How Does The Coronavirus Pandemic Impact The Fashion Industry Transformation?

CiQ

Corporations from all, if not most sectors are experiencing the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic as they sit tight, waiting for the impending recession to hit. The fashion sector is definitely not immune to this crash. Aside from economic factors, the industry is also forced to face a huge structural change to how people prefer to purchase during a pandemic.

In the past decade, the fashion industry was an economical success. They had consistent growth, a strong performance and a boom from online purchasing gave them a bright outlook to the future. In the 2019 Euromonitor International, the global fashion retail market was valued at $1.78 trillion, with a 14% increase from 2018.

Before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 sales forecast of clothing retail looked promising. However, the crisis has damaged this global industry – while retailers are preoccupied about sales figures, it is clear that the sector will have to make significant structural changes because of customers’ preferences, the fashion calendar and even people’s style.


Online buying power

Chief customer officer at Farfetch, and online luxury fashion retail platform, Stephanie Phair shared that, “we were already seeing a move to online. Online was by far the highest growth segment of the industry. And because people have been forced to an online world, that will accelerate.”

With retail stores forced to close their physical shops all over the world, consumers have no choice but to purchase online. The key to retail brands’ survival and future success right now is a strong online presence.

Sustainability boom

During the pandemic, consumers have been more mindful about their shopping choices regarding the ethical aspects of the product. This became a major shift in consumer mindset that was accelerated by the crisis. “People are thinking a lot more around endorsing companies that have a mission, that have a purpose, that do good in the world,” said Phair.

DW

Fashion week and its future

With the travel restrictions and social distancing in place, fashion weeks have been moved to a digital experience in the foreseeable future. Live streaming of the catwalk with a “no-guest” policy will most likely be the ‘new normal’ for fashion capital cities and their front-row guests.


The end of fast fashion

Covid-19 has forced the world to reevaluate some industry habits that consumers have gotten used to.

Phair questions fast fashion and how they are manufactured in third world countries:

“Brands and retailers are taking the opportunity to do some of the things that were being discussed before. Which is: should we be selling the right season in the right season? Should we be thinking about consolidating to fewer seasons and more of a capsule approach as opposed to having eight seasons in the year and having buyers come to eight different markets?”

Forbes

Will the imposed quarantine and its effects change our clothing choices?

People are online shopping for clothing that they can wear during lockdown. Activewear and loungewear have recently become the trend, although it is expected that the pandemic could change the way we dress even when all this is over. An example would be the transformation in people’s dress styles after the Great Depression and World War II. Covid-19 is on its way to setting a new trend, but the change will ultimately come from fashion designers.

“The change will definitely happen. I think it’s too early to know what that will look like. And I think the best people place for that are the designers themselves. They are taking this time to go back, to understand, to get all of the cultural references. And that’s what tends to lead that change – the designers themselves absorbing what’s going on,” says Phair.

What does the future of fashion look like?

“This is obviously a terrible health crisis and is an economic crisis. But you hope that, out of that, there will be silver linings and positive impacts for the long term,” says Phair.

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