Chapter 4: The External Marketing Environment

In the November of the year 2010 G-Star opened up three stores. One of the stores was opened in Phoenix, Arizona while the other two debuted in Santa Monica and San Francisco which are in California. Thanks to its authentic cutting edge style, G-Star RAW has established itself as a distinguished brand in the denim market in 19 major countries worldwide, currently occupying 35 offices and over 100 showrooms. The use of raw denim materials has given the brand its unique look, offering denim in its purest form to true jeans fanatics. This sense of rough and pure is not only present in the collections but it is also recreated in each store’s atmosphere. G-Star’s team of interior designers have focused on enhancing the shopping experience by creating environments with natural and raw materials that match the label’s philosophy.

From product development to advertising, innovation is the company’s main feature. Denim specialists constantly come up with new designs that perfectly juxtapose street and luxury, while marketing and graphics teams develop innovative forms of communication and promotional activity around the brand. With 876 employees of many different nationalities and 6,300 points of sale in 65 countries, G-Star’s international appeal is clear. As global demand for the brand continues to grow, the company continues to open more stores in major cities, and three openings in the same month show just how confident they are in their results.

One of G -Star's biggest store location debut's was actually the development of their Shanghai location. Although G-Star has a mass network of stores across the globe totaling at about 6,000 boutiques globally, this particular opening appeared to be of a much greater significance for the brand as a whole. Though the Dutch brand has stores in Shanghai, this city-centre address is the brand’s largest store to date. The store measures 8,000 square foot over two levels and carries both men’s and women’s wear. The boutique features a jeans wall measuring 11 metres tall and a 250 square foot area dedicated to the brand’s shoes. 

Chapter 3: Ethics and Social Responsibility

Alongside its amazing products and very large fan base, G-Star Raw has a vast amount of key values from which are derived from their code of ethics and their moral standings. G-Star is committed to producing high quality and ethically manufactured products at a good value to its consumers. The G-Star supplier code of conduct outlines G-Star's Expectations   regarding the conditions under which its products should be manufactured. G-Star's commitment is to only do business with suppliers that share its commitment to fair and safe labor practices and observe environmental conscious practices in the locations where they operate. This code of conduct applies to all suppliers and/or sub-contractors providing products to G-Star Raw or any of its affiliated companies. This particular code of conduct both clarifies and elevates the expectations they have of suppliers they work with and lays down the minimum social and environmental standards they expect each factory to meet. The supplier is responsible to ensure that this Supplier Code of Conduct is implemented and adhered to by its sub- contractors and business partners. 

It is their intention to only work with suppliers that share their values. G-Star does not wish to work with any suppliers that directly or indirectly through its (approved) sub-contractors or business partners, violates the laws of countries where the products are manufactured or knowingly violates these standards. G-Star will take immediate and appropriate action upon notification of such violation. G-Star commonly encourages open communication between workers and management in order for workers to be able to voice their comments and concerns while respecting the right of employees to associate, organize and bargain collectively. Suppliers must provide a safe and hygienic working environment to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of work or as a result of the operation of suppliers’ facilities. Suppliers must provide a safe and hygienic working environment to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of work or as a result of the operation of suppliers’ facilities. Workers shall receive regular and recorded health and safety training, and such training shall be repeated for new or reassigned workers. Factories must only employ workers who meet the applicable minimum legal age requirement or at least 15 years of age, whichever is greater, or as an exception, 14 years in countries covered by article 2.4 of the ILO Convention 138. 

G-Star Environmental Standards 

A. Commitment and Responsibility 

• Each Supplier must have a written declaration stating the importance of care for the environment signed by the director.
• Supplier must have formally assigned the responsibility for environmental performance to a member of the management team and/or board member. 
• Supplier should have a form stating the functions, responsibilities and names with regard to environmental issues. 

B. Energy Usage

• Supplier must record energy usage (including electricity, gas, fuel use, and if applicable steam and compressed air) and monitor trends in energy usage against the output (for example number of products and/or the kgs of material processed).
• Supplier should set targets to reduce energy usage per unit of output.
• Supplier should investigate opportunities to use renewable energy (such as solar, wind turbines, geothermals, hydroelectric energy, or energy from biomass).
• Investigate opportunities to implement of best practice technologies for energy use and reuse. 

C. Use of Raw Materials 

• Supplier should keep records of the mainstream amount of raw materials used (covering approximately 80% of their total purchasing).
• Supplier should monitor the usage of raw materials per unit of output.
• Investigate the possibilities of reducing the amounts of raw materials used.
• Investigate the possibilities of using recycled materials as raw material. 

