Introduction The fashion industry is among the industries that are making substantial developments that influence the social lifestyles of individuals. Despite operating in the same business environment, fashion industries focus on different designs that suit different consumers (Burry and Weinstein 316). Hence, brand diversity, specialization, competition, and customer focus are becoming significant business aspects that companies in the fashion industry must observe. Kate Spade and Saint Laurent Paris are among the modern fashion companies that have dominated different spheres of markets with consumer luxury products (Burry and Weinstein 316). In this view, this essay analyzes Kate Spade and Saint Laurent Paris by examining characteristics of consumers, merchandise mix, and the nature of competitors. Overview of target customer: demographic and psychographic aspects The fashion industry dwells on the ideology that different designs match the needs of consumers with different demographic characteristics. Demographics, which refer to quantifiable information about a certain population, are useful in the fashion industry because they aid in determination of consumer characteristics in a target population (Tsai and Lee 1244). Psychographics involves an examination of values, opinions, perceptions, attitudes and lifestyles of a certain population of people. In marketing, psychographics involves the approach of a company towards evaluating the customer lifestyles to enable the marketers create detailed consumer report about customer profile (Tsai and Lee 1245). The two fashion companies have their own customer demographics and psychographics. Demographic indicators include age, household income, and gender, which are the components that determine the marketing of fashion products (Burry and Weinstein 318). Demographically, the main targeted consumers for Kate Spade are the youths, especially young women, as most of its products include luxury fashion, clothing, home appliances, jewelry, and women handbags (Kate Spade: Company” par. 1). In terms of age, a closer look at the products offered indicate that Kate Spade focuses on teenage and youth fashion products that include stylish handbags, trousers, skirts, tops, and shoes. Handbags have attractive designs, shoes depict trendy designs, accessories are colorful, and clothes fit the styles of the people. Psychographics is a segmentation of marketing based on lifestyle, attitudes, consumer personalities, and beliefs. It involves price consciousness and factors of lifestyles that influence the purchasing power of consumers (Tsai and Lee 1247). In terms of psychographics, producing high-end products means that Kate Spade focuses on designing and selling high class products to its consumers. In terms of price consciousness, the products of Kate Spade seem expensive with each product price being above $200 (“Kate Spade: Company” par. 2). This means that Kate Spade, as a fashion, company targets consumers with a high purchasing power, conspicuous buyers, and those consumers interested in trendy products, which are generally expensive. In terms of demographics, Saint Laurent Paris seems like a company focused on fashion