Shaoyen and Lulu. The interview therefore would be less formal and the data would be easier to collected throughout the conversations. There are certain amount of news that was reported by BBC, Guardian and Telegraph presenting the evidence of Chinese millennials coming to study fashion in the UK, providing numbers as high as a 150 percent growth during the past five years. However, after conducted a secondary and journal research, there was not trace to be found on studying this phenomenon. This is the reason for me on carrying out an research on this trend or rather a social movement of Chinese people studying fashion in the UK and settling their business here after graduation.
My enthusiasm and interests in the topic leads me into studying it, however, it was until i start to research on past journals for Chapter 2, that i started to struggle on. The information provided online is less than i expected, besides all the news and reports, there were so limited information on literature to be found. After having a conversation with my tutor, i was suggested to look into individual subjects rather than connecting them all together. For example, instead of searching ‘Chinese emerging designer in the UK’ on google scholar, where it contains three objects within one search - Chinese, emerging designer and UK market, i can simply type ‘emerging talents on fashion’, where has one object only, the result would be much easier to discover. Therefore, on the literature review section, i mostly looked into the culture aspects as how it affect decisions on Chinese studying fashion in the UK, taking into account on the recent consumption shifts on apparel goods as well as lean an eye on the ‘creativity’ constructions in China.
One of the difficulties is on the conducted interviews, as Masha Ma, the designer i admire and was thrilled to have interview on, was outside of UK during that month when i am conducting the research. I struggled on this for awhile, as i was worrying that an email interview would not be as concise as the face-to-face one. Another reason for this is that i am concerned that the person who replied on the interview questions would not be Masha herself. This is also stated in the limitations. However, i overcome that concern when receive the replied email from Masha, although the responses to question were less than other designers, whom i conducted face-to-face and through app call, they are straight to the point and everything i needed for analysing is within the responses.
Another difficulties also occurred on interviews. In the beginning i was planning to have all the interview done in March, however, it was not until April that i started on the first interview. This is according to the time schedule for designer, as after the London Fashion Week, which is on February, each of them is occupied on the showroom arrangements, five out of six designers i selected were either taking business trip outside of the UK or busying with meetings dealing with buyers. All interviews therefore delayed to April, so as the focus group study, this has left me limited time on doing transcriptions. Time management therefore played a significant role especially when comes down to finishing a dissertation. I realised making a gantt chart is crucial step on writing a long research paper, it makes the study become much more efficient.
Reflecting back on the overall journey on writing the dissertation, fortunately, i was able to overcome the difficulties and challenges, at the same time, i learned on how to better deal with anxieties. From the start of writing to finishing the dissertation took 3 months, however it was not until the mid of April, the time that i almost done with conducting on focus group, that i started to feel the stress and feel less motivated. I then start on taking everyday schedule on paper, as i created a day-to-day to do lists, this allows me to finish piece by piece within the self-scheduled timeframe. I found this particularly helpful and will continue on using for future works.
When asking many classmates on whether the topic chosen is related to future jobs, most of them agreed on this. This is also the case for me. I especially value the experience and time i spent with all the emerging designers during the study as well as on past work, they reflected on the diversity and internationalisation of UK’s fashion talents. I have decided long ago that i am searching for jobs within branding and marketing sector, the dissertation offers me opportunities on looking in-depth on the industry and prepared for a more profound understanding regarding on brand managements.
Looking back to the whole UAL journey, i am always grateful for tutors whom gave support and encouragement on each assignment, and giving advices when i needed. Most importantly, throughout these three years of studying in BA, the course continuously developed set of skills, from time management to real practice on brands. It has exploited my potentials and prepared me for future works.
