Marketing Sustainable Fashion
Advisor: Ms. Sophie Davies
Internship Location: Rue Saint Paul
Onsite Mentor: Kelly Wang
According to earth.org, the fashion industry is the third most polluting industry in the world after oil. With the rise of social media and influencer culture, fast fashion and overconsumption has become increasingly popular. While there are many fashion companies that manufacture sustainably sourced and produced clothing, they do not get enough visibility. This project aims to study how sustainable fashion is marketed on social media to determine which tactics are most effective to sell sustainable clothing. Additionally, through a social media internship at Rue Saint Paul, a small business dedicated to selling sustainable goods, I hope to understand the production behind these clothes and how the company markets their products on social media. A supplemental survey will also be part of my research process to determine the correlation between people’s social media usage and their purchasing habits. Through my research, I hope to evaluate how effective social media is for small sustainable businesses to sell their product in a way that will promote ethical consumption for the future.
Project Blog
Week 0
Hello everyone! My name is Alexa Lau, and I have been at BASIS Independent Brooklyn since 3rd grade. For my senior project I will be studying effective social media marketing to promote sustainable fashion and circularity. I initially became interested in this topic when I took classes on the fashion business and sustainability with Parsons the New School, and I wanted to look at sustainable fashion from a marketing standpoint. For this project I will conduct surveys and interviews to gather data on how people shop for clothing, as well as how sustainable fashion brands promote their clothing. On-Site I will work with Kelly Wang, the co-founder of a sustainable clothing store in Brooklyn called Rue Saint Paul, where I will be a social media intern and work with my mentor to create content to promote the store. At the end of my project I will write a research paper with quantitative graphs that show my data from my surveys, and I will also present a look book of some of the content that I create for the company. For more information about my project you can view my proposal here.
Week 1
Hello everyone! This week I officially started working on my senior project. At the beginning of the week, my on-site advisor, Kelly, asked me to pick out 6 reels from accounts that were similar to Rue Saint Paul’s and what I thought did well and why they did well. In addition, I also brainstormed 6 different ideas to start this week. On Wednesday I met with Kelly at Rue Saint Paul to start my social media internship. She started by introducing me to her brand and explained the philosophy behind Rue Saint Paul. They have 10 main values: transparent supply chain, responsible use of resources, zero waste, ethical employment, longer lifetimes, sustainable materials, natural and organic ingredients, combat climate change, animal cruelty free, philanthropy. She explained how she always encourages consumers to first look to their own closet and see if they can find what they need there, if not the next step would be to try to thrift what you need, and the last resource would be to buy new and if you have to buy new, it should be from a brand that uses ethical practices. Her company promotes that lifestyle by providing rental and pre-loved options to minimize the amount of clothing circulating in and out of people’s closets. Her company makes sure the brands they sell align with the core values of the store.
This week at Rue Saint Paul I started recording two videos. One was an unboxing of new pre-loved items that they just received and the other was a day in the life video showing some of the behind the scenes of the store and tasks that Kelly and the assistant manager do around the store. It was definitely more difficult than I expected as it takes a lot of time to edit the video, add audio and captions, and lighting can get tricky especially when it’s gloomy outside. Something that was more difficult than anticipated was finding audios because it’s a business account and they cannot use audios that could be copyrighted. Audios play a large role in getting engagement on posts, so this week I want to spend more time researching how to overcome that barrier. Additionally, I will spend time researching ways to get more engagement from viewers whether it is using certain hashtags, or being active before/after posting.
Outside of my placement I read two of my course texts; “ What is Sustainable Fashion?” from the Journal of Fashion and Marketing, and “Fashion and the Circular Economy-deep dive” from the Ellen McArthur Foundation. I gained better insight as to how to define sustainable fashion and I learned about how everyone has a different definition of sustainability. The reason why it is so hard for fashion to be sustainable is because fashion is referring to things going in and out of style which does not correlate with sustainable practices. It would take a lot of effort for the industry as a whole to shift towards slow fashion because business models would have to change, so it is important to bring attention to small businesses such as Rue Saint Paul that are promoting sustainable consumption in their local communities.