G-Star is a brand that really focuses heavily upon the decreased consumption of materials that can negatively effect the environment. Also one can tell that they are a unified company because of the fact that they only hire people or partner up with individuals with the same views as them. This can be both a positive and negative as far as the effect it can have on the company and its potential production. Some partners may not have the same views as far as the environment is concerned but may have the financial funding to push G-Star high enough to become a high-end retailer. Then again you can see that although that may be the case G-Star Raw stands strongly by its code of ethics and refuses to associate with those who are not concerned with the environment.

Strategic Planning For a Competitive Advantage

 The mission statement of G-Star Raw is remain a forward looking company that wants to continue making iconic products in the future. G-Star acknowledges the need to look into sustainable solutions. They feel as though they will only be a successful company so long as they create their products with minimal environmental impact. Which leads into their careful consideration of the materials used for their products. G-Star States "we can make a big move towards minimizing the environmental impact of our products that contribute to a more sustainable future without compromising on equality, comfort and design. Consequently we aim to gradually increase the use of sustainable materials in our collection.

The strengths of G-Star Raw as a brand are primarily the simple yet edgy look it gives off to the public. Another is the fact that G-Star takes on somewhat of an environmentalist approach when it comes to the production of its merchandise. The fact that they carry on somewhat of an army appearance when it comes to there denim attracts more of a variety because people like to see different which can also eventually influence them to buy it. 
One weakness that i noticed the brand has is the lack of support from families that do not have a great income. The brand has followed a differentiated market positioning strategy by focusing on a narrow market segment. The brand refers to the upper end of the middle market by positioning itself as a premium high street brand. As for audience brand has always addressed to the fashion leaders & innovators who can relate to the innovative values of the brand.Therefore families of low income are less likely to purchase G-Star Raw clothing due to its high pricing. 
As far as opportunities are concerned G-Star has set up an portion of the brand in which an employee can set-up his/her own franchise monobrand store with the help of G-Star's full-service Retail Solutions department. The monobrand stores are flagships which present the collection in an environment that conveys the philosophy, design aesthetic and raw authenticity of the G-Star Brand. 
A major threat to the G-Star Brand is the constant creation of fake e-mails that are sent out to random people stating their is a sale and while they pay online to the product their money is actually being paid to a totally different source. One example of a fake email that claimed to have been affiliated with the brand is gstarrawonline@gmail.com. 

G-Star does not have what the business worlds calls a "problem child" of their brand but indefinitely the "star" of their brand is indefinitely their denim products solely because of the fact that most people purchase clothing from G-Star of that material. G-Star's target market is the casual yet fashionable youth. What gives G-Star a competitive advantage is the fact that although they started out to be a totally denim based brand they took diversification approach and began to make T-shirts, hats and belts which led to them actually be known as more of an urban fashion brand. Being that the production was a success it gave them the edge that they were able to experiment with more designs and reach the other portion of their target market that is not a fan of denim products.

 Promotional Strategies that G-Star uses are organizing fashion shows in order to give everybody a chance to experience the brand. Also G-Star offers children and adolescents vocational training concentrating on both knowledge and skills the possibilities to learn a profession and have better chances for the future.  Distribution strategies that G-Star uses are the official website which is G-Star.com or the many store locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Also although they may not have designated stores in certain areas there are still retails that sell their product such as Century 21 Department Store and other places of that nature. Pricing Strategy for G-Star is understandable as far as their target market goes but at the same time it heavily disregards other people who are interested in the brand and can't afford it due to is middle class pricing. Of all G-Stars portions of the marketing mix i feel as though their Product Strategy is the most effective. Due to the fact that they use materials that won't have a negative effective on the environment such as recycled cotton, mechanically recycled nylon, organic hemp, organic cotton and mechanically recycled polyester alongside many other  materials. 

G-Star Raw and Its Marketing Philosophy

 G-Star clothing has a very unique approach when it comes to the marketing aspect of their company. A phrase that the entire G-Star Raw company uses as part of their marketing philosophy is "Just The Product". Since the premier of raw denim in the year of 1996, G-Star broadened its concept to create a newer yet edgier image. The image that G-Star promotes can appeal to all styles and ages of the sort. Authentic details and functional attributes are what give the brand a collective and strong sense of identity. The main focus of the entire G-star Denim clothing line derives from their Jeans which is the reasoning as to why innovation and perfection became imperative for such products.