The place of Estonian design and designers on the world market

One of the main goals of our company is to find an answer to the question - what is the place of Estonian designers and design in the world market? We set up a survey among people aged 18-60+ and asked about their awareness of Estonian designers and design.

The research revealed a lot of surprising and interesting things, for example, that people would be ready to consume Estonian design more if they had better awareness of who offers this design, what is offered and what factors form the price of Estonian designer products.

People aged 31-40 answered the survey the most, 27.9%. The proportion of 18-24-year-olds who responded was nearly 27 percent, and the least number of people who responded to the survey were 60+. Our main age target group in our business is conceptually consumers aged 30+. The diversity of age groups in our survey gives our platform an additional function - to increase the awareness of different age groups of people about Estonian designers and the nature of their design.
Online stores and recycling markets were identified as the main places to buy clothes. Fast fashion stores and traditional department stores also gained significant importance. However, this is an interesting challenge for our platform - how to put Estonian design and designers on the world map and increase people's awareness of Estonian designers' creations as an alternative shopping option.
We really wanted to find out which indicator motivates people the most when choosing clothes. In the mainstream media, it has often been said that young people base their choices mainly on the affordable price, while the older generation  rather emphasizes quality and fashion. 

More than 200 people answered in our survey that the most important aspect when choosing clothes is design - what style, color and pattern the product has. Price and quality of materials were cited as the second and third places as important factors. Only 8% of the respondents made their choice when buying clothes based on the product's country of origin. This, in turn, confirms that in fact 30+ people are not making decision based on where the product is made - a coat made by an Estonian designer and a skirt made in Turkey can potentially be sold in an equal way. 

However, the aspect of sustainability is extremely important to the Estonian consumer. 42% of the respondents found that sustainability is something they consider important while buying clothes. When researching which second hand market platforms people use to buy clothes, it turned out that the platform called Yaga, which offers the opportunity to sell your used clothes and things online, is dominant in the Estonian market. Facebook Marketplace is also an attractive place. On the other hand, the Osta.ee platform created by Estonians is attractive to only 20.6% of respondents.

As the second hand market is booming, our brand, Nordic ReTrend is entering the market at the sweetest time. Curiosity and thirst for consumption regarding new platforms and shopping alternatives gives us the opportunity to be like a small online boutique that offers the opportunity to take a step closer to Estonian designers and design. What would be better if everyone had the opportunity to consume the creations of Estonian designers, but to do so at affordable prices? That's what we're here for, offering as an additional option the possibility of earning personal income by selling the creations of Estonian designers by the second hand market model. 

Among the respondents to our survey, it turned out that nearly 37% buy something from the second hand market a few times a year, while 26% buy it monthly. The most attractive reason for buying on the second hand market was the desire to find something different. Second hand markets also offer the opportunity to purchase original products from expensive brands, usually at a lower price, which was also something respondents considered important. More than 50% of people choose to buy from the second hand market out of a desire to save the environment.
According to 85% of the respondents, clothes were the most popular group of products bought from the second hand market. Accessories were brought out secondly, furniture and shoes were equally important. 

Now to the most interesting part - we asked people to list all the Estonian fashion designers that people know in our poll. It emerged from the answers that not all of the respondents know Estonian designers well. So some respondents mentioned such Estonian designers as Iris Janvier, Reet Aus, Tanel Veenre, Aldo Järvsoo and Liina Stein. However, this sample is not representative of all awareness, but only a minimal part of the 200+ responses. 

In so many places, you could read that people don't actually know any Estonian designers - for us, such an answer confirmed the need to increase people's awareness of Estonian design and designers. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents pointed out that they would like to know more widely what is happening in the Estonian design market in the case of Estonian fashion. In addition, there was interest in "hidden gems" - designers and their products, who are not always in the picture, but whose production and story could be interesting to find out. 

Our vision is to provide informed information about Estonian designers and design, for example through in-depth interviews and personal meetings - imagine that you don't have to leave your computer, but you can read, see and hear about designers who might interest you. Nordic ReTrend makes it possible.

Estonian design is most searched for on online recycling platforms, in the case of Estonia, for example, Yaga. However, an equal number of respondents directly said that they do not buy the products of Estonian designers at all. The reason why people in our survey do not buy Estonian designer products is the price of these products, which is considerably higher than the products bought in a regular store. Again, acknowledge about Estonian designers was brought up. However, it was pointed out as a positive aspect that better awareness of Estonian fashion and designers would also increase the possibility that people would buy from Estonian designers.

One of the goals of our company is to offer people the opportunity to come to our website and through it find Estonian designer products on the second hand market. Almost 60% of the respondents stated that they would be very interested in the opportunity to get to know Estonian designers through our platform, get to know their collections from the previous season and also earn money by selling, for example, their used designer clothes on our platform.

35% of the respondents stated that they are not sure that such a platform would be of interest to them. Which, in turn, confirms that it is a fertile soil where the seed of an idea must be sown and there is a potential to increase people's interest in Estonian design and designers. 

This is the birth story of ReTrend Estonia. Thank you for being here and thank you for believing in us! Our team is enthusiastic and ready to introduce Estonian fashion and designers to the world scene. We sincerely believe that price alone should not be the deciding factor when it comes to buying clothes. Timelessness and purity of style will never die. Each designer's authentic handwriting and implemented ideas, in cooperation with a stylish and trend-conscious consumer, form a harmonious and aesthetic whole. ReTrend Estonia is a living beacon of this combination, showing light far and wide - connecting and increasing interest from sowing the seed to the completion of the plant in the context of Estonian design.