Fashion Brand Index 2019 Q2

Please note: This is not the most recent Brand Index. If you’re right where you want to be, read on. If you’re looking for the latest data, click here for our most recent Brand Indexes. 

Every quarter we survey British consumers on their brand awareness and preferences in relation to the Fashion industry. Our latest insights into this industry are detailed in this article. However, in Q1 of each year we dive even deeper into the data to create an in-depth report on the state of the industry.

To jump straight to our 2019 Fashion Brand Index Report, click below.

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To compile this Brand Index, we looked at three things:

• Percentage of unprompted brand recall within the Fashion category
• How likely a person is to purchase each brand (Purchase Intent)
• How likely a person is to recommend each brand (Net Promoter Score)

Key Changes in Brand Attributes

Every fashion brand refreshes their stock seasonally to stay up to date with the latest trends. They have to balance this constant change with a need to be consistently well-liked and well-remembered in the market that allows predictable, growing revenues. It’s a tricky balance to strike, requiring consistent marketing efforts to match the innovation and creative flare of their designers and buyers. So in a market of constant change, do any brands manage to stay relevant year-round?

Each quarter we ask consumers to rank the top 10 fashion brands they’ve named in eight category-specific attributes. Here are the main winners, losers and movers this quarter:

• Last quarter, ASOS – the best performing brand in these eight brand attributes – took top spot in three of them (for customer service, inclusivity and variety of stock). But this time around they only hold on to the title as the most varied retailer, with M&S stealing their crown as the brand with the best customer service, and Adidas being ranked the most inclusive of body types and personal requirements.
• The two brands shaking up the leaderboard, M&S and Adidas, are both newcomers to the top 10 in Q2. Adidas also steals another title – product quality – from Levi Strauss who won in Q1. Adidas take a leaderboard-smashing weighted ranking of 97.3% in this category, far out-stripping the second best quality brand, Nike, who scored 88.8%.
• Meanwhile, it’s been a less successful quarter for Gucci. In Q1 they came last in just one attribute (variety), but rack up four last place positions this time around (for price, inclusivity, variety and ethical practices). New Look also suffer a downturn in fate, scoring the lowest in two attributes this quarter (product quality and customer service), after not receiving any last place results last quarter.
• H&M take top spot in one category this quarter, for demonstrating ethical practices. Their dedicated ethical line, Conscious Collection, has likely helped them take this title by tackling the negative ethical implications of the fast fashion trend with a sustainable alternative from the same High Street retailer.

Key Takeaways

• Just three brands in the leaderboard remain unmoved from Q1 to Q2. Next and Primark at the very top are a picture of stability, with each of their key three metrics varying by no more than 9%.
• The rest of the leaderboard, however, is far more volatile, including the arrival of two new brands. M&S breaks into 6th place, and Adidas into 8th, with both gaining good recall and purchase intent scores. These newcomers displace Levi Strauss and Chanel from 8th and 10th place in Q1.
• The most improved brand of the eight that remained from Q1 is ASOS. Their shift from 5th to 3rd place overall is entirely driven by a steep increase in unprompted brand recall, up from 3.7% to 5.5%. Thanks to this increased awareness they grow their Total Brand Equity from 450 to 560, despite suffering slight dips in both Purchase Intent and NPS. If the online retailer is to retain their strong position in Q3 it’s clear that these two areas need to be a focus for the coming three months.
• The brand in the most danger of leaving the leaderboard in Q3 is New Look. They fell dramatically from 4th to 9th place this quarter, after dipping scores in all three key metrics (plus two last place positions in the brand attributes covered above). It’s no secret that the retailer has been struggling in the wake of falling High Street footfall, forcing them to take increasingly radical steps (such as ditching menswear from their stores). They’ll need to win back consumer’s positive sentiment if they’re to remain within the top 10 most memorable fashion brands for the rest of the year.

The Full Report

The report includes:

• The UK’s leading Fashion brands for Awareness, Purchase Intent and Net Promoter Score
• Overall Brand Strength and Total Brand Equity index
• Industry averages and market dynamics
• Key takeaways for the UK Fashion industry

The report is based on a nationally representative survey of 1000 people in the UK (aged 18+), surveyed in January 2019.

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Brand Index Methodology

The Attest Brand Index is a platform agnostic measure of a brand’s total brand equity in the Fashion sector, as determined by real consumers.

What does that mean?

When we say ‘Platform Agnostic’, we mean the results are not influenced by any particular method of obtaining them, like looking exclusively at social media mentions or at brand search terms. This reduces bias and gives us a much more accurate view of a brand’s strength in their category.

Learn more about why we think this is the best methodology for Brand Intelligence.

Brand Index data is gathered every quarter from a nationally representative survey to 1,000 UK consumers aged 18-65.