Fashion industry discovers gender-neutral clothing

It used to be the case that blue was for boys and pink for girls. But times have changed and a growing number of clothing manufacturers are discarding gendered clothing concepts and embracing new unisex products. "Entire product lines are being designed according to considerations of interest and function," explains Verena Muntschick from one of Germany's premier trend-research companies, Zukunftsinstitut. "You won't need to visit a department store and have to decide any more whether to go to the men's or women's department."

The British chain store Selfridges adopted this concept at the beginning of the year and test-launched its gender-neutral, "Agender" fashion department.

"Instead of talking about unisex, I would start speaking about no-sex, because products are no longer about gender but about the person," says Muntschick.

The brand & Other Stories was launched by Swedish clothing company H&M in 2013. It has gone further than other companies by conceiving its own transgender collection. Both clothing and models look gender non-specific.

"That's a lifestyle trend that has its origins in developments in society," says Andreas Bauer from the consulting company Roland Berger.

Recently British actress Emma Watson made an appeal for more equality in fashion. U.S. retail giant Target has discarded the division between girls and boys in its children's fashion section after coming under pressure from the public.

There has been a discussion in the United States for some time on the role of forced gender clichés, such as blue for baby boys and pink for infant girls, in the retail industry. Several start-up fashion companies are countering these stereotypes.

Genderless clothing presents further advantages for business when it comes to advertising "because the homogenous target groups of men and women no longer exist," says Muntschick.

Another consideration is that some people just don't see themselves reflected in gender-specific advertising campaigns.

"Basically we can say it's an expanding the market," says Andreas Bauer. "If a product is made for everyone, then it creates benefits when it comes to production costs." But not all garments can be tailored to fit both sexes.

"There are still considerable barriers for the wider market. Men simply don't fit into clothing sized for women," says Bauer.

That applies to sporting articles which rely heavily on showing off a body to its best, or clothing that has functions specifically designed for a man or woman." The unisex department at Selfridges is no longer genderless.

"That was a six-week experiment," said Selfridges in a statement. The firm is currently developing ideas on how to continue with the concept. The Zukunftsinstitut in Frankfurt believes, however, that there is a widespread unsatisfied demand for genderless clothing.

"Shoppers shouldn't be made to feel embarrassed about browsing or buying products that are supposedly inappropriate," it explains.