Inclusiveness in the fashion industry: The case of Gucci

Just until a few years ago, luxury fashion brands were considered to be exclusively for the upper class and mostly unattainable and elusive for the everyday people. However, nowadays, it is not uncommon to see people on the streets wearing an outfit by fast fashion companies topped with a luxury accessory, such as Louis Vuitton shoes or a Balenciaga bag. This situation has been evolving during the last years and one crucial reason for it is the rise of social media. Therefore, and due to the rapid digital transition, the question that arises is how luxury fashion brands can stand out and establish themselves in such a competitive marketplace? One answer could be by utilizing pioneering and differentiated strategies, by interacting with the audience and building a strong corporate brand positioning. Many state that “inclusive is the new exclusive” and this is how they can differentiate from others, but few luxury brands promote it. One of them is Gucci and this is the house where the present research focuses on. Despite the increasing interest from luxury fashion brands to include more diverse audience, there has been little research on online marketing communication strategies through which they are trying to promote inclusiveness. This research therefore addresses this gap and explores the strategies through which luxury fashion brands and specifically Gucci communicates its position and convinces the audience of its inclusivity; that everybody needs to become part of Gucci’s world. 400 posts (taking both visual and text of each post) from Gucci’s Instagram official profile was the extracted data that was examined in-depth. The posts were analyzed using the qualitative research method of thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in two core codes: firstly, it showed that the luxury fashion brand uses often direct strategies, such as storytelling, sustainability, community and art. Secondly, it was found that there are also indirect strategies that can be identified by investigating Gucci’s profile. Some examples are the categories of social diversity, familiarity, brand values and emotions. Both strategies have one and main goal: to promote inclusiveness within the fashion industry.