TIKTOK FASHION

“TikTok is a growth opportunity for fashion retail marketers looking to drive brand awareness and social commerce.” - Viviane Paxinos, General Manager at student network UNiDAYS

TikTok is a platform used as an outlet for self-expression, and users can share their personal style. With over 800 million active users, and the immense popularity amongst Gen Z consumers, it is a major competitor for Instagram, which is the leading fashion social media platform due to its commerce and visual layout. The difference between the two, comes down to the type of content that is shared. Instagram is highly filtered, whereas TikTok’s content is unfiltered and real. The fashion content on Tiktok is often seen as accessible which is ultimately more influential. Several items of clothing that have sold out due to the trend known as ‘TikTok made me buy it’, including a pair of Aerie leggings, ‘the strawberry dress’ by Lirika matoshi, Skims Second-Skin slip dress and Zara jeans. Kudzi Chikumbu, the director of creator community has stated that the appeal of TikTok is the authentic content posted. He says “Fashion is legit on TikTok, it goes beyond the outfits and into creative expression. TikTok is a place for joy, and it’s giving the fashion industry a whole new way of showcasing their art and personality.”

The demographic is the driving factor for traction amongst fashion brands. More than 60% of users are Gen Z with a spending power of over 150 billion dollars; as a result, brands are willing to further connect with the target audience. Viviane Paxinos, General Manager of UNiDAYS, believes the success derives from the algorithm that pushes content to young users based on their specific interests, not just the people that they follow. Paxinos states, “the content driven by meme culture, unfiltered and authentic videos from real people, entertainment and humour from creators, and bite-sized ‘life hack’ advice.”

Many of the videos on TikTok are created by regular and unbiased consumers. Brands have the ability to capitalise on the hashtags people use on the app and search when seeking trends. The hashtag #TikTokfashion has now amassed over 17 billion views, and other niche fashion hashtags, like #cottagecorefashion, have garnered over 14 million views. Brands are jumping on board the hashtag challenge train and are re-using user generated content for content their own pages. Gucci used the hashtag #GucciModelChallenge, where it saw users recreate Gucci-inspired looks with their own clothes. This trend went viral on the app, and as a result, the brand decided to feature the participants in a new video project with TikTok themselves.

Other high-end brands such as Balenciaga and JW Anderson have also found success through the app with viral trends. JW Anderson had a cardigan that was pictured with Harry Styles wearing it. Due to the expensive price of the cardigan, TikTok users took to recreating their own versions of the cardigan. Due to the enormity of the trend the brand released the pattern for the famous cardigan in order to encourage more people to jump on the trend.

Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga launched a shoppable campaign on TikTok over the Christmas period in 2020 for users based in the UK and France. The videos gained a lot of traction and resulted in upwards of 20 million views. This ultimately exposed the brand to a younger audience due to TikTok’s target viewer.

Fashion trends are also now being dictated by what is popular on TikTok. The Y2K (the year 2000) style has seen a resurgence in popularity, largely due to TikTok and the hashtag #Y2KFashion. 2000’s brands like Juicy Couture and Von Dutch revived their brands and relaunched due to popular demand.