In the upcoming weeks, I look forward to brainstorming more video ideas for Rue Saint Paul’s instagram, and plan, record, and edit those videos with the guidance of my on-site advisor. In this upcoming week I will also start planning my survey for understanding how people in New York shop for their clothing so I can gather my own data on sustainable clothing consumption in New York.
Week 2
Hello! This week for my senior project I continued to brainstorm new ideas for instagram reels and focused more on short form content. I researched more about social media trends and found that the type of content people want to see is less commercial short form, authentic content that shows transparency. With guidance from my on-site mentor and the assistant manager of the store, I did three videos this week. One that showed a button down shirt and 4 different ways to style it. This video aimed to encourage people to not only shop sustainably but also get inspiration for how they can also style the clothing they own in many different ways. I also did a video on a mother’s day giveaway they are doing, as well as a spring outfit of the day showing new products at the store.
Outside of my internship I continued to read about trends on social media to boost engagement. As I stated in last week's blog post, audios play a large role in social media trends but a lot of mainstream music is not available for businesses to use. I tried to find ways to get around that barrier, however, I found that a license would be needed. Additionally, I started creating questions for my survey to gather data on how sustainably people in New York City shop for clothing.
The videos we have posted so far have done pretty well (somewhere between 1000-2000 views) and in the coming weeks I will continue to create content for the store, research more about the effects social media marketing has had on fashion consumption, and create my survey.
Week 3
Hello everyone, welcome back to my senior project blog! This week for my senior project I continued to make content for the store, do individual research on the link between social media use and clothing consumption, and worked on writing my survey. At the beginning of the week I talked with my on site advisor Kelly to discuss the direction of the videos we wanted to go in which was a more creative/out of the box method that showcases the people behind the brand. This week I made a video about a mother’s day giveaway they are doing, rental pieces they have available, and a new shirt they just got in. I saw that shorter videos definitely get more engagement as people are less likely to scroll if a video is only 10 seconds versus 40 seconds. As I continue to make videos I will monitor the account using the professional dashboard to see total watch times, the number of accounts reached, etc.
Outside of my placement I read “The Effects of Social Media on Fashion Consumption” from the University of Mississippi. I learned about why social media became more popular over the years and how short form content has made people more hooked onto social media platforms. The reason why platforms like facebook were replaced was because posts could contain too much information, but with platforms like instagram and Tiktok, users could get the information/entertainment in a matter of 10 seconds. This has also helped to show how rapidly trends circulate online. Humans tend to mimic the people in their environment and on social media everyone is in the same online environment which allows trends to be spread quickly but also reach more places. Psychologists have also found that people love trends because buying into new items feels like a way for people to almost reinvent themselves. The information in this article was important to understanding more about the correlation between fast fashion and social media from a psychological perspective.
In addition to my reading and video content, I finalized my survey that I will put out in the next week or so to gather data on how sustainably people in NYC shop for clothes. In the next few weeks I will continue to make content for the store and read articles about social media marketing to come up with more creative ideas to engage consumers.
Week 4
Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! This week was very eventful for my placement. For the first day I took some clothes to Carroll Park and took some photos there for their website, and I filmed two videos on this day. The assistant manager at the store was very helpful this week in helping me create videos. She thought of two really good ideas using trending audios. We did one video of her in a spring dress and another video about a recurring shoplifter at the store. Some problems that came up this week were the most recent videos weren’t getting as many views. Kelly suggested that maybe the reason why was because I was posting it on my phone (and usually the videos are posted from her phone). This is something I will continue to look into to see how we can reach more viewers. I also found that there were specific times and days to post that were best. The past week we’ve mostly tried posting around 7-8 pm but next week I will propose that we post earlier as I have read that posting in the morning or early afternoon is actually most effective for getting views and reach. In general the instagram algorithm is very inconsistent. When there were multiple shoplifting incidents in the store, the account got a lot of views and instagram was promoting the content more because the shock factor makes people interact more with the content, but when we went back to normal content, our views dropped.
