Logos and Labels Continue to Lose Appeal

The fourth annual Brand Keys Fashion Index, a national survey of fashion and apparel brand labels and logos, demonstrates that the power of fashion brands continues to decline, especially for major league sports, according to Brand Keys, Inc., a New York City-based brand loyalty research consultancy.

For the first time since 2002, "Favorite Sports Team," the perennial leader among men and women in all age segments, showed an over-all decrease of 13 percent in importance to consumers. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, brands that had always appeared on the Brand Keys Fashion Index Top 10 list, did not make the cut this year.

When asked how important apparel brand logos and labels are to consumers now versus "a few years ago," the majority of respondents (66 percent) reported that they are now less important. Of the 7,500 survey respondents, almost 9.5 times as many said logos and labels were now either "much less" or "less" important to them than said they were now "much more" or "more" important.

"Increasingly apparel brands do not generally resonate with the values of consumers and as marketers do not support their brands in appropriate ways, you can't really expect to find that the brands are more important to consumers." said Robert Passikoff, president, Brand Keys, Inc. "If you disappoint your c