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By Valentina Gamaleri Nazha Translated by Laura Caro Gamarra

Andrés Astudillo and the News Challenges About Consumption in Fashion Industry

The Colombian designer and lecturer reflects on how identity, consumer behaviour, and communication are changing the way people engage with fashion.

The relationship between people and fashion is going through a process of transformation. For Andres Astudillo, a fashion designer, lecturer, and specialist in consumer behaviour, this change is explained through two key concepts: identity and a sense of belonging.

For a long time, trends acted as a guide, shaping what to wear in order to fit into specific social groups. However, Andrés notices that the relationship with fashion today is shifting towards a more personal search. "There used to be a fear of not belonging if you didn't follow trends. Now, fashion has become a symbolic representation of what we are and how we feel”,he explains.

In this context, clothing stops being merely an aesthetic matter and becomes a language capable of communicating emotions, values, and perspectives on the world. According to Andrés, clothing allows the expression of aspects of identity that people often do not verbalize directly.

Understanding the consumer in order to engage with them
From his academic and professional experience, the designer highlights the importance of analyzing consumer behaviour in order to understand how decisions are made in Fashion. Purchasing decisions, he argues, are shaped by emotional, social, and cultural factors.

"When we talk about fashion, we are also talking about intangible assets,"he points out. Behind every garment lie elements such as brand identification, social recognition or the representation of certain values.

In this sense, understanding what consumers feel, seek, and care allows brands to develop proposals that are more closer to their audience. Andrés mentions tools such as empathy maps, which help identify the emotional motivations behind purchasing decisions.

This analysis also reflects an everyday reality: people rarely dress entirely in a single brand. Personal style is usually built from diverse combinations that reflect aesthetic preferences, economic possibilities, and individual contexts.

Communication, culture, and responsibility
For Astudillo, communication plays a central role in the fashion industry. Often, brands with high-quality products fail to establish themselves if they are unable to clearly communicate their value proposition.

However, he warns that communication also entails responsibility. In a context where consumers are increasingly informed, mistakes related to cultural identity or inconsistent messages can trigger immediate reactions.

In this context, Andrés believes that Latin American fashion has a significant opportunity in the valorization of its histories, traditions, and collective memories. Amid the overstimulation of information and trends, returning to these roots can become a way to reconnect with the cultural meaning of fashion and with the people who inhabit it.

 

Amy Talks Fashion: Between Algorithms, Consumption, and Taste — A New Way of Understanding Fashion Translated by Laura Paipa

In a digital ecosystem shaped by immediacy, information overload, and the constant emergence of trends, the relationship between people and fashion is undergoing a transformation. Amy Talks Fashion, a paid media strategist, fashion communicator, and stylist based between Guadalajara and Mexico City, reflects on how this shift is redefining not only consumption, but also the way identity is built through clothing.

Instead of automatically responding to every trend, new questions are emerging around usage, durability, and the origin of garments. This transition signals a shift from impulse-driven choices to more informed decisions, in a landscape where an abundance of options creates both access and overwhelm.

Courtesy by Amy.

Between accessibility and awareness
The massification of consumption, driven by the accessibility of certain fashion proposals, presents a key challenge: how to build a conscious perspective within a system designed to encourage constant purchasing. For Amy, this tension has no simple resolution.

“Conscious consumption doesn’t depend solely on purchasing power,”she explains. Instead, it’s tied to how people use what they already own. Rewearing pieces, extending their lifespan, and choosing more intentionally become practices that reshape the relationship with fashion, even within systems dominated by immediacy.

Connections beyond the purchase
This change also impacts how audiences engage with brands and content. While aspiration used to be linked to distant lifestyles, it is now moving toward experiences that feel closer and more aligned with personal identity.

For Amy, the key lies in building connections from the everyday. Showing how clothes are actually worn, sharing processes, and opening up honest conversations helps create a more human connection. In that space, fashion stops being purely aspirational and becomes a place of identification.

However, inspiration doesn’t disappear, it evolves. It’s no longer about becoming someone else, but about building a more authentic version of yourself. As a result, the way brands and content creators communicate is shifting, moving toward values, coherence, and community.

The value of culture in a global environment
In a globalized feed where images are constantly replicated, differentiation no longer relies solely on visuals. For Amy, identity is built through context: the stories, references, and meanings behind each proposal.

“Fashion is not just aesthetic,” she states. It’s also a reflection of social, cultural, and economic realities. In this sense, cultural diversity becomes a key value, not only creatively, but as a way to sustain more authentic and grounded proposals.

When these dimensions are integrated into communication, fashion gains depth. Otherwise, it risks becoming an empty repetition of images without substance.

In a scenario where everything seems available and replicable, the real challenge is no longer access, but choosing with intention. And in that process, developing a personal sense of taste becomes an essential tool for building a more conscious relationship with fashion.