Abstract：As the part of fashion designer brands development strategy， bag design plays increasingly important role in the business planning of designer brand. Through the case studies of designer brands such as Anya Hindmarch and Paul Smith， this paper evaluates the value of different bag design and discusses different brands strategy. By means of the sustainable branding strategy and the crossover design strategy， this research puts forward how to increase designer brands high added value.

Key words：Bag Design；Branding Strategy； Design Value；Designer Brand；Trend Research

摘要：包袋設(shè)計(jì)作為時(shí)裝設(shè)計(jì)師品牌發(fā)展戰(zhàn)略的一部分，在商品企劃中起著越來(lái)越重要的作用。通過(guò)對(duì)安雅·希德瑪芝、保羅·史密斯等英國(guó)設(shè)計(jì)師品牌進(jìn)行包袋設(shè)計(jì)調(diào)研和品牌案例分析，進(jìn)而對(duì)不同的包袋設(shè)計(jì)價(jià)值進(jìn)行評(píng)估，對(duì)不同品牌戰(zhàn)略進(jìn)行探討。研究提出如何通過(guò)可持續(xù)發(fā)展品牌戰(zhàn)略和跨界設(shè)計(jì)戰(zhàn)略，增加設(shè)計(jì)師品牌的高附加值。

關(guān)鍵詞：包袋設(shè)計(jì)；品牌戰(zhàn)略；設(shè)計(jì)價(jià)值；設(shè)計(jì)師品牌；趨勢(shì)研究1Introduction

The development of bags and accessories has been such a strong power to push the fashion industry forward. It can be a very straightforward way to get a brand if you buy a handbag. Meanwhile， it is very simple just because a bag can fig anyone without considering ones figure. “In the huge and ever growing accessories market， bags have evolved into unique design pieces status symbols that many aspire to own” （Huey and Draffan， 2009）. Bag is a very interesting fashion category. You can use them effectively without a “zero size”， because everyone has arms. Handbag sometimes can change ones emotion more effectively than clothes. Meanwhile， as the requirement of bag design and design strategy increases heavily， both of them attract more and more attention.

In the brand operation or fashion design teaching， more and more design and branding research about bag has been done. Fashion designers will try to think about bag designs future through analyze and comparison of different designer brands case studies. The research methods that used in this study include case series study， compared observation， expert interview. All of the methods were combined with literature review for the purpose to analyze the design and branding strategy.

2Analysis and Discussion of Findings

2.1Sustainable Design Strategy by Anya Hindmarch

Anya Hindmarch is not only a British designer brand， but also a famous bag designer. Anya Hindmarch became widely known in the world by a canvas bag， which is only worth 5 pounds. She also made environmental style become the most fashionable life style. Why is there strong worldwide demand for “Im NOT a Plastic bag” by Anya Hindmarch？ 20，000 canvas bags， which were only worth 5 pounds， were sold out in only 1 hour in Londons Sainsbury in 2007. Several days later， there was a secondhand “Im not a plastic bag” which was priced at 200 pounds on eBay. So insider acknowledged this case as a dramatic branding strategy. It was also summed up as ‘1hour， 1 place， 20，000bags， and 80，000persons. And the pattern design， color design and material of bag， even the price strategy， are the most important measure of Anya Hindmarchs sustainable design and branding strategy.

（1）Material.This kind of handbag uses canvas as main material because of environmental conservation. So this bag is called as ecofriendly handbag. This canvas bag is made from pure white cotton clothes， uses cotton rope as handle. In the seam， the handle is reinforced so that the bag cannot only be used as a sense shop， but also can bear some heavy things. And the whole process for manufacturing can be evaluated as a 0 pollution process. According to a survey， the whole Britain can use up 167 plastic bags one year per person. Due to the large amount， Anya Hindmarch combined environmental conservation and the idea of “green is new black”， she decided to put forward the ecobag which is called “I am not a plastic bag”. In terms of bag appearance design， its size is 12.5*13*7.5 inch. And the size and amounts of inner bags are suitable so that you dont need to pay too much time in looking for different things in different bags.

（2）Pattern and Color.There are different limited editions in different color on the surface of this handbag. For example， in the UK there is an edition， which uses mocha typeface and apricot as bottom color. In the US， there is an edition that uses vivid turquoise typeface and apricot as bottom color. In Asia， there is an edition that uses deep grey typeface and apricot as bottom color. And all the bags are printed with SPECIAL edition. More over， there is word type of “We Are What We Do” in the bag. This is not only the slogan of environment organization， but also the expression of personality.

（3）Fiver.Anya Hindmarch put forward the slogan which is “Save the world， use the FIVER” to realize her designer brands strategy. In this slogan， “Fiver” not only stands for the reason for women shopping， but also it can be illustrated as a strategy， because every bag is only worth 5 pounds. This price made this bag attractive. Here we choose 4 different types of reusable bag to get a comparison. “Silkypop” by Hermes worth ￡624， Armanis worth ￡548， “Voyage” by Agnes. b worth ￡65. However “Im Not A Plastic bag” by Anya Hindmarch only worth ￡5. Thats why this bag got the best seller.

Bag design strategy by Anya Hindmarch focuses on the design trend of sustainable design. It shows the green life attitude. As Anya said， “Im Not A Plastic Bag was designed to be a stylish， practical， reusable bag that would raise awareness of this issue and spark debate. We feel that we have achieved this aim beyond our wildest dreams.”