Outside of my placement I’ve started looking more into influencer marketing. People are drawn to less commercial marketing which is why influencer marketing has become a large part of social media. Especially during the pandemic, people turned to social media as a way to stay updated with others lives and feel less isolated. Rue Saint paul hasn’t done partnerships with major influencers, but in the past they have collaborated with micro-influencers or other content creators in the neighborhood and that has proven to be pretty successful in reaching a different audience.
In the upcoming weeks I will continue reading articles about other social media strategies and why they are so successful. I will also start to look more into the role that social media has played in promoting thrifting and second hand fashion.
Weeks 5-6
Hello, welcome back to my blog! I combined my week five and six blogs. During week five, we created three videos. In one, we used the AI function on instagram to create outfits that a taurus would wear. In another, we showed a new compostable necklace made of bioplastics, as well as a video with new bags that recently arrived. At the beginning of the week, we talked about a video that Kelly produced a couple of weeks ago that got 42,000 views which continues to get more and more views every day. We looked at the insights of that video and found that the average watch time was about 10 seconds, meaning that people stayed engaged throughout the majority of the video. We assumed that it was a combination of the anticipation and the simple filming style that made it appealing to followers. Therefore, for these videos we tried to build that anticipation and interest in the hopes of engaging more customers.
During week six, we wanted to change the type of content we were making since we have been doing a lot of product content. We decided to do street interviews about sustainability. Myself and another sales associate went outside of the store and asked people walking by questions about sustainability. We asked three questions and split this into a three part series (one video for each question). This was a fun way to switch up the type of content while also spreading information about the environmental impact of the fashion industry. Additionally, we did a couple more videos following trends we had seen on either tiktok or instagram, adapting them to fit the store to see if those types of videos would generate more views or likes as a result of simply showing products from the store.
Outside of my placement I researched more about the history of influencers and social media’s impact on thrifting and buying clothes second hand. I read "The effects of instagram-based information dissemination and the perceived green value on z-generation's interest in thrifting" from the Ilomata International Journal of Social Science. Their research found that social media was extremely effective in promoting thrifting. They found that thrifting became trendy because of Gen z’s concern for the environment and sustainability. Gen z had always been more environmentally conscious than previous generations, while social media has increased awareness on the issue.
Additionally, I released my survey online, but I still need to print flyers out and plan where in the city I will put posters up because the results can vary depending on the location.
We planned our posting schedule this week and we will try to see if Friday is a good day to post while we will continue to monitor the views and watch time for that video. In the upcoming week I will pose my survey in more places and in turn observe how certain trends become trendy on social media.
Week 7
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week we did three videos. On monday we did a video using Sabrina Carpenter’s song ‘espresso’ since it’s been trending on social media and being used for a variety of different trends. On Tuesday we released a video that focused on bags in the store. However this video did not do well and only got 420 views with an average watch time of 4 seconds. We concluded that it was because we posted it in the morning and there was no type of question or content that people could respond to or send to others. So for Wednesday we did two videos showing what was in the bags that we have. For one of them we put no audio over it, we just had the assistant manager talking the entire time in one take so that we could make it as natural and authentic as possible. For the second video we recorded the assistant manager putting things into a bag to show people how much could fit in it. On Thursday we did one video showing different items Kelly was going to pack for a vacation. We now have a lot of videos recorded and edited so we’ve planned out a schedule with the days and times and we’re going to monitor the posts to see how much reach they get.
