With international fashion brands making competition on the Australian high street even more intense, a new generation of home-grown brands are building fiercely loyal style tribes both online and off. But can these emerging fashion cults fend off global competition?

For today's youth, neo-tribalism is the new clique. Leaving blind conformity behind, these fast-moving, flexible cultures are a cocktail of affiliations and references, always shifting and reforming. But if everyone can be whoever they like, how do you know who’s in or out?

For French women, fashion is personal. 80% view shopping as a personal pleasure, and the majority believe being 'in fashion' is a matter of individual style rather than following set seasonal trends. A June 2014 study sheds light on these independent shoppers.

Fandoms are usually formed around films, music stars or books. But for the ‘Sharkies’, devoted followers of Australian clothing brand Black Milk, the allure of distinctive printed lycra is enough. The community they formed is helping shift 2000 pairs of leggings a day.