I've got tea, very valuable tea. Through research and help from several professionals in the industry, I have brought you the impacts Covid- 19 could possibly have on the fashion industry.
If there is one thing that is pretty clear during this time, it's that our planet has been crying out for help and designers and consumers have started listening. Carbon emission has reduced by 25% in China since the virus. "This is the only moment in history where we can measure the amount of damage we've done" -Stella McCartney. After this pandemic, designers and retailers plan to reduce production. "We will be creating less and better" says Marc Jacobs
Let's talk trends, almost all autumn/winter shows have been cancelled meaning the fall/winter trends from last year and spring/summer 2020 are going to have to hold us through the rest of the year. So that neon sweater you still have from last year? Still a trend now.
Couture fashion and the high-end sector might be the hardest hit by this crisis. Almost all major red carpet events, weddings and dances have been cancelled. Why buy a fancy dress if you have nowhere to wear it? This has led many couture designers to consider branching into ready to wear and put remaining stock on major discounts.
Speaking of major discounts, you might want to hold on to your wallets because fast fashion might just give us the biggest sales of our lives after this season! Retail stores need to pay their employees and liabilities. In order to do that, stock needs to be cleared out quickly. Only essentials and lounge wear will be brought in as new stock which, I should warn you, might be expensive. For all fashion students, the industry will need all the help it can get so they might be taking interns....with no pay of course.
If we do not look back in history, is it really a prediction? I did research on how the human race recovered from the Spanish flu, world wars and recession. You will love what I found. After world war 1 and Spanish flu came the great Gatsby era.After world war 2 came the rock and roll era. After the 60s Vietnam war came the Woodstock festival and hippie era. Even after the great depression, the human race still recovered stronger than before so do not fear, this is just the beginning of a new era.
So I thought, since the only country that has already recovered from this is China let's check out how fashion is recovering too and here's what I found
REFERENCES: Vogue global conversations, Anke Coetzee, Andrea Willow Beyers, Jane De Kock, Yaaseen Pinetown