2006年VOA标准英语-High Couture Saturates Lucrative 'Tween' Market

By Crystal Park
Washington, DC
26 July 2006
 
watch Fashion Market report

The traditional clients of the fashion houses of Paris, Milan and other fashion capitals have been adults with the means to pay top dollar for designer labels. In recent years, fashion houses have developed designer lines of clothing that are more affordable¹, thus expanding their customer-base. Now, the fashion world has discovered a new, untapped demographic -- teenagers not even old enough to work full-time² jobs. VOA's Crystal Park has more on the youth fashion trend.

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Fashion marketing³ is aiming at "tweens"   
  
The world of high fashion, which was once synonymous with expensive couture, used to be affordable only for the rich and famous. But, now, more and more children and young teenagers can be seen wearing clothing with designer labels, such as Louis Vuitton, or Christian⁴ Dior.

This is, in part, due to a push by marketers to capture the lucrative⁵ market of teenagers and so-called "tweens" -- those in the 8-to-12 age-range, who are considered be ‘[be]tween' children and teenagers. 

MarketingSherpa, a group that provides advice to marketers, says there are roughly 19.5 million "tweens" in the United States and more than 17 million teenagers. 

Leslee Johnson   
  
Recent high school graduate Leslee Johnson is a teenager, who is, in her words, obsessed⁶ with fashion. She has a closet full of brand name clothes, such as Polo and Bebe. She also boasts a collection of more than 20 designer handbags.

"I absolutely love Polo," says Leslee.

Though Johnson does have a summer job, she admits she did not buy most of the things in her closet. Most were gifts from her mother or grandparents.

A youth marketing research group, called, "360youth.com," says "tweens" account for $221 billion of spending a year.  Most of that money, $170 billion, actually comes from parents or other adults. 

 
Lisa Johnson
  
But Leslee Johnson's mother, Lisa, says her child is not spoiled. She says her daughter has had to earn everything she has received. Johnson says, "I (have) had no problem saying, 'no,' (I) absolutely will say 'no.' There will be a reason. There might be an incentive⁷ at home to earn it by doing stuff around the house, or getting good grades -- something. Ironically, that is how Leslee did very well in school, and graduated with honors."

Howard University child development Professor Velma Lapoint says marketing companies target young consumers because, "They can influence their parents' and older family members' purchasing decisions around major household items. And, secondly⁸, if marketers can get young children, including the ‘tweens' to commit to a particular brand, while they're young, they will, in fact, have these young people as future brand customers."

But it's not just about being stylish⁹.  One 14-year-old boy says, "Oh, the brand name is everything. It shows your status." His friend also agrees, "Yeah, if you get store-brand clothing, like Lucky brand jeans, as opposed to Price Club brand jeans, you're definitely going to have to go with the Lucky brand as opposed to the Price Club. It's more important."

Another phenomenon among the young is the growing number of teenagers who have their own credit cards. Marketing researcher 360youth.com says one in three high school seniors carries a credit card. Leslee Johnson does not. But her mother says Leslee is still inexperienced in money matters. She says, "[As for] teaching her financial responsibility, I haven't done well on that. I do worry about that." 

 
Velma LaPoint
  
Child development expert Velma LaPoint says children allowed to spend money without constraint¹⁰ can develop anxiety. She said, "We see they take on more materialistic¹¹ values. Many of them can experience high anxiety. They can experience psychosomatic challenges. They really just become anxious and then that anxiety influences certain types of bodily functions."

LaPoint says parents should have control over what their children buy. She says, "Many of us recognize that the business marketing ventures in our culture are a multi-billion [dollar], very, very powerful, [and] wield¹² a very powerful influence on our children. So, what we are suggesting is that parents play, and continue to play, the gate-keeping role that many have always played."

There are many groups and organizations that try to help parents supervise the advertising¹³ messages their children see. The Public Broadcasting Service has a Web site, called "Don't Buy It", which offers advice on how to help children become intelligent consumers. 

1 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

2 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

6 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

7 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

8 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

9 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

10 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

11 materialistic   

a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的

参考例句：

• She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
• Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。

12 wield   

vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等)

参考例句：

• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。
• People may wield the power in a democracy.在民主国家里，人民可以行使权力。

13 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。