Outside of my internship, I read “consumer awareness about sustainable fashion” from the marketing management journal to understand what consumers understand about sustainability in the fashion industry and how that impacts their buying. Their research found that even though people said they cared about sustainability, they don’t usually follow through when it comes to purchasing. They found that the reason for this was because people were not very knowledgeable about sustainability. They found that out of the different areas of sustainable fashion, Consumers are most aware of recycle & vintage, followed by fair trade & locally made, organic & vegan, and artisan & custom. By spreading information about sustainability, they argue that it can help people choose more ethical clothing options.
Additionally, I put out my survey online and went to the east village to put up some flyers with the QR code. I hope to also go to other locations near colleges in NY to get responses from the target audience.
In the upcoming week I will continue to look more into humor on social media and how it can be used as a marketing strategy. I will also look more into social media’s effect on how sustainability has been spread. I also plan to wrap up my survey soon and review the results within the next two weeks or so.
Week 8
Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! This week my Kelly was out of the store so my task for my week was to stick to our reels posting schedule and take photos to post on instagram stories to keep the instagram account active. After talking with the assistant manager she concluded that most customers find the store either through the neighborhood/community or by searching sustainable shops online. However, she does admit that our presence on social media keeps Rue Saint Paul relevant and gets people excited about new products and events. This week we posted the “We work at RSP” video as well as the “Espresso” video. Both did decently well and the espresso video got 3,057 views in under 24 hours and received 25% more plays than any of our last reels, which was a great outcome. The “We work at RSP” video got 1,862 views which is less, but it got almost twice the amount of likes. I think that since the “Espresso” video was only 6 seconds long, it was easy for people to rewatch and that was why it got so many views. For the instagram stories, I took pictures trying on some of the new jewelry items we have in the store. After almost 24 hours the views on each story are about 140. I posted 9 consecutive stories and each one had less views than the previous one which makes me think that people do not actually pay attention to what their stories are and they just mindlessly tap through. I also did stories of new pre-loved items we got in the store, as well as trying on their nail polish colors. I just posted the pre-loved stories so I will see how they have done after 24 hours. I don’t think that stories are the best way to get the attention of new customers, but I think it is a good way to stay active on social media and cater to current followers.
Outside of my placement I began reading about humor in social media. “Creating Valuable Content on Social Media” by Natalia Pozdniakova. Pozdniakova describes how marketing is now somewhat a form of entertainment. In the past advertisements were something that interrupted people’s entertainment on TV, however now, it is concentrated on social media to the point where it is intermixed with people’s social media feeds. This is why humor has now become a huge part of social media marketing. She noted how it is important for companies to know their audience and understand what would be funny to them. In a 2013 study by Milward Brown, researchers found that “ about half of all advertisements around the world involve humor to some extent. Also over 60 percent of humoristic advertisements have a great impact on the audience which makes them most memorable” (Pozdniakova 16). Rue Saint Paul knows its audience and has been able to make humorous content that builds their image and appeals to customers. Right now we’ve also been working on looking at current trends online and identifying if they can be altered to fit the company’s instagram personality.
In the upcoming weeks I plan to start closing up my survey (I am going to keep it open a while longer to try to get as many responses as possible) and reviewing results. I plan to continue reading about humor and social media and start on my final presentation and deliverable.
Week 9
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week Rue Saint Paul got a lot of new clothing in so I was tasked with creating stories for the new pieces. Usually I take photos of the products in the park against greenery, but we wanted to change the style of our stories, so I took short videos of each product in the backyard. On Wednesday, I did more stories of new preloved items and did my first post about a restock of a popular style of pants that they sell. The assistant manager suggested a video showing “Bridgerton” inspired outfits since season 3 recently came out, so we planned the outfits and set up for that video. I am still in the process of editing it, but in order to get a lot of views we have to think of good captions, and choose a good audio to put over the video. I think if we can do both of these parts well, the video should do pretty good since it references a relevant tv show.
