Did you know that there is a trend that indicates that Chilean consumers are preferring to buy local brands? and this is essentially because signature brands are gaining ground as brands market primarily through social media, better addressing consumer needs in areas such as: value for money, durability, authenticity and service after-sales, reflected in an Accenture study , according to which: the post-pandemic Chilean consumer is more aware when prioritizing the acquisition of products that are more respectful with the environment, buying in neighborhood stores or simply acquiring brands of local origin.
Sustainable Fashion Consumer
To this is added the socioeconomic crisis generated by the global coronavirus pandemic, and the call to become aware of the effect of the ongoing climate emergency – embodied in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which establishes thatamong its goals By the year 2030, the circular economy hopes to have generated a change in consumption habits , promoting sustainable local development, compatible with the visions of each country.
Report that reaffirms that "the circular economy is expected to be firmly installed in the culture of each continent, promoting sustainable and conscious patterns of use, purchase and production within each society" .
And this is what the trend asserts with recent literary releases, referring to the clothing industry in Chile with investigations such as: “I make my clothes: sew and recycle for a sustainable world” by the journalist Maryló, a lover of recycling clothing; o “Reviviendo mil Prendas” by Dani Seguel (aimed at educating infants in sustainable clothing) o “Changing the Word: a journey through the hidden side of our clothes” by Sofía Calvo, which addresses the importance of sustainability in the fashion industry.
Buying in China vs. Buying Local
But how is China linked to the Chilean fashion industry? As in the rest of the Latin American region, and particularly in South America, Chile's trade with China has grown exponentially in the last two decades, trade facilitated by the FTA between our country and China, which came into force in 2005, and which includes trade in services and other items such as clothing since 2017.
Profiling China as the main motivator of the unbridled national consumption of "fast fashion" clothing, represented, according to the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, in 80% of textile imports from the Asian giant, with examples such as Shein, which sells its garments in 220 countries. , and it has become the fashion store for Generation Z, leaving Aliexpress, Shopee or Mercado Libre behind, thanks to the sale of low-cost clothing at half price. For their part, India, Vietnam and Bangladesh contribute 6% to the national market, only in clothing imports.
In a scenario in which the commercial link: Chile versus the People's Republic of China, which has been characterized mainly by selling basic products with low added value, such as second-hand clothing and clothing rejected due to its low quality, made in China or in Bangladesh that passes through Europe, Asia or the United States before reaching the ports of our country, which resells containers or bales of "fast fashion" clothing to Latin America, while the rest arrives in the Metropolitan Region to be sold by trade in Barrio Meiggs in Estación Central, Calle Bandera in Santiago Centro or in the Patronato neighborhood in the Recoleta commune.
Fast Fashion v/s Tons of Clothes
Every year some 59,000 tons of clothing enter Chile via the port of Iquique towards the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile, of which at least 39,000 tons, not being sold, end up in landfills in the Atacama desert. as documented by the South China Morning Post .
This is in contrast to the skepticism of China's millennials, who currently maintain a rejection of fast fashion, as well as post-pandemic Chilean millennial and zentennial consumers, who are feeding an incipient appetite to buy national brands online . This in Chile is due to the gradual rise and commercialization of author designs that are mainly traded through social networks (29.5%) and their own store (26.3%). In addition to being sold by the same costume designer (86.3%), who is also in charge of its communication (89.5%), according to the "Economic Diagnosis of Designer Fashion in Chile" MODUS survey .
Meanwhile, the same research notes that "Made in Chile" clothing contributes close to 1% of GDP, while the turnover of Chinese products exceeds 70%, and the rest is distributed among garments from Southeast Asia, Latin America and to a lesser extent, Europe. Which concludes that the contribution of the local fashion industry to the national GDP within the Chilean manufacturing industry as a whole is only 1.9%, an insignificant figure considering that 22.1% of Chilean couturiers export products , with shipments that do not happen more than twice a year (52.8%) according to MODUS .
Facts that are prompting a series of local companies that manufacture author fashion to try to understand if consumers truly prefer local brands, to adapt their marketing, given that the growth of the country has allowed consumers to demand better products. quality, although price, according to Reaching the Chilean consumer , continues to be the main factor in purchasing decisions, but other determinants are quality, clothing materials, sustainability of textiles, durability, customer service and the post-sale experience and the availability or stock of the items for sale in the online channels.
Despite the persistence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Chileans remain loyal to brands, and almost 70% express their independence from them. Respect for the environment is increasingly important in consumer decisions. In fact, in Latin America, Chile is considered the most conscious in terms of environmental problems , and consumers are paying more and more attention to the labels of the products they consume and therefore to the issue of authenticity, durability and quality of clothing. even more so in the recent case of a questioned multi-store retailer that is being investigated for the alleged sale of counterfeit products, the future of sustainable fashion is envisioned with a growing number of Chilean fashion lovers demanding local designers who make clothes with textiles traditional, with the aim of promoting local development of a sustainable fashion industry, compatible with the visions of each country.