2.2Crossover Design Strategy by Paul Smith

Paul Smith is a British humor representative brand. His bag design strategy is good at crossover designing with other different brands. In this article， the same brands design is compared， which is “Paul Smith + MINI”， “Paul Smith + Triumph”. Meanwhile， different brands bag design is compared which are “Paul Smith + MINI”， “Fendi + ABICI”. Through different cases comparison and analyze， crossover design strategy of bag has been deeper studied.

（1）“Paul Smith + MINI” and “Paul Smith + Triumph”.In the same brands comparison， one design case is the cooperation between Paul Smith and MINI Cooper. Paul Smith put forward different bags crossover design products such as some accessories. On one hand， Paul Smith used MINI Coopers styling as base figure material to do pattern design to apply on the bag design. On the other hand， Paul Smith presented the “Art Car” which is called The MINI Paul Smith. There are 24 colorbars electronic design on the cars body so that the brands pattern is designed into the automobiles products. Another design case is the cooperation between Paul Smith and the Electric bicycle manufacturers. The brands colorbar design was designed into the triumph so that the “Triumph by Paul Smith” was born.Figure 1Using design value framework to analysis “Paul Smith + MINI” and “Paul Smith + Triumph”Source： ‘The framework for measuring design value by Lockwood （2007）

According to the detail of crossover products and the analysis of crossover design in Figure 1，“Paul Smith+ MINI” has more sustainable value and design extension than “Paul Smith + Triumph”. In 2005 the crossover design by “Paul Smith + Triumph” made fashion brand enter vehicle market. The design combined with trade markets of Paul Smith and brand image. And this design added communication between different brands. However the crossover design by “Paul Smith + MINI” in 2009 is the development of crossover. By interactive design， this crossover not only put the factor of Paul Smith into MINI， but also transfers MINIs brand character into bags of Paul Smith. The two brands both achieved better brand equity value output.

（2）“Paul Smith + MINI” and “Fendi + ABICI”.In the comparison of different brands bag design， Taking “FENDI Selleria Bicycle” as an example， it combines FENDI bags with ABICI bicycle. This kind of fashion collaboration is a specific type leveraging the designer bag brand into new vehicle market through design. Crossover design is a developing design concept that applies in different design fields and connects in a unique way. It is important once it meets brand building and activation （Dorozala and Kohlbrenner， 2008）. The crossover products create the corporate communication （CC） and range brand platforms between two different brands from different industries （Genuine Fusion， 2011）. It is essential to have a development achieving a mix market of both bag design and vehicle design.Figure 2Using design value framework to analysis “Paul Smith + MINI” and “Fendi + ABICI”Source： ‘the framework for measuring design value by Lockwood （2007）

According to another group， the two crossover products by “Paul Smith + MINI”， “Fendi + ABICI” showed the same idea of building brand and different design forms （see Figure 2）. In the same year 2009， Paul Smith and Fendi all using brand alliances in order to support their brand and add corporate reputation （see Figure 2）. These fashion brands opened up markets， widened consumer group and all became a part of crossover vehicle products. What the difference is Fendi chose bicycle brand to do crossover to add consumers emotion design so that it catered to the attitude of sustainable development.

Paul Smith took advantage of the branding strategy such like crossover design strategy. It is currently one of the most fashionable trends in the designer bag design and vehicle design. It occurs when 2 brands join their designernames or brand logos in a marketing venture. These are some typical examples of the ingredient of branding where an ingredient or component of a product has its own brand identity. Paul Smiths crossover design strategy is a “brandtobrand collaboration”. This is also one of the bags design trends in the future.

3 Conclusion and Recommendation

Interviewee Smith suggested the importance of connecting bag design to people in his “bag design & communication” theory. As a bag design tutor， Riz Smith opened up the relative course of the bag design and branding strategy. “Bag design and communication”， is about the process of designing bags and then communicating this information on. The core role of design is to serve a purpose. Without good design a brand is just theory.

When researching the designinspirations behind bags its best to start with the needs. “Look into why people need bags； what do they need them for？” （Smith， 2011）. Due to massmarket design so many products look the same these days with poor quality and no point of difference. Through specializing in one product area designer can excel through become a master of designers art.

Clearly bag is a fashion brands creating tool. That is why there is such a demand for bags. The fashion designer brand should offer a winwin situation. Using attractive quality creation for developing innovative products could add customer satisfactions. And it can be a challenge and innovation for bag design. The future trends of bag design and branding strategy not only focuses on some physical design such as graphic design and functional design， but also some mental design such as sustainable design， crossover design， emotional design and experience design. Bag design put more attention on the thinking of design value and life attitude， the future lifestyle.

4Future Research

In the future， the designer bag brands need to be continuously innovating. Meanwhile， they also need to invest in their brand as their major sustainable competitive advantages for bag design. It can also be treated as the future of business.

The responsibility for the society is one of the important design factors for the future development of new bag design strategy. Brands need to be better and socially widely measured as well as the corporate social responsibility （CSR） should beactually solved and improved via the sustainable design management. If a designer brand is willing to succeed and be valuable in the future， it should have a deep understanding of being a leader in the relative industry.References：

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[13] Thomke， S.， and Hippel， E. Customers as Innovators： A New Way to Create Value， Harvard Business Review，2002.April， pp. 7481.作者簡(jiǎn)介：葉潔（1988—），女，浙江臺(tái)州人，研究方向：服裝與服飾設(shè)計(jì)。