Project Reflection

Hello reader, 

In this blog I am doing a brief reflection on my project thus far; I am evaluating if I feel that I was successful in aligning my product with my literature summary. 

My intentions for this project were twofold- I wanted to explore and expand on questions and topics that I felt personally compelled to while remaining in line with my topic of “digital identities represented through fashion catalyzes marketing to Gen-Z consumers in North America and Asia post-2020”. This topic is rather broad, but breaking it into parts for myself to research was a very fulfilling experience. 

 At the beginning of writing my literature summary I wasn’t 100% sure what I was planning for my project to be, but my goal for this project was solidified once I truly began making connections between my sources. Towards my conclusion I realized that there were a few gaps or inconsistencies that I wanted to explore and then report back on:

Some gaps in research to be noted is the idea of a ‘value paradox’ that exists in Gen-Z consumption behavior. An interesting finding from the Yang article discusses how while the US is considered to be individualistic while China is collectivistic, there was an inversion in their data that ‘found’ China to be more individualistic than the United states (2022). This paradox shows the difference between the ‘desired and the desirable’- oftentimes people will be drawn to sentiments that aren’t common in their own culture… Another example of a value paradox found in this literature is the case study of Brandy Melville, a popular clothing brand in both the East and the West. It is most notable for its ‘one size’ policy, which may seem counterintuitive in a time when ‘body-positivity’ is an important idea for a brand to embody… The final paradox to be noted is the incongruence between Gen-Z’s desires to purchase sustainably and their frequent fast-fashion purchases. Much of the literature focuses on either fast-fashion consumption or sustainability and does not discuss the ideological gaps between these two opposing sides.

The underlined portions of this section helped me decide a few of the topics I wanted to explore. I think that I successfully completed this for the most part; I explored the value paradox in Brandy Melville’s advertising (in the east and the west), and I broke down factors that would lead Gen-Z to purchase from companies of varying sustainability based off of advertisements. I am also glad I was able to do a small survey on sustainably shopping fast-fashion in our local community/trend analysis from a consignment perspective, which I think compliments my question from the literature summary.     

What I didn’t touch on as much as I would have liked was exploring further similarities and differences between eastern and western Gen-Z shopping habits. Unfortunately I found that access to eastern platforms and further navigation on these platforms was a difficult task. Despite this, I feel content with my blog where I discussed web-design arguments, and I think it is a very interesting example of culture being exercised in the digital landscape.

I think that my literature summary gave me a great base to jump off from before I began my project. I was able to break down patterns in what I was seeing from my searches to structure my literature and conceptually compartmentalize. Narrowing down these sources that are contextually fundamental to my project helped me feel more confident in ideating for potential topics that help contribute to the conversation. At first I felt incomplete from spotting gaps in research, but now I’m glad I was able to answer some of my own questions! 

Along with this, I am glad that I focused on the ‘Gen-Z’ and ‘digital’ perspectives. I think this helped me immerse myself and have a bit more fun with the project. I got to explore TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube, and considered my own opinion to be valuable to the conversation without having to rely on dense jargon. It was a topic I could relate to, thus helping my own engagement. Creating my own blog for this website felt very in line with my topic as I could easily share videos or instagram pages, but I could also potentially experiment with it to reflect my literature review through SEO or social media engagement. 

Overall, I feel very happy with the state of this project and the way it lined up with my literature summary. I got to answer my own questions while exploring topics that interest me. I am glad I was able to make this experience both fulfilling and informative, and I hope to update this blog in the future!