Outside of my placement, I’ve worked more on my final deliverable and presentation. I’ve started looking over my data from my survey and collectively looking at all of the content I’ve made to come to conclusions about what is most effective in marketing on social media, and evaluating whether social media is a good tool to promote sustainability in the fashion industry.
Additionally I’ve read more about humor and social media. In “Humor Helps: An Experimental Analysis of Pro-Environmental Social Media Communication” by Therese Bonnici et al. where they conducted research using a survey to see whether humorous cartoons would be able to spread information about sustainability. And they found that a humorous cartoon accompanied with text was most effective at getting people to share the post with others. I don’t think we have done enough of this type of content with both factors, it’s always either a funny video or an informational video so a good task for my last couple weeks might be to create a video that incorporates both. In the final weeks while I wrap up my research I will be looking at how certain videos go viral and different trends arise.
In the upcoming week I hope to wrap up my final presentation, get some feedback on it and continue working on my final deliverable.
Week 10
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week was my last full week at my internship . We started by posting the Bridgerton outfits video we recorded last week and it did pretty good with 4,223 views. We also posted two more videos this week that we had recorded in the past. One was of the new summer shoes we got and the other was a ‘what’s in my bag’ video. For the bag video I was expecting it to get more views especially since it was the first and only video we had done where it was just the assistant manager talking, but it only got 642 views. I’m guessing that it was probably because the video was over a minute long and people scrolled away after a few seconds. We also spent time this week recording two new videos that Rue Saint Paul will post once I have left my internship. My last day is on Monday where I will finalize the two videos and brainstorm more ideas that the store can use once I have left.
Outside of my internship, I focused on creating my slides and my final deliverable. After analyzing my survey results I found that the age group of 13-30 were swayed by social media to make purchases, which was not a surprising find. But something that surprised me was that the group was very split on whether or not they would make clothing purchases based on how sustainably they were made. I was unsure of what conclusions to draw from this split, but I hypothesize that even though there is uncertainty, the fact that 64% responded that they got a lot of their sustainability news from social media suggests that it plays a role in some people’s shopping habits.
In the upcoming week I will continue to prepare my slides and final deliverable for the senior project rehearsal
Week 11
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week I was traveling for college orientation, but I was still able to get some progress on my project. I continued to work on my final presentation and deliverable. I came to conclusions on my project and thought about future research. I spent time this week looking into technological developments for textiles. By looking to nature for resources, people have been able to develop linen like material from bamboo, mushroom leather, and algae yarn. The commercial use of products like this have great potential to transform the sustainable fashion industry if more companies were to utilize them. However, using these materials would be expensive for companies, so future research could include taking an economics standpoint to model for companies how they could use these materials and still make profit.
This week I will continue practicing my presentation and making final edits for my deliverable so that it’s ready for this week!
Week 12
Hello everyone, welcome to my last blog post! This week I practiced presenting by going to the lower school and teaching the younger kids about social media marketing and sustainable fashion. It was really amazing to see young kids already so passionate about the environment and I hope that my project got them more interested in sustainability issues. On Thursday I presented my final project and submitted my final deliverable. Throughout my project there were definitely challenges in structuring my days and analyzing my findings but with the help of my faculty advisor and on-site mentor it became manageable. I would like to give a huge thanks to both Ms. Davies, and Kelly Wang for helping me throughout this project. Ms. Davies' insight on sustainability issues was a huge help to me for drawing connections between my internship and my project. And the invaluable experience that I had as a social media intern at Rue Saint Paul was where I collected the majority of my data for this project. The Rue Saint Paul team was so welcoming and willing to aid me in my project, I could not have asked for a better placement.
I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to spend these months studying fashion- one of the topics I am most passionate about, and its impact on our environment. This topic has always been fascinating and starting this project has made me even more curious so I hope to find ways in the future to continue investigating this question.
Overall, this project was a wonderful way for me to explore my own interests and close out my 10 years at Basis! Thank you all for following me in this process, here is the link to my final deliverable and presentation.