Imitation and Innovation in Fashion: Mapping the Creative Process in "Modinha" Segment on a Regional Fair

Abstract

Fashion is recognized by transience, resulting in its short life cycle, since the constant changes make what was previously considered "fashionable" obsolete (Emidio & Sabione, 2010). In this market, innovate and act before competitors, accelerate the launch of products, reduce design time and the placement of new items on the market is a survival condition (Lipovetsky, 2007). A central factor in the fashion spread is imitation, as this promotes both innovation and obsolescence, forcing producers to set up periodically (Caulkins et al., 2007, Pesendorfer, 1995). The research object is the "modinha", women's clothing that follows media trends, is the copying, with or without changes, to the mass market (Avelar, 2009; Victor, 2007), in this study, "José Avelino Street Fair". This fair meets weekly hundreds of manufacturers in a metropolis of northeastern Brazil that has been established as a fashion hub. Thus, it was proposed to identify the process of innovation in companies that make “modinha” in this Fair. The research was conducted through a survey and data were obtained from a questionnaire administered with 78 stallholders. One descriptive and exploratory data analysis was performed. It was found that, contrary to expectation, a considerable formality, with 49 of the 78 respondents with CNPJ; its customers are small retailers; and their competitors are the stallholders. Regarding the creation of clothes models, the stallholders research in various sources and said imitating models from these sources, but they try to make changes.