How the coronavirus pandemic will change the way the fashion industry operates in the future

By Selena Wu

As countries around the world start to require their citizens stay at home as much as possible, in a bid to avoid overstressing their health systems, the fashion industry has had to fast adapt, learning to do away with face-to-face meetings over products, coffees, lunches and press events. When our current restrictions are lifted, what new ways of working will we take with us?

The decline of fashion week and shows

The four main fashion weeks, especially London, have been in slow decline over the past few seasons. With the extravagant cost of putting on shows, but top editors and buyers being more selective, it has become more of a question as to whether there is a good return on the investment. This season, designers were forced to contend with a glance into the future - one where American and Asian editors do not travel to Europe and where shows may not attract audiences. But the industry has been forced to learn that it can work remotely and virtually - an especially important revelation as fashion month is now being slowly extended to encompass Copenhagen and Shanghai, with many editors and buyers questioning why they should be away from for nearly two months at a time. 

Editors this season reviewed shows remotely as they were streamed live, without having to dash from show to show. Being able to produce content at more ease, is a trend that will likely to continue, more than likely encouraged by publishers looking to save money. 

However with all of this happening - fashion will still require people from retail and media from all over the world to meet and exchange ideas about the overarching issues that affect the industry. The new key events will now likely be panel talks, roundtables, lectures and discussions talking about issues such as sustainability, digital marketing, e-commerce and new ways of working. Whether one of the fashion weeks will adapt to make this their focus, or an alternative gathering becomes the cornerstone event remains to be seen. 

New ways of selling

This season, as the effects started to bite, many Asian buyers prewarned they had no budgets and were not coming to Europe. As things progressed, in the run up to Paris, American buyers also issued last minute cancellations. As a result many sales showrooms this season cut short their dates due to being unable to fill out their calendars. 

Buyers and sales managers had to adapt quickly, holding video appointments and reviewing linesheets over email more than ever. This will likely result in faster turnaround of orders, as buyers can review their entire assortment for their departments at once and in real time, instead of having to review after fashion week.

Trade shows, previously great at attracting established stockists for young brands, will now find their value being questioned, as we are increasingly becoming wary of mass gatherings. To replace these, virtual showrooms may finally come into common usage and sending of samples to key stockists who do not take physical appointments will happen more often. 

As retail budgets are tightened, not just because of the pandemic, we will find working virtually becoming the norm.

Acceleration of retail activity towards e-commerce

As we are now encouraged to restrict our movements to only necessary purposes and many non-grocery stores start voluntarily closing, shopping in person for fashion is likely to be put on hold for a while. 

Unlike the tourism, culture and much of entertainment industries however, retail is able to operate virtually and we will likely see an increase in online shopping. A proportion of this increase will likely be from customers used to shopping in person attempting to buy online for the first time, as they no longer have the option to do so in person. It is extremely important at this time for brands to ensure that their online experience is smooth and they are kept up to date on their logistics systems. As the pandemic starts to affect personnel in logistics, it will be important for brands to be transparent to their customer, who would likely be understanding if kept informed. As more and more people are converted into online shoppers due to the current circumstances, an easy user journey during these turbulent times will mean that these customers will likely continue to be online shoppers even restrictions are lifted, at the expense of brick and mortar retail.

This does not mean that bricks-and-mortar retail is dead however. When our current restrictions are over, it is likely that people will have a strong desire to return to physical activities, having been away from these for so long. In addition we will likely see an upswing in consumption as economic activity returns to normal levels. It is important now for physical retail to plan for this eventually, to attract shoppers back to their stores. Special and personalised services, engaging shopping environments, excellent customer service and meaningful in-store events will be key to appealing to customers.