Exploring fashion brand style: a multi-dimensional classification of women’s fashion brands in China’s Greater Bay Area

Purpose This study aims to investigate fashion brand style from the perspective of designers within creative organizations, focusing on the original womenswear brands active in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA). It establishes a multi-dimensional fashion brand style classification framework that highlights differences in market factors, creative decision-making and product visual aesthetics, ultimately supporting practical innovation for long-term brand development. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory sequential design grounded in the style concepts of creative organizations was implemented. A focus group of six expert designers (Study 1) identified the key attributes of fashion brand styles through thematic analysis. A questionnaire was then administered to 101 designers (Study 2), and the data were subjected to principal component analysis and k-means clustering to derive an internal producer-centric brand style typology. Findings The fashion brand style is shaped by three core dimensions: brand positioning, designer preferences and consumer perceptions (determined by visual aesthetics). Grounded in this framework, womenswear brands are classified into four distinct style types, which are characterized by unique combinations of market positioning, creative drivers and visual aesthetics. Originality This research introduces an integrative multi-dimensional framework for classifying fashion brand styles that integrates commercial, creative and aesthetic factors from the designers’ perspective. This approach enables a more precise segmentation of brands and illuminates the strategic interplay between market positioning and creative processes, thereby providing a practical tool for fostering innovation and guiding the sustainable development of women’s fashion brands in China.