How Fashion Brands Build Community in 2025

May 20, 2025

Lei Takanashi, a BOF correspondent known for his insightful case studies, joins the hosts to discuss how fashion brands are navigating community building in the challenging landscape of 2025. He emphasizes that consumers are now seeking deeper connections, prioritizing values and purpose over mere products. Takanashi outlines three distinct community types: activity-based, personality-driven, and values-driven, each requiring tailored engagement strategies. The conversation highlights the evolution from transactional to emotional brand relationships as authenticity becomes paramount.

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INSIGHT

Community Drives Purchase Decisions

In 2025, consumers prioritize brand values and meaning over mere products.
Community is essential because people seek brands that align with their identity and values.

ANECDOTE

Bandit Running's Localized Community

Bandit Running localized its community engagement to meet runners' specific needs.
They opened stores at 7 a.m. to accommodate run clubs in areas already saturated with such groups.

INSIGHT

Power of Personality Driven Brands

Personality-driven communities thrive on founder charisma and relatability.
Customers need to see themselves in the founder's story to feel connected.

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As inflation bites and politics polarise, the fashion industry in 2025 is facing unprecedented pressure to hold onto its customers. Brands are looking to community as a deeper and more emotional form of engagement. But building true community takes more than buzzwords.

In this episode, BoF correspondent Lei Takanashi joins hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to unpack his case study on what it really means to cultivate community in fashion and how brands are navigating the pitfalls.

Key Insights:

In a time when consumers are thinking hard about every purchase, community offers a sense of connection and meaning that goes beyond the product itself. "When I'm shopping today, I'm thinking more about what eggs I'm going to buy this week than the latest release from a brand," says Takanashi. "What really now drives me to make a purchase is like, what does this brand represent? What are its values? How has it improved my life beyond just something I wear?"

Different communities serve different purposes, each demanding a unique approach. Takanashi outlines three community types: activity-based, personality-driven and values-driven. Activity-based communities are rooted in shared interests or habits, such as running, where engagement happens naturally through events or clubs. Personality-driven communities hinge on a founder’s charisma and relatability: "People have to see that founder story and kind of see themselves in their shoes." Values-driven communities connect through shared beliefs and causes, but those values must be dynamic. “Your definition of a value can’t be rigid,” says Takanashi. “You have to adapt to how consumers perceive these things.”

As brands grow, scaling community takes local focus to remain authentic. "As long as you stay committed to a localized approach and understand that it’s not one size fits all," Takanashi says, pointing to Arc'teryx and Supreme as examples of brands that scale through local relevance and hiring. In addition to staying local, real-world interaction matters and brands shouldn’t rely solely on digital engagement. “You should really be there in person at pop-ups, shake hands with people, talk to the customer... Every brand I spoke about in this case study made some effort to show up in real life."

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