Design as a research prescription

Here marketing is dominant and it regards the designer as someone who must respond to the specifications of customer requirements as established by marketing research. Detailed cost constraints may be imposed and sample garments pretested by, for example, retail selectors who may subsequently demand changes to meet their precise needs. Several major retail stores still operate systems not too far removed from this, with merchandisers and selectors exerting considerable control over the designer. The result, according to many, is a certain blandness in the design content of garments available from such retail outlets.
It is argued that marketing constraints have strangled the creative aspects of design. Taking profi tability as a measure of popularity, this restrictive prescription for design seems to work for many firms.
Whether popular acceptance of fashion designs equates with good design is another matter.
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