MARKET POSITION Isabel Marant is placed in the premium apparel market. The house produces two pret-a-porter collections each year, spring and fall, and they always carry the same distinct features but with seasonal updates. Thus, the brand detaches itself from the dominating trends within fashion and strives to follow it’s own established style. From the beginning, Marant was determined to build her brand step-by-step and let grow slowly and organically. This decision would also allow her carry out her own creative vision with more integrity (Finnigan, 2013). The house shunned traditional advertising and instead relied on spreading through word-of-mouth, and within a few years it had become somewhat of a cult brand in Paris, catering to an extremely loyal base of customers. International commercial success followed up, partially thanks to the numerous style icons and it-girls among those brand-devotees, who eagerly wore and promoted it in the medias. The brand has in fact reported a 30% increase in sales for each year since it’s inception, having Marant proudly stating: “I have always increased the turnover and quantity of what I was selling” (Iredale, 2008). The price range of the brand’s most iconic products (skinny jeans, blazers, heavy knits and other wardrobe staples) remains beyond the budget of an average consumer. Yet, sales of the high-street collection, designed by Isabel Marant for H&M in 2013, clearly demonstrate the brands growing popularity within the mainstream market. In fact, the extreme demand lead to a collapse of the H&M website within minutes from the collection launch (Huffington Post, 2013).
6