COVER FEATURE
CRISIS OR CHANCE? An entire industry is on the brink of burnout. Supply chains, the timing of the seasons and even the very significance of fashion are being thrown into question by COVID-19. Is this collective standstill precipitating a reduction in consumption and sustainability, or is it triggering the exact opposite – an extreme pent-up demand? An attempt at a review. TEXT KAROLINA LANDOWSKI
N° 80
B
24
Between the pre-coronavirus world and the post-coronavirus world. It is on precisely this knife-edge that we find ourselves right now. Our world is at a turning point that no one knows how long will last, let alone what will come after it. The global simultaneity, the collective experience and the all-encompassing magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented – and began robbing our industry of its very raison d’être from the outset. “Who on earth is interested in clothes at the moment?” was the question being asked not only by my entire circle of friends, but also professionals like fashion retailers, trade fair organisers and brand owners during the initial state of shock. To begin with, it was all about keeping calm, remaining vigilant and taking care of one another. The initial panic was then followed by tangible measures: first Zoom conferences and local delivery services and then government bailouts. From one day to the next, the already strained partnership between manufacturers and retailers was put to an existential test – outcome unknown. Deliveries and wage costs became a question of moral integrity. Companies like Adidas and Deichmann announced they would be withholding rent payments for their currently closed stores, while CEOs like Kering’s FrançoisHenri Pinault and Puma’s chief executive Bjørn Gulden declared that they were personally taking a pay cut. Denim brands like Levi’s started collecting donations, while sneaker labels like Nat2 and New Balance switched over their production to maskmaking. Suddenly, nothing was the same. And looming over all of this, the unavoidable question: do we really want to go back to what we had prior to the crisis, the ‘before’? Even if
a glimmer of hope is gradually emerging with the reopening of stores and the easing of strict curbs on social contact, the biggest challenges still lie ahead of us. The forced slowdown will inevitably be followed by a detox period. And only then will we move into the time after, the post-pandemic era.
SEASONS Along with closed production facilities, disrupted supply chains and orders being cancelled left, right and centre, we are also seeing the common industry ailment of surplus goods and a real consumption backlog in the retail sector. And it’s obvious what that means for spring/summer 2021. Warehouses – on both sides – are full to the rafters. Now that people in selfisolation have had time to declutter their wardrobes, entire new collections will have to be quickly downsized, meaning that there will have to be a focus on bestsellers for the time being. Blithely swamping the market with products now seems so 2019. Instead, brands have decided to take large sections of their current summer collections into the spring/summer 2021 season. They are slamming the brakes on new developments, shrinking collection lines to the bare minimum and building on what they already have. Closed-down factories in China and Italy are only now gradually starting to resume operations so the delivery of goods will be delayed. International tradeshows have been postponed by months. A shakeup of the seasons is on the agenda – affecting everything from the ordering process to the delivery. After years of constantly overtaking itself, the fashion industry now has the once-ina-lifetime opportunity to recalibrate. Displaying discount summer dresses next to newly arrived down jackets when it’s 30 degrees outside seems more ridiculous than ever. July orders? Currently unthinkable. It will be a challenge not to simply flog off summer goods on the cheap, but instead to figure out a joint strategy involving producers, brands and retailers for the restart. Side by side, hand in hand.
