Clothes do not make a man, but they certainly affect how he is perceived. Perhaps this is the reason why the fashion industry, despite being criticized for its sometimes over-the-top prices, is still booming. Just what do clothes say about a person? Here we discuss some interesting points. Aside from serving the practical function of giving the body protection against weather and other elements, clothes are a way of expressing social dynamics that include economic and marital status, profession, spiritual affiliations and sexuality. Even in this modern age, most societies still delineate among social classes through clothing. Unlike the days of the Roman Empire when only high-ranking government officials could wear mauve, there are no longer laws dictating what kinds of clothing people can wear. Social delineation through clothing is more discreet though still prevalent. For example, because of the high prices of designer clothes and accessories, only the well to do can afford to wear them.

Of course, clothing still shows very clearly what the occupation of a certain individual is. People working in the medical profession wear certain garb that set them apart from people working as firemen, police officers or soldiers, for example. Pastors, priests and other members of religious order also wear distinct uniforms, as do some students in formal schools. More interestingly, clothing is also used to express marital status and sexuality. Some married women stay away from very revealing outfits. Though this is not a hard and fast rule in the Western world, it certainly applies to married Indian women who wear special hair accessories to indicate they are married (just as the rest of world wear wedding rings). As a general rule, single people looking for partners wear more revealing outfit to signify their intent to attract a potential partner.

You may or may not know that I do have a little love affair with fashion. Well, being that I was a Manager for Wet Seal for seven years and then went on to work for Nordstrom – it’s no surprise that the fashion industry is in my blood. So, when I find another customer service blogger (whom I admire, by the way) talking about the fashion industry – well, I get a little excited…

Susan Abbott of Customer Experience Crossroads has a Q&A session about co-creation and fashion brands. If there’s any industry out there that should be co-creating with consumers, it’s the fashion industry. Imagine being able to work with Isaac Mizrahi and letting him know what you do and don’t like about his designs for Target — then being able to offer your input as to what you feel would be great styles to create.

Fashion is a very subjective industry in that everyone has their own sense of style. However, if you are a fashion house, I feel that it’s important to connect with your core customer in order to find out what they’re wearing on a day-to-day basis and what compels them to buy a certain item. With fashion changing minute-by-minute (literally!) you want to make sure the bulk of your collection is something that people are going to buy and not end up on the sale rack next week – which happens quite a bit. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you know exactly what your customers want. What better way to know than to co-create with them?

By the way, Isaac, if you’re reading this…Can you make this jacket in white as well?